April 25, 2023 (View All Issues)
Checkpoint Inhibitors Poised to Change Standard of Care in Advanced Endometrial Cancer
The addition of a checkpoint inhibitor to standard chemotherapy as first-line treatment of advanced endometrial cancer reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 70% in patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) tumors in two recent phase III studies. The results of the two...
GLOW Trial: Zolbetuximab Plus Chemotherapy Sets New Treatment Standard in Gastric Cancer Subset
In the first-line setting, the monoclonal antibody zolbetuximab in combination with chemotherapy extended overall survival in patients with claudin-18.2 (CLDN18.2)-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma. This regimen is now positioned as a new standard of...
Social Drivers of Health: Grabbing the Steering Wheel
Study after study has demonstrated race-based differences in survival and other clinical outcomes for patients with cancer. But as health professionals, we are learning that these differences are less about a patient’s skin color and more about the legacy of racial inequality.1 This knowledge...
Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab in Desmoplastic Melanoma
Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab may significantly improve the management of desmoplastic melanoma, increasing the likelihood of successful resection and reducing the need for further surgery or radiation therapy, according to the response data presented at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, with the surgical...
Using Circulating Tumor DNA to Predict Early Recurrence of Soft-Tissue Sarcomas
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may transform disease monitoring and guide treatment for soft-tissue sarcomas, according to data presented at the 2023 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1
Findings of a retrospective review showed that 85% of patients...
Emerging Success With Novel Targeted Therapies in Endocrine-Resistant Metastatic Breast Cancer
In hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, the ability to successfully target key mediators of endocrine resistance is changing the outlook of metastatic disease in this subtype, according to Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, FASCO, Director of Breast Cancer Research and Associate Professor at Harvard...
Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Optimizing Therapy
The management of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer has been evolving at a fast pace, thanks largely to the discovery that immune checkpoint blockade can be effective in this subtype. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Priyanka Sharma, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of...
ASCO Member Testifies Before Congress, Urging Significant Increase in Federal Cancer Research Funding
Brian Persing, MD, a medical oncologist and hematologist in Mobile, Alabama, and a member of ASCO, the world’s leading professional organization representing nearly 45,000 oncology professionals, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services and...
I’m BRCA-Positive and Survived Both Breast and Pancreatic Cancers
Cancer has stalked my family for generations. My mother, brother, and maternal uncle were diagnosed with melanoma. Fortunately, all survived. When my sister was diagnosed with early-stage invasive ductal carcinoma in 2010, she underwent genetic testing, which showed she was positive for the BRCA2 ...
Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), Chosen as AACR President-Elect for 2023–2024
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have selected Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), as the AACR President-Elect for 2023–2024. Dr. LoRusso became President-Elect during the AACR’s Annual Business Meeting of Members at the AACR Annual Meeting 2023 in Orlando,...
How Effectively Are You Helping Patients With Cancer at the End of Life?
“Providing hope when there is little to hope for is hard,” noted Hyman B. Muss, MD, Professor of Medicine and the Mary Jones Hudson Distinguished Professor of Geriatric Oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the 2023 Miami...
Dabrafenib With Trametinib for Pediatric Low-Grade Glioma With BRAF V600E Mutation
On March 16, 2023, dabrafenib with trametinib was approved for pediatric patients aged 1 year and older with low-grade glioma with a BRAF V600E mutation who require systemic therapy.1,2 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also approved new oral formulations of both drugs suitable for patients who ...
Homage to a Giant in Hematology: The Fascinating Story of the Quest to Cure Leukemia
Bone marrow transplantation in leukemia is one of the great success stories in the history of oncology, as is that of the late Nobel Laureate E. Donnall Thomas, MD, the pioneering clinical researcher whose name is synonymous with life-saving marrow transplantation. Dr. Thomas, who was born in the...
