Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center presented preliminary results of an ongoing phase I clinical trial demonstrating successful retreatment with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for patients whose cancers relapsed after previous CAR T-cell therapy. ...
Chemotherapy followed by endocrine therapy led to more cancer-related cognitive impairment compared with endocrine therapy alone in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer at 36 months, according to patient-reported responses. These findings—from a substudy of the phase ...
Patients with multiple tumors in a single breast who underwent a lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy had local recurrence rates comparable to those historically observed in patients with a single tumor, according to new findings presented by Judy C. Boughey, MD, and colleagues at the 2022 San...
Editor’s Note: ASCO was deeply saddened by the news that Dr. Jeff Ward passed away on November 3, 2022. In an interview with Dr. Ward this past summer, published in ASCO Connection (August 30, 2022), ASCO recognized Dr. Ward’s commitment to exceptional patient care and public advocacy. An...
In a trial matching the genetic makeup of tumors with new treatments, tumors shrank in 22% of patients with cancer who received the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib. Participants included those with breast cancer and endometrial cancer as well as those with two rarer types of cancer, anal and salivary...
Breast cancer specialist Brittany L. Bychkovsky, MD, MSc, grew up primarily in Kansas; however, given that her father was a pilot, her childhood was not wholly centered in the Sunflower State. “When I was 12 years old, my mom, who was a schoolteacher, was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. Her ...
Guest Editor’s Note: In October, the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) held its 2022 Annual International Conference in a hybrid format (virtual and in Scottsdale, Arizona). It was centered on the basic science, education and training, and implementation of integrative oncology in diverse...
The National Academy of Medicine recently announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated...
On June 22, 2022, dabrafenib in combination with trametinib was granted accelerated approval for treatment of adult and pediatric patients (aged 6 and older) with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors with BRAF V600E mutation whose disease progressed following prior treatment and who have no...
From November 11 to 15, delegates from ASCO participated in the 2022 Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD). The AMA HOD is the principal policy-making body of AMA and meets twice a year to discuss pressing issues and establish policies the AMA uses...
On September 30, 2022, futibatinib was granted accelerated approval for adults with previously treated, unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma harboring fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) gene fusions or other rearrangements.1 Supporting Efficacy ...
An exploratory analysis of KEYNOTE-522, which established the benefit of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer, has now provided data to further describe prognosis and possibly guide treatment.1 In the study, presented at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting,...
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses phase II results from the TRIO-US B-12 TALENT study, which showed that patients with localized, hormone receptor–positive, HER2-low breast cancer who are treated with fam-trastuzumab...
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings from the DESTINY-Breast03 study, which showed that second-line treatment with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) led to longer overall survival compared with...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Patrick M. Forde, MB, BCh, of Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 816 trial has shown improved pathologic complete response rate and event-free survival with the addition of nivolumab to platinum-based...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, and colleagues, the second interim overall survival analysis of the phase III IMspire150 trial has shown a numeric but statistically nonsignificant improvement with the addition of first-line atezolizumab to vemurafenib and cobimetinib in ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sonneveld et al, the final overall survival analysis of the phase III CASTOR trial has shown a significant overall survival benefit with daratumumab plus bortezomib/dexamethasone (D-Vd) vs bortezomib/dexamethasone alone (Vd) in patients with...
Compared with capecitabine-based regimens, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) led to higher response rates and longer survival in the third-line setting for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer previously treated with ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), according to results from ...
Second-line treatment with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) led to significantly longer overall survival compared with ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to updated results from the DESTINY-Breast03 phase III clinical trial...
Patients with localized, hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-low breast cancer treated with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in the neoadjuvant setting had an overall response rate of 75% without combining the agent with anastrozole and 63% in combination with anastrozole, according to...
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) given prior to sorafenib improved overall survival, progression-free survival, and time to disease progression in patients with unresectable advanced hepatocellular cancer vs sorafenib alone, including those with macrovascular invasion, according to the...
Residual tumors from Black patients with estrogen receptor–positive/HER2-negative primary breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy had a higher risk score associated with a biomarker of distant metastatic recurrence compared with tumors from White patients, according to new findings...
In the phase Ib/II JAVELIN PARP Medley trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Timothy A. Yap, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues found that the combination of the anti–PD-L1 agent avelumab and the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib produced objective response rates in patient subgroups with ...
Twenty percent of patients are likely to forgo additional testing after an abnormal finding on a screening mammogram if there is a deductible, according to new findings presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2022 Annual Meeting. Background As health-care costs and insurance...
Diagnosing early-stage lung cancer using low-dose computed tomography (CT) screenings may improve patients’ long-term survival rate, according to long-term findings from the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2022 Annual...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Schram et al, the phase IIb tumor-agnostic JAVELIN BRCA/ATM trial has shown that the combination of avelumab and talazoparib did not meet the prespecified objective response rate goal among patients with advanced BRCA1/2-altered or ATM-altered solid tumors. The...
In an interim analysis of the phase III ALPINE trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Peter Hillmen, MBChB, PhD, and colleagues found that zanubrutinib produced a significantly higher objective response rate vs ibrutinib in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic...
Lori Wilson, MD, FACS, was the first woman to hold the surgical oncology division chief position at Howard University Hospital and the first woman to be promoted to full professor in surgery at Howard University College of Medicine. Known as a fierce advocate for patients with cancer in underserved ...
There is a 2-decades-long separation between the time I was diagnosed with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in 1996 and my laryngectomy in 2016. The surgery was necessary because of the long-term damage to my larynx from the radiation therapy I received. In 1996, I had a low-grade sore throat...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with C.S. Pramesh, MS, FRCS, Director of the Tata Memorial Hospital and Professor and Head of Thoracic Surgery at the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, India. Dr. Pramesh is the Convener of the...
Myeloma expert Sarah A. Holstein, MD, PhD, was born and reared in Iowa City, a college town in eastern Iowa along the banks of the Iowa River. “The town itself is small, but it doubles in population when all the college students are present. Both my parents had a PhD in humanities, so I had no...
With longer-term follow-up, adjuvant treatment with osimertinib led to a 77% reduction in the risk of disease recurrence or death following complete resection vs placebo-treated patients with EGFR-mutated, stage II to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Disease-free survival was improved...
On August 5, 2022, fam-trastuzumab deruxte-can-nxki was approved for patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-low (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 1+ or IHC 2+/in situ hybridization–negative) breast cancer who have received prior chemotherapy in the metastatic setting or developed disease...
In a phase I/II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eric Bouffet, MD, and colleagues found that trametinib alone or in combination with dabrafenib was safe and showed activity in pediatric patients with BRAF V600–mutant low-grade glioma. Study Details In the international four-part ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Melissa L. Johnson, MD, and colleagues, the pivotal phase III POSEIDON trial has shown significantly improved progression-free and overall survival with the addition of tremelimumab and durvalumab to platinum-based chemotherapy in the first-line...
On June 22, 2022, dabrafenib in combination with trametinib was granted accelerated approval for treatment of adult and pediatric patients (aged 6 and older) with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors with BRAF V600E mutation whose disease progressed following prior treatment and who have no...
On November 8, 2022, cemiplimab-rwlc was approved for use in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for first-line treatment of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR, ALK, or ROS1aberrations.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was supported by findings in the...
On September 30, 2022, futibatinib was granted accelerated approval for adults with previously treated, unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma harboring fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) gene fusions or other rearrangements.1 Supporting Efficacy ...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are safe and effective for people living with HIV who have metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented by El Zarif et al at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2022 Annual Meeting (Abstract 437). Findings from the first matched...
Researchers have identified potential therapies to treat patients with multiple myeloma whose cancer has relapsed following chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, according to a novel study published by Van Oekelen et al in Blood. CAR T-cell therapy has been a revolutionary treatment for...
There I was, crying once again all the way from the hospital’s parking lot to my apartment, into the shower, and while trying to fall asleep. This had become the norm during my internal medicine residency. For years, I tried hard every day to be someone else to fit in. It started with off-hand...
Eytan M. Stein, MD, will assume the role of Chief of the Leukemia Service in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), New York. Dr. Stein joined MSK as a medical oncology/hematology fellow in 2010, became a faculty member in 2013, and was appointed...
A new study, published recently in JCO Oncology Practice, found that oncologists have different perspectives on how to select starting doses for patients with metastatic cancer.1 The study shared findings from a 2021 international survey of 367 medical oncologists who treat patients with metastatic ...
After 4 years, a limited course of five cycles of tremelimumab added to durvalumab plus chemotherapy extended overall survival in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with chemotherapy alone, according to an updated exploratory analysis of the phase III POSEIDON...
As reported in The Lancet by Manali Kamdar, MD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III TRANSFORM trial has shown significantly improved event-free survival with second-line lisocabtagene maraleucel vs standard-of-care salvage...
For the first time in a multicenter randomized trial, T-cell therapy has been shown to improve outcomes in a solid tumor. In the phase III M14TIL trial, first-line or second-line treatment with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) led to a 50% reduction in disease progression or death from advanced ...
The treatment paradigm for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) continues to evolve in the first-line setting and beyond, with the availability of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax, and novel combinations of these agents with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies....
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) chose Augusto Ochoa, MD, of Louisiana State University (LSU) Health, as the 2022 recipient of the Harry Hynes Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Trials and Community Research. The award was presented during the NCI Community Oncology Research Program ...
For many years, treatment options for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were limited mainly to the 7 + 3 regimen. However, more recently, a mini-explosion of AML therapies aimed at newly identified genetic targets makes discussions about treatment of this disease much more complicated. In fact, these...
On March 23, 2022, the radioligand therapeutic agent lutetium Lu-177 vipivotide tetraxetan was approved for treatment of patients with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have been treated with an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor ...