In breast cancer survivors after lymph node dissection, a combined education and exercise intervention resulted in patients regaining full range of motion in both arms sooner than those who received education alone, according to follow-up from a phase III clinical trial reported by Electra D....
In general, the risk of suicide among cancer survivors is about 50% higher than in the general population, but this risk is especially elevated among survivors of head and neck cancer, according to research presented by Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters, BDS, MPH, CHES, of the Department of...
The results of a phase II clinical trial suggest that patients with head and neck cancers associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) may receive significantly lower doses of radiation safely and effectively after response to induction chemotherapy.1 These findings from the OPTIMA study,...
Advancing therapeutics and augmenting curability in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have been very challenging. Although many novel approaches have offered promise and continue to be developed, we have not yet identified a clearly superior approach to R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan],...
How should clinicians position anti-HER2 agents and also incorporate endocrine therapies in the treatment of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer? At the 2018 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, this question was explored by Sunil Verma, MD, Medical Director of the Tom Baker Cancer Center and...
In the phase III METIV-HCC trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Rimassa et al found no improvement in overall survival with the investigational MET inhibitor tivantinib vs placebo in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with high MET expression previously treated with sorafenib...
FT819—an off-the-shelf, T-cell receptor–less CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product that could potentially be made more accessible to patients with cancer than conventional CAR T-cell therapies—showed positive results in preclinical specificity, functionality, and...
BLU-667, a next-generation inhibitor that selectively targets the oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinase RET, was well tolerated and had broad clinical benefit in patients with advanced cancer that had progressed on previous therapies, including multikinase inhibitor therapy. Proof-of-concept data from ...
Among patients with inoperable, advanced, or metastatic ALK-positive inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, 50% were confirmed to have partial or complete tumor shrinkage after treatment with the ALK-targeted anticancer therapeutic agent crizotinib (Xalkori), according to data from the phase II EORTC...
Children with nonchromosomal birth defects—such as congenital heart disease—had a significantly higher risk of developing childhood cancer than children who did not have birth defects, according to a study presented at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual...
In a study among California residents reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Pham et al found that those designated as Asian/Pacific Islanders were at elevated risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) vs other racial/ethnic groups, with the highest risk observed among Southeast...
Investing in the continuity of care for lung cancer patients can bring tremendous benefits in terms of patient satisfaction and quality of life. In Quebec, this investment has taken the form of a dedicated role on the medical team: The Pivot Nurse in Oncology (PNO). A study presented by Kassouf et...
Erlotinib (Tarceva) or high-dose erlotinib provides benefit in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who develop leptomeningeal metastasis during or after treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Findings supporting second-line...
Alectinib provides longer symptom improvement than crizotinib in <em>ALK</em>-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results from the ALEX trial presented by Pérol et al at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) in Geneva, Switzerland (Abstract...
Further evidence that immunotherapy provides long-term survival benefit for patients with lung cancer was presented by Mazières et al at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) in Geneva, Switzerland (Abstract 136PD_PR). Researchers presented the 3-year survival results of the randomized...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Laetsch et al, phase I results from an ongoing phase I/II trial have shown activity of the TRK kinase inhibitor larotrectinib in pediatric patients with solid tumors harboring TRK fusions. Study Details In the study, 24 patients in a dose-escalation cohort...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Jongen-Lavrencic et al found that molecular minimal residual disease identified by next-generation sequencing during complete remission was associated with increased risk of relapse and mortality over 4 years of follow-up in patients with...
A study by Eberl et al in Cancer Cell has pinpointed a mechanism that controls how basal cell cancers respond to treatment and offers new ideas for controlling this disease. Basal cell carcinomas are incredibly common—somewhere between 1 million to 3 million diagnosed each year—and...
In the phase II BOLERO-4 trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Royce et al found that the combination of the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) and endocrine therapy was active in first-line treatment of postmenopausal women with advanced estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor...
In a preplanned pooled analysis of phase III trials reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Grothey et al did not establish noninferiority of 3 vs 6 months of adjuvant FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) or CAPOX (capecitabine and oxaliplatin) in disease-free survival in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cheson et al, an updated analysis of the phase III GADOLIN trial showed an overall survival advantage with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) plus bendamustine induction followed by obinutuzumab maintenance vs bendamustine alone in patients with rituximab...
Topline results from the phase III REACH-2 study of ramucirumab (Cyramza) as a single agent in the second-line treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were recently announced. The trial met its primary endpoint of overall survival as well as the secondary endpoint of...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Motzer et al, the phase III CheckMate 214 trial has shown an overall survival advantage with nivolumab plus ipilimumab vs sunitinib in patients with previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Study Details In the open-label...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Cercek et al found evidence supporting the use of total neoadjuvant therapy as an effective option in locally advanced rectal cancer. Study Details The study involved data on 811 patients presenting with locally advanced rectal cancer (T3 ...
When it comes to helping patients with cancer manage pain, education and communication are critical. ASCO University® has developed two resources for providers to help facilitate educated clinical decision-making skills for pain management and feedback from patients in the forms of the Pain...
Data presented at the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition on the longer-term follow-up analysis of results from the ZUMA-1 trial investigating the effectiveness of axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) in patients with refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) showed...
THE INCIDENCE of cholangiocarcinoma is rising, and effective therapies are urgently needed. Several classes of experimental molecularly targeted agents might meet this challenge, according to Robin Kate Kelley, MD, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology and leader of the clinical trials program in ...
LONG-TERM SURVIVORS of pancreatic cancer display evidence of enhanced tumor-specific T-cell responses that are associated with unique neoepitope quality but not quantity, according to Steven D. Leach, MD, Director of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and the Preston T. and Virginia R. Kelsey...
WHETHER THEY are parents themselves or dealing with their own parents, patients with cancer often look to their health-care team to help guide these relationships, but data on how best to help are lacking, according to two poster presentations at the 2018 American Psychosocial Oncology Society...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hershman et al found that each additional baseline cardiovascular disease risk factor was associated with increased risk for cardiac events and death among Medicare patients who had been enrolled in SWOG trials in breast cancer. Study...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Fuchs et al, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) showed activity in patients with previously treated advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer in the phase II KEYNOTE-059 trial. Study Details In the study, 259 patients from sites in 16 countries who had disease...
PENILE CANCER is rare, outcomes remain poor, and there are few data from randomized trials to guide treatment decisions. However, in the small phase II VinCaP study, presented at the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, 45.5% of patients with advanced or metastatic penile cancer had a clinical...
THE 2018 GENITOURINARY Cancers Symposium hosted an international audience of oncologists and other stakeholders to hear about the latest advances in the field. We have included coverage of many of the top news stories from the meeting in previous issues of The ASCO Post. Here are summaries of a few ...
A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY of The Cancer Genome Atlas may have therapy-specific implications for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, according to data presented at the 2018 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.1 This first analysis of the relationship between intratumor...
AN OPTICAL CONTRAST agent composed of panitumumab (Vectibix), a humanized anti–epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody, conjugated to the near-infrared fluorescent dye IRDye800, may aid in the real-time detection and surgical resection of squamous cell carcinoma, according to...
IN A POPULATION of heavily pretreated patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer and low or negative programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, durvalumab (Imfinzi) monotherapy demonstrated an overall response rate of 9.2%, consistent with that of single-agent programmed...
DELAYS IN RADIATION THERAPY after surgery for head and neck cancer were associated with decreased survival in a large population of U.S. patients, according to data presented at the 2018 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium and reported online recently in JAMA Otolaryngology Head & ...
THANKS TO the efficacy of five approved anti-HER2 agents, patients with HER2-positive breast cancer have overall survival numbers that are as good as, or better than, their HER2-negative counterparts. With the next generation of anti-HER2 therapies in clinical trials, these outcomes may become even ...
IN THE PHASE III COLUMBUS trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Reinhard Dummer, MD, of University Hospital Zurich, and colleagues found that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the MEK inhibitor binimetinib improved progression-free survival vs vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in...
Dr. Collins is Director of the National Institutes of Health. Originally posted on March 19, 2018, to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Blog (https://directorsblog. nih.gov). OVER THE PAST couple of weeks, we’ve lost two legendary scientists who made major contributions to our...
In an international phase II trial (Mayo Clinic Phase 2 Consortium–NCI-9742) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ma et al found that nivolumab (Opdivo) was active in previously treated recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study Details In the study, 44 evaluable...
In the international PRECISION trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Kasivisvanathan et al found that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-targeted biopsy resulted in a significantly higher rate of diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer and a lower rate of diagnosis of...
A phase I/II trial has shown that the addition of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to bendamustine is active in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma. The study findings were reported in The Lancet Oncology by Owen A. O’Connor, MD, of the Center for Lymphoid Malignancies, Columbia University...
The proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib (Kyprolis) has taken on an increasing role in the treatment of multiple myeloma, but new research from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania shows the therapy may come with the risk of cardiovascular problems in a higher-than-expected...
An interim analysis of a phase II trial reported by Jones et al in The Lancet Oncology indicates that venetoclax (Venclexta) produces a response in a high proportion of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) progressing on or after ibrutinib (Imbruvica) treatment. John C. Byrd, MD, of...
A phase II study (ACE-LY-004) reported in The Lancet by Michael Wang, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues showed durable responses with the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor acalabrutinib (Calquence) in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma....
“I think I found the trial that is going to save your life,” Stefanie Joho’s sister said after checking out the ClinicalTrials.gov website. “And sure enough, it did. That is not an exaggeration. That is exactly what happened,” Ms. Joho, a health advocate and consultant based in Philadelphia, told...
“Immunotherapy has a completely different side-effect profile than chemotherapy, and that has caught physicians off guard,” noted Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD, in an article published earlier this year in The Washington Post.1 Since then, efforts have moved forward on several fronts to bring physicians,...
I’m sure every cancer survivor feels this way, but my diagnosis, in 1997, of stage III germ cell testicular cancer couldn’t have come at a worse time in my life. I was nearing the end of a 60-city tour with my figure skating show Stars on Ice, when a nagging pain in my abdomen became so severe I...
Postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer who took the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole for 2 years after an initial 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy received an equal benefit to those who took the drug for 5 additional years. The trial results suggest that a shorter...