World Cancer Day is marked every year on September 24 and seeks to raise awareness of the importance of cancer research as a key driver of advances in prevention and therapeutic strategies that increase survival and reduce the global cancer burden. This year, World Cancer Research Day focuses on...
In the phase III ENGOT-cx11/GOG-3047/KEYNOTE-A18 trial presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024, the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab plus chemoradiotherapy, with pembrolizumab continued as monotherapy, improved overall survival in previously untreated, high-risk...
Symptoms related to sexual health may be associated with decreased adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy among Black women with early-stage breast cancer, according to new findings presented by Anderson et al at the 2024 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on the Science of ...
In an Australian phase II trial (UpFrontPSMA) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Azad et al found that sequential lutetium (Lu)-177–prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSM)-617 (Lu-177–PSMA-617) and docetaxel was superior to docetaxel alone in achieving undetectable prostate-specific antigen (PSA)...
The results from a phase Ib/II study of a five-drug targeted therapy regimen—venetoclax, ibrutinib, prednisone, obinutuzumab, and lenalidomide (ViPOR)—in the treatment of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) showed the treatment produced durable remissions and potential...
ASCO will recognize Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, FASCO, a medical oncologist and Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina, with the Joseph Simone Quality Care Award and Lecture at the 2024 ASCO Quality Care Symposium. This year’s meeting will be held in San Francisco and online on...
Cabozantinib may be effective at improving progression-free survival in patients with previously treated neuroendocrine tumors, according to recent findings presented by Chan et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 (Abstract 1141O) and simultaneously published in The ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Dowlati et al, extended follow-up of the phase I DeLLphi-300 trial has shown sustained benefit with tarlatamab, a bispecific T-cell engager immunotherapy targeting delta-like ligand 3, in patients with previously treated small cell lung cancer....
ASCO has released its first clinical practice guideline focused specifically on the management of locally advanced rectal cancer.1 “Rectal cancer, and especially locally advanced rectal cancer, is a complex disease that requires individualized approaches using multimodality therapies to have the...
Multicancer early detection (MCED) tests are beginning to enter clinical practice, but how useful will they be? “This is an exciting field, with many competing technologies. MCED assays will be coming across your desk in the near future if they haven’t already. But they are not a panacea. They are ...
Clinical trials are now demonstrating the value of immune checkpoint inhibitors as neoadjuvant therapy in certain subsets of patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, described this newer approach—specifically, which subsets of patients may...
Investigators have found that Black women may have a higher risk of dying from all subtypes of breast cancer compared with White women, according to a recent study published by Torres et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings demonstrated that higher mortality rates among Black women...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Habib et al found that adjuvant chemotherapy benefited some groups of patients with resected intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN)-derived pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), but that overtreatment and...
Medical oncology had a turbulent beginning, as we explained in part 1 of this commentary published in the September 25, 2024, issue of The ASCO Post. And although no other specialty we know of struggled as much, with perseverance and time, it had become a stable specialty of internal medicine by...
Medical oncology had a turbulent beginning. No other specialty we know of struggled as much. But by 1980, it had become a stable specialty of internal medicine and was off and running—with the major problem of how to marshal available resources to freely test the myriad opportunities presented by ...
The AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024, released on September 18, showcases the extraordinary progress being made against cancer. The report highlights continuing reductions in mortality, which has fallen by 33% between 1991 and 2021, translating into more than 4 million deaths averted from cancer,...
Based on the first results of the single-center phase II NURE-Combo trial, which were reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) by Mercinelli et al, the combination of neoadjuvant nivolumab plus nab-paclitaxel followed by postsurgical adjuvant nivolumab appeared to be safe and active in...
Studies reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 reveal new groups of women with early-stage cervical1 and endometrial cancers2 who gain clinically meaningful benefit from adding immunotherapy to current standard treatments, and a first-in-human study found...
The results of numerous large international studies reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 showed that immunotherapy improves long-term overall survival in patients with a variety of cancer types, including advanced melanoma,1,2 triple-negative breast cancer,3...
An updated overall survival analysis of the phase III HIMALAYA study, now at 5 years, has confirmed the robust benefit for the STRIDE regimen of durvalumab plus tremelimumab in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.1 At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 (Abstract...
Women who breastfeed after treatment for breast cancer—including those with germline BRCA-mutated disease—may not be at increased risk of cancer recurrence or new breast cancers, according to two recent international studies presented by Blondeaux et al (Abstract 1815O) and Peccatori et al...
According to results of the first interim analysis of the phase III LEAP-012 trial, the anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab plus the tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib, in combination with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), significantly improved progression-free survival compared with TACE...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab and hyaluronidase-tqjs (Tecentriq Hybreza) for subcutaneous injection for all the adult indications as the intravenous formulation of atezolizumab (Tecentriq), including non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer...
Although chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has transformed treatment for patients with relapsed and refractory blood cancers, it can also cause an array of immune-related adverse events, including cytokine-release syndrome, immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome, and...
Updated data from the global, multicenter, single-arm phase II TRUST-II trial, which were reported by Liu et al during the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC; Abstract MA06.03), continued to demonstrate robust overall and...
Researchers have uncovered that TROP2 expression as measured by quantitative continuous scoring may be a predictor of clinical outcomes in patients with advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with the TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugate datopotamab deruxtecan,...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Paragomi et al found that higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with increased risk of incident colorectal cancer and colorectal cancer–related mortality in Asian countries. Study Details The study included data pooled from 17 prospective cohorts...
As reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Dahl et al, a phase II trial (NRG Oncology/RTOG 0926) has shown good outcomes with bladder-preserving trimodality the�rapy for recurrent high-grade T1 bladder cancer among patients in whom bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy failed. Study Details In the...
In long-term follow-up of the French phase III GETUG-13 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fizazi et al reported that intensified chemotherapy was associated with significantly better progression-free survival among patients with poor-prognosis nonseminomatous germ cell tumors with ...
As reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Lu et al, the Chinese phase III RELARC trial showed no significant improvement in disease-free survival with complete mesocolic excision vs D2 lymph node dissection in patients with right-sided colon cancer. As stated by the investigators, “…[complete...
In a meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Villacampa et al found that the addition of neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment to chemotherapy was associated with improved outcomes among subgroups of patients with early breast cancer. Study Details A literature search through...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Oliveira et al, patient-reported outcomes in the phase III CAPItello-291 trial indicate a delay in deterioration of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) with capivasertib/fulvestrant vs placebo/fulvestrant in patients with previously treated hormone...
In a phase III study conducted in China, the bispecific antibody ivonescimab demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival compared with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab as a first-line treatment of PD-L1–positive advanced non–small...
The antibody-drug conjugate ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd) showed clinically meaningful responses in pretreated patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in an interim analysis of the phase II IDeate-Lung01 study. The findings were presented at the International Association for...
A fewer number of U.S. youths have reported current use of e-cigarettes in 2024 compared with 2023, according to new findings published by Park-Lee et al in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Background E-cigarettes and nicotine pouches are two categories of tobacco products the U.S. Food...
Investigators have uncovered misconceptions and gaps in awareness regarding prostate cancer and screening guidelines in light of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September, according to a recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll. Background In 2024, an estimated 299,010 men will be diagnosed...
Staging may be inaccurate in up to 80% of patients with early pancreatic cancer, according to a recent study published by Perrotta et al in JAMA. The findings underscored the need for advancements in diagnostic technology and staging, which may help to improve early pancreatic cancer treatment and...
In a cross-sectional study reported in JAMA Network Open, Rezoug et al found that universal genetic testing identified immediately actionable and established germline pathogenic variants in more than 1 in 20 newly diagnosed patients with invasive breast cancer and was associated with systemic...
In a Canadian study reported in JAMA Network Open, Hamilton et al found that use of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) prior to the diagnosis of prostate cancer was not associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer–specific or overall mortality. Study Details The study involved data from...
Imagine walking into a fancy restaurant only to find a menu consisting mostly of kids’ dishes. It would make no sense. Just 25% of restaurant diners are younger than age 12, and they rarely write Yelp reviews. But when it comes to cancer treatment, this is not very far from what we do. The median...
Despite the fact that there is no history of breast cancer in my family, I didn’t take that good fortune for granted and was diligent about getting my regularly scheduled mammograms and clinical breast exams, which never found any hint of disease. So, it was especially frightening when, while on a...
It happened! We received the International Development and Education Award (IDEA) from Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, and it was a journey of growth, global collaboration, leadership, mentorship, and more. We have much to share after this breakthrough in our careers. The ASCO Annual Meeting...
In cohort 2 of the phase II TROPHY-U-01 study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Petrylak et al found that sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was active in cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer progressing after immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)...
In a meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Nielsen et al estimated the risk of cardiotoxicity associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment of cancers. Study Details The meta-analysis included 83,315 unique patients in 589 unique trials of ICIs and ICI combination therapies. The...
On April 5, 2024, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) was granted accelerated approval for adults with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (immunohistochemistry 3+) solid tumors who received prior systemic treatment and have no satisfactory alternative treatment options.1 Supporting...
A joint guideline from the International Society of Oral Oncology–Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer and ASCO seeks to fill a gap in the clinical guidance for patients with head and neck cancers who develop osteoradionecrosis following their head and neck radiation therapy.1...
The combination of nivolumab plus gemcitabine/cisplatin chemotherapy achieved high response rates and durable responses and improved overall survival and progression-free survival compared with gemcitabine/cisplatin chemotherapy alone in patients with urothelial carcinoma and clinical evidence of...
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is an aggressive malignant head and neck cancer that is highly prevalent in the southern and southwestern provinces of China. Although the incidence of the cancer is less than 1 per 100,000 in Europe, the United States, and the Pacific,1 data from the International Agency...
A retrospective cohort study published in Blood Cancer Journal by Gasoyan et al revealed discrepancies between the timing of the initiation of any treatment and the fill of prescriptions for oral antimyeloma medications in patients with multiple myeloma, with a lower likelihood of Black and older...
Clinical trials are now demonstrating the value of immune checkpoint inhibitors as neoadjuvant therapy in certain subsets of patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, described this newer approach—specifically, which subsets of patients may...