Genetic Testing May Reduce Chemotherapy Side Effects for Patients With GI Cancers
For patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, chemotherapy can sometimes cause severe, even life-threatening side effects in those who carry certain genetic variants that may impact how their bodies process the drugs used to treat their disease. Testing for variants in two genes before starting chemotherapy may significantly improve patient safety by providing physicians with information to help tailor doses, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published by Tuteja et al in JCO Precision Oncology. The study showed that dose adjustments based on preemptive genetic testing cut chemotherapy side effects in half, as compared with patients who have the genetic variants and received standard doses without prior testing.
Potential New Second-Line Standard of Care Emerges in Small Cell Lung Cancer
In patients with small cell lung cancer, second-line treatment with the bispecific T-cell engager tarlatamab-dlle (which targets the delta-like ligand 3 [DLL3]) vs standard-of-care chemotherapy appeared to significantly improve overall survival, progression-free survival, and patient-reported outcomes, with a favorable safety and tolerability profile. These results from the primary analysis of the global phase III DeLLphi-304 trial were presented during the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in TheNew England Journal of Medicine.1,2
Combination Therapies for Metastatic or Recurrent Pancreatic Cancer Under Study
In an interim analysis of a Japanese phase II/III trial (GENERATE, JCOG1611) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ohba et al compared the survival benefit of mFOLFIRINOX (modified fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, oxaliplatin) or S-IROX (S-1, irinotecan, oxaliplatin) vs nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine in first-line treatment of metastatic or recurrent pancreatic cancer.
RCC: Genetic Testing Key to Avoiding Misdiagnosis of Rare Subtypes
Genetic testing may be the only way to differentiate between common and more rare subtypes of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to prevent misdiagnoses, according to the results of a study published in Human Pathology.
Mortality in Advanced-Stage Ovarian Cancer—Effect of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Cytoreductive Surgery Case Volume
In a cross-sectional study reported in JAMA Network Open, Abel et al found that higher rates of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and a higher annual volume of cytoreductive surgery were associated with better survival outcomes in patients treated at Commission on Cancer–accredited cancer programs in the United States.
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