December 15, 2014 (View All Issues)
- Robert Peter Gale,...
PD-1 Blockade Moves Into Hematology
The promise of the programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitors seen in solid tumors, especially melanoma, may hold true for at least one hematologic malignancy, according to studies presented at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
At a press briefing,...
Transplants for AML in First Remission: A Great Leap Forward, Sideways, or Backward?
“All great truths begin as blasphemies.”
—George Bernard Shaw
(Annajanksa, 1918)
Until about 15 years ago, persons with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) were considered candidates to receive a blood cell or bone marrow allotransplant in first remission only if they had had an HLA-identical...
CMS Issues Preliminary Decision to Cover Annual Lung Cancer Screening
In a long-awaited decision, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a preliminary proposal to cover annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography for appropriate beneficiaries following counseling and a shared–decision-making visit with a qualified...
Lung Cancer Expert Offers Recommendations for Treating Toxicities Associated With Targeted Therapies
Clearly life as a thoracic oncologist has changed. Our paradigm for giving one-size-fits-all chemotherapy seems a bit dated, as we now are learning that there are multiple targets that we can treat effectively with the right drugs,” Jyoti D. Patel, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at...
Revisiting Successes in Advanced NSCLC to Test Value in Earlier-Stage Disease
Some pretty good evidence suggests that chemotherapy that works in advanced disease probably works even better in early-stage disease,” said Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, Chair, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, in summarizing results from trials of...
Private Payer and Academic Center Data Capture Inappropriate Use of End-of-Life Care
Data sharing between a comprehensive cancer center and a private insurer appears to be a novel way to capture practice patterns that can point to potential quality improvements. A study that combined data from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts showed that some ...
Study Reveals Gaps in Symptom Management
The Patient-Reported Outcomes Symptoms and Side-Effects Study demonstrated that many cancer patients treated in community cancer centers are not discussing their common symptoms like pain, fatigue, and emotional distress with their oncologists/health-care team or receiving advice about how to...
Breast Cancer Research Foundation Commits Record $58.6 Million in Research Grants
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) announced its dedication of $58.6 million to breast cancer research at its annual Symposium & Awards Luncheon. Totaling $47 million, the 2014–2015 annual grants, awarded to more than 220 physicians and scientists on six continents, continue to fuel...
3D Mammography Improves Cancer Detection in Dense Breasts
A study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA 2014) has found that digital breast tomosynthesis, also known as three-dimensional (3D) mammography, has the potential to significantly increase the cancer detection rate in mammography screening of women...
Hedgehog Inhibitors Can Be Life-Altering in Patients With Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma
What advanced basal cell carcinomas lack in frequency, they make up for in morbidity, and for these challenging patients, the hedgehog inhibitors have changed lives, according to experts at the 3rd Annual World Cutaneous Malignancies Congress, held recently in San Francisco.
“The majority of basal ...
New Serologic Assay May Help Predict Recurrences in Merkel Cell Carcinoma
A new and inexpensive serologic assay may help to predict recurrences of Merkel cell carcinoma, according to Paul Nghiem, MD, PhD, the Michael Piepkorn Endowed Chair in Dermatology Research at the University of Washington, Seattle, who helped develop the test.1 Dr. Nghiem and other experts in...
Choice for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: FOLFIRINOX or Gemcitabine/Nab-Paclitaxel?
The choice between FOLFIRINOX (fluorouracil [5-FU], leucovorin, irinotecan, oxaliplatin) vs the combination of gemcitabine and nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel (Abraxane) for first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer is not much of a contest, judging by a discussion of...
Lung Cancer: Next Frontier for Immunotherapy
Immune checkpoint inhibitors, particularly PD-1 (programmed cell death-1) and PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) inhibitors, are being studied extensively in lung cancer. These agents, alone and in combination, appear to have the potential to change the management of non–small cell lung cancer...
ASCO Clinical Expert Statement on Cancer Survivorship Care Planning
Efforts at implementing survivorship care plans have met with limited success in oncology practice, in part due to the time required to complete them, the lack of role clarity, and the lack of reimbursement for time to complete the documents. In response, ASCO convened a Survivorship Care Planning...
ASCO Expert Statement on Cancer Survivorship Care Planning: Timing Is Everything
As the saying goes, “Timing is everything.” And so it is with the recently released ASCO Clinical Expert Statement on survivorship care planning.1 Although there has been extensive discussion and debate about the use of survivorship care plans since the publication of the 2005 Institute of Medicine ...
Marlo Thomas Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
On November 24, 2014, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® National Outreach Director, Marlo Thomas, was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, during a special ceremony at the White House. With Ms. Thomas as its envoy to millions of supporters, St. ...
Crizotinib Is Highly Active in ROS1-Rearranged NSCLC
Crizotinib (Xalkori) produced a high response rate and durable responses in patients with ROS1-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.1 Lead authors Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center,...
Moving a Mountain: Crizotinib in ROS1-Rearranged NSCLC
It was thousands of years ago in China. An elderly man was unhappy with the mountain that embraced his seaside village. He would need to walk for hours before he could reach the nearest town. So, as the old fable goes, he set his mind to move the mountain. Every day, he dug up basketfuls of rocks...
Phase II Study Shows Improved Survival With Addition of Sargramostim to Ipilimumab in Metastatic Melanoma
Use of the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) sargramostim (Leukine) together with the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) prolonged overall survival but not progression-free survival in patients with metastatic melanoma,...
Getting the Most Out of Ipilimumab in Melanoma
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2011 on the basis of an improvement in overall survival compared with gp100 vaccine in patients with advanced melanoma.1 Response rates with ipilimumab have been modest at best—10% to 15% using 3 mg/kg and 15%...
Racing Against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia:
CTL019 Is a Fast CAR With Sustained Endurance
The long-term outcome for patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is poor, with 5-year overall survival from first relapse being only approximately 10%.1,2 Patients with disease relapse following allogeneic transplant have the worse prognosis and are typically...
Benefits of Exercise for Relieving Fatigue in Cancer Survivors
Fatigue is such a common—and ongoing—problem among cancer survivors, last spring, ASCO published a clinical practice guideline1 to address screening, assessment, and treatment approaches for the management of fatigue after patients have completed treatment. Among the strategies included in the...
Immune-Suppressing Protein in Noncancerous Cells of Cancer Patients Offers Clue to Drug Response
A multicenter phase I study using an investigational immune therapy drug has found that the presence of the immune-suppressing protein PD-L1 in noncancerous immune cells can predict how patients with different types of advanced cancer will respond to treatment. The study, led by a Yale Cancer...
Policy Issues in Molecularly Targeted Therapy: The Science, the Money, the Applications
In the past decade, much new knowledge about the molecular underpinnings of cancer has accumulated, and the array of molecular aberrations in each individual tumor can be assessed through genomic sequencing and other tests. The rationale for and feasibility of developing molecularly targeted...
Conquer Cancer Foundation and Michael’s Mission Work Together to Conquer Colorectal Cancer
"Nobody tells a 28 year old to get a colonoscopy.”
It’s the sad but true reality that many young adults may be at risk for colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, many people, young adults in particular, are not aware of the risk factors and do not get screened early enough to catch the disease when it...
Looking to the Future: ASCO’s 50th Anniversary Year Comes to a Close
Fifty years ago, a group of seven cancer physicians banded together with a single purpose: to improve the care of people with cancer. At the time, cancer was viewed as a monolithic and frequently incurable disease, with only a handful of hard-to-tolerate and mostly ineffective therapies available....
Cancer Care Incomplete Without Palliative Care Integration
ASCO recognizes that an array of efforts are needed to fully integrate palliative care into the cancer care continuum, and the Society is committed to facilitating the integration of palliative cancer care into existing health-care systems worldwide in order to realize the vision of comprehensive...
Don’t Forget: Make Your Year-End Gift to the Conquer Cancer Foundation
The end of the year is often a busy time, filled with family, friends, and holiday celebrations. For many, it is also a time to embrace the spirit of giving and make annual donations to favorite charities.
The Conquer Cancer Foundation leverages the expertise and passion of ASCO’s members to...
Latest From the Cancer.Net Blog
Direct your patients to the Cancer.Net blog for practical tips for living with cancer, suggestions to help patients and families cope with the disease, and research news and guidelines from ASCO. The latest posts include an interview and podcast on the role of Licensed Marriage and Family...
FDA Guidance on the Use of Pathologic Complete Response in Development of New Treatments for High-Risk Early Breast Cancer Includes ASCO Suggestions
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) final Guidance for Industry on Pathologic Complete Response in Neoadjuvant Treatment of High-Risk Early-Stage Breast Cancer incorporates two changes that ASCO had proposed in comments submitted to the agency on a draft guidance issued in 2012.
The...
ASCO Institute for Quality Launches New CancerLinQ Microsite
ASCO has launched CancerLinQ.org to house all news and information about this cutting-edge health information technology platform that will provide real-time quality feedback to providers, uncover patterns that can improve care, and feed personalized decision support to physicians.
Learn how the...
RSNA Awards Gold Medal to Three Leaders in Radiology
The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) awarded the Gold Medal, the organization’s highest honor, to three individuals at the RSNA 100th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting: Gary J. Becker, MD, of Tucson; Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, of Alexandria, Virginia; and Etta D. Pisano, MD, of...
Palliative Care in 2014
Palliative care expert Diane E. Meier, MD, is the Director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), a national organization devoted to enhancing the number and quality of palliative care programs across the nation. Under her leadership, the number of palliative care programs in the United...
Ixazomib Receives Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Relapsed or Refractory Systemic Light-Chain Amyloidosis
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy status to Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ investigational, oral proteasome inhibitor, ixazomib (MLN9708), for the treatment of relapsed or refractory systemic light-chain amyloidosis. This is the first proteasome inhibitor and...
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Investigational CAR T-Cell Therapy
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to JCAR015, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor therapy developed by Juno Therapeutics. The designation applies for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and was...
Dr. Matthew J. Ellis Named Director of Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center
Matthew J. Ellis, MD, PhD, a renowned clinician scientist in the area of genomics and molecular profiling of breast cancer, was named the new Director of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Ellis assumed his new role in September 2014, succeeding C. Kent...
Karmanos Cancer Institute’s Hayley Thompson, PhD, Awarded $1.8 Million Grant to Improve Access to Cancer Survivor Resources
Hayley S. Thompson, PhD, Associate Professor, Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Department of Oncology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, was recently awarded a $1.8 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research...
Antacids Linked to Better Survival in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer
Patients with head and neck cancer who used antacid medicines to control acid reflux had better overall survival, according to a study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Results of the study were published in Cancer Prevention Research.1
Reflux can be a common side effect ...
AACR CEO Discusses the Global Status of Cancer at Seminar in Turin, Italy
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), recently spoke at the Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC) in Turin, Italy, on November 25. Her lecture was titled “Reflections on the Global Cancer Research
Landscape.”
The...
Debate Over Legalizing Physician-Assisted Death for the Terminally Ill
On November 1, 2014, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard ended her life through physician-assisted death, reigniting the controversy surrounding Death With Dignity laws, which allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients. Diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme in January, Ms. ...
ASH Releases Second List for Choosing Wisely Campaign
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has announced five additional commonly used tests, treatments, and procedures in hematology that physicians and patients should question in certain circumstances. The additional items join an initial list of five practices to question that the Society...
Second Annual JADPRO Live Conference Attracts 400 Advanced Practitioners in Oncology From Across the Nation
The second annual JADPRO Live: Transforming Oncology Practice was held October 30 to November 2 in Orlando, Florida. The conference drew nearly 400 nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, advanced-degree nurses, hematology/oncology nurses, pharmacists, and...
Aloe Vera
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and...
FDA Approves Blinatumomab to Treat Rare Form of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to blinatumomab (Blincyto) for the treatment of patients with Philadelphia chromosome–negative, relapsed or refractory precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-cell ALL). Blinatumomab is a bispecific...
Necuparanib Receives Fast Track Designation From the FDA for the Treatment of Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to the investigation of necuparanib as a first-line treatment in combination with paclitaxel and gemcitabine in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Necuparanib is a novel oncology drug candidate engineered from...
Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Soft-Tissue Sarcomas
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes details of actively recruiting clinical studies of children and adults with various types of soft-tissue sarcoma, including non-rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, and Kaposi sarcoma. The studies...
Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories
Bookmark
Title: Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories
Author: Terrence Holt, MD
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: September 2014
Price: $24.95; hardcover, 288 pages
“This book is the story of a residency in internal medicine. I wrote it over a period of 10...
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
Bookmark
Title: Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
Authors: Judy Melinek, MD,
and T.J. Mitchell
Publisher: Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc
Publication Date: August 2014
Price: $25.00; hardcover, 272 pages
Just as the sun came up...
2014 Oncology Meetings
JANUARY 2015
Melanoma 2015: 25th Annual Cutaneous Malignancy Update
January 10-11 • San Diego, California
For more information:
www.scripps.org/events/melanoma-annual-cutaneous-malignancy-update-january-10-2015
7th Breast Gynecological International Cancer Conference
January 15-16 • Cairo, Egypt
...
Top 10 Articles From The ASCO Post in 2014
The following list presents those articles published in 2014 that were observed most often by visitors to ASCOPost.com, as measured by the number of views.a To view the full version of the articles listed below, visit ASCOPost.com and enter the URL provided below each entry.
The Wedding Picture
The following essay by Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, is excerpted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories (May 2014), coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org.
Life and hope are why we go ...
FDA Approves Ruxolitinib to Treat Patients With Polycythemia Vera
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new use for ruxolitinib (Jakafi) to treat patients with polycythemia vera, a chronic type of bone marrow disease. Ruxolitinib, a JAK inhibitor, is the first drug approved by the FDA for this condition.
Polycythemia vera occurs when too many...
Appetite-Enhancing Agent Helps Patients Treated for NSCLC Gain Weight and Lean Body Mass and Feel Better
People have an image of stage III or IV lung cancer patients getting chemotherapy or chemoradiation, and they look terrible; they are losing weight. The fact is, when they respond, they can gain weight,” according to Philip Bonomi, MD, MS. He is the lead author of a phase III study showing that the ...
Regis Chair for Breast Cancer Research Established
In partnership with the Regis Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, Regis Corporation, a leader in beauty salons and cosmetology, has announced that the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, has established the Regis Chair for Breast Cancer Research. This milestone...
Functional Kinomics Identifies WEE1 Kinase as Target in Head and Neck Cancer
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Moser and colleagues used RNA interference kinase viability screens to identify survival kinases (involved in G2-M cell-cycle checkpoint, SFK, PI3K, and FAK pathways) in p53-mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Selected kinase targets were...
Lipophilic Bisphosphonate Plus Rapamycin Active in KRAS-Mutant Lung Cancer
KRAS-mutant lung adenocarcinoma has not been successfully targeted therapeutically. In a study reported in Science Translational Medicine, Xia and colleagues found that the combination of lipophilic bisphosphonates and rapamycin exhibited promising activity in this setting.
Lipophilic...
Dual HER2 Targeting Inhibits HER2-Amplified Uterine Serous Carcinoma
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Groeneweg and colleagues found that dual HER2 targeting showed greater activity than a single agent in HER2-amplified uterine serious carcinoma.
In the study, ARK1, ARK2, and SPEC2 cell lines were treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) or lapatinib...
Intraperitoneal Oxidative Stress Induces Tumoricidal Immune Response in Papillomavirus-Linked Head/Neck Cancer
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Rossmann and colleagues found that induction of oxidative stress via O3/O2 pneumoperitoneum treatment in the papillomavirus-associated rabbit auricular VX2 carcinoma model of head and neck cancer resulted in a tumoricidal immune response that could...
Checkpoint Blockade Immunotherapy Targets Tumor-Specific Mutant Antigens
In a study reported in Nature, Gubin and colleagues showed that the effects of CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein-4) and PD-1 PD-1 (programmed cell death protein-1) inhibitors (checkpoint blockade) are achieved through targeting of tumor-specific mutant antigens. In the study,...
WEE1 Inhibition Sensitizes Pancreatic Cancer to PARP Inhibitor Radiosensitization
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Karnak and colleagues found that WEE1 kinase inhibition increased the sensitivity of pancreas cancer to the radiosensitizing effects of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibition.
Treatment of human pancreatic cancer AsPC-1 and MiaPaCa-2 cells...
PD-L1 Expression by Tumor-Infiltrating Cells Associated With Activity of Anti–PD-L1 Antibody in Multiple Cancer Types
Programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) interferes with anticancer immune response by binding programmed PD-1 and B7.1 (CD80), negative regulators of T-cell activation. In a study reported in Nature, Herbst and colleagues showed that treatment with an anti–PD-L1 antibody (MPDL3280A) produced ...
Predicting Immunogenic Tumor Neoantigens With Combined Mass Spectrometry and Exome Sequencing
Peptides containing tumor somatic mutations are potentially immunogenic if presented on major histocompatibility complex class I molecules (MHC-I), and it has been shown that such mutant peptides act as T-cell epitopes. In a study reported in Nature, Yadav and colleagues developed an approach...
Obinutuzumab May Have Synergistic Action With New Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors
Final results from the phase I/II GAUGUIN study showed that obinutuzumab (Gazyva) monotherapy was active in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, European researchers reported in Blood. In phase II, median progression-free survival was 10.7 months,...
Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Have Improved Outcome With FOLFOXIRI and Bevacizumab
Patients with untreated metastatic colorectal cancer who received FOLFOXIRI (folinic acid, fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, irintotecan) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) had improved survival compared with patients who received FOLFIRI (folinic acid, fluorouracil, irintotecan) plus bevacizumab in a phase III...
Small Risk-Adjusted Variation in Hospital Readmissions Following Colorectal Cancer Surgery
“Little risk-adjusted variation exists in hospital readmission rates after colorectal surgery,” according to an analysis of data from 44,822 patients who underwent colorectal resection for cancer at 1,401 U.S. hospitals between 1997 and 2002. “The use of readmission rates as a high-stakes quality...
Personalized Genetic and Environmental Risk Assessment Does Not Increase Use of Colorectal Cancer Screening
Individualized genetic and environmental risk assessment of susceptibility to colorectal cancer does not influence adherence to screening in average-risk persons, according to results from a two-group, randomized, controlled trial. Among patients who received genetic and environmental risk...
Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, Helped Usher in the Era of Chemotherapy, Turning Lethal Cancers Into Curable Ones
Although Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, MD, harbored fantasies as a young child of becoming an ice deliveryman when he grew up, his love of chemistry and biology, as well as admonitions from his mother, Isabel, “to become a doctor,” propelled him toward a career in medicine. Now, more than 6 decades later, ...
ASH Honors Senator Barbara Mikulski and Patient Advocate Kathy Giusti
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Kathy Giusti, Founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, with awards for their outstanding support and advocacy for biomedical research and the practice of hematology at the 56th ASH Annual Meeting in...
2014 Featured Columnists
The ASCO Post wishes to acknowledge and thank all contributors to the publication during 2014. Here we recognize those who shared their personal thoughts in our Op-Ed department.
If you are interested in contributing to The ASCO Post in 2015, write to editor@ASCOPost.com.
