In the 50 years now since my fellowship training, there have been major advances in the diagnosis, staging, prognostic scoring, treatment, and response assessment of lymphomas. To conjure up the future, we must first appreciate the present by understanding how it arose from the past.1 So, a trip in ...
About 13% of all lung cancers in the United States are small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and approximately 87% are non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Together, these lung cancers are the second most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women, excluding skin cancer. Usually a very aggressive...
A major study of three of the most common cancers in women, conducted by the Cancer Survival Group at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found variations in the stage of disease at diagnosis, the type of treatment, and the extent to which treatment was consistent with...
A gene expression profile–based test coupled with clinicopathologic factor assessment was able to consistently identify patients with melanoma who were at a low risk for their disease spreading to the sentinel lymph nodes, according to findings from the MERLIN_001 trial published in JAMA Surgery....
Contrary to previous research, a preplanned secondary analysis of the multicenter PREVENT trial, reported by W.Gregory Hundley, MD, FACC, of Pauley Heart Center, Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, and colleagues in ...
Use of artificial intelligence (AI) in oncology is advancing rapidly. AI was first used for reading radiology images and analyzing pathology slides. More recently, use of AI has expanded to analyzing large clinical data sets (big data). The next envisioned role for AI in oncology encompasses many ...
Elironrasib, a novel RAS G12C–selective tri-complex inhibitor, demonstrated initial clinical activity and a differentiated safety profile in heavily pretreated patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and KRAS G12C mutations, according to findings from a phase I trial presented at the 2025...
In an individual-patient pooled analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Raimondi et al found that neoadjuvant treatment with dual CTLA-4/PD-(L)1 immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) was associated with higher pathologic response rates vs perioperative FLOT (fluorouracil, leucovorin,...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recognized the recipients of the 2025 Gold Medal awards and other high-profile honors during its recent Annual Meeting. ASTRO also recognized the recipients of its 2025 research grants and fellowships, including awards cosponsored by patient,...
In a Chinese phase III trial (RC48-C016) reported at the recent ESMO Congress and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sheng et al found that the combination of the HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate disitamab vedotin and the PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab-tpzi improved progression-free survival...
Two pivotal studies of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in early HER2-positive breast cancer suggest this antibody-drug conjugate (targeting the HER2 protein) may be moving into the curative setting after having shown benefit in metastatic disease in multiple previous trials. The new...
A perioperative regimen of the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv plus the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab significantly improved outcomes vs radical cystectomy alone in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who were ineligible for or declined cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Results...
On October 24, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved revumenib (Revuforj), a menin inhibitor, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with a susceptible nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) mutation, in adult and pediatric patients 1 year and older who have no...
On October 23, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved belantamab mafodotin-blmf (Blenrep), a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)–directed antibody and microtubule inhibitor conjugate, in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone for the treatment of adults with relapsed or...
President Joe Biden has completed his course of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, which he recently marked by ringing the ceremonial bell alongside his radiation oncology care team. According to a report from People, President Biden’s daughter Ashley Biden shared the moment on her Instagram...
Combination immunotherapy significantly improved disease-free survival after surgery in patients with primary renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results from the phase III RAMPART trial. These findings were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025 by James...
There is a perception among many scientists that scientific fraud is a rare occurrence, resulting from the actions of a few isolated bad actors. However, an extensive investigation by Reese A.K. Richardson, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Science of Science and Innovation, Kellogg School ...
Osimertinib in combination with local consolidative therapy of radiation and/or surgery led to a significant extension of progression-free survival for patients with EGFR-mutant metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to findings from the phase II NorthStar trial presented at the...
In early 2023, I began experiencing serious symptoms that were not easily explained away, including deep vein thrombosis in my left leg, extreme weight loss, bruising, wheezing, and shortness of breath so severe that it was difficult to walk my dog more than a few feet without gasping for air. For...
Use of PAM50 subtyping allowed clinicians to determine which patients with recurrent prostate cancer were most likely to benefit from the addition of apalutamide hormonal therapy to salvage radiotherapy, according to findings from the phase II BALANCE trial (NRG GU006). These results were presented ...
Growing up in Draksharamam, a small village in India, Neelima Denduluri, MD, FASCO, was attracted to the field of medicine after witnessing her grandfather, a general practitioner in the village, care for patients so poor he often provided medical services at no cost. Although Dr. Denduluri’s...
On August 14, 2025, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) announced that Phil Knight, a cofounder of Nike, and his wife, Penny, donated $2 billion to the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. The record-setting gift is the largest single donation ever made to a U.S. university, college, or academic ...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) was found to be a strong prognostic classifier for patients with stage III colon cancer following surgery, according to findings from the phase II/III DYNAMIC-III trial. Findings from the study presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025 ...
A joint task force composed of experts from the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), ASCO, and the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) has released new guidance for postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) for patients with breast cancer.1 This guideline—which is intended to replace the...
Despite numerous studies showing the benefits of integrating palliative care in both the early- and advanced-stage cancer settings,1 palliative care remains underutilized for most patients with cancer. A recent study by the American Cancer Society found that only 10% of Medicare beneficiaries with...
Here are brief reports on three oncology approvals by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2025: • Estrogen Receptor Antagonist in Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer: The FDA has approved imlunestrant (Inluriyo), an estrogen receptor antagonist, for adults with estrogen...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has released its first set of recommendations for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) large language models in oncology practice, called the ESMO Guidance on the Use of Large Language Models in Clinical Practice (ELCAP). The guidance was...
Enzalutamide in combination with leuprolide demonstrated a significantly longer overall survival than either leuprolide or enzalutamide monotherapy in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer, according to the final overall survival analysis of the phase III EMBARK trial presented at...
The oral targeted therapy sevabertinib led to tumor reduction and manageable side effects in patients with HER2-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data from the phase I/II SOHO-01 clinical trial. Over 70% of the patients studied saw their tumors shrink or disappear. The results ...
A new clinical trial from the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2025 Congress found that adjuvant therapy with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab appeared to reduce the risk of distant metastases for an aggressive form of skin...
The combination of osimertinib plus chemotherapy led to a median overall survival of 47.5 months compared with 37.6 months with osimertinib monotherapy in patients with EGFR-mutated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had not received prior treatment for advanced disease, according to...
Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who tested positive for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after cystectomy may benefit from immunotherapy with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab compared to placebo, whereas ctDNA-negative patients may potentially be spared unnecessary treatment. These...
Patients with an aggressive type of breast cancer who are not candidates for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy showed significantly improved progression-free survival when treated with the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) sacituzumab govitecan-hziy compared with standard chemotherapy. These...
Belzutifan induced durable responses without surgery in patients with advanced pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma and demonstrated manageable safety in the phase II LITESPARK-015 trial, according to findings presented during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025 (Abstract...
Patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer showed significantly improved progression-free survival when treated with an oral combination regimen that includes giredestrant, a next-generation oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) and full...
Patients with cancer who received mRNA-based COVID vaccines within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy were twice as likely to be alive 3 years after beginning treatment, according to a recent study. These findings, which include more than 1,000 patients treated between August 2019 and...
Researchers have created a roadmap to improve national lung cancer screening rates that doubled lung cancer screening rates through their multidisciplinary lung cancer screening program, according to a study published in NEJM Catalyst. “Our biggest success was not only screening a high percentage...
New research being presented during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025 showed that thymic health is linked to response to immune checkpoint inhibition in patients with cancer (Abstract 108O). “Immunotherapy relies on unleashing T cells, and the thymus is where T cells...
In a retrospective cohort study (FRONT-BRAF) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Di Federico et al found that first-line PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors with or without platinum-based chemotherapy were associated with improved overall survival compared with BRAF and MEK inhibitors in patients with metastatic ...
Lisaftoclax, an investigational BCL2 inhibitor, in combination with pomalidomide/dexamethasone (Pd) or daratumumab/lenalidomide/dexamethasone (DRd) led to improved outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma and for patients with AL amyloidosis, according to findings from a...
In a randomized phase II trial, Christiane Querfeld, MD, PhD, and colleagues investigated the effects of a PD-L1–blocking strategy for targeting both the innate and adaptive immune systems in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). At the 2025 Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) Annual Meeting,1 Dr....
In a Childhood Cancer Survivor Study analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Owens et al identified the risks of colorectal subsequent malignant neoplasms (SMNs) associated with colorectal-specific radiotherapy (RT) doses and chemotherapy doses among 5-year survivors of childhood...
Although palliative care use has increased over time among young adults with advanced cancers in the United States, new research led by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that utilization still remains very low. The report was presented at the 2025 ASCO Quality Care Symposium (Abstract 320)....
Cornelia Ulrich, MS, PhD, has been elected by the members of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) to serve as Vice President/President-Elect of AACI’s Board of Directors. Dr. Ulrich is Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman...
Rare cancers—defined as fewer than 6 cases per 100,000 people per year—are understudied in the United States, and patients with rare cancers may experience unique challenges. In a recent, large study led by the American Cancer Society (ACS), scientists found that patients diagnosed with rare...
At 10 years, the cumulative incidence of radiation-induced second malignancies in patients receiving definitive radiation therapy for human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated oropharyngeal cancers was 1.74%, according to findings culled from the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute database. These...
In 2022, Congress requested a scientific review from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to study the associated risks of cancer and other health conditions and the use of alcohol. The concern was that the health risks associated with low-to-moderate consumption of ...
New research published by Tohmasi et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has found that people with cancer who quit smoking had a much lower risk of dying within 2 years compared to those who kept smoking. Researchers followed more than 13,000 individuals with cancer,...
Armando E. Giuliano, MD, will receive the William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture Award during the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). Dr. Giuliano is being recognized for his pioneering work on sentinel lymph node biopsy for patients with breast cancer, which has transformed the...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien (Jason) Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus...