In a prospective cohort study reported in Clinical Imaging, researchers in the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) identified emphysema in nearly one-quarter of patients undergoing baseline low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer. Three-quarters of those...
In an analysis from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AALL0331 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mattano et al found that the addition of pegaspargase intensification did not improve the high rate of continuous complete remission achieved with a standard COG low-intensity...
In a single-institution retrospective study focused on a New York City location reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Satish et al found that more than 40% of patients with breast cancer not infected with COVID-19 had a delay or change in care delivery due to the pandemic. Study Details The study...
Anthony B. Costales, MD, of the Baylor College of Medicine, discusses results from the MIID-SOC trial, which explored the question of whether laparoscopic surgery for removal of ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy is feasible, safe, and provides...
Eric Jonasch, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the several hereditary renal cell cancer syndromes, the importance of surveillance for both renal and nonrenal manifestations, and the treatment options available.
Alexander E. Perl, MD, of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the major changes in 2021 to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for managing acute myeloid leukemia, including venetoclax plus azacitidine, a new standard of care in patients ineligible...
In a single-institution retrospective analysis reported in the journal Blood, Moik et al found a substantial risk of thromboembolic events in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for cancer, as well as an increased risk of mortality among those experiencing venous ...
Immunotherapy is not only significantly less effective in patients with liver cancer who previously had nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, but it actually may fuel tumor growth, according to a study published by Pfister et al in Nature. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis affects as many as 40 million people...
On March 31, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr, issued the following statement on National Cancer Control Month. Despite the incredible advancements we have made in recent years, cancer remains the second-leading cause of death in the United States. Behind this statistic are millions of Americans who...
Various genetic alterations in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were associated with clinical outcomes and resistance to hormone therapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to research published by Gupta et al in Molecular Cancer Research. Although only a...
In a single-institution study reported in JAMA Network Open, Greysen et al found that a strategy of behaviorally designed gamification with social support did not increase mobility among patients discharged from inpatient general medicine or oncology units, although benefit was observed in a...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Patrinely et al found that chronic immune-related adverse events occurred in a high proportion of patients receiving adjuvant PD-1–targeted therapy for high-risk resected melanoma and frequently persisted even during prolonged follow-up....
On March 31, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved isatuximab-irfc (Sarclisa) in combination with carfilzomib and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received one to three prior lines of therapy. IKEMA The efficacy...
On March 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a revised label for the combination of daunorubicin and cytarabine (Vyxeos) to include a new indication to treat newly diagnosed therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or AML with myelodysplasia-related changes (AML-MRC) in...
A lymph node collection kit may help surgeons attain complete resection and improve long-term survival after curative-intent lung cancer surgery, according to a recent study published by Matthew Smeltzer, PhD, and colleagues in JTO Clinical and Research Reports. Surgical resection is the most...
A retrospective analysis of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) identified potentially targetable alterations in the PI3K pathway that were not mutually exclusive to mutations in other pathways, according to findings presented by Lage et al during the European Lung Cancer Virtual...
Two studies presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer highlighted the importance of addressing racial inequities in gynecologic cancers, including improving minorities’ low participation rates in clinical trials of women’s cancers. Clinical Trial...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cobleigh et al, the phase III NRG Oncology/NSABP B-43 trial did not show a significant reduction in ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence with the addition of adjuvant concurrent trastuzumab to radiotherapy in women undergoing lumpectomy for...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by John Kuruvilla, MD, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-204 trial has shown significantly improved progression-free survival with pembrolizumab vs brentuximab vedotin in patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma....
In the PEACE study, reported in JAMA Oncology, Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, and colleagues found that both electroacupuncture and auricular acupuncture significantly reduced pain severity vs usual care in cancer survivors with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Noninferiority of auricular acupuncture to...
Lori J. Wirth, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, discusses the common molecular alterations across thyroid cancer subtypes; targeted treatments for BRAF V600E–mutant, NTRK–fusion positive, and RET–altered disease; and optimal therapies for patients with multiple types of thyroid...
Consumption of ultra-processed food and drink could increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer. This was the conclusion of a large study published by Romaguera et al in Clinical Nutrition based on questionnaires about food behaviors completed by around 8,000 people in Spain. The study, the...
Computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated that 39% of patients diagnosed with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presented with de novo brain metastases during the COVID-19 pandemic. This percentage was higher than the historic rate of 25%, and many of these...
Adjuvant nivolumab is the first therapy to provide a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in disease-free survival in patients with resected esophageal and gastroesophageal junction cancer, according to research presented by Guillaume Piessen, MD, PhD, and colleagues at...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Joseph A. Unger, PhD, and colleagues, a large retrospective observational study investigating the association between socioeconomic deprivation and outcomes among patients with cancer enrolled in clinical trials has found that compared to patients...
In a pharmacovigilance study reported as a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Guyon et al found evidence that use of antiangiogenic drugs in cancer treatment is associated with increased risk of artery dissection and aneurysm. Study Details All artery dissection or aneurysm cases from July 2005 to...
In a single-institution phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that the WEE1 inhibitor adavosertib produced durable responses in women with recurrent uterine serous carcinoma. The investigators stated, “Uterine serous carcinoma is a...
On March 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved idecabtagene vicleucel (Abecma) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 ...
The FIGHT study’s invited discussant, Rutika Mehta, MD, MPH, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, noted the emergence of new biomarkers and their targeted agents in HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer. Two important ones are FGFR2b—now...
Gastric cancer appears to have a new druggable target: fibroblast growth factor receptor 2b (FGFR2b). Targeting FGFR2b with bemarituzumab plus chemotherapy led to clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements in progression-free survival, overall survival, and response rate in...
The overall survival benefit for PD-L1 CPS ≥ 5 tumors in CheckMate 649 is a game-changer. An oxaliplatin doublet plus chemotherapy should become a standard of care for these patients,” according to Elizabeth Smyth, MD, an oncology consultant at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in...
As first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer, nivolumab plus chemotherapy leads to significantly improved progression-free and overall survival over chemotherapy alone, investigators reported during a Presidential Symposium of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress ...
Drawing on several lines of ongoing research, David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, has created a theoretical framework to consider while developing clinical trials in pancreatic cancer. In his keynote lecture at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer, ...
The advent of effective combination chemotherapies has changed the treatment landscape for metastatic pancreatic cancer, extending median survival and leading to durable responses in a subset of patients. However, perpetual chemotherapy is cumulatively toxic, leading to progressive bone marrow...
Marcus Noel, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, included SWOG S1505 in the presentation of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Highlights during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program. Susan Tsai, MD, MHS, a ...
The much-anticipated SWOG S1505 trial has failed to show that one preoperative regimen is better than another in resectable pancreatic cancer.1 “Perioperative modified FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel appear to have similar efficacy, with acceptable safety and resectability rates,”...
A large survey of patients with cholangiocarcinoma indicates the toll this cancer takes on patients, even those with early-stage disease, as reported at the 2021 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium by Kristen Bibeau, PhD, MSPH, Head of Global Health Outcomes and Real-World Evidence Generation at...
A novel inhibitor of casein kinase 2 (CK2) has shown preliminary evidence of efficacy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma, according to a phase I/IIb study presented at the 2021 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 Silmitasertib (CX-4945) is an oral small-molecule...
With inhibitors of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusion and other genetic alterations now in clinical trials for cholangiocarcinoma, there is interest in better understanding what FGFR2 genetic alterations mean for patients. In particular, little is known about the effects of FGFR2...
Invited study discussant Rachna T. Shroff, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Arizona, and Chief of GI Medical Oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, said the study presented by Dr. Javle showed the FGFR2 inhibitor infigratinib to be active in FGFR2 fusion–positive...
The novel targeted agent infigratinib (BGJ398) showed clinically meaningful activity against chemotherapy-refractory cholangiocarcinoma in patients with fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR2) fusions and rearrangements. The confirmed overall response rate was 23% (34% confirmed/unconfirmed), the ...
Invited discussant of the ClarIDHy trial, Rachna T. Shroff, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Arizona, and Chief of GI Medical Oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, said positive findings for ivosidenib support the notion that “biliary cancer is a perfect example of...
Ivosidenib, an inhibitor of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), improved overall survival by almost 3 months in previously treated patients with advanced IDH1-mutated cholangiocarcinoma, compared with placebo, researchers of the global phase III ClarIDHy trial reported at the 2021 Gastrointestinal...
Molecular profiling allows clinicians to identify the molecular and genetic signatures that help to deliver treatments that are highly specific to a tumor. This tool has made possible a number of advances in the past year that are improving care for patients with gastrointestinal cancers. In...
In 2007, sorafenib became the first approved systemic therapy for hepatocellular cancers and the first agent to improve overall survival in these patients.1 In a similar multikinase inhibitor strategy, lenvatinib was found to be noninferior to sorafenib in overall survival in the same patient...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Richard S. Finn, MD, of Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues, the phase III IMbrave150 trial has shown that anti–PD-L1 plus anti-VEGF therapy with...
Excluding skin cancer, colorectal cancer is the third most prevalent and lethal cancer among both men and women in the United States.1 Although the risk of developing colorectal cancer increases with age—more than 90% of cases occur in people aged 50 or older2—recent research shows that the...
The past year has witnessed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a number of novel drugs and new indications for treating patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. A summary of these approvals is provided herein. Nivolumab plus ipilimumab: On March 10, 2020, the FDA granted...
This week, we’re again discussing findings presented during the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) Virtual 2021 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. We’re hearing from three presenting authors on a number of topics, including maintenance olaparib for newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer;...
“In line with the emergence of targeted therapies, molecular biomarker testing in metastatic colorectal cancer has evolved over the past decade,” noted Jeanne Tie, MD, MBChB, FRACP, who acknowledged there is confusion about the best ways to use molecular testing in the clinic. Dr. Tie, who is...