This year’s Sjöberg Prize of $1 million U.S. dollars was awarded to a British cancer researcher who has provided fundamental knowledge about evolution in tumors. Professor Charles Swanton, FRCP, BSc, PhD, at the Francis Crick Institute in London, described how tumors’ mutations arise and develop....
ASCO has updated its guideline on patient–clinician communication, providing recommendations on a range of best practices for explaining treatment options and goals of care, conversing with patients’ support networks, communicating among care team members, and setting boundaries.1 The update to the ...
Injecting the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab directly into precancerous oral lesions led to reduction in lesion size and allowed some patients to avoid surgery, according to research from a phase I clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05327270) presented at the American Association for Cancer ...
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can identify small groups of cells most responsible for driving aggressive cancers. The tool, called SIDISH, offers scientists a clearer path to designing targeted therapies by showing which cells inside a tumor are most strongly...
As reported in The Lancet, Allemani et al identified findings in the CONCORD-4 study indicating the degree of progress towards the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC) target of 60% 5-year survival for all childhood cancers combined by the year 2030. Study...
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a new blood-based biomarker that can help identify and characterize asymptomatic people with Lynch syndrome who are more susceptible to developing cancer based on early immune detection signatures, allowing clinicians...
Prompting strategies on two large language models improved how the artificial intelligence (AI) interpreted pain and fatigue reported by survivors of childhood cancers for better symptom monitoring and care, according to findings published in Communications Medicine. The study authors noted that...
Many people with lung cancer can be treated with a highly precise, high dose of radiation given in just one session without compromising the effectiveness of the treatment. The treatment strategy, outlined in a new publication authored by Singh et al in the International Journal of Radiation...
Fragments of tumor DNA circulating in the bloodstream of patients with breast cancer may predict whether they are likely to experience relapse—especially when samples are taken after the patients have received treatments prior to surgery. Findings presented at the 15th European Breast Cancer...
Researchers leading the LORD trial of active surveillance for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) described early results as “reassuring” in a presentation to the 15th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC15) in Barcelona (Abstract 2LBA). People diagnosed with DCIS have abnormal cells inside the milk ...
Patients with breast cancer may be able to avoid lymphedema, which can occur after surgery to remove lymph nodes in the axilla, by having radiotherapy instead. New findings, presented at the 15th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC15) in Barcelona, suggest that axillary radiotherapy may be as...
Last week, Dartmouth Cancer Center (DCC) and Fox Chase Cancer Center announced the appointments of new directors—both experts in the treatment of lung cancer. DCC has appointed Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, as the center’s sixth director. Temple Health announced the appointment of Robert A. Winn, MD, as...
Last October, the Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA) announced the launch of its collaborative artificial intelligence (AI) platform powered by federated learning to train AI models with millions of de-identified patient datasets from participating cancer centers, while maintaining patient security,...
On October 1, 2025, Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD, celebrated the 1-year anniversary of being named President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He also holds the titles of Director of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of ...
Three education sessions presented during the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting showcased how artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly transforming cancer care from clinical trial planning and ambient scribes transcribing physician-patient conversations to therapeutic decision-making. The meeting also...
A novel KRAS G12D inhibitor produced disease control in almost 80% of patients with heavily pretreated advanced or metastatic KRAS G12D–mutated pancreatic cancer in an early-phase study reported at the 2026 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Of 41 evaluable patients treated with single-agent...
A PSMA-11 PET/CT scan with gallium Ga-68 led to the identification of more aggressive prostate cancer cells in men with equivocal or nonsuspicious findings on multiparametric MRI than a standard biopsy, according to first results from the phase III PRIMARY2 trial presented at the 2026 Annual...
On March 10, 2000, it was a cold Friday morning in Washington, DC. As usual, we the oncology fellows and faculty crowded into a conference room at the NIH Clinical Center in Building 10 for our weekly conference. Before the session formally began, a senior faculty member walked in holding the New...
New research assessing the efficacy of optical genome mapping (OGM) in a group of patients with acute leukemia has demonstrated that the method provided reliable and robust analytical performance with high sensitivity and specificity in detecting genetic alterations. In nearly 20% of cases,...
A novel KRAS G12D inhibitor produced disease control in almost 80% of patients with heavily pretreated advanced or metastatic KRAS G12D–mutated pancreatic cancer in an early-phase study reported at the 2026 ASCO Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers Symposium.1 Of 41 evaluable patients treated with...
Prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening remains one of the most controversial of “standard” medical practices. As recently as the 2026 Super Bowl, one of the more unusual TV advertisements, sponsored by a pharmaceutical company with an interest in prostate cancer treatments, extolled the virtues ...
In February, ASCO and Conexiant launched ASCO AI in Oncology (ascoai.org), a digital platform dedicated to understanding how artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting cancer care. “Our goal with this hub is to empower oncology professionals with knowledge and the tools to adapt to a rapidly...
ASCO has published an updated guideline on systemic therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), representing ASCO’s first Living Guideline in the area of prostate cancer and the first in any genitourinary (GU) cancer.1 “Guidelines will become less useful if...
Researchers have reported findings that may help redefine treatment for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a potentially aggressive form of the disease that is traditionally treated with surgical removal of the bladder. The study, published by Matthew D. Galsky, MD, and colleagues in the ...
Researchers have developed a new computational approach designed to better account for changes in gene expression within tumors relative to their unique microenvironments. This approach outperformed current methods for predicting chemotherapy response in patients with triple-negative breast ...
Researchers developed a deep neural network, M-PACT, to identify and classify brain tumors in pediatric patients from the subnanogram-input cell-free DNA of methylomes, according to findings published in Nature Cancer. “This is a next-generation assay and computational framework that we’ve...
Based on the phase III CLL17 trial, a fixed duration of targeted treatment demonstrated noninferiority to continuous treatment with respect to progression-free survival in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The findings were presented at the Plenary Session of...
Consumption of higher quantities of ultraprocessed food was associated with increased all-cause and cancer mortality rates in cancer survivors, irrespective of the quality of their diet, according to findings published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. “These results suggest...
The first prospective, randomized phase III trial of a noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor exclusively in treatment-naive patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL)—BRUIN CLL-313—demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically...
A response-adapted approach to treatment decision-making for patients with resectable cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma demonstrated that with the use of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, many patients could avoid surgery and/or radiotherapy. Findings from the De-Squamate study were published in the...
The Spray Cryotherapy Esophageal Consortium has developed a set of expert and evidence-based consensus recommendations guiding the use of liquid nitrogen spray cryotherapy in Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer. The recommendations, decided upon through a modified Delphi process, were...
A recent, innovative study provides radiation oncologists with practical guidance to identify and protect female sexual organs during pelvic cancer treatment. Published by Greenwald et al in Practical Radiation Oncology, the report’s authors address a long-standing gap in cancer care by bringing...
Both particulate and gaseous air pollutants were linked with subtypes of lung cancer, according to a study published by Diver et al in Environmental Pollution. The analysis, led by investigators from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the American Cancer Society, showed that...
Editor’s note: On November 22, 2025—the 62nd anniversary of her grandfather President John F. Kennedy’s assassination—Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg published an essay in The New Yorker detailing her diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia with chromosome 3 inversion, a rare and aggressive subtype...
ASCO, in collaboration with Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), has published an update to their previous guideline on the treatment of multiple myeloma.1 This new guideline—which has been selected as an ASCO Living Guideline—reflects dramatic changes that have helped improve the management of...
For many patients with cancer, hair loss can be one of the most distressing side effects of their therapy. Increasingly, patients have been taking oral supplements of biotin, which are marketed to consumers for their potential to improve hair regrowth and brittle nails. However, there is little...
A machine-learning model has calculated country-specific cancer mortality-to-incidence ratios and evaluated the factors that contribute the most to each country's survival gaps. Additionally, the artificial intelligence (AI) tool mapped out actions each country could take to improve cancer...
It is estimated that hereditary factors play a role in about 5% to 10% of colorectal cancer cases, with a higher prevalence of hereditary factors seen in younger patients. Many colorectal polyps are considered potential precursors to cancer: at least 10 polyps in individuals younger than 60 years...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it is sharing information about the agency’s flexible approach to overseeing chemistry, manufacturing, and control (CMC) requirements for cell and gene therapies (CGTs). The agency’s more flexible approach has been, and is expected to...
Based on the phase III CLL17 trial, a fixed duration of targeted treatment demonstrated noninferiority to continuous treatment with respect to progression-free survival in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The findings were presented at the Plenary Session of...
In the phase III BRUIN CLL-314 trial, response rates were found to be as good with the noncovalent Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor pirtobrutinib as with ibrutinib in both patients with treatment-naive and relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic...
Self-collection of vaginal samples for human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is now being considered an acceptable, recommended option for cervical cancer screening, per recent updates to the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) guidelines published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Another...
A single administration of autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapy with lifileucel led to disease stability in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, even among patients whose disease had progressed or did not respond to multiple prior...
Guest Editor’s Note: In October, the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) held its annual international conference in Boston. The theme was “The Future of Integrative Oncology,” with presentations and workshops focused on evidence-based integrative therapies and innovative research methodologies. ...
ASCO’s mission to conquer cancer through research, education, and promotion of the highest quality patient care requires curiosity, open-mindedness, and an evidence-based approach to emerging technologies. ASCO is committed to helping the oncology community understand, develop, apply, and monitor...
As a medical oncologist and palliative care physician, I have spent years preparing for difficult conversations. I’ve guided patients and families through the uncertainty of cancer, helped them navigate complex decisions, and sought meaning amid shifting prognoses. As an academic, I teach future...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology to Rainer Storb, MD, during the Society’s Annual Congress held in Orlando. Dr. Storb is Professor Emeritus, Clinical Research Division, at Fred Hutch in Seattle. First awarded in...
On October 30, 2025, Google Cloud held its second annual Cancer AI Symposium to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment, in unparalleled ways. Held at Google’s St. John’s Terminal office in New York City, the event brought together leaders in...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved sevabertinib, an oral targeted therapy, for adult patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors harbor certain HER2 (ERBB2) mutations and who have previously received chemotherapy or immunotherapy. The approval reflects a...
The Combined Analysis of Pathology and Artificial Intelligence (AI; CAPAI) model effectively stratified patients with colon cancer into distinct prognostic groups, identifying nearly half as low-risk, with “favorable” cancer-specific survival outcomes in the absence of adjuvant chemotherapy,...