In an analysis reported in a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, Doubeni et al found that a sustained Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) colorectal cancer screening initiative resulted in increased screening, increased identification of colorectal cancer, and a...
Patients with advanced HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer and high tumor mutational burden achieved responses—often durable—from treatment with the immunotherapy doublet of nivolumab and ipilimumab, according to the results of the phase II NIMBUS trial reported at the 2021 San Antonio Breast...
The current standard of care for the neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer consists of trastuzumab plus pertuzumab and polychemotherapy. But some patients, particularly those with locally advanced or inflammatory disease, still relapse and die. Furthermore, multiagent...
In its first return to a hybrid model since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) brought together researchers, clinicians, industry experts, patients, and advocates from across the globe to present and grapple with new data and important topics in breast ...
In a Danish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pedersen et al identified risk of breast cancer mortality among women with breast cancer recurrence at ≥ 10 years after primary diagnosis and found that mortality risk was reduced after late vs early recurrence. Study Details The study ...
Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, FACP, Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, commented on the promising emergence of bispecific T-cell engaging (bispecific) antibodies, as represented by studies presented at the 2021...
The presence of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential, or CHIP, increases the risk of developing a myeloid malignancy and also cardiovascular disease—which are well-established findings—but it may also protect against developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to findings reported at the ...
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and successful hybrid format dominated much of the discussion at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, but the lasting impact of the meeting will be the groundbreaking research that was presented. Throughout all diseases,...
In a Taiwanese study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shen et al found that use of H1-antihistamines was associated with reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), or dual HBV/HCV infection. Study Details The study...
In a major shift, breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among Black women as of 2019. This news is one of the key findings in a new report from the American Cancer Society, Cancer Statistics for African American/Black People 2022, published by Giaquinto et al...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Fernandez et al found that scoring accuracy for low HER2 protein expression (0 or 1+) in breast cancer tissue on standard immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays was poor. As observed by the investigators, the findings pose issues for investigation of fam-trastuzumab ...
On February 10, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a national coverage determination that expands coverage for lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) to improve health outcomes for people with lung cancer. This type of screening is aimed at early...
I was honored to contribute a chapter on the cancer care delivery system and how to improve it for the book A New Deal for Cancer: Lessons From a 50 Year War, edited by Abbe R. Gluck and Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH (Public Affairs, 2021). The book chronicles what has been accomplished in the 50 years...
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world, extending from Eastern Europe to Northern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The population of more than 140 million people is unevenly distributed across the country.1 As a result, Russia has high spatial inequality in terms of accessibility of...
In an interim analysis of a phase III trial (RxPONDER) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS, of Winship Cancer Institute, and colleagues found that the addition of adjuvant chemotherapy to endocrine therapy improved invasive disease–free survival among...
Patients with advanced HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer and high tumor mutational burden achieved responses—often durable—from treatment with the immunotherapy doublet of nivolumab and ipilimumab, according to results of the phase II NIMBUS trial reported at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer ...
Regulations that are developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must have some shelf-life before revisions are considered. The FDA has several mechanisms to provide patients with more rapid access to medicines. One such pathway is accelerated approval. Backward Glance at Accelerated...
An updated analysis of the phase III CANDOR study—recently reported by Usmani et al and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post—confirmed a significant progression-free survival benefit for the combination of daratumumab, carfilzomib, and dexamethasone (KdD) over carfilzomib and dexamethasone...
In an updated analysis of the pivotal phase III CANDOR trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saad Z. Usmani, MD, of Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health, and colleagues found that the addition of daratumumab to carfilzomib and dexamethasone (KdD) continued to show a large progression-free...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Di Meglio et al developed a predictive model for severe fatigue after a diagnosis of breast cancer. Study Details The study involved data on patients with stage I to III breast cancer included in the prospective multicenter CANcer TOxicity...
In a Chinese phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Li et al found that treatment with two cycles of concurrent cisplatin and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) was noninferior to three cycles in progression-free survival and associated with reduced toxicity in patients...
In a National Institutes of Health study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zacharakis et al found that treatment with autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) reactive to mutations in metastatic lesions produced responses in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Study Details...
Weight loss for adults, particularly those who are overweight or obese, may reduce their risk of developing a type of polyp that may lead to colorectal cancer, according to a new study published by He et al in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. Losing weight from early to late adulthood (up to the mid-70s)—at...
A new risk score may aid in identifying men and women younger than 50 who are most likely to develop a cancer of the colon or rectum, an international study published by Archaumbault et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed. More About Scoring The score—a number between 0 and...
The 2021 Annual Conference of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) was held on November 4–5. Although participants could not join the conference in person, attendees could still stay informed about the latest developments in geriatric oncology through the virtual platform. The...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Erica L. Mayer, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that early discontinuation and lower exposure intensity of oral palbociclib did not appear to account for the lack of invasive disease–free survival benefit observed with the addition of...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Casasnovas et al, final results of the phase III AHL2011 Lymphoma Association Study showed continued similarity of progression-free and overall survival over long-term follow-up with positron-emission tomography (PET)-based de-escalation of...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Howard P. Safran, MD, and colleagues, the phase III NRG Oncology/RTOG-101 trial has shown no significant disease-free survival benefit with the addition of perioperative trastuzumab to neoadjuvant chemoradiation in previously untreated patients with...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Burundi. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
On December 3, 2021, pembrolizumab was approved for adjuvant treatment of adult and pediatric (≥ 12 years of age) patients with stage IIB or IIC melanoma following complete resection.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the phase III, double-blind KEYNOTE-716 trial...
Multiple comparisons of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy combinations that began decades ago led to the adoption of the platinum plus fluorouracil doublet as the standard of care for treatment of recurrent or metastatic esophageal cancer.1 Other combinations created by the addition and/or...
In a phase II trial (Children’s Oncology Group AALL1621) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Brien et al found that inotuzumab ozogamicin produced a high response rate in children and adolescents with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study Details In the ...
In an analysis from the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, David Cella, PhD, FASCO, and colleagues found that nivolumab/cabozantinib was associated with maintained or improved patient-reported outcomes vs sunitinib in the first-line treatment of advanced renal cell...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, researchers in the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Cancer Collaboration found a global increase in new cases of cancer, cancer deaths, and cancer-related disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) between 2010 and 2019, with aspects of cancer burden differing...
In a Danish nationwide cohort study reported in JAMA, Hargreave et al found no association between maternal hormonal contraception use and risk of central nervous system (CNS) tumors in children. As stated by the investigators, “The incidence of CNS tumors in children appears to be increasing, yet...
In a study published in the journal Gastroenterology, Trivedi et al described an increase in early-onset colorectal cancer and precancerous polyps, based on a large, nationally representative study of patients younger than 50 who underwent colonoscopy. It was the first large-scale study to look at...
In analyses from the European EuroNet-PHL-C1 study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Mauz-Körholz et al found that radiotherapy could be omitted in pediatric patients with intermediate- or advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma who had adequate response to induction with OEPA (vincristine,...
Cancer deaths rose to 10 million and new cases jumped to over 23 million globally in 2019, according to a new study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine published in JAMA Oncology. At the start of the decade in 2010, total...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Naranbhai et al found that the presence of HLA-A*03 was associated with poorer outcomes in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors for advanced cancers. As stated by the investigators, “Predictive biomarkers could allow more precise use of immune...
Oropharyngeal cancer incidence among men is continuing to rise rapidly in nearly all 50 U.S. states and among women living in states in the Midwest and Southeast regions, according to a new study published by Damgacioglu et al in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. In addition, the...
�In an analysis from the phase III VIALE-A study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Keith W. Pratz, MD, and colleagues found that among treatment-naive patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who experienced complete remission after receiving treatment with venetoclax/azacitidine,...
In the European phase III Lung ART trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Le Pechoux et al found that three-dimensional (3D) conformal postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) did not improve disease-free survival vs no PORT in patients with stage IIIA N2 non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thierry Facon, MD, of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Lille, and colleagues, a prespecified interim analysis of overall survival in the pivotal phase III MAIA trial has shown a significant benefit with the addition of daratumumab to...
The phase III COSMIC-312 study has met its primary endpoint, showing a significant improvement in progression-free survival with cabozantinib plus atezolizumab compared with sorafenib in treatment-naive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), investigators reported at a European Society for Medical...
Achieving undetectable measurable residual disease (MRD) is an important milestone in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) as well as those with other hematologic malignancies undergoing treatment. Now a small phase II study, presented at the 2021 American Society of...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized three Choosing Wisely Champions—individuals working to tackle the overuse of hematology tests and treatments—at the 63rd ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition, held December 11–14 in Atlanta. Choosing Wisely is an initiative that seeks to advance a...
Although research so far has failed to uncover the root causes of the development of young-onset colorectal cancer, what is certain is that although colorectal cancer rates are declining in older adults, they are on a steady rise in people younger than age 50, especially those between the ages of...
In an updated analysis of the pivotal phase III CANDOR trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saad Z. Usmani, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of daratumumab to carfilzomib and dexamethasone (KdD) continued to show a large progression-free survival benefit in patients with relapsed or...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Caron A. Jacobson, MD, and colleagues, the phase II ZUMA-5 trial showed that axicabtagene ciloleucel, an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, produced high rates of durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory...
In a Finnish study reported in JAMA Oncology, Vettenranta et al found that statin use did not appear to markedly affect the benefits of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer. As stated by the investigators, “PSA screening for prostate cancer has resulted in a slight...