Discussions of benefits and harms from screening of high-risk populations for lung cancer have missed the point. The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed an early and statistically significant major benefit in all-cause mortality from computed tomography (CT) screening.1 Those referred for...
The proliferation of immunotherapeutics in the treatment of cancer over the past decade has revolutionized the way many cancers are treated, especially lung cancer and melanoma, as well as some blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma, drastically improving outcomes for many patients with...
V. CRAIG JORDAN, OBE, PhD, DSc, FMedSci, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, will receive the 2019 Reynold Spector Award in Clinical Pharmacology, during the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2019 in...
AS PART of The ASCO Post’s continued coverage of the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here is an update on seven different studies on new therapeutics in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Among the treatments highlighted here are the erythroid maturation...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted the following designations and applications and also issued a statement: Priority Review for Pexidartinib in Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor The FDA has accepted a new drug application (NDA) and granted Priority Review for pexidartinib...
A study published by Cook et al in JAMA Oncology focused on whether treatment with checkpoint inhibitors is both safe and effective in patients with advanced cancer who are also human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive. Because checkpoint inhibitors manipulate the immune system, the concern has...
Although colorectal cancer rates in older adults have been decreasing in the United States since the mid-1980s, incidence rates for the cancer have been increasing among young and middle-aged adults, according to a study by the American Cancer Society (ACS). Based on the new data, in 2018, the ACS...
In an update from the Multiethnic Cohort Study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Stram et al found persistent racial/ethnic differences in risk for lung cancer at similar levels of cigarette smoking intensity. A prior report from the study found that African Americans and...
A research team is using a branch of artificial intelligence known as machine learning to better target immunotherapy to those who will benefit. In a recent study published by Leiserson et al in PLOS One, the team used data from a clinical trial of patients with bladder cancer to...
For patients at the end of life, palliative care can prolong survival and improve the quality of life for patients with a life-threatening illness and for their families—but studies have found that racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive end-of-life palliative care than...
In a Chinese, single-center, noninferiority phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Wang et al found that postmastectomy hypofractionated radiotherapy was noninferior to and associated with similar toxicities vs conventionally fractionated radiotherapy in patients with high-risk breast...
In an observational study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Hu et al found that an automated 'deep learning'–based visual evaluation algorithm permitted identification of cervical precancer/cancer cases with greater accuracy than other screening methods. Study Details ...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved caplacizumab-yhdp (Cablivi) injection, the first therapy specifically indicated, in combination with plasma exchange and immunosuppressive therapy, for the treatment of adult patients with acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP), a...
The approval of several new agents for metastatic melanoma in the past several years has led to changes in how the disease is treated and managed. Treatments such as the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors pembrolizumab, ipilimumab, and nivolumab; BRAF inhibitors; and MEK inhibitors...
The first report from a phase II, multicenter clinical trial has found that a newer, more aggressive form of radiation therapy—stereotactic ablative radiation—can extend long-term survival for some patients with stage IV cancers, while maintaining their quality of life. The study was...
In a Dutch-Belgian study (CYPTAM) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sanchez-Spitman et al found no associations between CYP2D6 genotypes or levels of endoxifen (active metabolite of tamoxifen) and clinical outcomes in patients receiving adjuvant tamoxifen for early-stage breast cancer....
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Ganju et al found that implementation of a cancer care network–wide peer review process aimed at standardizing treatment resulted in increasing use of hypofractionated radiotherapy in early-stage breast cancer at community-based...
In phase Ib results from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Disis et al found that avelumab produced durable responses in some patients with recurrent or refractory ovarian cancer. In the study, an expansion cohort of 125 women with advanced disease who had received...
Data on the risk factors for the development of skin cancer after a solid organ transplant are limited. In a retrospective cohort study, researchers sought to determine the relationship between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatch and risk of skin cancer after transplant. Their findings were...
According to the American Lung Association’s recently released 2019 State of Tobacco Control report, states and the federal government have not taken meaningful action in establishing policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use, the nation's leading cause of preventable death and disease. ...
In a Singaporean study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lai et al found that tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment outcome did not differ according to mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (MET)-high vs MET-low status in treatment-naive, EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer...
In a population-based study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Downing et al found little difference in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between men with advanced vs localized prostate cancer. Sexual function problems were common among all patients—and often not addressed—and use of ...
As a global thought leader in the spheres of cancer care and research, ASCO recognizes the importance of taking a position on certain key issues affecting its members and the patients they serve. As a result, ASCO will, on occasion, release policy guidance and position statements when existing...
In the release of its annual report on progress against cancer, Clinical Cancer Advances 2019, ASCO recognized progress in treating rare cancers as the Advance of the Year. The report catalogs a year’s worth of remarkable research advancements, reinforces the need for continued federal research...
The benefit of adding venetoclax to a hypomethylating agent or low-dose cytarabine in the front-line treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was evident from a number of studies reported at the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (see Table 1). For elderly...
The burgeoning pipeline of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) in multiple myeloma was on full display at the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. A bispecific antibody also made its debut in this busy...
Mrinal S. Patnaik, MBBS, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Oncology and a consultant in hematology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, commented on the MEDALIST trial for The ASCO Post. “Given its unique mode of action, relative ease of administration, and excellent tolerability,...
In the randomized, double-blind, phase III MEDALIST trial, the experimental drug luspatercept significantly reduced the need for frequent red blood cell transfusions in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and ring sideroblasts. With luspatercept, 37.9% remained transfusion-free ...
Partial-breast irradiation delivered over 5 to 10 days did not meet noninferiority criteria compared with whole-breast irradiation given over 5 to 7 weeks, according to 10-year results of the large NRG (NSABP B-39/RTOG 0413) trial presented at the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 However, ...
Pancreaticoduodenectomy, or the Whipple procedure, is one of the most complex abdominal surgeries, and is commonly prescribed as a first line of therapy for cancer located within the pancreatic head. Investigators reported that following a 5-day accelerated recovery pathway after surgery helped to...
Each year, The ASCO Post asks Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, to offer his picks for the most important research presented at the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vaarwerk et al found that presence of indeterminate pulmonary nodules at diagnosis of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma did not adversely affect treatment outcome in otherwise localized disease. The study involved 316 patients from the European...
In the phase III REACH-2 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhu et al found that ramucirumab improved overall and progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and increased α-fetoprotein levels who had previously received sorafenib. Study...
Harry H. Yoon, MD, Associate Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, the invited discussant of the study presented by Janjigan et al, commented on the strong rationale for combining an anti-HER2 agent, anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) agent, and chemotherapy....
When added to first-line chemotherapy in patients with untreated metastatic HER2-positive esophageal, gastroesophageal junction, and gastric adenocarcinoma, the combination of pembrolizumab and trastuzumab produced responses in 87% of patients, with 100% of patients experiencing disease control and ...
The large phase III GAMMA-1 trial failed to replicate the encouraging findings from a previous smaller study of andecaliximab plus chemotherapy in untreated HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, according to Manish A. Shah, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine/New York...
Clinical trials aimed to improve health and quality of life are the cornerstone of progress in medicine. Support comes from academic medical centers, philanthropy, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), industry, or combinations thereof. Clinical trials need to be hypothesis-driven and address...
As reported by Solomon et al in The Lancet Oncology1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, results from a global phase II study of the third-generation ALK inhibitor lorlatinib showed a high overall response rate and high intracranial response rate for patients with advanced ALK-positive...
KEYNOTE-181’s invited discussant, Harry H. Yoon, MD, Associate Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said the findings have a “potentially immediate clinical impact” for second-line treatment of esophageal cancer, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and Siewert...
In the global phase III KEYNOTE-181 trial, pembrolizumab as second-line therapy for advanced esophageal cancer did not improve overall survival in the whole population, vs chemotherapy, but did improve survival for patients with strong expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1),...
Injection of a genetically modified virus that induces the body’s own immune cells to attack metastatic melanoma effectively treated almost 40% of patients with tumors that could not be surgically removed, according to findings published by Louie et al in the Journal of the American...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stadtmauer and colleagues found that second autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) or RVD (lenalidomide, bortezomib, dexamethasone) consolidation as post-AHCT interventions did not improve outcomes vs single...
In a French phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Scherpereel et al found evidence of activity with nivolumab or the combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with relapsed malignant pleural mesothelioma. Study Details In the open-label, noncomparative trial, 125 patients...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pui et al found that minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative status, high hypodiploidy with 44 chromosomes, and MRD-stratified treatment were associated with improved outcomes among children treated for newly diagnosed...
In a Dutch study (IMPROVE) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Polman et al found that human papillomavirus (HPV) testing with a clinically validated polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–based assay had similar accuracy using self-collected vs clinician-collected samples in detecting cervical...
In a phase Ib trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Hassan et al found that the anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 antibody avelumab produced durable responses and a high rate of disease control in some patients with advanced unresectable mesothelioma progressing after platinum and pemetrexed...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for a new indication for pemetrexed (Alimta) for injection in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and platinum chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell...
Over the past year, major research advances provided new treatment options for patients with rare, difficult-to-treat cancers. In recognition of these achievements, ASCO named “Progress in Treating Rare Cancers” as the Advance of the Year. To continue the forward momentum, ASCO also...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted the following application, designations, and clearance: sBLA for Atezolizumab Plus Chemotherapy for First-Line Treatment of Metastatic, Nonsquamous NSCLC On January 17, the FDA accepted a supplemental biologics license application...
Barrett’s esophagus is the only known precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma. Although endoscopy and biopsy are standard methods for diagnosing Barrett’s esophagus, their high cost and risk limit their use as a screening modality. Researchers sought to develop a screening method based...