blog

While more than 18,000 cancer researchers are gathered in San Diego for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting this week, we’re highlighting the most influential research articles in oncology in 2013 and a prestigious award for one of our Heads of Faculty.

Prof. Bob Pinedo, Professor of Medical Oncology, Free University (VUMC) Amsterdam, and Head of Faculty for Oncology said on reviewing the list: “Oncology is a large field with thousands of articles published every month across hundreds of journals, making the need for effective filtering and critical evaluation tools even more acute. This is especially true in clinical oncology, with many small and early phase trials happening at one time, making the Hidden Jewels feature of F1000Prime particularly valuable. Important clinical advances were seen in 2013 in various leukemia types, lung cancer, breast cancer and others, which may be reflected in the clinical nature of these “most influential” articles identified by F1000 Faculty Members in Oncology.”

Bob Pinedo was in March awarded the 2014 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award for his crucial contributions towards the biology of cancer and the early detection of the disease. Partly because of Pinedo’s work, a number of forms of cancer have become treatable with medication.

In 2013, the highest scoring article in oncology in F1000Prime describes the identification, for the first time, of a stem cell niche in mouse ovaries. The findings may help in the development of diagnostic tools for ovarian cancer – the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in the US.

The leading article in a specialist journal in oncology is a randomized controlled trial that compared two non-surgical treatments – creams – for skin cancer with photodynamic therapy, in an area where head-to-head comparisons of treatments are rare.

Every article recommendation in this Top 10 is free to read from the links in this blog.

Top 5 overall

1. [F1000Prime score: 14]
Ovarian surface epithelium at the junction area contains a cancer-prone stem cell niche.
Nature. 2013 Mar 14; 495(7440):241-5
Researchers identify and locate the putative stem cell niche that could give rise to the deadly epithelial ovarian cancer.
2. [F1000Prime score: 12]
K-Ras(G12C) inhibitors allosterically control GTP affinity and effector interactions.
Nature. 2013 Nov 28; 503(7477):548-51
“The era of Ras inhibitors is dawning” as a novel binding pocket allows selective inhibition of oncogenic mutant K-Ras.
3. [F1000Prime score: 11]
The perivascular niche regulates breast tumour dormancy.
Nat Cell Biol. 2013 Jul; 15(7):807-17
Microvasculature is implicated as the mechanism that keeps cancer cells dormant – and that wakes them up.
4. [F1000Prime score: 10]
Somatic mutations of calreticulin in myeloproliferative neoplasms.
N Engl J Med. 2013 Dec 19; 369(25):2379-90
A study on myeloproliferative neoplasms identifies mutations in the CALR gene as the third important biomarker for these conditions.
5. [F1000Prime score: 10]
Glioblastoma stem cells generate vascular pericytes to support vessel function and tumor growth.
Cell. 2013 Mar 28; 153(1):139-52
Glioma stem cells, integral to lethal glioblastoma tumors, are shown in this study to give rise to vascular pericytes, supporting blood vessel function and allowing tumor growth.

Top 5 Hidden Jewels

1. [F1000Prime score: 8]
Photodynamic therapy versus topical imiquimod versus topical fluorouracil for treatment of superficial basal-cell carcinoma: a single blind, non-inferiority, randomised controlled trial.
Lancet Oncol. 2013 Jun; 14(7):647-5
A randomized controlled trial demonstrates promising results when treating basal cell carcinoma with topical creams.
2. [F1000Prime score: 8]
Iron deficiency accelerates Helicobacter pylori-induced carcinogenesis in rodents and humans.
J Clin Invest. 2013 Jan 2; 123(1):479-92
Studies in gerbils and humans suggest that lack of iron accelerates H. pylori virulence and the associated risk of gastric cancer.
3. [F1000Prime score: 8]
Galactomannan and PCR versus culture and histology for directing use of antifungal treatment for invasive aspergillosis in high-risk haematology patients: a randomised controlled trial.
Lancet Infect Dis. 2013 Jun; 13(6):519-28
This clinical trial is the first to validate the use of diagnostic-driven antifungal therapy in chemotherapy patients.
4. [F1000Prime score: 7]
Cabozantinib in Progressive Medullary Thyroid Cancer.
J Clin Oncol. 2013 Oct 10; 31(29):3639-46
“A must read for anyone treating medullary thyroid carcinoma patients”: this paper presents the results of the phase III that led to the FDA approving cabozantinib.
5. [F1000Prime score: 7]
Influence of preoperative and postoperative pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) compared  with postoperative PFMT on urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy: A randomized controlled trial.
Eur Urol. 2013 Jan 21
A study on pelvic floor muscle training concludes that preoperative training had no effect on urinary incontinence in prostate cancer patients.

Where articles have the same F1000 score, the article recommendation with the most number of downloads is ranked highest. See this blog for more information of how these lists are calculated and this blog for information on how Hidden Jewels are calculated.