September 25, 2015 (View All Issues)
First-Line Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Combination in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Shown to Be Tolerable
For advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), first-line treatment with combined immune checkpoint blockade—in novel doses and schedules—was associated with deep and durable responses, encouraging progression-free survival, and much better tolerability than has been previously observed with...
Our Children’s Future Is Our Responsibility
Cancer prevention is a child-care issue. With many of cancer’s instigators planting their seeds during childhood, we—as a profession and as a nation—must seize this important window of opportunity to protect the health and well-being of future generations.
Current estimates suggest that up to...
Making Their Voices Heard: 118 Oncologists Speak Out About Stemming the High Cost of Cancer Drugs
In a bold move to shed light on the ramifications of the ever-increasing cost of cancer drugs for patients with cancer and for the health-care system, 118 prominent oncologists came together to write a commentary in Mayo Clinic Proceedings detailing their concerns.1 To learn more about these...
Double-Hit Lymphoma: Many Treatment Strategies, No Standard of Care
"Double-hit lymphoma” represents a challenging malignancy without a standard-of-care treatment, although outcomes for some patients are better than was once believed, according to Jonathon B. Cohen, MD, Assistant Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University, Atlanta. Dr. Cohen...
ASCO Statement Addresses Recommendations for Obesity Clinical Trials in Cancer Survivors
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, ASCO has issued a statement providing recommendations for obesity clinical trials in cancer survivors.1 ASCO convened the Research Summit on Advancing Obesity Clinical...
Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Is Transplantation Still Necessary?
Autologous stem cell transplantation has played a critical role in the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma, but in the age of novel treatments, is it always warranted? Two experts in the field explored the question at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference sponsored by...
ASH Honors John C. Byrd, MD, With 2015 William Dameshek Prize
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will present the 2015 William Dameshek Prize to John C. Byrd, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James) for his contributions to the development of...
Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, Presented With 2015 Addario Lectureship Award
The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) honored Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, with the 2015 Addario Lectureship Award for his continued leadership and expertise in lung cancer treatment and research. Dr. Hirsch, CEO of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC),...
Jinghui Zhang, PhD, Named Chair of Computational Biology at St. Jude
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has named Jinghui Zhang, PhD, as the first Chair of the Department of Computational Biology. She will hold the St. Jude Endowed Chair in Bioinformatics.
Computational biology applies mathematics and computer science to the study of genomics, systems biology,...
NCI Awards SPORE Grant to Mayo Clinic Multiple Myeloma Research Team
A team of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center scientists has been awarded a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in multiple myeloma from the National Cancer Institute. The Center is one of only three cancer centers to receive a SPORE grant for multiple myeloma cancer research.
“With...
Yale Cancer Center Receives $11 Million SPORE Grant for Lung Cancer Research
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently awarded Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven a Specialized Program of Research Excellence, or SPORE, grant worth $11 million. The Yale SPORE will launch a new research program in non–small cell lung cancer.
The new research...
HPV-Positive Head and Neck Cancer: When Can Chemotherapy Be Omitted?
Are there patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) for whom chemotherapy can be omitted? Experts debated this question at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference in Sea Island, Georgia,...
Rolapitant for Prevention of Delayed Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs.
On September 2, 2015, rolapitant (Varubi) was approved for use in...
Managing High-Risk Patients With Febrile Neutropenia
Febrile neutropenia is of particular concern in high-risk patients who have undergone stem cell transplant, according to William J. Hogan, MB, BCh, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Hogan delivered an update on febrile neutropenia management in this...
Radiation Oncology Looks to Collaboration for Big Data Systems
Radiation oncologists dream of a day when, faced with a new patient sitting in their office, they can quickly consult a computer database offering specific treatment recommendations based on accurate, freshly updated data from millions of previously treated patients with cancer. To hasten that day, ...
Bevacizumab Plus Standard Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Mesothelioma
The standard of care for malignant pleural mesothelioma may be poised for change, judging by results from a study by the French Cooperative Thoracic Intergroup. The addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) in the first-line setting to the current standard of care, pemetrexed (Alimta)/cisplatin, improved...
James P. Allison, PhD, Wins Clinical Medical Research Lasker-DeBakey Award
James P. Allison, PhD, Chair of Immunology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been named the 2015 winner of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The Lasker awards, in their 70th year, honor major achievements in basic...
One Doctor’s Road to Palliative Care Services in the Inner City
St. Barnabas Hospital is located in the heart of Bronx, New York, and as such, it has a culturally diverse, largely poor, patient population. The backbone of successful palliative care services is the doctor-patient communication bonding process. However, many of the patients with late-stage cancer ...
Tari King, MD, Named Chief of Breast Surgical Services at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center
Tari King, MD, has been appointed Chief of Breast Surgery at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center (DF/BWCC). Dr. King will hold appointments at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Faulkner Hospital, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Dr. King will oversee breast surgery in the DF/BWCC, which...
2015 ASTRO Gold Medal Recipients Announced
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has chosen three radiation oncology physicians and researchers to receive the 2015 ASTRO Gold Medal: Carl R. Bogardus, Jr, MD, FASTRO; Carl M. Mansfield, MD, ScD (Hon), FASTRO; and James B. Mitchell, PhD, FASTRO. Drs. Bogardus, Mansfield, and...
Texas Center for Proton Therapy Names Chang Chang, PhD, Director of Physics
Chang Chang, PhD, a leader in proton therapy medical physics, has been named Director of Physics at Texas Center for Proton Therapy.
Previously, as Senior Medical Physicist at ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Somerset, New Jersey, Dr. Chang was involved in the commissioning of new proton...
Carl H. June, MD, Awarded the 2015 Watanabe Prize
Carl H. June, MD, an internationally recognized leader in the growing field of immunotherapy, was awarded the Watanabe Prize at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) on September 11 on the campus of Indiana University–Purdue University...
ASTRO Awards Seven Physician-Researchers $675,000 in Grants for Radiation Oncology Research
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected seven leading physician-researchers to receive a total of $675,000 in awards and grants to advance radiation oncology research. Together, the grants will support studies in cancer biology, radiation physics, translational research,...
FDA Approves Rolapitant for Prevention of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rolapitant (Varubi) to prevent delayed-phase chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Rolapitant is approved in adults in combination with other antiemetic agents that prevent nausea and vomiting associated with initial and repeat courses of...
Barbara Pro, MD, Joins the Lurie Cancer Center
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University announced the addition of medical oncologist Barbara Pro, MD. A leader in the research and treatment of lymphomas, Dr. Pro joined the Lurie Cancer Center in September 2015. She has been appointed Professor of Medicine in...
Lurie Cancer Center Receives $11.7 Million NCI Grant to Improve Treatment Using Nanotechnology
Northwestern University has received a 5-year, $11.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to use nanotechnology to develop next-generation cancer treatments.
With NCI support, the new Northwestern University Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (Northwestern CCNE) will use ...
ASCO University® Releases 2015 Curricula for Advanced Practice Providers (ACAPP™)
ASCO University has released an updated version of ASCO’s Curricula for Advanced Practice Providers (ACAPP™). This popular series assists with the orientation of advanced practice providers (APPs) into oncology practices—a growing need as increasing numbers of APPs are hired to meet the demand for...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Donor Spotlight: Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation
When Tucker Davis was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FL-HCC) in 2008, there was very little information about this very rare cancer and, as Tucker would soon discover, even fewer treatment options available. An annoying cough and sharp pain radiating down his back leg...
Be a Voice in The Campaign to Conquer Cancer
We’ll provide the resources. You provide the voice. The Campaign to Conquer Cancer is raising $150 million to support a world free from the fear of cancer. Our potential to raise money increases with every new person who learns about our work. We need the most trusted leaders in the oncology...
ASCO Urges Expansion of Cancer Research to Include Older Adults
ASCO issued landmark recommendations in the Journal of Clinical Oncology calling for federal agencies and the cancer research community to broaden clinical trials to include older adults (age 65 and older) and to redefine trial eligibility.
More than 60% of cancers in the United States occur in...
Food Safety for Patients With Cancer
Cancer.Net and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service have collaborated on an infographic of food safety tips for people with cancer. This infographic is an excellent way to help your patients understand which foods are safe to eat, which foods to avoid,...
ASCO Continues to Support 21st Century Cures
The U.S. House of Representatives passed monumental legislation that will accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of promising new cancer treatments. The 21st Century Cures Act advances big data and precision medicine and strengthens the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug...
FDA Grants Regular Approval to Brentuximab Vedotin in High-Risk Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) as post–autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation consolidation treatment for patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma at high risk of relapse or progression, Seattle Genetics has announced.
The approval is...
FDA Accepts for Priority Review the Biologics License Application for Elotuzumab for the Treatment of Relapsed Multiple Myeloma
Bristol-Myers Squibb and AbbVie recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for priority review the Biologics License Application for elotuzumab, an investigational signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAMF7)-directed immunostimulatory antibody, for the...
NCI Awards Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of New Mexico Cancer Center Comprehensive Cancer Center Designations
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently awarded Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah and The UNM Cancer Center (UNMCC) at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center status.
An NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center must demonstrate depth and breadth of...
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Nivolumab Is Active in Patients With Heavily Pretreated Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
In a phase I cohort expansion trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Scott N. Gettinger, MD, of Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues found that monotherapy with the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor antibody nivolumab (Opdivo)...
Differing Patterns of Breast Cancer Risk After Hormone Therapy With Estrogen Plus Progestin or Estrogen Alone
In an analysis of Women’s Health Initiative trials reported in JAMA Oncology, Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and colleagues found differing patterns of breast cancer risk among women receiving menopausal hormone therapy with estrogen plus progestin or estrogen alone.1...
Updated Analysis of Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer Risk
As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Chlebowski and colleagues1 reported differing patterns of breast cancer risk during or after hormonal therapy with estrogen plus progestin2 or estrogen alone,3 in an analysis of two Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trials. This recent update on risk...
Statin Use at Start of Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Increases Time to Progression During Treatment of Prostate Cancer
Statin use has been associated with improved outcomes in prostate cancer. In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Lauren C. Harshman, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues found that statin use at the time of the initiation of androgen-deprivation therapy was associated with...
MD Anderson Names Valerae O. Lewis, MD, Chair of Orthopaedic Oncology
Valerae O. Lewis, MD, has been named Chair of Orthopaedic Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Lewis has been a faculty member at MD Anderson for 15 years, serving in a variety of roles. The unit she will lead, the Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, is a new...
ASCO 2015: Geriatric Oncology Highlights
The theme of the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, Illumination and Innovation, is especially appropriate as we consider the field of geriatric oncology. For too long, the elderly cancer patient has remained in the dark regarding treatment planning, clinical trial enrollment, and shared decision-making.
...
Why It Is Important to Have a Physiatrist on a Cancer Care Team
Physical medicine and rehabilitation in oncology care explores the benefits of cancer rehabilitation in oncology clinical practice to screen survivors for physical and cognitive impairments along the care continuum to minimize survivors’ disability and maximize their quality of life.
According to...
Microbes by the Trillions
BOOKMARK
Title: 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness
Author: Alanna Collen
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: April 27, 2015
Price: $39.99; hardcover, 400 pages
"As I walked back through the forest that night in the summer of 2005, with twenty bats in...
2015 Oncology Meetings
OCTOBER
Advances in Cancer ImmunotherapyTM
October 2 • Nashville, Tennessee
For more information:
www.sitcancer.org/sitc-meetings/aci2015/tn
Institute for Clinical Immuno-Oncology (ICLIO) 1st Annual National Conference
October 2 • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
For more information:
An Unvarnished, Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hospital Nurse
BOOKMARK
Title: The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles With the Heroes of the Hospital
Author: Alexandra Robbins
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Publication date: April 14, 20155
Price: $17.53; hardcover, 368 pages
Florence Nightingale, the most famous and influential figure in...
In Search of a Good Ending for a Life Well Lived
BOOKMARK
Title: The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-life Care
Author: Angelo E. Volandes, MD
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: January 13, 2015
Price: $26.00; hardcover, 240 pages
A quick Google search on books about end-of-life care will yield pages of hits on the subject. The...
ASCO Policy Statement Update: Genetic and Genomic Testing for Cancer Susceptibility
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Mark E. Robson, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, ASCO has issued a policy statement update on genetic and genomic testing for cancer susceptibility.1 The statement, commissioned by ASCO’s Cancer Prevention and Ethics...
Internationally Acclaimed Cancer Researcher, Gianni Bonadonna, MD, Dies at 81
Gianni Bonadonna, MD, was considered the “Father of Italian Oncology,” but his scientific contributions to the field and his generous collegial spirit extended far beyond the shores of his native land. Dr. Bonadonna was at the forefront in the battle to convince the surgical establishment that...
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, Joins NYU Langone and Perlmutter Cancer Center
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, an expert in immunotherapy and melanoma, will join the senior faculty of NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. Dr. Weber will serve as Deputy Director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center and Codirector of its Melanoma Program and will...
Let It Be Hard
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
My Positive Attitude Is Keeping Me Alive
Until I was diagnosed with stage III renal cell carcinoma in early 2008, I had no firsthand experience with cancer. To my knowledge, there is no history of cancer in my immediate family, and despite a smoking habit I picked up when I was young, I had been in relatively good health in the 56 years...
‘Encouraging Results’ With Newer EGFR TKIs in Patients With NSCLC Who Progressed After Prior EGFR TKI Therapy
Two studies of third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors among patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had progressive disease following treatment with a first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor “show encouraging results,” according to...
Azacitidine Increased Median Overall Survival Among Patients Aged 65 and Older With > 30% Blasts
A multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase III trial among the difficult-to-treat population of patients aged aged 65 and older with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with > 30% bone marrow blasts “showed that azacitidine was associated with a clinically meaningful improvement” in median overall...
