In a study (PREDICT-DNA) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hunter et al found that an ultrasensitive assay for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to detect measurable residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy in patients with breast cancer did not distinguish pathologic complete response...
On February 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted traditional approval to the kinase inhibitor encorafenib (Braftovi) in combination with cetuximab and fluorouracil-based chemotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with a BRAF V600E mutation, ...
In a Chinese phase III trial (neoCARHP) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gao et al found that neoadjuvant therapy with a taxane plus trastuzumab and pertuzumab (THP) was noninferior in pathologic complete response (pCR) compared with THP plus carboplatin (TCbHP) in patients with stage...
A nationwide, real-world analysis using the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD) from 2012 to 2023 evaluated over 16,000 adults who underwent esophagectomy for primary esophageal cancer to develop and validate a long-term all-cause mortality risk model. The...
Excluding skin cancers, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, accounting for about 30% of all new female cancers each year. In 2026, the American Cancer Society estimates that 322,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and about 61,000 new cases of...
In an individual-patient pooled analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Raimondi et al found that neoadjuvant treatment with dual CTLA-4/PD-(L)1 immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) was associated with higher pathologic response rates vs perioperative FLOT (fluorouracil, leucovorin,...
In an Australian phase II trial (De-Squamate) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ladwa et al found that the use of pembrolizumab produced a high rate of clinical or pathologic complete response in patients with resectable cutaneous squamous cell cancer (cSCC), suggesting the potential to ...
This is Part 1 of Novel Therapies for HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Brain Metastases, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Carey Anders, Rani Bansal, and Sarah Sammons discuss the treatment of a patient with a cT2N1,...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Ricciuti et al examined whether neoadjuvant PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition plus platinum-based chemotherapy showed activity in patients with borderline-resectable/unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Study Details The study...
Patients with stage II and III (early-stage) HER2-positive breast cancer usually undergo preoperative therapy with multiagent chemotherapy in combination with anti-HER2 antibodies, followed by surgery. A less intensive, reduced-chemotherapy treatment approach is currently being evaluated in the...
This is Part 2 of Navigating the Complexities of Relapsed/Refractory AML: Identifying Mutations and Optimizing Targeted Therapy, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Uma Borate, Naval Daver, and Joshua Zeidner...
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 ...
The clinical application of BCR::ABL1 digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing may reliably quantify stable deep molecular remission in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), which could help determine when maintenance therapy may be discontinued successfully, according to a recent...
The recently approved menin inhibitor revumenib is poised to improve the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), specifically for disease with a KMT2A rearrangement. Promising results for other novel menin inhibitors now in development—with their unique safety and activity profiles—suggest the...
A phase III trial has shown adding the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab to anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy that patients receive ahead of surgery may improve breast cancer cure rates. CheckMate-7FL involved 510 patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer,...
On January 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib (Lumakras) with the monoclonal antibody panitumumab (Vectibix) for adult patients with KRAS G12C–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved test, who have received prior ...
In a Chinese phase III trial (HELEN-006) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Chen et al found that the de-escalated neoadjuvant treatment with the addition of nab-paclitaxel to trastuzumab/pertuzumab produced a higher pathologic complete response rate (pCR) vs docetaxel/carboplatin plus...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 in Barcelona featured several groundbreaking trials with the potential to significantly influence clinical practice. These studies highlighted the benefits of new combination immunotherapy strategies and innovative approaches in the...
At the 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), more than 7,000 clinicians and scientists gathered in San Diego in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). In this supplement to The ASCO Post, we review impactful abstracts from...
A serum fusion-gene machine-learning model may offer early diagnostic accuracy and could help improve the 5-year survival rate in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a recent study published by Yu et al in The American Journal of Pathology. Background Hepatocellular carcinoma is...
In the phase II PHERGain trial reported in The Lancet, Pérez-García et al found that a positron-emission tomography (PET)-based, pathologic complete response (pCR)-adapted treatment strategy produced “excellent” 3-year invasive disease–free survival results in patients with HER2-positive early...
Heather McArthur, MD, MPH, of UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses phase III findings from the KEYNOTE-756 trial, which shows that adding pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy increases pathologic complete response (pCR) rates in patients with early-stage, high-risk, estrogen...
On March 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the CD22-targeted antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin (Besponsa) for pediatric patients aged 1 year and older with relapsed or refractory CD22-positive B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study WI203581...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Woriax et al identified racial/ethnic differences in pathologic complete response rates and overall survival among women with triple-negative breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Study Details The study involved data from the...
In a German single-institution study reported in JAMA Oncology, Hülpüsch et al identified skin microbiome characteristics associated with severe radiodermatitis in women receiving adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer. Study Details The study included 20 consecutively enrolled women who received...
On January 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the FGFR inhibitor erdafitinib (Balversa) for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma with susceptible FGFR3 genetic alterations, as determined by an FDA-approved companion diagnostic test, whose...
Luca Gianni, MD, of Milan’s Fondazione Michelangelo, discusses findings from the APTneo Michelangelo trial, which showed that adding atezolizumab to chemotherapy and trastuzumab plus pertuzumab did not significantly increase the rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) in women with HER2-positive ...
Greater understanding of biological disease factors in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has led to more effective and personalized treatment options. At the 2023 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies,1 Rebecca Olin, MD, MSCE, of UCSF Helen Diller Family...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III AEGEAN trial has shown that perioperative durvalumab improved event-free survival and pathologic complete response (pCR) rate in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer ...
Breast milk from women with breast cancer who were diagnosed during pregnancy or postpartum contains circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), according to researchers at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona. The investigators noted that ctDNA can be detected through liquid biopsy in...
Breast milk from women with breast cancer who were diagnosed during pregnancy or postpartum may contain circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), according to researchers at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona. The investigators noted that ctDNA can be detected through liquid biopsy in ...
In the Spanish phase II NADIM II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Mariano Provencio, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of nivolumab to platinum-based chemotherapy improved pathologic complete response (pCR) rates among patients with resectable stage IIIA or IIIB...
Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, Deputy Director of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in a place and time she found exhilarating during her early years. “We didn’t have a lot of money—actually, we were poor. But I had a lot of freedom walking around...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Waks et al found that the HER2DX assay performed well in predicting the likelihood of pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer receiving de-escalated neoadjuvant treatment with paclitaxel, trastuzumab, and...
In a German phase II trial (WSG-TP-II) reported in JAMA Oncology, Gluz et al found that the addition of neoadjuvant paclitaxel monotherapy to trastuzumab/pertuzumab resulted in a higher pathologic complete response (pCR) rate in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-positive early breast...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Marion T. van Mackelenbergh, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer who achieved pathologic complete response (pCR) on neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus anti-HER2 treatment had better overall and...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Wang et al found that pathologic complete response (pCR) was associated with improved outcomes among patients with localized soft-tissue sarcoma receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy. The analysis included data from patients from two RTOG...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Squifflet et al found that pathologic complete response (pCR) was a weak surrogate for event-free and overall survival in neoadjuvant trials of anti-HER2 therapy in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer. Study Details In the study,...
The management of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer has been evolving at a fast pace, thanks largely to the discovery that immune checkpoint blockade can be effective in this subtype. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Priyanka Sharma, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of...
In an analysis of National Cancer Database data reported in JAMA Oncology, Peiffer et al found “minimal prognostic differences” between HER2-low vs HER2-negative breast cancer, with the findings not supporting classification of HER2-low disease as a distinct disease subtype. Study Details The...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Nadia Harbeck, MD, PhD, and colleagues, 5-year follow-up from the phase II WSG-ADAPT-TP trial indicated that pathologic complete response (pCR) was associated with better outcomes irrespective of receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy among patients with ...
The combination of ponatinib and blinatumomab has led to rapid and durable remissions in patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to data presented at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and...
The combination of ponatinib and blinatumomab has led to rapid and durable remissions in patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to data presented at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and...
On December 12, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to adagrasib (Krazati), a RAS GTPase family inhibitor, for adult patients with KRAS G12C–mutated, locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as determined by an FDA-approved test, who...
Patients with localized, hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-low breast cancer treated with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in the neoadjuvant setting had an overall response rate of 75% without combining the agent with anastrozole and 63% in combination with anastrozole, according to...
Switching from an aromatase inhibitor to fulvestrant upon early identification of the ESR1 mutation in plasma—before disease progression—doubled progression-free survival in the phase III PADA-1 trial, presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “PADA-1 is the first trial to...
In a retrospective analysis from the neoadjuvant I-SPY2 trial reported in JAMA Surgery, Osdoit et al found that among patients with breast cancer achieving pathologic complete response (pCR), there were no significant differences in treatment outcomes according to the presence or absence of...
In the Korean phase II Neo-PATH trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Ahn et al found that neoadjuvant treatment with atezolizumab, pertuzumab/trastuzumab, and docetaxel produced a pathologic complete response in 61% of patients with HER2-positive stage II/III breast cancer treated with the regimen....
In a population-based study based on data from the UK Coronavirus Cancer Evaluation Project (UKCCEP) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lennard Y.W. Lee, DPhil, and colleagues found that COVID-19 vaccination was effective in preventing breakthrough infection among patients with cancer but less...
The “holy grail” of triple-negative breast cancer therapy has been effective incorporation of drugs to improve outcomes in the early nonmetastatic setting. Although outcomes have improved with better chemotherapy drugs and schedules, triple-negative breast cancer still carries the worst prognosis...