In a proof-of-concept study, an international scientific team has shown that a laboratory test using artificial intelligence tools has the potential to more accurately sort out which people with pancreatic cysts will eventually develop pancreatic cancers. Their findings were published by Springer...
Patients with biliary tract cancer have an altered genetic architecture in some immune system receptor systems, according to research published by Cornillet et al in Gastroenterology. Research Findings Researchers at Karolinska Institutet investigated the genetic architecture of two large genetic ...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, explore the current...
On June 14, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved trastuzumab-anns (Kanjinti) for all approved indications of the reference product trastuzumab (Herceptin): for the treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel hematology and oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On February 22, trifluridine/tipiracil...
Joann Sweasy, PhD, an expert in DNA repair and genomic instability, has joined the University of Arizona Cancer Center as Associate Director for Basic Sciences. Dr. Sweasy also has been appointed to a joint faculty position at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, in the...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Kelly et al identified the frequency of diagnostic and postprogression biopsies, complication rates, and associated costs in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study involved patient data from the...
Unlike non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which has seen a paradigm shift in treatment modalities with the discovery of genetic signatures (including EGFR mutations) that are responsive to targeted drugs, systemic treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has remained largely unchanged for over...
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy is potentially attractive because it addresses micrometastases early in the course of treatment and may improve compliance with systemic therapy, said formal discussant Maximilian Diehn, MD, PhD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo...
An abstract presented by Camus et al at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML; Abstract 138) found that targeted genotyping of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in classical Hodgkin lymphoma at diagnosis “may help to assess early treatment response in complement to...
In an abstract presented by Rushton et al at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML; Abstract 004), researchers found that patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with specific mutations in relapse-enriched genes may be at a higher risk of treatment failure. The...
The work of nine researchers who have previously received funding from Conquer Cancer is featured in ASCO’s Clinical Cancer Advances 2019. Visit CONQUER.ORG/CCA for more details. New Approaches in Leukemia In two separate trials, Conquer Cancer researchers joined forces to improve treatment for...
In patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and germline mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, maintenance therapy with olaparib doubled the time to disease progression and the proportion of patients who were progression-free at 2 years, in the phase III POLO trial.1 “Maintenance olaparib provided a...
In a two-institution study reported in JAMA Oncology, Carole Fakhry, MD, and colleagues found that persistent detection of tumor-type human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA after primary treatment for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas was associated with poorer outcomes. Study Details The...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved trastuzumab-anns (Kanjinti) for all approved indications of the reference product trastuzumab (Herceptin): for the treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal...
Results from an experimental arm of the phase II NRG-GI002 trial using veliparib, a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, as part of total neoadjuvant therapy (induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy and surgery) in patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma were...
The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib may benefit some men with prostate cancer, according to findings from the phase II TOPARP-B trial presented by Mateo et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 5005). Olaparib previously showed activity against metastatic...
A recent, updated predictive analysis of the three World Health Organization (WHO)-defined molecular subgroups based on IDH mutation status and 1p/19q codeletion status represented in the high-risk treatment arms of a phase III trial found that both IDH-mutant subgroups may derive benefit ...
An interim analysis of the large Pediatric MATCH trial found that 24% of children and young adolescents with cancers refractory to current treatments had been assigned to treatment with investigational targeted study agents based on genetic alterations detected in their tumors,1 which is more than...
The international, randomized phase III MONALEESA-7 trial found that the addition of ribociclib to standard-of-care endocrine therapy significantly improved overall survival for premenopausal women with advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer compared with endocrine...
ASCO and ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation are proud to recognize the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards and Conquer Cancer’s Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards and Tribute Award. The recipients of these awards have worked to transform cancer care around the world. Don’t miss the opportunity...
The Phillip A. Sharp Awards for Innovation in Collaboration, are named for Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, Nobel Laureate, and molecular biologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in recognition of his emphasis on collaboration across research institutions and different teams. Stand Up To Cancer...
Situated in the nucleus of the human cell is DNA, the secret of life discovered by the Nobel Prize laureates Drs. Watson and Crick. More recently, another scientist, Venki Ramakrishnan, PhD, won a Nobel Prize for his work in uncovering another secret within the human cell: the structure of the...
THE PANCREATIC Cancer Collective, which is the strategic partnership of the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), recently announced that it has awarded $1 million grants to each of 2 projects that are using artificial intelligence (AI) computational approaches to identify high-risk...
The discovery of trastuzumab has been revolutionary in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, both in the metastatic and early-stage settings.1-6 This cannot be disputed. In the early-stage setting, the addition of trastuzumab to standard chemotherapy has led to a 50% gain in...
On May 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) for the adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer who have residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant taxane- and trastuzumab-based treatment. Patients should be...
Scientists have identified a genetic mutation in the tumors of some men with prostate cancer that is linked to very poor survival, and which could be used to help select certain patients for more intensive treatment. These findings were published by Abida et al in the Proceedings of the...
The search for biomarkers to identify patients who are likely to respond to immunotherapy continues. According to biomarker tissue and blood analysis of patients enrolled in the phase III MYSTIC trial, high tumor mutational burden in both tissue and blood identified patients with non–small cell...
Efrat Dotan, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, commented on this study. “This abstract presents the interim analysis of a phase II study evaluating the use of maintenance therapy with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase PARP inhibitor...
A study investigating the frequency of targetable molecular alterations in pediatric cancer among patients enrolled in the National Cancer Institute–Children’s Oncology Group Pediatric Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (MATCH) trial has found that about one-quarter of patients with...
Foundational research recently published by Schrock et al in Annals of Oncology may help patients with microsatellite instability (MSI)-high metastatic colorectal cancer decide whether to choose immunotherapy or chemotherapy as their first treatment option. “Immunotherapy is the new,...
A team of researchers have identified 34 genes that are associated with an increased risk for developing the earliest stages of ovarian cancer. The findings, published by Gusev et al in Nature Genetics, may help identify women who are at highest risk of developing ovarian cancer and pave the way...
In a two-institution study reported in JAMA Oncology, Fakhry et al found that persistent detection of tumor-type human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA after primary treatment for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas was associated with poorer outcomes. Study Details The prospective study...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Christensen et al found that identification of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) by ultradeep sequencing of plasma cell-free DNA was highly prognostic for outcome in bladder cancer and permitted early detection of relapse. The study...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted a Fast Track designation to a treatment for CCR5-positive metastatic triple-negative breast cancer; granted Breakthrough Device designation to a test for the postsurgical detection and quantification of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA);...
Published by Rodon et al in Nature Medicine, results of the WINTHER study showed that RNA profiling together with DNA testing matches more patients with advanced cancer to personalized therapies than DNA profiling for tumor mutations alone. The WINTHER trial aimed to...
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), exposure to certain environmental factors, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection may increase the risk of developing bladder cancer, according to new data presented this week at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). The...
On May 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) for the adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer who have residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant taxane- and trastuzumab-based treatment. Patients should be...
Robert O. Hickman, MD, a pediatric nephrologist and inventor of a catheter that revolutionized care for patients with cancer, died on April 4, 2019. He was 92. Dr. Hickman was born on September 27, 1926, in Monticello, Utah. He served in the U.S. Air Force in the mid-1940s and married Lucy Jean...
The Skin Cancer Foundation hosted its member reception on March 1 during the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting. As part of the reception, the Foundation announced the winners of its annual research grant awards, collectively totaling $125,000. David Polsky, MD, Chair of The Skin...
A new study analyzing the entire set of genes and all the proteins produced by colon cancer tissues from patient samples has revealed a more comprehensive view of the tumor, pointing to novel cancer biologic mechanisms and possible new therapeutic strategies. This multidisciplinary and...
ASCO and ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation are proud to recognize the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards and Conquer Cancer’s Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards and Tribute Award. The recipients of these awards have worked to transform cancer care around the world. Don’t miss the opportunity...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Alexander M. Menzies, MD, of Melanoma Institute Australia, The University of Sydney, and Royal North Shore and Mater Hospitals, and colleagues found that BRAF V600K melanomas are less responsive to BRAF inhibitor with or without MEK inhibitor...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has named Giulio Draetta, MD, PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer, a new position that champions innovation, develops strong partnerships, and provides focused leadership on the science and clinical translation of research programs. Dr. Draetta joined ...
A growing list of biomarkers is beginning to drive targeted therapy in breast cancer, and clinicians can take advantage of these assays to make treatment selections, Debu Tripathy, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chair of Breast Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center,...
A certain type of DNA marker may predict poor outcomes in multiple myeloma, researchers at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have found. The marker is a particular rearrangement of chromosomes that is rarely tested for but may indicate resistance to immunomodulatory drugs such as...
Biologic age—a DNA-based estimate of a person’s age—may be associated with the development of breast cancer, according a report published by Jacob K. Kresovich, PhD, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and colleagues in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.1...
The early debate over the social and ethical implications of gene therapy led the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee in 1974. However, the risks of human gene therapies were largely unknown until 1999, when a patient died of a massive immune...
NEW AGENTS for the treatment of advanced HER2-positive breast cancer should be coming soon to your clinic, according to Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, Director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of...
In contrast with melanoma, lung cancer, and kidney cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has been disappointing in prostate cancer thus far. Because of success in treating other tumor types, interest remains high in exploring the effect of immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibition in prostate...