As presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (Abstract LBA3) and reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Hadoux et al, an interim analysis from the phase III LIBRETTO-531 trial has shown improved progression-free survival with selpercatinib vs...
Researchers have reported that soy expansion and the subsequent increase of pesticide use in Brazil’s Cerrado and Amazon biomes may correlate with an increased risk of mortality among pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The study was published by Skidmore et al in...
In the INHERIT study—reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology—Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD, FASCO, and colleagues identified associations between germline EGFR mutations and familial lung cancer. As stated by the investigators, “The genomic underpinnings of inherited lung cancer risk are poorly...
In the phase II TITAN-RCC trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Grimm et al found that a strategy of nivolumab monotherapy with or without nivolumab/ipilimumab as an immunotherapeutic boost was associated with activity in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Study Details In...
More attention is being paid to the topic of cardio-oncology, where the focus is on patients with cancer who may be at risk for developing cardiovascular diseases as a result of anticancer treatments. However, a less well-known but related clinical area is now garnering some interest. Referred to...
Although surgery remains the standard of care for primary renal cell carcinoma, a novel, noninvasive approach has yielded positive results that could pave the way for future treatment strategies, according to data presented at the 2023 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, de la Fuente et al found that the risk of pancreatic cancer in patients with Fukuoka criteria–negative intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (F-N IPMNs) did not differ from that in patients without IPMNs. In addition, the small...
A perioperative regimen of neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant nivolumab achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in event-free survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus placebo followed by surgery and adjuvant...
Two new studies—presented by Drumheller et al and Vento et al at the 2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium—utilized data from ASCO’s CancerLinQ® database (Abstracts 418 and 532). One study revealed deficiencies in biomarker testing and tracking in electronic health records, and the other analyzed...
This is Part 2 of Updates in Early-Stage Breast Cancer,, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Erika Hamilton, Michael Danso, and Komal Jhaveri discuss the management of early node-negative HER2-positive breast...
Researchers have found that a text message–based program in combination with routine laboratory testing could safely accelerate patients to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, eliminate the need for in-person assessments with their physicians, and save them about 1.5 hours in total wait...
In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Manji et al found that perioperative chemotherapy and pembrolizumab showed activity in locally advanced resectable gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Study Details Thirty-four evaluable patients were enrolled in the...
It is widely acknowledged that patients with cancer living in rural areas of the United States face limited access to medical and oncology providers, often have to travel long distances to receive care, and experience obstacles in clinical trial participation—all of which affect quality of care and ...
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) reduced the risk of toxicity to the lungs and radiation exposure to the heart vs three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) for the treatment of locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a planned long-term prospective...
Helena Linardou, MD, PhD, Director of the 4th Department of Oncology and the Comprehensive Clinical Trials Center, Metropolitan Hospital, Athens, was invited as the discussant of the studies on antibody-drug conjugates at the 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer. Preliminary Data Dr. Linardou...
Early-phase trials demonstrate the potential for TROP-2–directed antibody-drug conjugates to enhance the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without actionable genomic alterations, several investigators reported at the International...
I have been fascinated with death since I was 3 years old. I remember going to my great-grandfather’s funeral and asking my mother where my great-grandfather was. She said he is in heaven. I asked her if I were going to heaven, too, and she said, “Yes, but not for a long time.” Today, I don’t...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Elisabete Weiderpass, MD, MSc, PhD, a Brazilian cancer researcher who is a naturalized Swedish and Finnish citizen. She is an expert in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention. In...
The treatment of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated lung cancer that progresses on EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been challenging. In the phase II HERTHENA-Lung01 trial, the topoisomerase-1 HER3-targeting antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan...
Investigators have discovered that reliable educational materials about breast cancer surgery may be difficult to access and are often presented at much higher reading levels than recommended, according to the findings of two new studies presented by Brennan et al and Satarasinghe et al at the...
Researchers have discovered that it may be possible to detect and treat dormant tumor cells in breast cancer survivors, according to new findings presented by DeMichele et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (Abstract 244MO). The results may have offered a...
The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology announced detailed results from CABINET (Alliance A021602), a phase III pivotal trial evaluating cabozantinib compared with placebo in two cohorts of previously treated patients with neuroendocrine tumors. The data were presented by Chan et al at the...
Targeted treatment with the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor erdafitinib improved responses and overall survival compared to standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma with FGFR alterations. Results from the phase III THOR trial, led by...
Immunotherapy with the anti–PD-L1 monoclonal antibody durvalumab improved progression-free survival in patients with newly diagnosed advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer compared with chemotherapy alone, with further benefits gained from the addition of the PARP inhibitor olaparib in the...
On October 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor entrectinib (Rozlytrek) for pediatric patients aged 1 month and older with solid tumors that have a neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) gene fusion...
In the phase III RATIONALE-301 trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Shukui Qin, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that tislelizumab was noninferior to sorafenib in terms of overall survival as first-line treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label...
In an analysis of data from two clinical trials and a soft-tissue sarcoma registry reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Koscielniak et al identified which patients aged ≤ 21 years with localized rhabdomyosarcoma appeared to derive benefit from radiation therapy. Study Details The study...
In a prospective cohort study (PATHFINDER) reported in The Lancet, Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, FASCO, and colleagues evaluated the performance of blood-based testing for multicancer early detection in adults without signs or symptoms of cancer. As stated by the investigators, “Multicancer early detection ...
Among the 198 new oncology drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1998 and 2022, approximately 43% of them were precision therapies, according to a recent study published by Suehnholz et al in Cancer Discovery. Background Precision oncology therapies often require...
The combination of the ATR inhibitor ceralasertib and the immune checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab has demonstrated notable survival rates and clinical benefits among patients who have advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with RAS mutations, according to data presented at the International...
The past year has been an exciting time for breast oncologists and patients with all stages of breast cancer, with new agents approved and long-term results from pivotal trials showing improved survival for patients with metastatic disease. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights in early-stage ...
Over the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to several novel drugs and expanded indications for older therapeutic agents used in breast cancer. Abemaciclib Plus Endocrine Therapy On March 3, 2023, the FDA expanded the indication for abemaciclib with endocrine...
Overall survival results from two trials of abemaciclib in advanced breast cancer were reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022. Both MONARCH 3 and monarcHER previously met their primary endpoints of progression-free survival. The current results for overall...
Preserving fertility is a driving concern for many young women with breast cancer. Many of these women have hormone receptor–positive breast cancer and are treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy for 5 to 10 years, which is known to compromise fertility. Younger women who may want to take a break...
The invited discussant of the SOFT analysis was Polly Niravath, MD, Associate Professor and Director of the Cancer Survivorship Program at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas. She noted that the study evaluated the use of the Breast Cancer Index (BCI) as a prognostic tool in early hormone...
In an analysis of the SOFT trial, the Breast Cancer Index accurately identified premenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive early breast cancer who may benefit from ovarian function suppression in addition to adjuvant endocrine therapy. The findings were reported by Ruth O’Regan, MD, Chair...
The combination of capivasertib, an AKT pathway inhibitor, plus fulvestrant, an estrogen receptor antagonist, significantly improved progression-free survival compared with fulvestrant alone in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, according to results of...
Debu Tripathy, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chair of Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said that the study points the way to further exploration of the benefit of adding immunotherapy to treatment after patients develop resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors for ...
The combination of palbociclib and fulvestrant did not prolong progression-free survival compared to fulvestrant alone in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who had disease progression on prior treatment with a CDK4/6 inhibitor and endocrine therapy,...
The antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) proved to be superior to the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), significantly improving progression-free survival and overall survival, in women with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer as ...
Elacestrant—an investigational oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD)—achieved longer progression-free survival vs standard-of-care endocrine monotherapy as second- or third-line therapy in patients with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer in the ...
Results of a planned interim overall survival analysis of the phase III monarchE trial offered further support for the addition of abemaciclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy for patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, node-positive, high-risk disease, according to Stephen R.D....
The invited discussant of the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) meta-analysis, Ines Vaz-Luis, MD, PhD, of the Breast Cancer Survivorship Group, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, pointed out that the benefit of ovarian suppression or ablation in reducing breast cancer...
A meta-analysis of randomized trials has revealed a benefit to ovarian ablation or suppression in preventing breast cancer recurrence in premenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive tumors.1 The findings, based on almost 15,000 women in studies spanning several decades, were presented at the ...
Lung cancer is a significant global health issue, remaining the leading cause of cancer-related deaths with 2.1 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths. Complete surgical resection is the treatment of choice for operable early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and resectable stage IIIA...
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer, comprising 80% of all malignant tumors found within the kidney. Although some clear cell renal cell carcinoma tumors are sensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors, currently, there are no measures to predict whether a tumor...
Sudan is the third-largest country in Africa, spanning 1,886,068 km2. It is situated in an area surrounded by North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. As of 2020, Sudan had a population of approximately 43.8 million people, with a significant proportion being younger than age 15....
The September 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Plenary presentation of the NATALEE health-related quality-of-life (QOL) findings was discussed by Michail Ignatiadis, MD, PhD, and Stephen R.D. Johnston, MD, PhD. Dr. Ignatiadis is Director of the Breast Medical Oncology...
An analysis of patient-reported outcomes in the adjuvant phase III NATALEE trial of ribociclib plus endocrine therapy in early-stage breast cancer showed maintenance of health-related quality of life (QOL), as determined by a number of factors. For patients receiving the inhibitor of...
Although the 5-year survival rate for multiple myeloma has increased over the past 2 decades—from about 35% in 2000 to approximately 62% in 2015—due to more effective therapies, the cancer remains incurable. According to the American Cancer Society, this year, nearly 36,000 individuals will be...