A recently updated ASCO guideline offers both new and revised guidance on the treatment of hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.1 “ASCO regularly updates its guidelines to make sure everything is current and valuable for oncologists and patients. About a year ago,...
During the opening session of the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, Julio Frenk, MD, PhD, MPH, President of the University of Miami, gave a riveting presentation in which he described the devastating effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic on patients with cancer as well as on fragile and fragmented...
Oncologists who treat patients with melanoma will need to become familiar with another immunotherapy approach. For refractory metastatic disease, adoptive cell therapy is on the horizon. “Adoptive cell therapy will offer additional hope for our patients with melanoma. We’ll likely be seeing this...
There is no doubt that subsets of patients with esophageal and gastric cancers benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. The complexity lies in identifying the appropriate histology, tumor location, expression of programmed cell death receptors and ligands, mechanism of checkpoint...
Antibody-drug conjugates are improving outcomes of patients with lymphoma, often those who have exhausted treatment options after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Four available antibody-drug conjugates are in the clinic, with brentuximab vedotin moving into the front-line...
The integration of radiation therapy into chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy may improve outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma, according to Charles A. Enke, MD, Professor and the Bill Bures and Jerry Pabst Chair in Radiation Oncology at the Fred and Pamela Buffett...
By the time my non–small cell lung cancer was diagnosed in 2004, it had already reached stage IIIB, and I was told there was little that could be done for me. I was 56, a wife, the mother of 3 children, and at the peak of my career as president of Olympian Oil. Although my aunt, brother, and...
Although the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has identified adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer as a distinct patient population from children and older adults with the disease, research into the diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship specific to this patient population has not kept...
Invited discussant of the two studies, Elena Élez, MD, PhD, of the Colon Cancer Program, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain, discussed the challenge of treating BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer and what the new data bring to that effort. Dr. Élez noted: “BRAF V600E–mutant metastatic ...
The innovaTV 204 trial’s invited discussant, Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, Head of the Gynecologic Cancer Program at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, was encouraged by the study’s findings. “Of note, the response rate was 24%, the time to response was short, and the median duration of...
Disease regression was observed in 82% of women with endometrial hyperplasia with atypia and 43% of women with endometrial cancer after treatment for 6 months with a hormonal intrauterine device, in a phase II study reported during the virtual edition of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)...
Perspectives on ARIEL4 were provided for The ASCO Post by the invited discussant Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Gynecologic Oncology and the Brock Wilson Family Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Konstantin Zakashansky, MD,...
Atezolizumab given after chemotherapy to patients with resected stage II to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) significantly improved disease-free survival compared with best supportive care alone in patients whose tumors expressed PD-L1.1 These results of the global phase III IMpower010 trial ...
The first overall survival analysis of the WGS-ADAPT HER2+/HR– study, which evaluated neoadjuvant therapy in patients with hormone receptor–negative, HER2-positive disease, showed that treatment with pertuzumab and trastuzumab plus paclitaxel—or with the chemotherapy-free regimen of...
Invited discussant of the KEYNOTE-564 trial, Rana R. McKay, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Urology at the University of California San Diego, offered these comments about the trial results. “This is a positive study, showing a 32% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death with adjuvant ...
Invited discussant Nicolas Girard, MD, PhD, of the Curie Institute, Paris, said: “A major challenge in non–small cell lung cancer is what happens when osimertinib resistance develops.” “A key takeaway point from this study is that the efficacy is driven by resistance mechanism. The overall...
Less than half of community oncologists surveyed indicated that they use biomarker testing to guide patient discussions compared with 73% of academic clinicians, according to a report by Boehmer et al presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2021 World...
In a Japanese phase III trial (NINJA) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hamanishi et al found that nivolumab did not improve overall survival vs chemotherapy with either gemcitabine or pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer. Study Details In the...
A study presented by Kevin Ginsburg, MD, and colleagues at the American Urological Association 2021 Annual Meeting has found that among patients treated with radical cystectomy, those with cT1 micropapillary bladder cancer had similar or worse oncologic outcomes compared with patients with cT2...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Chi et al1—and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post—the prespecified final overall survival analysis of the phase III TITAN trial1-3 has confirmed a clear overall survival and radiographic progression-free survival benefit with the combination ...
Mary Gospodarowicz, MD, FRCPC, former Medical Director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, will co-chair a new The Lancet Commission on cancer and health systems as it examines global cancer care and health systems. The Commission will work over the next 2.5 years, drafting a final report with...
Until I was diagnosed with HER2-positive, estrogen receptor–positive/progesterone receptor–positive de novo metastatic breast cancer in 2009, I didn’t realize that Black women could get the disease. Although my mother died of metastatic breast cancer 5 years earlier when she was 65, she was the...
In 2017, ASCO published its consensus guideline to provide guidance on how oncologists can use effective communication to maximize the patient-clinician relationship, patient and clinician well-being, and family well-being as well as form a trusting relationship with patients through empathy and...
Although studies have shown that patients with advanced cancer want their oncologists to discuss their advance care plans with them, fewer than half of those patients have that conversation. The reasons are many, including the difficulty many oncologists have in initiating conversations about...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has released its annual report on the assessment of the current state of the growing use of immunotherapies to treat cancer in the United States. Entitled “Immuno-Oncology in 2021: Committed to the Cutting Edge of Care,” the report reveals that...
A leader in the field of cancer immunotherapy has returned to his Western New York roots to take on leadership roles in both research and clinical care at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, has joined Roswell Park as Deputy Director, The Katherine Anne Gioia...
The GO2 study found that lowering the intensity of chemotherapy may increase quality of life without significantly compromising survival among older and frail patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancers. It started out by asking patients themselves what degree of compromise they would be...
Patients who had advanced gastroesophageal cancer but were considered unsuitable for full-dose chemotherapy because of their advanced age and/or frailty “had an improved patient experience with no significant detriment in cancer control” when treated with reduced-intensity chemotherapy in the phase ...
With completion of the Human Genome Project, medicine hit a turning point that enabled scientists to approach genetic diseases like cancer with new tools such as disruptive technologies like CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) gene editing. Progress in this novel...
“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.” —Khalil Gibran The Combined Annual Meetings of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) and the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) were held virtually...
About 14,500 new cases of invasive cervical cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States and nearly 4,300 women die from the disease. Studies show that those living in higher-poverty areas experience higher rates of morbidity and mortality from many preventable cancers, including cervical...
I read with great interest the results from the phase II ZUMA-12 study of axicabtagene ciloleucel, presented during the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 But the results raised several questions for me. Axicabtagene ciloleucel, an autologous anti-CD19...
A genomic analysis of lung cancer in people with no history of smoking has found that a majority of these tumors arise from the accumulation of mutations caused by natural processes in the body. This study was conducted by an international team led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute...
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the tragedy of patients dying in isolation, separated from family and friends to limit infection in hospital settings. The process has altered the experience of serious illness for patients and their loved ones, including their ability to grieve, share important...
The inherited condition neurofibromatosis type 1, or NF1, is responsible for the development of benign tumors that grow along the nerves; in some individuals, however, these benign tumors transform into aggressive and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. Determining whether this transformation ...
Chloe Atreya, MD, PhD, was born and reared in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her mother is a poet, and her father is a planetary physicist and a professor at the University of Michigan. “Some of my early memories that influenced my decision to go into medicine stem from conversations I had with my father...
In the phase II PEMDAC study, researchers showed that the combination of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab and the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor entinostat resulted in durable responses in a small group of patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. These findings were published by Ny et al in...
A set of compounds developed by scientists at Scripps Research target estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells in new ways, potentially creating better options for patients with treatment-resistant cancers. More information on these dual-mechanism estrogen receptor inhibitors was published by Min et...
Infants whose mothers were obese during pregnancy may have a heightened risk of developing colorectal cancer later in life, according to new research published by Murphy et al in the journal Gut. Obesity is already a well-established risk factor for colorectal cancer, and several studies suggest...
Where does triplet therapy fit in the treatment of patients with stage IV BRAF-mutated melanoma? Is there strong evidence for combining a BRAF inhibitor, MEK inhibitor, and checkpoint inhibitor? Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, Chair of the Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee at Winship Cancer Institute ...
The measurement of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is changing the way gastrointestinal cancers are managed, according to Bassel F. El-Rayes, MD, Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Hematology and Oncology, Emory University, and Associate Cancer Center Director,...
Communication between patients and their primary care providers is key to ensuring effective cancer care, both before diagnosis and after treatment, according to two recent papers authored by University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researchers. Although each study analyzed different stages of...
Talk to anyone who knew Leland Chung, PhD, and you’ll hear the same descriptions of the famed scientist: warm, humble, gracious, brilliant, innovative. Dr. Chung, who served as Director of the Urologic Oncology Research Program at Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles for 12 years and was Professor in ...
Even before my breast cancer diagnosis in early 2002, the year was shaping up to be life-altering for me and my family. We had moved from Seattle to Houston for a new career opportunity for my husband and were just settling into our new home when I felt a pea-sized nodule in my left breast during a ...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Pamela Kunz, MD, Director, Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Kunz is an international leader in the clinical care of patients with neuroendocrine...
ASCO and Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) have collaborated to release a new clinical practice guideline on the management of the axilla in early-stage breast cancer.1 “A lot has changed in the past several years with regard to de-escalating the amount of treatment women are offered in the...
Outcomes in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are almost rivaling those in pediatric ALL, thanks to the benefits achieved by incorporating blinatumomab and inotuzumab into chemotherapy regimens. New ways of administering the chemotherapy component are also increasing tolerability and...
In an international, multicenter study, researchers evaluated the impact of prior and concurrent antibiotic exposure in a cohort of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with first-line chemoimmunotherapy combinations. In contrast to what has been reported in patients...
Eric Deutsch, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology at Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, commended the speakers for conducting trials whose results he found “very interesting.” The Averectal trial involved a short course of radiation with modified FOLFOX-6 (oxaliplatin, fluorouracil...
In a study published by Do et al in the journal Cancer, researchers analyzed data from nearly 20,000 people over a span of 4 years. They found that reports of cannabis use peaked at 9% for those with a cancer history, compared to 14% among people with no cancer history. “Even when we looked at...