A 3-year structured exercise program initiated soon after completion of adjuvant chemotherapy improved disease-free survival and overall survival, as well as patient-reported physical functioning and health-related fitness, in patients with stage III or high-risk stage II colon cancer. These...
Studies have shown that being overweight or having obesity increases the risk of developing more than a dozen cancers, including meningioma, multiple myeloma, esophageal, thyroid, breast, gallbladder, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, ovarian, uterus, and colorectal.1 The presence of excess body...
Maintenance treatment with the alkylating agent lurbinectedin plus the monoclonal antibody atezolizumab significantly improved both progression-free survival and overall survival compared with atezolizumab alone in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to data...
“Inavolisib plus palbociclib and fulvestrant significantly improved overall survival compared with placebo plus palbociclib/fulvestrant…. This is the first time overall survival has been significantly improved by a PI3K pathway–targeted drug,” said Nicholas Turner, MD, PhD, FRCP,FMedSci, who...
In the phase III ALASCCA trial, the use of adjuvant daily aspirin for 3 years reduced the risk of recurrence in colorectal cancer harboring PI3K pathway alterations by 51%, according to research in a Scandinavian population presented at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium by Anna...
On June 3, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved darolutamide (Nubeqa) for the treatment of metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC). The oral androgen receptor inhibitor had previously been approved by the FDA in combination with docetaxel for mCSPC. Efficacy...
Although the SWOG S2302 Pragmatica-Lung trial did not achieve its primary endpoint of improved overall survival with the combination of ramucirumab and pembrolizumab compared with standard-of-care treatments for patients with stage IV or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who previously...
Consuming an anti-inflammatory diet could improve posttreatment survival among patients with colorectal cancer compared with following a proinflammatory diet, according to new findings presented by Char et al at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract LBA3509). The findings suggested that engaging...
Neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival rates at 5 years compared with chemotherapy alone before surgery in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to findings from the final analysis of the phase III CheckMate 816 trial. The...
The combination of avelumab and cetuximab may improve progression-free survival in patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma compared with avelumab alone, according to recent findings presented by Zandberg et al at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 6002) and simultaneously...
In the results of a meta-analysis of solid organ transplant recipients who have received immune checkpoint inhibitors as cancer treatment, the study authors concluded that immunotherapy may be “high risk yet promising” for these patients. These findings are being presented during the 2025 ASCO...
Greater intake of a proinflammatory dietary pattern may be linked to worse overall survival in patients with stage III colon cancer who have undergone curative-intent resection. Sara K. Char, MD, a clinical fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, presented the results of a prospective...
Results from an international phase III clinical trial found that treating patients with stage II, III, and IVA resectable gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer with perioperative durvalumab and FLOT chemotherapy (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel) helped...
A phase III study has found that a 3-year structured exercise program initiated soon after completion of adjuvant chemotherapy improves disease-free and overall survival, as well as patient-reported physical functioning and health-related fitness, in patients with stage III and high-risk stage II...
Adding the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab to standard chemoradiotherapy after surgery significantly reduced recurrence rates for patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who are at high risk for recurrence, according to data presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 At a...
Results from VERITAC-2 trial showed that the proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) vepdegestrant could extend progression-free survival for people with previously treated estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer with an ESR1 mutation. The research will be presented at...
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...
At just 5 years old, Charu Aggarwal, MD, MPH, FASCO, already knew that she wanted to be a physician when she grew up, although she can’t explain where the idea came from. She just knows the desire to help others was ingrained in her from a very early age. Growing up in New Delhi, India, where...
Patients with multiple myeloma who had lower physical function scores at the time of treatment initiation demonstrated a greater benefit to daratumumab treatment than those with higher physical function scores, according to the results of a study published in the European Journal of Haematology....
ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, will recognize researchers, patient advocates, philanthropists, teachers, and global oncology leaders who have reshaped cancer care around the world with the Society’s highest honors at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting. “The recipients of this year’s...
Studies have shown that having overweight or obesity increases the risk of developing more than a dozen cancers, including meningioma; multiple myeloma; and esophageal, thyroid, breast, gallbladder, stomach, liver, pancreatic, kidney, ovarian, uterine, and colorectal cancers. The presence of excess ...
Whole-genome sequencing (WGS)-based circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), termed HPV-DeepSeek by the study investigators, showed greater sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy than any current...
Abbreviated breast MRI scans demonstrated comparable diagnostic accuracy to full multiparametric protocol MRI scans for women with extremely dense breasts, according to findings from the DENSE trial published in Radiology. MRI scans have greater diagnostic accuracy than mammograms for women with...
Investigators have identified two genetic risk loci that may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer for Black South African women, according to findings from a genome-wide association study published in Nature Communications. The two risk loci were between UNC13C and RAB27A on...
Total neoadjuvant therapy of intensified chemoradiotherapy was shown to be less effective for treating patients with rectal cancer with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than those with sporadic rectal cancer, according to study findings presented during Digestive Disease Week 2025. However, there...
In a phase II trial (PALMIRA) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Llombart-Cussac et al evaluated whether palbociclib rechallenge with second-line alternative endocrine therapy may improve progression-free survival vs second-line alternative endocrine therapy alone. Study Details In the...
On May 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved retifanlimab-dlwr (Zynyz), a PD-1–blocking monoclonal antibody, with carboplatin and paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of adults with inoperable locally recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCAC)....
Six parenchymal phenotypes were established that may be associated with a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Studies of these phenotypes identified by radiomics on mammograms demonstrated that these patterns were associated with an increased risk of invasive breast cancer, according to...
In a phase II trial (PEACE V–STORM) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ost et al found that elective nodal radiotherapy (ENRT) to the pelvis was associated with longer metastasis-free survival vs metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) in patients with pelvic nodal oligorecurrences of prostate cancer....
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) released its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) in 1996, covering eight tumor types. Today, guidelines are available for more than 60 tumor types, subtypes, and related topics. During the NCCN’s 30th Annual...
FaceAge, a deep learning system, was developed and validated to estimate biological age from photographs of faces. In a study published in The Lancet Digital Health, FaceAge showed the ability to predict short-term outcomes in patients with cancer. The study demonstrated that FaceAge could...
The 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research was presented to Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, during the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago. This award honors individuals who have made significant fundamental contributions to cancer...
Several medical organizations recently released a joint Clinical Practice Guideline to provide recommendations on opioid conversion in adults with cancer.1 ASCO, together with the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine,...
The 2025 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer advanced the field with updates of practice-changing trials and other research that challenges the conventional approaches to treating gynecologic cancers. We have briefly captured some of that research here for readers ...
In patients with aggressive gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, first-line treatment with the mTOR inhibitor everolimus and the somatostatin analog lanreotide more than doubled the median progression-free survival for patients vs everolimus alone, in the phase III JCOG1901 (STARTER-NET)...
The phase III HYPO-RT-PC trial has shown that a 2-week course of radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer—also known as ultra-hypofractionated radiotherapy—may be just as safe and effective as the traditional 8-week schedule—even 10 years after treatment. The findings were presented at the 2025...
The Association for Clinical Oncology is carefully reviewing the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 2026) budget proposal, which was released on May 2 and contains significant cuts to federal health agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), notably a 40% cut to the...
Sequential molecular measurable residual disease (MRD) testing and monitoring led to a survival benefit among younger patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and NPM1 and FLT3-ITD mutations, according to the results of a study published in The Lancet Haematology. Patients with both mutations...
The use of computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques for planning jaw reconstructions for patients with head and neck cancer undergoing free fibula reconstruction of the lower jaw may potentially shorten the duration of the surgery and reduce removal rates due to complications,...
Researchers may have uncovered the role of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in the development of Burkitt lymphoma, according to a recent study published by Ariera et al in The Journal of Immunology. Background Uncomplicated malaria occurs when a patient’s symptoms are nonspecific, including fever,...
Patients with colorectal cancer and a history of cannabis use disorder had a more than 20 times higher risk of mortality within 5 years than those without cannabis use order, according to the results of a study published in Annals of Epidemiology. The 5-year mortality rate in patients with a...
Female cancer survivors are more likely to experience cancer-related fatigue and depression than male cancer survivors, and those with cancer-related fatigue and/or depression are almost two times as likely to reduce their recreational activities, according to the results of a retrospective study...
The addition of neoadjuvant and adjuvant pembrolizumab to standard-of-care therapy significantly improved event-free survival over the standard of care alone for patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer in the phase III KEYNOTE-689 trial, according to results presented at the American...
Statin use during targeted therapy treatment led to a 61% improvement in the risk of dying of cancer for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), according to the results of a study published in Blood Advances. The investigators sought to determine the...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the humanized IgG1 monoclonal anti–PD-1 antibody penpulimab-kcqx with cisplatin or carboplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with recurrent or metastatic nonkeratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The FDA also...
On April 11, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (Opdivo) with ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the first-line treatment of adults with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma. (See here for details on approval of this combination immunotherapy for colorectal...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib (Cabometyx) for adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with previously treated, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic, well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors...
Nicolas Girard, MD, a thoracic oncologist at the Institut Curie, Paris, presented the results of an interim analysis of the open-label phase II COCOON study, at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2025.1 A readily available preventive regimen (the COCOON regimen) reduced moderate-to-severe...
A few weeks ago, a family member underwent a minor outpatient operative procedure. From a few weeks before the scheduled date of the procedure, multiple text messages and e-mails were forwarded to provide preparatory instructions for the procedure. The day before the procedure, another...
More than 20% of cancer-related claims for next-generation sequencing (NGS) from Medicare beneficiaries were denied between 2016 and 2021. Findings from a cohort study published in JAMA Network Open suggested that there is continued uncertainty about the boundaries of coverage for NGS, even with...