Katharina C. Kaehler, MD, of University Hospital (UKSH), Campus Kiel, presents an update on the primary outcome and sensitivity analyses from the PIVOTAL phase III trial of daromun, a combination of two fibronectin-targeting immunocytokines (L19IL2 and L19TNF), as a neoadjuvant intralesional...
Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, of Cleveland Clinic, provides an update on the DESTINY-Breast05 trial, which is an ongoing phase III trial investigating postneoadjuvant trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) as compared with trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer with residual...
Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, of Cleveland Clinic, offers his thoughts on findings from OPTIMA (Optimal Personalised Treatment of early breast cancer using Multi-parameter Analysis), an international randomized controlled trial comparing chemotherapy decisions made with the Prosigna (PAM50) gene...
Krishnansu S. Tewari, MD, of the University of California, Irvine, provides commentary on research presented in the oral abstract and rapid oral abstract sessions for gynecologic cancer, focusing on this year’s major trial data in endometrial, cervical, and ovarian cancers.
I learned that I had advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) soon after a physician in the emergency department handed me the results of a computed tomography (CT) scan, which showed that I had lesions on my L3 and L4 vertebrae. The report stated that these lesions “were highly concerning ...
I am pleased to respond to the Letter to the Editor from Davis and Wolinsky printed in this issue of The ASCO Post, disagreeing with my views about screening for prostate cancer.In brief, the key points of my commentary were as follows: PSA is a useful tool in the management of prostate cancer;...
We read with interest the recent commentary by Derek Raghavan, MD, PhD, FACP, FASCO, FRACP, on ‘Prostate Screening Saved My Life’ Is That Really True in Most Cases?’ (The ASCO Post, April 25, 2026).1 As patient advocates, we agree with Dr. Raghavan on one important point: simplistic claims such as...
Albert B. Deisseroth, MD, PhD, of Potomac, Maryland, passed away November 6, 2025, at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Albert B. Deisseroth was born in 1941 in Middletown, New York. He attended the University of Rochester in New York where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. He stayed in...
The conclusions drawn from the study by Johnson et al1 appear overstated and should be interpreted with caution. In the study discussed in this issue of The ASCO Post, investigators compared breast and testicular cancer incidence trends in American states that had or had not legalized the use of...
A new meta-analysis provides updated evidence that methylphenidate-type psychostimulants—a class of medications that increase dopamine and norepinephrine availability in the brain—can provide meaningful relief for cancer-related fatigue. The study was published in the May 2026 issue of...
Wolpin and colleagues have demonstrated in the global randomized Phase III RASolute 302 trial that daraxonrasib, an oral RAS(ON) inhibitor, nearly doubles median overall survival in previously treated metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, producing a median overall survival of 13.2 months...
Among the high-quality abstract presentations at ASCO and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), a few always stand out as particularly meritorious. The ASCO Post asked its Senior Deputy Editor, breast cancer specialist Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to offer his selection and thoughts on some...
A study by Jones et al offers a provocative contribution to the landscape of colorectal cancerprevention by directly comparing two pharmacologic strategies with markedly different historical roles in prevention (see sidebar on page 47).1 Aspirin has long served as the benchmark for primary...
Exposure to wildfire smoke was associated with significantly elevated risks of several cancers, including lung, colorectal, breast, bladder, and blood cancers, according to evidence from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial presented in a poster and press...
The purpose of this editorial is to challenge the continued reliance on Karnofsky Performance Status and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) or Zubrod performance status as primary tools for evaluating older adults with cancer. These measures have been in oncology practice for decades and...
Matthew A. Powell, MD, assumed the position of President of the Society of Gynecological Oncology (SGO) at the conclusion of the 2026 SGO Annual Meeting. Dr. Powell is the Ira C. and Judith Gall Distinguished Professor, Division of Gynecologic On-cology at Washington University School of Medicine...
Four-year follow-up from the phase III RUBY clinical trial showed durable long-term benefit with front-line dostarlimab-gxly, a PD-1 blocker, plus carboplatin/paclitaxel in patients with mismatch repair–deficient/microsatellite instability–high (dMMR/MSI-H) primary advanced or recurrent endometrial ...
In a step forward for patient-centered cancer research, a new pilot project reveals that 84% of participants had a positive experience using a newly developed online tool created by the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology called the Participant Engagement Portal (PEP). Alliance created PEP to...
Researchers reported there was no protective net effect of any level of alcohol consumption on health observed in a new study published by George et al in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Further, researchers reported that low levels of alcohol use may be associated with elevated health ...
Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) was associated with a 41% lower risk of developing obesity-associated cancers in the short term for obese, nondiabetic patients, according to findings from an observational study published in Annals of Oncology. “Our study found that...
Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, FASCO, of City of Hope, offers her thoughs on the findings of the LIBRETTO-432 trial, which found improved event-free survival with adjuvant selpercatinib after definitive therapy for patients with early-stage RET fusion–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)...
Elizabeth McDonald, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses results from a retrospective cohort study that showed that the use of GLP-1 treatment was associated with a significantly lower incidence of breast cancer, after accounting for age, race, ethnicity, BMI, breast density, and...
Mali Barbi, MD, MS, of Northwell Health Cancer Institute Center for Women's Cancer, discusses durable survival benefits shown in the NRG-GY018 trial with pembrolizumab and the RUBY trial with dostarlimab for patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) endometrial cancer. In addition, B7-H4...
Black women experience disproportionately elevated risks of developing and dying from early-onset breast cancer. New research published by Beasley et al in Cancer reveals the genes that are most likely to be mutated to contribute to these increased risks. In the study of 686 Black women diagnosed...
An all-oral treatment regimen led to complete responses in almost half of all patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who were ineligible for intensive chemotherapy, according to findings from the phase I/II ASCERTAIN V trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine....
A major real-world study has found serious blood-related side effects associated with antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), an increasingly important class of targeted cancer therapies. Over the years, many novel ADC therapies have been approved for treating various types of cancers. The study,...
John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses results from the primary analysis of the multinational phase III WU-KONG28 trial, which looked at sunvozertinib monotherapy vs platinum-based therapy as first-line treatment for patients with advanced...
Shubham Pant, MD, MBBS, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the practice-changing results of the phase III RASolute 302 study, which showed that daraxonrasib doubled median overall survival compared with standard chemotherapy in pretreated metastatic pancreatic cancer...
Mazyar Shadman, MD, of the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, describes the safety and efficacy results of the all-oral first-line combination regimen of sonrotoclax and zanubrutinib for patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma...
Erika P. Hamilton, MD, FASCO, of Sarah Cannon Research Institute, talks about a comparison of the efficacy and safety of tucatinib vs placebo combined with trastuzumab and pertuzumab as maintenance therapy for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer by stratified subgroups (Abstract 1005).
Elena Elimova, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, discusses the efficacy in PD-L1 subgroups of zanidatamab plus chemotherapy with or without tislelizumab as a first-line regimen for HER2-positive locally advanced or metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (Abstract 4010).
Yashasvini Sampathkumar, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, presents data on Talking to Employers and Medical Staff about Work (TEAMWork), an English/Spanish intervention. The English/Spanish intervention, delivered as a booklet or mobile app, was developed to improve work outcomes...
Exposure to glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) may lower the risk of breast cancer incidence, according to findings from a retrospective analysis presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 10506). The findings were also published in JCO Oncology Practice. “While our...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) recently released updated guidelines for colorectal cancer screening. The new recommendations reaffirm that average-risk adults should begin colorectal cancer screening at age 45 years and continue through age 75 years for those with a life expectancy greater than...
A new study from Cleveland Clinic researchers confirms that tissue-derived tumor mutation burden (TMB) remains the more reliable predictor of immunotherapy response in patients with solid tumors. Results were presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 2580). “This is really a cautionary...
Giannis S. Mountzios, MD, of Henry Dunant Hospital Center, discusses findings from a post hoc analysis of the phase III DeLLphi-304 trial, which examined the intracranial efficacy of tarlatamab vs chemotherapy as second-line therapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (Abstract 8006).
Ramaswamy Govindan, MD, FASCO, of Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, presents the final overall survival results from the randomized phase III Alliance A081105 trial, which evaluated adjuvant erlotinib vs observation after complete resection of...
Lauren Averett Byers, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, describes data on ABBV-706—an investigational antibody-drug conjugate targeting SEZ6—alone or in combination with the anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody budigalimab in patients with relapsed or refractory small cell lung...
Asaf Maoz, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Mass General Brigham, and Harvard Medical School, talks about whether prospective assessment of CA 19-9 has utility as part of pancreatic cancer surveillance among high-risk individuals (Abstract 10527).
Robert C. Stein, PhD, MBBChir, FRCP, of the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, discusses the first results from the phase III randomized OPTIMA trial, which is comparing chemotherapy decisions made with the Prosigna (PAM50) gene...
Marlana M. Orloff, MD, of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, reviews primary results from the OptimUM-02 trial, which investigated the doublet of darovasertib plus crizotinib vs investgator’s choice for first-line therapy among patients with HLA-A2–negative metastatic uveal melanoma (Abstract...
Linda R. Mileshkin, MD, MBBS, FRACP, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, shares results from the phase I/IIA BLUESTAR study on the safety and efficacy of puxitatug samrotecan, a B7-H4–directed topoisomerase I inhibitor antibody-drug conjugate, in patients with endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer...
Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS, FASCO, of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, provides an update focusing on progression-free survival after next line of treatment and subsequent therapies among patients enrolled in the ASCENT-04 trial. The study compared sacituzumab govitecan plus pembrolizumab...
Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, FASCO, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses safety results for DESTINY-Gastric03 Part 2 (arms D and F) and Part 4. The trial evaluated first-line fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki–based regimens in advanced HER2-expressing gastric cancer, gastroesophageal...
Brendan Heiden, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, discusses data from a unique real-world cohort of nearly 1 million patients in the Veterans Health Administration; researchers evaluated whether tobacco smoking duration improves lung cancer risk prediction compared with tobacco...
Nicholas C. Turner, MD, PhD, of the Royal Marsden Hospital, Institute of Cancer Research, discusses results from the primary analysis of the persevERA BC trial, which investigated giredestrant plus palbociclib vs letrozole plus palbociclib as first-line therapy in patients with estrogen receptor...
Misty Dawn Shields, MD, PhD, of Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, shares her perspective on two small cell lung cancer (SCLC) abstracts presented at this year’s meeting. The first focuses on a post hoc analysis of the phase III DeLLphi-304 trial (Abstract 8006),...
Online resources for patients and the general public focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and its uses in cancer research and cancer care were found lacking in a cross-sectional analysis presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9000). The study highlighted that the existing webpages...
The combination of the individualized neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene and pembrolizumab led to an improvement in recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis–free survival rates compared with pembrolizumab alone in patients with high-risk resected melanoma, according to 5-year results...
Individuals with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative, high-risk early breast cancer and low Prosigna (PAM50) risk of recurrence (ROR) scores of 60 or less were able to safely skip chemotherapy, according to findings from a randomized, noninferiority phase III trial presented at the 2026 ASCO...