Although cancer immunotherapy can produce dramatic responses, only a minority of patients benefit from such therapy. Being able to differentiate treated responders from nonresponders early in the course of therapy would help to triage nonresponding patients away from ineffective therapies, reducing ...
Second cancers in children as well as adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are far deadlier than they are in older adults and may partially account for the relatively poor outcomes of cancer patients aged 15 to 39 years overall, according to a new study by University of California (UC), Davis...
On April 27, the investigational next-generation ALK/ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor lorlatinib was granted Breakthrough Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive metastatic non–small cell...
Patients with lung cancer treated with programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) checkpoint inhibitors may be at increased risk of adverse events after receiving the seasonal influenza vaccination, according to the first study measuring this effect. The results, to ...
A new position statement, jointly published by seven international and European organizations, identifies fracture-related risk factors in patients treated with aromatase inhibitors and outlines key management strategies to help prevent bone loss and related fractures. It was published by Hadji et...
In newly updated clinical guidelines from the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, along with an interdisciplinary team of colleagues at The University of Texas MD Anderson...
On April 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted warning letters addressed to 14 U.S.-based companies illegally selling more than 65 products that fraudulently claim to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure cancer. The products are marketed and sold without FDA approval, most commonly on ...
Results of the SARAH trial presented at the 2017 International Liver Congress (ILC) demonstrated that selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) resulted in a median overall survival of 8.0 months compared to 9.9 months with sorafenib (Nexavar; P = .179) in patients with locally advanced ...
The latest in a series of studies led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that addition of a widely available, noninvasive imaging test called 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT (single-photon emission computed tomography plus computed tomography) to conventional CT or magnetic resonance imaging...
A pathologic complete response to presurgical therapy occurs in between 40% and 50% of patients with HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer, raising the question of the need for surgery for all patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy indicates a pathologic complete response in...
As reported by Blum et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the efficacy analysis of the combined adjuvant Anthracyclines in Early Breast Cancer (ABC) Trials showed better invasive disease-free survival with taxane plus doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (TaxAC) regimens vs six cycles of...
In the largest-known study on bone metastases in thyroid cancer, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that patients with follicular and medullary thyroid cancer had the highest rate of cancer-related bone lesions and fractures and an increased risk of death....
In a single-center study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Jacobs et al found that improved satisfaction with clinician communication and treatment was the strongest predictor of treatment adherence in patients receiving oral anticancer medication. Study Details The prospective study...
The 21-gene recurrence score assay, Oncotype DX, determines a score that estimates the likelihood of distant recurrence of disease in women with early-stage estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer; this score is used to assess the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy. Testing with this assay is...
Research from epidemiologists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, published by Minlikeeva et al in Cancer Causes & Control, suggests that hypertension and diabetes and the use of medications to treat these comorbidities may have an effect on survival outcomes in women with ovarian cancer. Study...
An ASCO clinical practice guideline update, reported by Khorana et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, includes the recommendation of gemcitabine-capecitabine doublet therapy as an adjuvant therapy option in potentially curable pancreatic cancer. The updated recommendation (4.1) modifies the...
Chemotherapy-associated cognitive dysfunction, often referred to as “chemobrain” or “chemofog,” is a common occurrence during active cancer treatment and may continue after treatment is completed. However, since treatment other than chemotherapy, including radiation therapy, surgery, and hormonal...
An article that appeared in the April 10 issue of The ASCO Post (“Olaparib Maintenance Prolongs Progression-Free Survival in Ovarian Cancer”) suggests unwarranted conclusions from the phase III SOLO2 trial of olaparib (Lynparza) in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer and...
In the phase II BERIL-1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Soulières et al found that adding the pan-PI3K (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase) inhibitor buparlisib to paclitaxel improved outcomes in patients with platinum-pretreated recurrent metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck....
Survivors of melanoma are more likely to limit their exposure to ultraviolet radiation than those who have not had the disease, but more than 10% continue to intentionally tan, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.1 The study surveyed 724 people diagnosed ...
Long-term survivors of melanoma are more likely than those who have not been diagnosed with the disease to use sunscreen, protective clothing, and other means to limit exposure to the sun, according to a survey of melanoma survivors and controls about ultraviolet radiation exposure and protective...
Better vision function seems to be related to better quality of life after treatment for head and neck cancer, particularly among patients who have had surgery, according to Hsiao-Lan Wang, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Head and neck...
Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) has translated its Metastatic Breast Cancer Series: Guide for the Newly Diagnosed into the five most-often-spoken languages in the United States after English: Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and French. Jointly created by LBBC and the Metastatic Breast...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recognized Carlo M. Croce, MD, FAACR, with the 11th Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research during the AACR Annual Meeting 2017 in Washington, DC. The Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and...
End-of-life care in any patient with cancer is challenging for the patient, family, and physician. Issues faced at the end of life include pain, depression, loss of dignity, and hopelessness. In the geriatric patient, additional complexities are present in the form of comorbid conditions,...
Development of pediatric cancer drugs has long lagged behind adult drug development for two major reasons: The process is more difficult, and childhood cancer is rarer by far than adult cancer. These and other phenomena in pediatric oncology were the subject of a workshop held by the Friends of...
The advent of successful monoclonal antibody therapy in the treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma has dramatically improved the prognosis of patients for whom currently approved novel therapies have failed. In 2015, the approval of the combination of elotuzumab (Empliciti) with lenalidomide...
Long-term follow-up of treatment with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with previously untreated and treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL) has shown high response rates that are durable. At 5 years, 89% of patients with treatment-naive and relapsed or...
Alexandra Levine, MD, MACP, is Professor in the Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, Duarte, California, and has been on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic from the beginning—before the disease even had a name. Dr. Levine spoke with The ASCO Post about ...
Although the prognosis of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has improved with R-CHOP—the addition of rituximab (Rituxan) to the cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone chemotherapy regimen—one-third of patients still relapse after therapy, and patients with the ...
Eric Jonasch, MD, Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, commented on this phase II study. “This is an important study, since we have, for the first time, randomized, prospective data comparing the combination of a checkpoint antibody with an...
The combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and bevacizumab (Avastin) appears to be promising in the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to results of a phase II trial presented at the 2017 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 Despite the failure of the...
Read more in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP). Visit ASCOPubs.org/journal/jop Patients with stage I lung cancer are achieving excellent local tumor control, thanks to an evolution in radiotherapy and surgical approaches. Jeffrey A. Bogart, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of...
Momentum around immunotherapies for cancer continues to build, but the high cost of these therapies places them at the center of debate about how best to define and measure value in cancer care. As these therapies are increasingly integrated into practice, all stakeholders—providers, patients,...
Researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle reported early results from a small study of their chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product (JCAR014) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the 2016 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition....
Formal discussant of the 111 trial, Prof. Noel Clarke, MBBS, FRCS, ChM, The Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK, had some concerns, but overall felt that the study could be practice-changing. “In this paper, single-cycle treatment is safe and effective, and two cycles of adjuvant BEP (bleomycin,...
Early-phase studies suggest that venetoclax (Venclexta) holds promise as a treatment for myeloma. At the 2016 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, investigators reported strong activity in heavily pretreated patients, especially those with the t(11;14)...
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) has selected David M. Sabatini, MD, PhD, to receive its 5th annual Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences for discovery of the mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) cellular pathway as a key regulator of growth and metabolism in response to...
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common leukemia in adults. Each year, about 20,000 Americans will be diagnosed with AML, and roughly 10,000 people in this country will die of the disease. AML progresses quickly, and unless treatment begins soon and is effective , the prognosis is grim....
Scientific Name: Vaccinium macrocarpon Common Names: Mossberry, sassamanash, bounceberry Case Study M.C. is a 55-year-old woman with a history of stage I endometrial cancer, diagnosed and curatively treated 5 years ago. Since then, she has been having urinary tract infections from time to time....
Prostate cancer has lagged behind breast cancer in the identification of predictive and prognostic biomarkers, but the field is catching up. Researchers have identified a molecular signature that can distinguish aggressive prostate cancer that is androgen-indifferent and will have a better response ...
Not all cancer research will result in a positive outcome for patients, but all research does provide information that continues to advance the treatment of cancer care. Recent clinical trials, including one funded in part by the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of ASCO, show that most prostate...
A test that measures the levels of five chemicals in the breath has shown promising results for the detection of cancers of the esophagus and stomach, in a large patient trial presented by Markar et al at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (Abstract 6LBA).1 Together, stomach and esophageal cancers...
The onset of diabetes, or a rapid deterioration in existing diabetes that requires more aggressive treatment, could be a sign of early, hidden pancreatic cancer, according to research presented by Autier et al at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (Abstract 540).1 Study Design and Key Findings...
Rucaparib (Rubraca) led to frequent durable remissions among patients with relapsed high-grade ovarian cancer with BRCA mutations, regardless of whether the mutations were germline or somatic, according to the results of the ARIEL2 trial presented at the 2017 Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual...
A Web-based decision aid that allows women with early breast cancer to easily compare surgical treatment options helps them make more informed decisions, suggests a randomized trial reported at the 2017 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Cancer Symposium.1 “Having knowledge of surgical...
“Several gene-expression profiles have been evaluated to predict prognosis in colorectal cancer, but none have become widely accepted or U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved. This has important implications for deciding which patients may benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy,” commented...
A machine learning model that uses a set or ensemble of algorithms has good accuracy for predicting colorectal cancer recurrence, investigators reported during a plenary session at the 2017 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Cancer Symposium.1 Persistent key questions in managing early...
On April 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who are not eligible for cisplatin chemotherapy. Atezolizumab was previously approved for people...
ASCO strongly supports increasing access to investigational new treatment options for patients with cancer, while raising serious concerns about recently proposed federal “right-to-try” legislation as well as state-enacted right-to-try laws. In a position statement released April 4, 2017, ASCO said ...