Combining the CD79b-directed antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin-piiq with rituximab, gemcitabine, and oxaliplatin (R-GemOx) significantly improved survival outcomes in patients with transplant-ineligible, relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), over standard rituximab ...
A single dose of psilocybin may provide sustained reductions in depression and anxiety among patients with cancer and major depressive disorder, according to a recent study published by Agrawal et al in Cancer. Patients with cancer often experience depression. Psilocybin is a naturally occurring...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Stephen R. Grobmyer, MD, FACS, about his clinical and research career in oncology, the challenges and rewards of moving to Abu Dhabi and building a state-of-the-art cancer center, and...
The risk of developing breast implant–associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) could be higher among women with breast cancer and BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations who received textured breast implants as part of their postmastectomy reconstructive surgery compared with patients lacking the genetic...
A telehealth-based care program may improve daily functioning, mood, disease understanding, and quality of life among older adults with cancer, according to a recent study published by Bergerot et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Study Methods and Results...
Stopping the widespread use of unnecessary, potentially harmful cancer screenings may take up to 13 years and potentially longer following the implementation of new guidelines, according to a recent study published by LeLaurin et al in BMJ Quality & Safety. Background The U.S. Preventive...
Recent national survey data from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) have shown that further cuts to Medicare reimbursement for radiation therapy would increase patient wait times for cancer treatment and force clinic downsizing. Nearly all (96%) of the 675 physicians responding to...
The management of metastatic (CRPC) has rapidly accelerated in the past decade, giving oncologists a wider range of tools to work with and patients new opportunities for improving survival and maintaining quality of life. These significant advancements have prompted ASCO to release a guideline...
Experts and patients alike would agree that navigating the current fragmented U.S. health-care system is not an easy task. One component of that disconnection may center on the relationship between oncology and primary care. The benefits of collaboration between oncologists and primary care...
With more than 50 different subtypes, pediatric soft-tissue sarcomas represent a broad category of disease. And given the rarity of these sarcomas, “it is difficult for pathologists to see a sufficient volume to gain expertise across all variants,” stated Adam Thiesen, BA, MD/PhD Candidate at UConn ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) models, which were pretrained on vast data sets, outperformed a standard baseline model in identifying nonmelanoma skin cancers from digital images of tissue samples, based on a session presented during the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual...
Although alcohol consumption is a known leading preventable cause of cancer, public awareness of the connection may remain concerningly low in the United States, according to a recent study published by Domgue et al in JAMA Oncology. Background Consuming alcohol has been linked to at least seven...
Patients with stage II and III (early-stage) HER2-positive breast cancer usually undergo preoperative therapy with multiagent chemotherapy in combination with anti-HER2 antibodies, followed by surgery. A less intensive, reduced-chemotherapy treatment approach is currently being evaluated in the...
An investigational dual-target chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy approach could slow tumor growth in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, according to new findings presented by Bagley et al at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 102) and simultaneously published in Nature ...
The integration of a "best practice advisory" alert into electronic medical record system regarding referrals for fertility preservation programs for young patients with cancer improved referrals to the Oncofertility program at Fox Chase Cancer Center by 450% over 6 months, according to findings...
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...
Adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with cancer may need support for scholastic performance, according to new findings presented by Fisher et al at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 11053). Previous studies have shown how a cancer diagnosis could disrupt the typical developmental...
A drug already approved by the FDA to treat menopause symptoms may also help to prevent invasive breast cancer, according to recent findings from a clinical trial led by Northwestern Medicine. The research was presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 512). Study Details The multicenter,...
A new study led by experts at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is the first to look at trends over time in alcohol-linked cancer mortality across the United States. The findings were presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract ...
With the currently available BCR::ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has transformed from an invariably fatal disorder (10-year overall survival < 10%) to an indolent one, associated with a near-normal life expectancy on optimal tyrosine kinase inhibitor...
An evaluation by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) colorectal cancer screening practices for inmates and their clinical follow-up for positive screenings found several serious operational and managerial deficiencies...
Researchers may have uncovered early indications of the clinical benefit of niraparib in patients with advanced melanoma whose tumors have specific genetic changes impacting DNA repair, according to a recent study published by Kim et al in JCO Precision Oncology. Background The U.S. Food and Drug...
Although I have spent the past 2 decades of my medical career as a primary care physician, educator, and researcher in conditions that disproportionately affect people of Asian descent, including lung cancer, I was still unprepared to hear the words “You have stage IV non–small cell lung...
Several recent studies have shown the value of cancer screening in reducing the number of deaths from the disease. One study using computer modeling to estimate the number of cancer-related deaths that could be averted by increasing the use of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)...
Thousands of forward-looking research studies defined the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. Here, aside from our fuller coverage of key presentations in The ASCO Post, we offer a snapshot of a few additional abstracts that may be of interest to cancer researchers...
Mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) tumors beyond those in the rectum may respond to PD-1 blockade in the neoadjuvant setting, offering the option of organ preservation in early-stage cancer regardless of the tumor type, researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center reported at the...
Despite a 30-year history as an ASCO volunteer, for Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, this past year as President-Elect has opened new perspectives on the organization he will soon lead as ASCO’s 62nd President, effective during the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting, May 30–June 3, 2025, in Chicago. After serving...
ASCO and Google Cloud have announced a collaboration to launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-based ASCO Guidelines Assistant. Developed with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform and Gemini models, the tool is poised to transform how oncology professionals access and use critical clinical...
Investigators have found that the antiseizure/pain drug gabapentin may be associated with improved survival in patients with glioblastoma, according to a recent study published by Bernstock et al in Nature Communications. Background With about 12,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the United...
The disease we now call diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has gone by the names of reticulum cell sarcoma, diffuse histiocytic lymphoma, and diffuse large cell lymphoma, and included both lymphomas of B cells and T cells. We now know DLBCL is still heterogenous and some subtypes might benefit...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as a promising biomarker in colorectal cancer, offering dynamic insight into disease burden and recurrence risk. However, questions remain about its clinical utility and optimal application, as well as its equitable access across practice settings. At the...
Forty nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations issued a statement this week to the House Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means Committees in regard to budget cuts and policy changes affecting Medicaid and health-care marketplaces. “As organizations representing millions of patients with serious...
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...
Patients with a history of breast cancer who are carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variants benefit from undergoing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, the results of a retrospective cohort study published in The Lancet Oncology showed. Women who had their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed...
Thousands of forward-looking research studies defined the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. Here, aside from our fuller coverage of key presentations in The ASCO Post, we offer a snapshot of a few additional abstracts that may be of interest to cancer researchers...
When screening for breast cancer, the most effective strategy to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) may involve collaboration with human radiologists, according to a recent study published by Ahsen et al in Nature Communications. The findings could help shape how hospitals and clinics integrate...
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 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in 2017 to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.1 Over the past decade, other CAR T-cell therapies have been FDA approved to treat adults with blood cancers, including...
Investigators have uncovered how a specific sequence of cancer therapies could improve outcomes among patients with relapsed/refractory mature T- and natural killer (NK)-cell lymphomas, according to a recent study published by Sorial et al in the British Journal of Haematology. Background...
The Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute established a Financial Toxicity Tumor Board in 2019. The board is the first known institutional-level intervention of its kind and functions like a traditional disease-focused multidisciplinary tumor board—with a singular focus on financial distress. Now,...
Investigators have uncovered mixed progress in major cancer risk factors, preventive behaviors, and screenings in the post–COVID-19 pandemic period among adults in the United States, according to a new study published by Bandi et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Background An ...
A novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called AIC100, which targets the ICAM-1 protein, demonstrated encouraging responses and an acceptable safety profile in patients with two types of advanced thyroid cancer. Results from a small, first-in-human phase I trial were presented at the ...
A new gene-expression atlas developed using single-cell RNA sequencing data sheds light on how normal hematopoietic cells differentiate and was used to catalog the multiple ways aberrant differentiation can lead to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Andy G.X. Zeng, PhD, an MD/PhD candidate at the...
According to the results of a molecularly matched, tumor-agnostic phase II trial, the combination of the PARP inhibitor olaparib and the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab demonstrated antitumor activity with no new safety signals, particularly in patients with BRCA1/2 mutations. Data from this...
A novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based model could accurately classify sarcomas among pediatric patients using digital pathology images alone, according to new findings presented by Thiesen et al at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting (Abstract 2423/8)....
Artificial intelligence (AI) models pretrained on vast data sets may outperform standard baseline models in identifying nonmelanoma skin cancers from digital images of tissue samples, according to new findings presented by Song et al at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in 2017 to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Over the past decade, other CAR T-cell therapies have been FDA-approved to treat adults with blood cancers, including...
The oral KRAS G12D inhibitor zoldonrasib could provide clinical benefit in patients with previously treated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors harbored a KRAS G12D mutation, according to new findings presented by Arbour et al at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...
PD-1 blockade with the PD-1 inhibitor dostarlimab-gxly induced complete tumor clearance and resolved the need for surgery in patients with locally advanced, mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) cancers, according to preliminary results from a phase II trial presented at the 2025 American Association...
The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is working to understand the extent and scope of several recent executive actions. ASCO recognizes the concern and confusion many are currently experiencing and understands that if there are interruptions in care and research, there can be negative...