A study by Ivy Abraham, MD, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues, investigated the contribution of structural violence, specifically neighborhood socioeconomic status, on the racial/ethnic differences in the survival of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). They found that ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has announced the recipient of the ACCC 2020 Clinical Research Award: Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Ensign Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacology, Chief of Medical Oncology, and Associate Director for Translational Research at the Yale Cancer...
Electra D. Paskett, PhD, was born in New York City, the daughter of a Greek immigrant who led a notable dance band. As a young child, Dr. Paskett frequented her parents’ rehearsal and dance studio, which was situated above a bustling Woolworth’s Five-and-Dime store. One of the studio’s famous...
On December 18, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved selinexor (Xpovio) in combination with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. The FDA granted selinexor accelerated...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved relugolix (Orgovyx) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced prostate cancer. “Today’s approval marks the first oral drug in this class and it may eliminate some patients’ need to visit the clinic for treatments that require...
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium took place virtually from December 8 to 12th. This week, we’re featuring three important studies from the meeting, focusing on a new prognostic tool; the treatment of depression and related symptoms in young breast cancer survivors; and a chemoimmunotherapy...
On December 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rituximab-arrx (Riabni), a biosimilar to rituximab (Rituxan), for the treatment of adult patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's granulomatosis), and...
Sibylle Loibl, MD, of the German Breast Group, discusses the first phase III results from the PENELOPE-B study of palbociclib combined with endocrine therapy in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative primary breast cancer who are at high risk for relapse after neoadjuvant...
Joyce V. Lee, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses data that suggest the MYC oncogene may indicate whether a patient with triple-negative breast cancer will respond to immunotherapy. Dr. Lee’s study is the first to describe MYC downregulation of MHC-I and to demonstrate...
In 2017, a workgroup task force, made up of medical students and faculty at George Washington University, Texas Christian University, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center, conducted a literature review to identify best practices for teaching and learning about race and culture in ...
Findings from a propensity-matched survival analysis presented by van Breeschoten et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Immuno-Oncology Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract 37P) suggest that patients with advanced melanoma and a BRAF V600 mutation derive an enhanced survival benefit...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Bahadoer et al, the phase III RAPIDO trial has shown improved 3-year disease-related treatment failure with preoperative short-course radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy and total mesorectal excision (TME) vs preoperative chemoradiotherapy, TME, and optional...
In a single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Bernardo H.L. Goulart, MD, and colleagues found that higher out-of-pocket costs for tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) were associated with reduced adherence to and increased discontinuation of TKI therapy—as well as poorer overall...
A new study published by Codipilly et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention investigated the trends in incidence, stage at presentation, and survival outcomes of young-onset esophageal adenocarcinoma—defined as patients aged 50 and younger at diagnosis—over the past 4 decades....
Roisin M. Connolly, MD, of University College Cork, discusses phase III results from the E2112 trial, which showed exemestane plus entinostat did not improve survival in aromatase inhibitor–resistant advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer (Abstract GS4-02).
A prospective cohort study found sentinel lymph node biopsy had a 96% sensitivity rate and a 99% negative predictive value for detecting nodal metastasis among patients with clinical stage I low-grade and high-grade endometrial cancer.1 “Our study suggests that [sentinel lymph node biopsy] has...
Sentinel lymph node biopsy “had similar diagnostic accuracy and prognostic ability as lymphadenectomy in patients with high-grade endometrial cancer at greatest risk for nodal metastases,” according to the SENTOR trial, a prospective cohort study of 156 patients with clinical stage I disease. Using ...
Sintilimab provided superior clinical benefit compared to docetaxel in patients with previously treated, advanced and/or metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to phase III study findings presented by Shi et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
It has been well documented that, collectively, Black individuals have the highest death rates and shortest survival of any racial/ethnic group in the United States for most cancers. Black men also have the highest cancer incidence.1 Although the causes of these inequities are complex and include...
In the phase II HORIZON study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Paul G. Richardson, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of the peptide-drug conjugate melflufen and dexamethasone showed activity in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma....
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Youn et al, interim results of a Korean phase II trial indicated activity with the combination of pembrolizumab plus the therapeutic DNA vaccine GX-188E in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-16– or HPV-18–positive advanced cervical cancer. GX-188E...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Goldman et al, updated results from the phase III CASPIAN trial showed maintained improvement in overall survival with first-line durvalumab plus platinum/etoposide vs platinum/etoposide in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). However,...
On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved margetuximab-cmkb (Margenza) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti-HER2 regimens, at least one of which was for...
Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, reviews six important abstracts on CAR T-cell treatments for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): successful 24-hour manufacture of CAR T-cell therapy; ALLCAR19, a novel fast-off rate therapy; donor-derived CD19-targeted...
Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, of the West Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the CONTESSA study, which showed that an all-oral regimen of tesetaxel plus a reduced dose of capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival compared with capecitabine alone in patients with...
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, discusses phase III data from the ASCENT study of the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan vs chemotherapy in patients with previously treated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (Abstract GS3-06).
Patricia A. Ganz, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses study findings that showed mindfulness meditation and survivorship education may effectively reduce depression and related symptoms such as fatigue and sleep disturbance, which pose serious threats to younger women’s...
Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of the Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the development and validation of a tool that integrates the 21-gene recurrence score and clinicopathologic features to individualize prognosis for distant recurrence and predict chemotherapy...
Although the exact incidence of treatment-related lymphedema among cancer survivors is unknown—most likely due to its prolonged latency period—it can be a lifelong chronic side effect that negatively impacts survivors’ quality of life. Although the condition is often linked to treatment for breast...
Tebentafusp is a novel bispecific molecule consisting of an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor fused to an anti-CD3 effector that can redirect T cells to target gp100-positive cells. The agent showed clinical benefit, including target lesion reduction, in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma,...
In a National Cancer Database analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Crozier et al found that receipt of neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved overall survival among women aged 70 or older undergoing surgery for stage I to III triple-negative breast cancer. Study...
In a Dutch study reported in JAMA Oncology, van de Poll-Franse et al found that a substantial proportion of patients with cancer had changes in care within 4 to 6 weeks after the first announcement of a COVID-19–related lockdown. Patients with cancer surveyed reported levels of quality of life,...
In a study reported in Nature Communications, Vosoughi et al identified common germline-somatic variant interactions in advanced urothelial cancer, with these interactions appearing to play a central role in disease progression. As stated by the investigators, “The prevalence and the biologic...
In a National Cancer Database analysis reported in JAMA Network Open, Patel et al found that treatment at facilities with high vs low radiation case volumes was associated with improved overall survival in men with node-positive prostate cancer receiving curative-intent external-beam radiation...
Nadia Harbeck, MD, of the University of Munich, discusses the first outcome data from the phase III ADAPT HR+/HER– trial, which combined both static and dynamic biomarkers to optimize the adjuvant therapy approach in patients with intermediate- or high-risk luminal early breast cancer (Abstract...
Farhad Ravandi, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers his expert perspective on key treatment studies in acute myeloid leukemia on the use of gilteritinib, consolidation chemotherapy, venetoclax, cladribine, azacitidine, quizartinib, decitabine, and CPX-351 (Session 616...
Jorge E. Cortes, MD, of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, reviews four important studies of treatment advances in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): nilotinib vs dasatinib in newly diagnosed disease; final 5-year results from the BFORE trial on bosutinib vs imatinib for chronic phase...
Hassan Awada, MD, of the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, discusses the use of newer machine-learning techniques to help decipher a set of prognostic subgroups that could predict survival, thus potentially improving on traditional methods and moving acute myeloid leukemia into ...
Patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer and postsurgical circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) positivity have high risk of disease recurrence following cystectomy and experienced improved clinical outcomes with adjuvant atezolizumab as compared to patients undergoing observation. These...
ASCO has elected Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, a longtime member and volunteer, to serve as its President for the term beginning in June 2022. He will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in June 2021. Five new members were also elected to the ASCO Board of Directors and the...
On December 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first over-the-counter, fully at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19. The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test is a rapid, lateral-flow antigen test, a type of test that runs a liquid sample along a...
The randomized phase II PANORAMA 3 trial found that when used in combination with subcutaneous bortezomib and oral dexamethasone, oral panobinostat produced higher response rates with 20-mg dosing regimens and lower toxicity with a 10-mg regimen. The safety profile also appeared to be better than...
Cancer cases in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) have risen by 30% during the past 4 decades, with rates of kidney cancer increasing at the greatest rate, according to findings published by Scott et al in JAMA Network Open. The team said further research into screening, diagnosis, and treatment...
In a single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Nadler et al describe the development of an intervention at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, that succeeded in increasing referrals of patients with gastrointestinal cancer to a cancer rehabilitation program. As stated by the ...
In an individual patient meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Daniel E. Spratt, MD, and colleagues found that adjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) was associated with improved progression free-survival vs neoadjuvant ADT in patients receiving radiotherapy for localized ...
Mortality rates after cancer surgery declined for Black as well as White patients during a recent 10-year period, although the mortality gap between the two groups did not narrow, according to new research published by Miranda Lam, MD, MBA, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open. The findings present...
Many patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may be cured by autologous stem cell transplant, but as many as half eventually relapse. New research presented by Reid Merryman, MD, and colleagues at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition suggests...
Patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have pleural effusion, especially those requiring pleural evacuation, experienced poorer survival when treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to findings presented by Epaillard et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, the second interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-177 trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with pembrolizumab vs fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with advanced...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Kunst et al compared five neoadjuvant-adjuvant treatment strategies for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and identified one that was associated with both improved outcomes and cost savings. The researchers found that a strategy of neoadjuvant...