Along with full coverage of key presentations from the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, The ASCO Post brings our readers this additional news roundup. Side Matters in Colon Cancer One of the studies included in the global IDEA trial, which compared 3 vs 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy in ...
Discussant for the abstract, Malcolm K. Brenner, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine Texas Children’s Hospital, underscored the need to make chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy both safer and more effective. He also noted that overcoming antigen loss with multiple CARs is the next...
A novel approach to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy seems to effectively target acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells with varying antigen profiles and may help to overcome antigen escape, seen with CD19-targeted therapy. According to data presented at the 2018 ASCO-SITC Clinical...
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men. The majority of patients are cured of their disease, but a newly published study shows many remain at risk for later complications from chemotherapy or other treatments. The study, published by Zaid et al in JNCCN –Journal of the...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued a new clinical guideline for the use of whole-breast radiation therapy for breast cancer that expands the population of patients recommended to receive hypofractionated treatment. The guideline was published by Smith et al in...
Discussant of the abstract, Ravindra Uppaluri, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Otolaryngology in the Department of Surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Director of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said this research underscores the complex biology...
Analysis of more than 100,000 patients with cancer for gene CD274 (programmed cell death ligand 1 [PD-L1]) amplification may have implications for treatment with immune checkpoint blockade. Although shown to be rare in solid tumors, copy number alterations in PD-L1 genes were present in more than...
Discussant for the abstract, Ezra Cohen, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego, pointed out that although this subgroup may be responsive to checkpoint inhibition, it may not necessarily be anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (anti–PD-1) therapy. “There are emerging data suggesting...
Although immunotherapy has improved outcomes across a growing number of cancers, its success in unselected cases of prostate cancer has been limited. According to data presented at the 2018 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium, however, investigators have identified a group of patients with ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wharam et al found that women who were switched from low-deductible to high-deductible insurance policies had delays in diagnostic workup, early breast cancer diagnosis, and initiation of chemotherapy compared with those maintained on...
In a study of data from the National Cancer Database reported in JAMA Oncology, Joshi et al found that two-thirds of patients with node-positive nonmetastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the penis received lymph node dissection and approximately half received chemotherapy in recent years. ...
The Targeted Anticancer Therapies 2018 Honorary Award for cancer drug development has been granted to Jean-Charles Soria, MD, PhD, for his pioneering role in cancer drug development across molecular targeted agents, precision medicine, and immunotherapy. The award was presented during the 2018...
Formal discussant of this trial, Robert Bruce Montgomery, MD, Clinical Director of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Seattle Cancer Alliance, said, “The rationale for checkpoint inhibition and [poly ADP--ribose polymerase (PARP)] inhibitors is strong in patients with underlying homologous...
The combination of the poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) and the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi) produced positive preliminary results in men with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer previously treated with...
The combination of axitinib (Inlyta) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) can be added to the list of combination therapies that look promising in advanced renal cell carcinoma. In a phase Ib trial, almost three-quarters of patients with newly diagnosed advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with the...
Patients with recurrent urothelial cancer had sustained improvement in overall survival at 2 years after they received second-line treatment with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) vs chemotherapy, according to an updated survival analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-045 trial presented at the 2018...
Why wouldn’t you support a patient with a terminal illness the “right to try” any therapy that may save his or her life? The answer to this question—one engulfed in a political debate in Congress—seems simple. It is not. [Editor’s Note: [Editor’s Note: On May 30, 2018, the President signed into...
This past January, ASCO published Clinical Cancer Advances 2018,1 its 13th annual report on the progress being made against cancer. The report names chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy as ASCO’s Advance of the Year. In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two ...
Cabozantinib (Cometriq) has demonstrated significant activity in the first-line setting for radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid carcinoma, according to data from a single-site phase II trial presented at the 2018 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.1 Treatment with...
Mutations in HER2 were found to confer resistance to hormone therapy in some estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer cases, and resistance could be reversed by dual treatment with the hormone therapy fulvestrant (Faslodex) and the HER2 kinase inhibitor neratinib (Nerlynx),...
An antibody that is present in the blood of women previously infected with the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia is associated with a doubling in ovarian cancer risk, according to data presented during a media preview for the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual...
People in Louisiana communities with cancer health disparities would be interested in participating in clinical trials or submitting samples to biobanks if provided information about these opportunities by a trusted physician—but physicians reported lacking appropriate information to give to...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hoerger et al found that patients with a higher proportion of early palliative care visits addressing behavioral coping strategies had improvement in depression symptoms and quality of life. In addition, those with a high proportion of visits ...
In an investigator-initiated phase III SIRveNIB trial in Asia-Pacific patients reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chow et al found no difference in overall survival with selective internal radiation therapy, or radioembolization, vs sorafenib (Nexavar) in patients with unresectable...
Survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer often have stronger social networks than their peers with no cancer history, according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital researchers, who hope to translate that support into better health outcomes for the nation’s...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Tang et al, a Chinese phase III noninferiority trial has shown similar progression-free survival with nedaplatin- vs cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy in patients with stage II to IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma, with nedaplatin being associated with fewer severe...
In a study of National Cancer Database data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ennis et al found no significant survival differences between patients receiving brachytherapy-based radiotherapy vs radical prostatectomy in men with high-risk localized prostate cancer. Study Details The...
In a Canadian retrospective population-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bubis et al found that patients with cancer reported higher symptom scores at 1 month after diagnosis and identified several factors associated with higher symptom scores. Study Details The study...
Researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis, have shown that patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who received their care at a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center in California had a dramatically reduced risk of early mortality. Using data from the California Cancer...
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of death from cancer. Projections by the ACS show that, this year, about 50,630 people will die from the disease. However, studies...
The text and photograph on this page are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photo below is from the volume titled “The Anesthesia Era: 1845–1875.” The photograph...
As reported at the 2017 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Stephen J. Schuster, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues found that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. MATT KALAYCIO, MD Affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer InstituteOn balancing priorities: “As an oncologist in...
BOOKMARK Title: Autobiography of a FaceAuthor: Lucy GrealyPublisher: Houghton Mifflin HarcourtOriginal Publication Date: June 1994Price: $14.95, paperback; 256 pages We live in a celebrity-obsessed society that is consumed by images of what we perceive as ideal beauty. Numerous studies show that ...
BOOKMARK Title: Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American MealAuthor: Eric SchlosserOriginal Publisher: Houghton MifflinOriginal Publication Date: January 2001Price: $23.95, paperback, 288 pages The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about two-thirds of...
Breast cancer specialist Stacy L. Moulder, MD, was born and reared in Brookhaven, Mississippi, a small town southwest of the state capital of Jackson. “I was always interested in math and science, and I had a wonderful biology teacher in high school. It was when the advanced placement courses...
GUEST EDITOR Addressing the evolving needs of cancer survivors at various stages of their illness and care, Palliative Care in Oncology is guest edited by Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD. Dr. Von Roenn is ASCO’s Vice President of Education, Science, and Professional Development. Although advances in such ...
The current guidelines for mammographic breast cancer screening, which are based on data from primarily white populations, may lead to delayed diagnosis in nonwhite women, according to a report published by Stapleton et al in JAMA Surgery. A team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)...
In an analysis of data from the Breast International Group (BIG) 02-98 trial reported in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, Zeidan et al found that postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) vs no PMRT was associated with significantly reduced risk of locoregional...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Gore et al, a phase II trial has shown high response rates with dasatinib treatment in pediatric patients with Philadelphia chromosome–positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP). Findings in the trial supported the...
GUEST EDITORS: Dr. Abutalib is Assistant Director, Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Director, Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Apheresis Service, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Zion, Illinois, Editor-in-Chief, Advances in Cell & Gene Therapy. Dr. Medeiros is Professor and...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Drs. Abutalib and Medeiros explore the recently updated World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissue...
ON DECEMBER 19, 2017, cabozantinib (Cabometyx) was granted regular approval for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.1,2 Cabozantinib was initially granted approval in 2016 for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who had received prior antiangiogenic therapy. The...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 19, 2017, bosutinib (Bosulif) was granted...
Dr. Katz is a certified sexuality counselor at CancerCare Manitoba, Canada. SEXUALITY AND SEXUAL functioning are important to cancer survivors, and considering the significant number of survivors, this is an issue that should not be ignored. In a survey of cancer survivors who had completed...
AS REPORTED in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jeanne Carter, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline adaptation of the Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) guideline on interventions to address sexual problems in people with cancer.1 ...
ADITYA BARDIA, MD, Director of Precision Medicine at the Center for Breast Cancer, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, said: “This large, well-powered trial that included 181 centers and more than 2,600 patients unfortunately failed to show that celecoxib improved...
EACH YEAR, The ASCO Post asks Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Co-Director of the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program, to give his picks for the most important research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer...
FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED patients with multiple myeloma considered to be at high risk of disease progression, double autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) significantly prolongs progression-free and overall survival, vs single transplant, according to the phase III EMN02/HO95 study. The findings...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, reviews the current data on the use of acupuncture...