May 10, 2025 (View All Issues)
Addition of Perioperative Pembrolizumab to Standard of Care in Newly Diagnosed Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer
In the phase III KEYNOTE-689 trial, perioperative use of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab given with standard therapy significantly improved event-free survival in newly diagnosed, previously untreated patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, researchers reported at the ...
Therapy With a Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor for EGFR-Variant Lung Adenocarcinoma: Lessons From Chronic Myeloid Leukemia?
There has been remarkable progress in treating EGFR-variant lung adenocarcinoma with tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as gefitinib, erlotinib, osimertinib, and afatinib. However, several important issues remain unresolved, including whether there remains a role for chemotherapy, who should receive a ...
Cancer, Aging, and Meaning: Navigating Psychosocial Challenges
I’ve learned a lot about medicine over the years, but one thing I wasn’t taught was how to guide someone through the existential weight of dying. My education centered on diagnosing, curing, or at least managing disease—not on the delicate art of helping people and their loved ones cope with what...
Quick Takes on Research Findings on Novel Therapies for Gynecologic Cancers
The 2025 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer advanced the field with updates of practice-changing trials and other research that challenges the conventional approaches to treating gynecologic cancers. We have briefly captured some of that research here for readers ...
Study Shows Disparities in Diagnosing Endometrial Cancer in Women With Postmenopausal Bleeding
Angela Nolin, MD, a gynecologic oncology fellow at Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues conducted a multi-institutional study to determine whether racial differences in transvaginal ultrasound efficacy combined with timely receipt of indicated endometrial...
Evolving Role of Surgical De-escalation for Endometrial, Ovarian, Cervical, and Vulvar Cancers
For more than a decade, the field of gynecologic oncology has witnessed a movement toward surgical de-escalation through the increased use of minimally invasive surgical techniques and sentinel lymph node techniques. At the 2025 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s...
Is Active Monitoring a Safe Option for Patients With Ductal Carcinoma In Situ?
With right-sizing treatment an aim of many treatment approaches in breast cancer today, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), as well as its overtreatment, has become a potential target of change. Which patients, however, might safely forgo the current recommendations and be safely followed with active...
Richard Pazdur, MD, Honored With 2025 AACR Enduring Impact Award for Transformative Service to Cancer Science and Medicine
During the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, Richard Pazdur, MD, Director of the Oncology Center of Excellence at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), accepted the 2025 AACR Enduring Impact Award for Transformative Service to Cancer Science and Medicine...
Off-the-Shelf Natural Killer CAR T-Cell Therapy Shows Efficacy in Small Study of Relapsed or Refractory Blood Cancers
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in 2017 to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.1 Over the past decade, other CAR T-cell therapies have been FDA approved to treat adults with blood cancers, including...
Final Overall Survival Data: Amivantamab-vmjw Plus Lazertinib vs Osimertinib in EGFR-Mutated Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The phase III MARIPOSA trial was a head-to-head comparison of the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor osimertinib and the combination of the bispecific EGF receptor–directed and MET receptor–directed monoclonal antibody amivantamab-vmjw and the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor lazertinib in the first-line ...
Venetoclax-Based Therapy for Patients With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia
“Knowledge is like a lion; it cannot be gently embraced.” –South African Proverb
Long-term efficacy and safety confirm that a hypomethylating agent and venetoclax is an improvement in the standard of care for patients with AML who are not eligible for intensive chemotherapy because of advanced age ...
FDA Approves Anti–PD-1 Antibody for Nasopharyngeal Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the humanized IgG1 monoclonal anti–PD-1 antibody penpulimab-kcqx with cisplatin or carboplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with recurrent or metastatic nonkeratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The FDA also...
2024 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer Finds Mortality Rates Continue to Decline
Overall deaths from cancer over the past 2 decades have steadily declined in both men and women in the United States, according to the 2024 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, which was published by Recinda L. Sherman, MPH, PhD, ODS-C, of the North American Association of Central ...
Joint Clinical Practice Guideline Addresses Opioid Conversion for Patients With Cancer
Several medical organizations recently released a joint Clinical Practice Guideline to provide recommendations on opioid conversion in adults with cancer.1 ASCO, together with the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine,...
ASH Studies Bolster Support for Menin Inhibitor in Acute Leukemia
The recent approval of the oral menin inhibitor revumenib brought much-needed treatment to patients with a challenging subset of disease: adults and children with relapsed or refractory acute leukemia harboring a lysine methyltransferase 2A gene (KMT2A) translocation or rearrangement. Approval was...
Is Clonal Cytopenia of Undetermined Significance Distinct From Lower-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome?
High-risk patients with clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance have very similar characteristics and outcomes as patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), which can be informative with regard to prognosis, management, and clinical trial eligibility, said Zhuoer (Zoey) Xie, MD, ...
Novel BTK and BCL2 Inhibitors Redefine CLL Treatment Across Front-Line and Relapsed Settings
Two pivotal phase III trials presented at the 2024 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition mark a significant shift toward chemotherapy-free approaches in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), offering potentially more effective and tolerable treatment options for both...
Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, Honored With 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research
The 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research was presented to Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, during the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago. This award honors individuals who have made significant fundamental contributions to cancer...
How the Cancer Moonshot Is Making a Difference for Patients Here and Across the World
Catharine Young, PhD, has spent the past decade of her career focused on cancer policy and advocacy. A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr. Young served as Senior Director of Science Policy at the Biden Cancer Initiative, which began in 2017 by then former Vice President Joe Biden. There she...
Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR, Elected as AACR President-Elect for 2025–2026
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR, as the AACR President-Elect for 2025–2026. He will assume the Presidency in April 2026 at the AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Dr. Flaherty is Director of Clinical Cancer Research and...
Building and Sharing Dietary Evidence in Cancer Care
Guest Editor’s Note: Several epidemiologic studies have shown an inverse association between healthy dietary patterns and the risk of chronic diseases including cancer. Patients are often interested in exploring different dietary interventions throughout the cancer continuum. However, concrete...
Remembering Roswell Park Leader Thomas B. Tomasi, Jr, MD, PhD
Thomas B. Tomasi, Jr, MD, PhD, who led Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center as President and Chief Executive Officer from 1986 to 1996, died on March 23 at age 97. His tenure marked a renaissance at Roswell Park that elevated it to a place among the nation’s top cancer centers.
The pinnacle...
How Could So Many Physicians Have Failed Me?
The first sign that something was terribly wrong was in 2015, when I began to feel so fatigued that it was difficult to get out of bed even after 8 to 10 hours of sleep. I’ve been full of energy my whole life and couldn’t understand why I was so tired all the time. Then I began to experience...
Applications Are Now Open for the 2025 Integrative Oncology Scholars Program and Integrative Oncology Fellows Program
Applications are now being accepted for the 2025 Integrative Oncology Scholars Program and Integrative Oncology Fellows Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (https://sites.google.com/view/integrative-oncology-scholars-/home). Launched in 2018, the Integrative Oncology Scholars Program ...
Renowned Breast Cancer Physician-Scientist Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, to Lead Women’s Cancers Program at City of Hope
Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, recently joined the staff of City of Hope as the new Director of the Women’s Cancers Program, Division Chief of Breast Medical Oncology, and Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research. In her role, she will lead and enhance City of Hope’s...
