Susan M. O’Brien, MD, of the University of California, Irvine, discusses the challenges of treating older patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoma, and the positive results with newer regimens using blinatumomab and inotuzumab.
Juno Therapeutics, Inc, announced on July 12, 2016, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed the clinical hold on the phase II clinical trial of JCAR015 (known as the ROCKET trial) in adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Under the ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gerbing et al found that prolonged posttreatment neutropenia was associated with shorter chromosomal telomere length in pediatric patients receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Study Details The study included 53 patients ...
Recent studies on a small number of patients with leukemia treated with bone marrow transplantation have suggested that the presence of the common cytomegalovirus (CMV) in patients or their donors may protect against relapse or even death after the transplant. A large international study published...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Papaemmanuil et al have identified 11 genomic subgroups in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) associated with distinct diagnostic features and clinical outcomes. AML Subgroups The study included analysis of driver mutations in 111 cancer genes and...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Kantarjian et al found that treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin resulted in a greater complete remission rate and improved overall survival vs standard therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory...
Although tyrosine kinase inhibitors have dramatically increased survival for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), continuous administration of these drugs may elicit long-term toxicity, including cardiovascular adverse events. To investigate the incidence of vascular events in patients...
Sagar Lonial, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine, and Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss newly reported findings on rituximab maintenance therapy in hematologic malignancies (Abstracts 7503, 7504, and 7505).
Duke Cancer Institute researchers have found that a hypothetical leukemia patient buying the life-extending drug therapy for his condition would reach his annual out-of-pocket maximum in a month on most of the bronze policies and half of the silver policies offered through the Affordable Care Act...
In a European phase III noninferiority trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Eichhorst et al found that progression-free survival was better with standard first-line fludarabine/cyclophosphamide/rituximab vs bendamustine/rituximab in fit patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cortes et al, the final 5-year results of the DASISION trial support the safety and efficacy of dasatinib (Sprycel) as first-line treatment in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase. Initial results in the trial led to...
The International Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia–International Prognostic Index (CLL-IPI) working group has developed an IPI for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia based on a meta-analysis of individual patient data, as reported in The Lancet Oncology. Study Details The meta-analysis...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Stilgenbauer et al found that the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax (Venclexta) produced a high response rate in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with the 17p deletion (del [17p]). The study supported the recent...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Liu et al found that Native American ancestry, older age, higher cumulative dose of asparaginase, and a rare variant of the CPA2 gene increased risk for pancreatitis in children/young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study...
As reported by Larsen et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, final data from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AALL0232 trial indicate that the event-free survival benefit of high-dose methotrexate was maintained in children/young adults with high-risk B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia....
Amgen announced on May 3 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for priority review the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for blinatumomab (Blincyto) to include new data supporting the treatment of pediatric and adolescent patients with Philadelphia...
Positive donor Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) serostatus increases the risk for graft-vs-host disease but does not affect relapse-free or overall survival among patients with acute leukemia receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), according to a study from the Acute...
On April 11, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved venetoclax (Venclexta) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with 17p deletion, as detected by an FDA-approved test, who have received at least one prior therapy. Venetoclax is the first...
Jeffrey Jones, MD, MPH, of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the use of small molecule inhibitors in developing an individualized treatment plan for patients with CLL.
Jerald P. Radich, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses ways to prevent advanced-phase chronic myeloid leukemia through adherence to prescribed treatment and routine monitoring of disease burden.
Among patients with breast cancer, lung cancer, or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), those who had a specific form of the CYP3A7 gene (CYP3A7*1C) had worse outcomes compared with those who did not have CYP3A7*1C. This may be related to how the patients metabolize the therapeutics used to treat...
Among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common pediatric cancer, those who live in high-poverty areas are substantially more likely to suffer early relapse than other patients, despite having received the same treatment, according to new research from Dana-Farber/Boston...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ivey et al found that a leukemia-specific marker consisting of a mutation in the gene encoding nucleophosmin (NPM1) can be used to identify minimal residual disease in peripheral blood in standard-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML), with...
An international research team has determined how inherited gene variations lead to severe drug toxicity that may threaten chances for a cure in children with leukemia. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists led the study, results of which set the stage to expand the use of a...
Pediatric oncologists from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have investigated techniques to improve and broaden a novel personalized cell therapy to treat children with cancer. The researchers say that a patient’s outcome may be improved if clinicians select specific...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Armstrong et al found that late mortality decreased over time among 5-year survivors of childhood cancer in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study cohort. The reduction is consistent with efforts during recent decades to modify treatment with ...
The outcomes of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) have dramatically improved as the result of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment. Use of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor regimen can lower the blood CML biomarker to levels imperceptible by current detection methods. For patients in “molecular...
Investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) have found that significant bone loss occurs during the first month of chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is far earlier than previously assumed. Results of the study were published by Orgel et al in the...
In an analysis of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Henderson et al found that childhood survivors of sarcoma and leukemia with no history of chest radiotherapy were at an increased risk of breast cancer. Increased Risk The study included data from...
Matthew Lunning, DO, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, on abstract 801, “Ublituximab, a Novel Glycoengineered Anti-CD20 Monoclonal Antibody, in Combination with TGR-1202, a Next-Generation Once Daily PI3kδ Inhibitor, Demonstrates Activity in Heavily Pretreated and High-Risk Chronic...
Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, offers her thoughts on abstract 801, “Ublituximab, a Novel Glycoengineered Anti-CD20 Monoclonal Antibody, in Combination With TGR-1202, a Next-Generation Once-Daily PI3kδ Inhibitor, Demonstrates Activity in Heavily...
Hagop Kantarjian, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers his thoughts on abstract 380, “T Cells Engineered with a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-Targeting CD19 (CTL019) Have Long Term Persistence and Induce Durable Remissions in Children With Relapsed, Refractory ALL,”...
Hagop Kantarjian, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers his thoughts on abstract 794, “Inotuzumab Ozogamicin in Combination With Low-Intensity Chemotherapy (Mini-Hyper-CVD) as Front-Line Therapy for Older Patients (≥ 60 years) With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia,” presented ...
Alan F. List, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, offers his thoughts on abstract 3251, “An Open-Label, Phase II, Dose-Finding Study of Sotatercept (ACE-011) in Patients With Low or Intermediate-1–Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes or Nonproliferative Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia and Anemia Requiring...
Hagop Kantarjian, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers his thoughts on abstract 379, “BLAST: A Confirmatory, Single-Arm, Phase II Study of Blinatumomab, a Bispecific T-Cell Engager (BiTE) Antibody Construct, in Patients With Minimal Residual Disease B-Precursor Acute...
Hagop Kantarjian, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers his thoughts on abstract 797, “First Results of the Multicenter Total Therapy Gimema LAL 1509 Protocol for De Novo Adult Philadelphia Chromosome–Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients,” presented by Sabina...
2014 ASH President Linda J. Burns, MD, of the University of Minnesota, offers her thoughts on abstract 380, “T Cells Engineered With a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) Targeting CD19 (CTL019) Have Long-Term Persistence and Induce Durable Remissions in Children with Relapsed, Refractory ALL,”...
2014 ASH President Linda J. Burns, MD, of the University of Minnesota, offers her thoughts on abstract 379, “BLAST: A Confirmatory, Single-Arm, Phase II Study of Blinatumomab, a Bispecific T-Cell Engager (BiTE) Antibody Construct, in Patients with Minimal Residual Disease B-Precursor Acute...
Richard M. Stone, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, offers his thoughts on abstract 7, “A Randomized Comparison of Daunorubicin 90 mg/m2 vs 60 mg/m2 in AML Induction: Results From the UK NCRI AML17 Trial in 1206 Patients,” presented by Alan K. Burnett, MD. Time: 1:29
Richard M. Stone, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, offers his thoughts on abstract 6, "Sorafenib vs Placebo in Addition to Standard Therapy in Younger Patients With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Results from 267 Patients Treated in the Randomized Placebo-Controlled SAL-Soraml Trial," ...
James O. Armitage, MD, FACP, FRCP, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Richard M. Stone, MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss three clinical trials: different doses of daunorubicin for AML; comparing azacitidine plus lenolidomide to vorinostat vs azacitidine monotherapy in...
James. O Armitage, MD, FACP, FRCP, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Richard M. Stone, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss advances in treating acute myeloid leukemia and the acute promyelocytic leukema subtype.
James O. Armitage, MD, FACP, FRCP, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discuss the diagnosis and genetics of ALL, differences in treating younger and older patients, and the latest data on the use of...
William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the latest information on managing CLL and his optimism that a cure is in sight.
Jerald P. Radich, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance discusses the evolution in treating and monitoring CML and whether monitoring at 3 and 6 months will ultimately prove useful.
James O. Armitage, MD, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Asher Alban Akmal Chanan-Khan, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, discuss an important treatment option that significantly improved overall response rate and reduced risk of progression or death by 80% (Abstract LBA7005).
Asher Alban Chanan-Khan, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, discusses an important treatment option that significantly improved overall response rate and reduced risk of progression or death by 80% (Abstract LBA7005).
Michael Pfreundschuh, MD, of Universitaetsklinikum des Saarlandes, summarizes a session he chaired on this topic, which covered Burkitt’s lymphoma as well as lymphoblastic leukemia in children and adults.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved ofatumumab (Arzerra) for extended treatment of patients who are in complete or partial response after at least two lines of therapy for recurrent or progressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Ofatumumab was previously approved for the...
A randomized phase II study in symptomatic, untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) found an increased overall response rate with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) at a dose of 2,000 mg vs 1,000. In addition, the “data demonstrate that obinutuzumab produces a higher response rate in...