IN A QUALITY improvement project that was featured in the Quality Care Symposium press program,1 members of an oncology care team achieved a 46% reduction in opioid use among patients who underwent a range of urologic surgeries. They did this by using a systemic approach that identified multiple...
ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation is committed to supporting the research and career development of young researchers through its Grants & Awards Program. On October 10–11, 2018, Conquer Cancer hosted its 4th Scientific and Career Development Retreat at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria,...
Although overall cancer survival rates continue to improve among all age groups in the United States—there are currently an estimated 15.5 million cancer survivors, and that number is expected to increase to 20.3 million by 20261—survival rates for adolescents and young adults with cancer (AYAs)...
Catherine J. Wu, MD, Professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was reared in a medical environment, which shaped her career path as a physician-scientist. “Both of my parents are physicians and were trained in internal medicine. Medicine was always part of my life as I grew up, and it seemed like...
ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2018, moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk (Lumoxiti), a CD22-directed cytotoxin, was approved for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory hairy cell leukemia who received at least two prior systemic therapies, including with a purine nucleoside analog.1,2 Supporting...
IN JULY 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of the oral BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (Braftovi) and the oral MEK inhibitor binimetinib (Mektovi) for BRAF V600E– or V600K– positive metastatic melanoma. The FDA approval was based on the results of the COLUMBUS...
AS REPORTED in The Lancet Oncology by Reinhard Dummer, MD, of the University Hospital Zurich Skin Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III COLUMBUS trial has shown a significant improvement in overall survival with the combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (Braftovi) and the MEK...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On September 24, 2018, duvelisib (Copiktra) was granted...
CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS have rapidly become the standard of care as second-line treatment, and in some patients first-line treatment, of advanced bladder cancer. However, the majority of patients do not respond and eventually experience disease progression; these patients will need subsequent...
ONE OF the pressing issues in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is the development of resistance to therapies directed at the androgen receptor (AR), such as enzalutamide (Xtandi) and abiraterone acetate (Zytiga). Research is ongoing to identify mechanisms of resistance in the hope of ...
MANAGEMENT OF HER2-positive breast cancer changed after the introduction of trastuzumab (Herceptin), the first anti-HER2 therapy to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this type of cancer. Recent studies have more clearly defined the role of pertuzumab (Perjeta) and...
FORMAL DISCUSSANT of the ACE trial, Rebecca Dent, MD, of the National Cancer Center in Singapore, commented that the phase II ENCORE 301 study provided proof of concept that a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor can reprogram epigenetic changes.1 In that randomized, double-blind,...
EPIGENETIC CHANGES are associated with the development of cancer, and epigenetic therapy is an attractive strategy for targeting the tumor microenvironment. One approach targeted to epigenetic changes is using histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition, which has antitumorigenic effects including growth ...
JULIEN TAIEB, MD, Professor of Medicine at Paris Descartes University in France, said the MODUL cohort was based on a clear rationale for adding atezolizumab (Tecentriq) to bevacizumab (Avastin) in the metastatic colorectal cancer setting. In immunodeficient mice, the combination of an...
ADDING ATEZOLIZUMAB (Tecentriq) to a fluoropyrimidine plus bevacizumab (Avastin) did not improve outcomes for patients with BRAF wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer enrolled in the umbrella MODUL trial.1 “Despite activity in other, immune-responsive tumor types, there was no improvement in...
KEYNOTE-022’S invited discussant, Reinhard Dummer, MD, Professor of Dermatologic Oncology at the University Hospital Zurich Skin Cancer Center in Switzerland, told attendees, “We’ve been waiting for this small prospective randomized phase II trial, and the initial results appear very promising.”...
AS FIRST-LINE treatment of advanced BRAF-mutant melanoma, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) added to dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) produced a nonsignificant improvement in progression-free survival. It also increased the rate of grade 3 to 5 treatment-related adverse events in the phase II ...
FORMAL DISCUSSANT Joaquin Mateo, MD, PhD, of the Prostate Cancer Translational Research Group, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, said that the TRITON2 findings were encouraging, although still preliminary. “We should interpret these results with caution, because this interim analysis ...
THE SEARCH for biomarkers in prostate cancer has proved frustrating, partly due to the complexity of the disease and its heterogeneity. A preliminary analysis of a phase II (TRITON2) study suggests that rucaparib (Rubraca), a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, may be active in men with...
“TARGETED AGENTS were a breakthrough in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, and immunotherapy also works well, improving survival. In the past 2 years, combining a checkpoint inhibitor with targeted agents appears to work even better, and multiple combination trials are underway. The outcomes...
A NEW ANALYSIS of the phase III IMmotion151 trial identified gene signatures in renal cell carcinoma that correlate with improved progression-free survival in patients treated with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) vs sunitinib (Sutent). These findings were presented at the...
STEVEN A. ROSENBERG, MD, PhD, Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), began his pioneering research in adoptive cell transfer using interleukin (IL)-2 in the mid-1970s. His IL-2 studies were among the clinical trials that led to the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval ...
ANTONIO OMURO, MD, a clinician and researcher with expertise in brain tumors, has been appointed Chief of Neuro-Oncology and a leader for the Brain Tumor Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital. “We are so fortunate to have recruited Dr. Omuro to lead our efforts in Brain Tumors and other nervous...
DISCUSSANT OF the NRG-CC001 trial, Christina I. Tsien, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, underscored the importance of this research, noting that cognitive impairment affects nearly 50% of patients who undergo whole-brain radiation therapy. ...
ANALYSIS OF a phase III trial has confirmed that conformal avoidance of the hippocampal dentate gyrus using intensity-modulated radiotherapy during whole-brain radiotherapy for brain metastases preserves neurocognitive function and improves patient-reported symptom burden while achieving similar...
IN PATIENTS with a controlled primary tumor and up to 5 oligometastatic lesions, delivering stereotactic ablative radiotherapy was associated with a 13-month improvement in overall survival when compared with palliative standard-of-care treatments alone (41 months vs 28 months; P = .09).1...
DISCUSSANT OF the abstract, Catherine C. Park, MD, FASTRO, Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, expressed excitement about this study’s results, which suggest the possibility of curing patients with stage IV disease. “We’re...
FOR A SUBSET of patients with stage IV lung cancer, aggressive treatment may improve overall survival, according to data presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).1 The results of the phase II study showed that with long-term follow-up, local...
LAURIE H. SEHN, MD, Chair, Lymphoma Tumour Group, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, said these results are not unexpected and support de-escalation in selected patients. “The FLYER trial evaluates treatment with four cycles compared with six cycles of cyclophosphamide,...
THE REGIMEN of four cycles of rituximab (Rituxan)/cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone (R-CHOP) plus two cycles of rituximab was noninferior to that of six cycles of R-CHOP in younger patients with favorable-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to the results of...
AT THE 2018 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting, Aung Naing, MD, FACP, of the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, commented on studies evaluating novel drugs to be combined with programmed cell death ...
THE 2018 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting hosted a meeting of the minds of the world’s premier cancer immunologists. In addition to the cutting-edge laboratory science explored and presented at the meeting, numerous phase I clinical trials and a few phase II studies offered ...
A RECENT survey of 400 clinical oncologists found that 80% discuss the use of medical cannabis with their patients, and although nearly 50% recommend it, fewer than 30% consider themselves knowledgeable enough to make such recommendations.1 Oncologists are perhaps among the most evidence-demanding ...
THE STUDY’S discussant, Susan M. O’Brien, MD, Associate Director for Clinical Science, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine Health, said the results of the Alliance North American Intergroup Study A041202—demonstrating that ibrutinib (Imbruvica) is more...
IBRUTINIB (IMBRUVICA) as a front-line agent proved superior to standard-of-care chemoimmunotherapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in older patients in A041202, an Alliance-led National Clinical Trials Network study.1 At a follow-up of 38 months, the median progression-free survival was not ...
Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, summarizes a spotlight session she chaired, which included discussion of new immunotherapy drug combinations, predictive factors, and the immune microenvironment.
Shom Goel, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses preclinical data that suggest CDK4/6 inhibitors not only stop the growth of breast cancer cells, but also enhance antitumor immunity, a phenomenon that might help improve outcomes for people with advanced disease.
Laura S. Dominici, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the lower quality-of-life scores seen after unilateral or bilateral mastectomy compared with breast-conserving surgery in women younger than age 40 who are treated for breast cancer (Abstract GS6-05).
Judy E. Garber, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, summarizes a special session she moderated, which included discussion of polygenic risk scores, genetic testing in diverse populations, and what to do when presented with moderate-penetrance mutations.
Shoshana M. Rosenberg, ScD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses her study findings on the lower quality of life associated with mastectomy, and the need for intervention and timely referrals to supportive resources, especially for underserved populations (Abstract GS6-04).
Treatment with oxybutynin helped reduce the frequency and intensity of hot flashes for women who could not take hormone replacement therapy, including breast cancer survivors, according to the results of a trial presented at the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium by Leon-Ferre et al (Abstract ...
Liquid biopsy–based assessment of PIK3CA mutational status served as a better indicator of progression-free survival compared with analysis of tissue biopsy in patients with breast cancer enrolled in the phase III SOLAR-1 clinical trial, according to data presented by Juric et al at the 2018...
An analysis of the association between clinical outcomes and race in participants enrolled in the TAILORx trial found that even with equivalent treatments among women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, black women had worse clinical outcomes than white women, despite ...
On December 6, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin), paclitaxel, and carboplatin for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or...
A study by Dominici et al investigated the long-term quality of life outcomes in young breast cancer survivors across three surgical strategies: breast-conserving surgery, unilateral mastectomy, and bilateral mastectomy. The researchers found that patients who underwent mastectomy had lower breast...
François-Clément Bidard, MD, PhD, of the Institut Curie and the University of Versailles, discusses phase III study findings on the clinical utility of circulating tumor cell count as a tool to choose between first-line hormone therapy and chemotherapy for estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative...
Andrew D. Seidman, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Miguel Martín, MD, PhD, of the Instituto de Investigacion Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, discuss phase III study findings on adjuvant capecitabine after standard chemotherapy for people with early triple-negative breast cancer...
Zaida Morante, MD, of the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas, discusses retrospective study findings showing the importance of starting adjuvant chemotherapy for people with triple-negative breast cancer within 30 days of surgery (Abstract GS2-05).
The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) recognized outstanding contributors in research, treatment, and caregiving at its Simply the Best Dinner and Gala, which took place recently in San Francisco. The annual event is a celebration of survivors, hope, and determination that brings...
BOOKMARK Title: Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors, and the Quest for a Cure to Childhood LeukemiaAuthor: Tim WendelPublisher: ILR PressPublication date: April 2018Price: $24.95, hardcover, 256 pages Tim Wendel is a journalist and author of several noted books, mostly concerning sports. In...