Each year, nearly 90,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs; aged 15–39) are diagnosed with cancer, and approximately 9,300 die of the disease.1 And although the 5-year survival rate among these young patients is approaching 80%, it lags behind that of the pediatric population, whose 5-year...
A reduced schedule for hypofractionated radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy led to numerically similar survival outcomes and a more favorable safety profile compared with a standard course of conventional fractionated radiotherapy for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer...
Older individuals up to the age of 80 who are eligible for lung surgery may achieve a survival benefit from lung cancer screening comparable to that for younger patients, according to the results of a multicenter cohort study from the United Kingdom presented at the International Association for...
ASCO and the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) have released updated standards for its Oncology Medical Home (OMH) certification program, which were initially codified and published in 2021.1 The 2021 systematic literature review focused on the topics of OMH model of care, clinical pathways, and...
The outlook for adequate funding for federal health agencies has become more dire. In July, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced it is reducing the number of grant applications it will award for the remaining 2 months of fiscal year 2025 (FY2025), from 9% down to 4%.1 The result is that...
Individuals carrying a rare pathogenic variant in one of 16 cancer-associated genes were 1.9 times more likely to develop a single cancer and 2.6 times more likely to develop multiple primary cancers, according to the results of a genetic association study published in JAMA Oncology. These...
A single administration of autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte 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...
This past May, ASCO announced its collaboration with Google Cloud to launch the ASCO® Guidelines Assistant, a new interactive tool that allows clinicians to quickly access ASCO’s evidence-based clinical guidelines to facilitate critical clinical decision-making. Developed with Google Cloud’s Vertex ...
Each year in the United States, nearly 16,000 children and adolescents between the ages of birth and 19 are diagnosed with cancer.1 And although survival rates have greatly improved for many types of childhood cancers, with more than 8 in 10 children and adolescents surviving at least 5 years after ...
Microbes inside cancerous tumors can influence the spread of disease and the effectiveness of treatment, and those roles make them appealing targets for new therapies. Tumor microbiota–based tools could also help identify high-risk patients and those most susceptible to metastases, and possibly be...
After 2 decades of practicing medicine across multiple disciplines and health systems, I’ve witnessed the dramatic transformation of patient-physician interactions, and none more dramatic than what I’m seeing in this era of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on cancer care. Early in my...
Patients with intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma who received a vaccine of dendritic cells in addition to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and preconditioning cyclophosphamide experienced longer progression-free survival than those who received cyclophosphamide and TACE alone. The...
July marks a significant transition for many professionals, particularly those beginning structured training programs on July 1. This article is designed to support new and current hematology-oncology fellows and trainees in making the most of their training experience. Although not all suggestions ...
Clinical trials have sought to determine the benefit of treating the precursors of multiple myeloma, but as the phenotypes and genomics of this entity are becoming better delineated, the wisdom of early intervention has remained confusing for clinicians. At the 2025 Debates and Didactics in...
I would like to begin by sharing a bit of my journey in geriatric oncology. Often, we do not hear the origin stories behind our professional paths, and I believe it is important to reflect on them. I have spent my entire academic career at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, where I arrived...
Rechallenge with the HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) after grade 1 interstitial lung disease (ILD) appeared to be safe in a diverse real-world population, including many patients with breast cancer, as presented during the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 The ...
Researchers have discovered that an isoform of the transcription factor RUNX1 orchestrates chemoresistance in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to findings published in Blood Cancer Discovery. They identified that the long-isoform RUNX1C's connection to BTG2 may enable cellular...
Mounting evidence suggests that the mitochondria may be a driving force behind cancer. A new report points to the mitochondrial metabolite glutathione, highlighting its central role in helping breast cancer cells break away from the primary tumor, travel through the body, and take root in other...
The main symptom that eventually led to my diagnosis of stage IV adenocarcinoma non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) started in the fall of 2009. I was just 17 and in my freshman year at college when I began experiencing a persistent cough. The coughing became so unrelenting over the next month, I...
Various artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms submitted as part of a challenge demonstrated the ability to identify different breast cancers during screening mammography, according to the results of a study published in Radiology. Ensemble models of the top submitted algorithms indicated that the ...
Some survivors of childhood cancers face a continued elevated risk of premature mortality, new cancers, chronic conditions, and other adverse health conditions as they grow older, according to new findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. An increased risk for cancer and other...
Results from a recent study may help to explain why a rare and hyper-aggressive subtype of kidney cancer is susceptible to immunotherapy—information that helped researchers create a first-of-its-kind tool to guide treatment decisions for patients with advanced kidney cancers. The collaborative work ...
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a blood test that may alter the diagnosis and monitoring of multiple myeloma and its precursor conditions. The new method, known as SWIFT-seq, uses single-cell sequencing to profile circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood, offering a...
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...
A recent study published by Menta et al in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology found that many people misunderstand how common skin, hair, and nail side effects are during cancer treatment—and those fears may lead some to avoid or delay care. Conducted by researchers at the George Washington...
A collaborative study between Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute found that 8.9% of children with glioma, the most common type of pediatric brain tumor, have alterations in the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) family of proteins, and these gliomas may be sensitive to...
New research out of Spain has shown that patients with cancer who had lower levels of the biomarker CD69 (receptor on T cells) before starting treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) had a more negative immune response and were at higher risk of cardiovascular damage and myocarditis.1...
The randomized phase III C-POST trial attempted to learn whether the standard-of-care treatment in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma—cemiplimab-rwlc, which blocks the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway—could reduce recurrence after definitive local therapy for patients who had high-risk features....
A recent exploratory analysis of the phase III HIMALAYA trial involving patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has shown that 1 in 5 participants (19.6%) treated with the STRIDE regimen (single tremelimumab regular interval durvalumab) remained alive after 5 years of follow-up vs ...
In August 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a negotiated price for the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib that is 38% lower than the manufacturer’s list price. This new price will go into effect in January 2026. Negotiations began following passage...
Patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) that has metastasized to the brain were safely and successfully treated with targeted stereotactic radiation (SRT) rather than whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) in a phase II trial, demonstrating the practicality of a less-invasive approach for...
The TRUST trial is the first phase III randomized study to show improved progression-free survival for primary cytoreductive surgery compared with interval surgery without compromising short-term or long-term quality of life, although the study failed to meet its primary endpoint of overall...
Women aged 65 years and older are still at a heightened risk of cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), suggest the findings of a large observational Chinese study published by Ye et al in Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinical Medicine. Most guidelines currently recommend discontinuing...
Corticosteroids, which are commonly prescribed to alleviate cancer-related symptoms in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with immunotherapy, may be the reason certain immunotherapies fail in treating the disease, according to new research published by Polyakov et al in Cancer ...
People who have survived cancer as children may be at a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 infection—even decades after their cancer diagnosis, according to results published by Louro et al in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. Thanks to medical advances, more and more children are...
Children born by planned cesarean section (C-section) may have an increased risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) later in life, according to a recent study published by Kampitsi et al in the International Journal of Cancer. Alhough the researchers did find an association, they...
A study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society examining the association between the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and changes in survival disparities by health insurance coverage among patients with newly diagnosed stage IV melanoma, non–small cell lung cancer...
Investigators have bioengineered an organotypic immunocompetent chip—a laboratory device that combines the physical structure of human leukemia bone marrow and a functioning immune system—to empower real-time spatiotemporal monitoring of CAR-T cell functionality for leukemias. The preclinical...
While artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (LLMs) hold the promise to help consumers find trustworthy health information, a study assessing the safeguards incorporated into these models has found that they are vulnerable to malicious instruction that converts them into health...
In patients with polycythemia vera requiring frequent phlebotomies, the investigational hepcidin mimetic rusfertide, given as a weekly subcutaneous injection, more than doubled the clinical response rate and significantly improved quality of life in the global phase III VERIFY study.1 These...
Providing a brief, 90-day course of preoperative endocrine therapy to older women with early-stage, estrogen receptor–positive, invasive breast cancer may significantly alter both patient preferences and physician recommendations regarding adjuvant radiation therapy, according to data presented...
Besides relapse of the malignant disease, graft-vs-host disease is still one of the greatest concerns, in terms of adverse effects, following a hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in a patient with a hematologic malignancy. To mitigate these concerns, investigators are continually analyzing ...
The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is actively engaged in advocacy to protect Medicaid access for millions of Americans. Members can support ASCO’s Medicaid advocacy efforts through the ACT Network. In 2025, ASCO has partnered with other health-care organizations and engaged with...
For the adjuvant treatment of stage III colon cancer with DNA mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) tumors, the addition of the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab to standard chemotherapy significantly improved disease-free survival in the phase III ATOMIC trial. The results position this approach as a...
A healthy gut microbiome prior to chemotherapy could help protect against cardiotoxicity as a result of breast cancer therapy, according to new findings presented by Antoniades et al at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Cardio-Oncology 2025 annual conference. Background Cardiotoxicity is a...
Whether a patient’s breast cancer was detected through symptoms or routine screening mammography significantly affected their risk for advanced disease or death, according to a study published recently in Radiology: Imaging Cancer. Patients with symptom-detected breast cancer had higher odds of...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) announced that it will recognize 11 hematologists who have made notable contributions to the field with several honorific awards and prestigious lectures at the 2025 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando, Florida, from December 6–9, 2025. The...
A common germline variant in the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) (rs562556, V474I) gene rather than a mutation in a breast cancer tumor may be the driving force in significantly increasing the risk of breast cancer metastasis and reducing survival in women with the disease....
Internationally renowned for her decades-long pioneering research in pancreatic cancer, in 2024, Diane M. Simeone, MD, left her positions as the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Surgery and Pathology; Director, Pancreatic Cancer Center; and Associate Director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center...
I’ve been a physician for several decades, seeing patients and functioning as a medical teacher; clinical, translational, and bench researcher; and administrator. Adapting to medical practice in three nations and several U.S. states has been quite challenging at different times, but I really think...