Researchers developed a deep neural network, M-PACT, to identify and classify brain tumors in pediatric patients from the subnanogram-input cell-free DNA of methylomes, according to findings published in Nature Cancer. “This is a next-generation assay and computational framework that we’ve...
The incidence of new primary melanoma was similar among patients with completely resected stage IIB or IIC cutaneous melanoma who did vs did not receive adjuvant pembrolizumab, while nonmelanoma skin cancers were more common with placebo, according to a secondary analysis of the multicenter phase...
The addition of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the EGFR antibody cetuximab to chemotherapy with FOLFIRI (leucovorin, fluorouracil, and irinotecan) in the first-line treatment of BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer led to a significant improvement in overall response rate—compared...
Pleurectomy/decortication can be completed safely in select patients with pleural mesothelioma with low postoperative mortality, according to findings from a study published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. “Our findings show that pleurectomy/decortication can be done safely when patients are...
A remotely delivered, behaviorally designed game-based intervention was found to increase physical activity and may have implications for cardiovascular health among Black and Hispanic breast and prostate cancer survivors with cardiovascular risk factors compared with attention control, according...
In a prospective, longitudinal cohort study published in JACC: CardioOncology by Glen et al, cancer therapy–related cardiac dysfunction and hypertension were found to be common cardiovascular adverse events among patients with melanoma who received BRAF or MEK inhibitor therapy. Nearly half of...
Patients in rural areas who received surgery locally for their lung or colon cancer had comparable surgical outcomes and mortality rates to patients who underwent surgery in an urban facility, according to the results of an analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons....
In the phase III COMMIT trial, a regimen combining atezolizumab plus bevacizumab and standard chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival and response rates over atezolizumab monotherapy in patients with previously untreated mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite...
Today, Johnson & Johnson announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new, simplified monthly dosing schedule for amivantamab and hyaluronidase-lpuj (Rybrevant Faspro). When administered in combination with oral lazertinib for the first-line treatment EGFR-mutated...
Treatment with a single injection of an oncolytic virus induces persistent T cell–mediated immunity in glioblastoma, according to findings from a trial published in Cell. “Patients with glioblastoma have not benefited from immunotherapies that have transformed patient care in other cancer types...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has released clinical practice guidelines on the diagnosis of light chain (AL) amyloidosis, which were published in Blood Advances. Additionally, the expert panel behind the guidelines also published a scoping review about the clinical features of systemic...
The first-in-human clinical trial of an in vivo CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma has shown encouraging clinical outcomes at an early time point, with a safety profile and ease of administration that indicates the off-the-shelf KLN-1010 could be easily deployable, researchers from Australia...
For myelofibrosis, the treatment landscape is poised for change as new targets have emerged, and treatments are evolving beyond the standard Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors. Novel therapies are being paired with the commonly used JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib, as reflected by a wealth of studies...
In patients with CALR exon 9–mutated myelofibrosis who were resistant or intolerant to prior Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor therapy or ineligible for such treatment, the first-in-class mutant calreticulin–specific monoclonal antibody INCA033989 as monotherapy or in combination with ruxolitinib...
In patients with follicular lymphoma who received at least one prior line of therapy, the combination of the bispecific antibody epcoritamab-bysp and rituximab–lenalidomide (R2) reduced the risk of disease progression or death by almost 80% over R2 alone, based on the primary analysis of the phase...
As front-line therapy, a chemotherapy-free regimen combining the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) ponatinib and the bispecific T-cell engager blinatumomab significantly outperformed standard treatment with imatinib plus chemotherapy in adults with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–positive...
At this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando, we had the opportunity to navigate both manned and unmanned traffic, contend with temperamental weather, and count our steps as we took in the most consequential developments in hematologic oncology....
A nationwide, real-world analysis using the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD) from 2012 to 2023 evaluated over 16,000 adults who underwent esophagectomy for primary esophageal cancer to develop and validate a long-term all-cause mortality risk model. The...
For patients with previously treated multiple myeloma, the greatest risk reduction yet achieved in a phase III clinical trial was reported with the BCMA-directed CD3 T-cell engager teclistamab-cqyv plus daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj. Treatment with this combination resulted in an 83% reduction ...
The first unified, pan-tumor guideline framework has been released for how pathologists should evaluate and score response in the neoadjuvant setting. These consensus guidelines, which were a joint effort by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer's (SITC) Pan-tumor Harmonization of Pathologic...
Consumption of higher quantities of ultraprocessed food was associated with increased all-cause and cancer mortality rates in cancer survivors, irrespective of the quality of their diet, according to findings published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. “These results suggest...
The scientific revolution in determining the genetic basis of cancer is finally bearing fruit in hematologic neoplasms such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), where over the past decade a number of effective new drugs have expanded our armamentarium and provided effective—and in some cases...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided communication to increase awareness of recent updates to the product labeling of capecitabine (Xeloda) and fluorouracil—indicated for colorectal, breast, gastric/esophageal/gastroesophageal, and pancreatic cancers—related to risks associated...
Exposure to Agent Orange in U.S. veterans was associated with an increased odds of developing acral melanoma compared with controls with and without cutaneous melanoma, according to findings published in JAMA Dermatology. The study authors suggested that there is a need for continued investigation ...
Colorectal metastases isolated to the liver no longer portend a universally fatal outcome. In 2024, the TransMet study1demonstrated that liver transplantation in select patients could be life-saving—thus changing the treatment paradigm—but so can surgical resection when appropriately applied....
Metastasis-directed therapy significantly improved progression-free survival, radiologic progression–free survival, and castration resistance–free survival in patients with oligometastatic prostate cancer, according to a new study published by Tang et al in The Lancet Oncology. The study is a...
As the organizer of World Cancer Day on February 4, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is mobilizing organizations and individuals worldwide to ensure that the voices of people affected by cancer are heard and drive a new vision of cancer care. Now in its second year, the World...
When patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) progress, as is common with such an aggressive malignancy, brain metastasis is a known possibility. As such, guidelines have recommended prophylactic cranial irradiation for patients with SCLC who respond well to first-line therapy to decrease the...
The first prospective, randomized phase III trial of a noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor exclusively in treatment-naive patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL)—BRUIN CLL-313—demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically...
An artificial intelligence (AI)-based risk prediction model, ONCO-ACS, showed possible favorable clinical utility as a practical tool for predicting cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and ischemic stroke events in patients with cancer and acute coronary syndrome, according to findings...
A response-adapted approach to treatment decision-making for patients with resectable cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma demonstrated that with the use of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, many patients could avoid surgery and/or radiotherapy. Findings from the De-Squamate study were published in the...
In patients with advanced HER2-positive gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, treatment with the bispecific antibody zanidatamab-hrii and chemotherapy, with or without the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab-jsgr, reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 35% over trastuzumab plus chemotherapy in the...
Sako et al conducted a prognostic study to evaluate whether a fully automated deep-learning radiomic biomarker based on serial CT scans could improve prediction of overall survival in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors. Their findings,...
Genetic ancestry plays a key role in determining the behavior of head and neck tumors and may help explain why African American patients survive for half as long as their counterparts of European ancestry, according to a new review study published by Ndahayo et al in Cancer and Metastasis Reviews....
A randomized, controlled clinical trial for artificial intelligence (AI)–supported mammography readings, called the MASAI trial, demonstrated that AI reads of mammogram scans led to fewer interval breast cancer diagnoses than with standard double reads by radiologists, according to findings...
A team of researchers and physicians found that utilizing ultrasound-guided diffuse optical tomography (DOT) technology may reduce unnecessary breast biopsy rates by nearly 25%. Using this new method first—rather than starting with a biopsy—may help to determine if additional diagnoses are needed...
A prognostic scoring system for predicting 1-year survival in patients with advanced cancer and spinal metastases was enhanced with machine learning for greater accuracy, according to the results of a Japanese multicenter study published in Spine. "This model provides a practical risk assessment...
The second annual report from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) documents a substantial rise in neoadjuvant treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy, often allowing for less invasive surgery and helping clinicians assess how a...
A global meta-analysis combined detailed patient data from six major clinical trials to compare two types of immunotherapies for advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): dual immunotherapy (a combination of CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors) and single immunotherapy (PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors...
A recent, innovative study provides radiation oncologists with practical guidance to identify and protect female sexual organs during pelvic cancer treatment. Published by Greenwald et al in Practical Radiation Oncology, the report’s authors address a long-standing gap in cancer care by bringing...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yeh et al found that childhood cancer survivors who received abdominopelvic radiation, who are at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer, can benefit from early screening to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer and associated...
The U.S. cancer workforce faces critical challenges that may affect Americans' access to lifesaving cancer care and delay progress in cancer research. A new report from the President's Cancer Panel, Ensuring a Strong Future for America's Cancer Workforce, underscores these key issues—including...
A new study by American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers shows that overall cancer mortality in people younger than age 50 in the United States has decreased by 44%, from 25.5 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 14.2 in 2023. The progress is due to declines in mortality for four of the five leading...
Editor’s note: On November 22, 2025—the 62nd anniversary of her grandfather President John F. Kennedy’s assassination—Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg published an essay in The New Yorker detailing her diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia with chromosome 3 inversion, a rare and aggressive subtype...
In patients with advanced HER2-positive gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, treatment with the bispecific antibody zanidatamab-hrii and chemotherapy, with or without the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab-jsgr, reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 35% over trastuzumab plus chemotherapy in the...
A new ASCO guideline provides recommendations on managing cancer during pregnancy, addressing a range of topics from the selection and timing of diagnostic testing and therapeutic interventions to delivery planning and ethical and legal considerations.1 The guideline aims to inform evidence-based...
ASCO, in collaboration with Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), has published an update to their previous guideline on the treatment of multiple myeloma.1 This new guideline—which has been selected as an ASCO Living Guideline—reflects dramatic changes that have helped improve the management of...
The results of a recent survey showed that patients largely support the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to aid radiologists in reading mammograms. The findings, which were published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, also indicated acceptance varied in association with factors such as...
In a study (DIRECT) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Krupka et al found that phased variant (PV) ctDNA provided “sensitive and clinically meaningful response assessment” after first-line treatment of large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL). As stated by the investigators, “Tracking tumor-specific ...
Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, has been elected by members of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) as the Academy’s next President. Beginning July 1, 2026, she will succeed Victor J. Dzau, MD, who has served as NAM President since 2014. Dr. Bertagnolli’s election to a 6-year term follows her...