ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of its Merit Awards in gastrointestinal cancers, clinical immuno-oncology, genitourinary cancers, and cancer survivorship. The following 70 researchers— oncology fellows and trainees honored for the quality and scientific merit...
In the dose-finding, dose-expansion phase Ib JAVELIN Renal 100 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Choueiri et al identified the maximum tolerated dose of the immune checkpoint inhibitor avelumab (Bavencio) in combination with the vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor axitinib...
Analysis of more than 100,000 patients with cancer for gene CD274 (programmed cell death ligand 1 [PD-L1]) amplification may have implications for treatment with immune checkpoint blockade. Although shown to be rare in solid tumors, copy number alterations in PD-L1 genes were present in more than...
The combination of axitinib (Inlyta) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) can be added to the list of combination therapies that look promising in advanced renal cell carcinoma. In a phase Ib trial, almost three-quarters of patients with newly diagnosed advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with the...
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of death from cancer. Projections by the ACS show that, this year, about 50,630 people will die from the disease. However, studies...
AS REPORTED in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jean-Charles Soria, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus and University Paris-Sud, and colleagues, the phase III FLAURA trial has shown a significant progression-free survival benefit with the third-generation epidermal growth factor...
EACH YEAR, The ASCO Post asks Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Co-Director of the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program, to give his picks for the most important research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer...
Six years ago, I was 38 years old and, like many young people, took life for granted. I had two young daughters, ages 7 years and 4 months, and a wife I adored. And, except for a nagging pain on the left side of my abdomen, I was blessed with good health. Then, suddenly, the pain became so...
The level of genomic alterations in genes associated with the oncogenesis of specific solid tumor types is being investigated in patients that have demonstrated an exceptional response to currently approved targeted therapies, researchers announced at the International Congress on Targeted...
An Italian phase III trial (FATA-GIM3) has shown no difference in disease-free survival with 5 years of upfront adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy vs 2 years of tamoxifen followed by 3 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy in women with hormone receptor–positive early breast cancer. The...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies in melanoma. These studies focus on assessing response to checkpoint inhibitors; T-cell immunotherapy; combination therapies; adoptive cell therapy; combination therapy development; and...
Researchers have determined that children and adults with cancer often have different mutated genes driving their disease, which suggests they would likely benefit from different therapies. The finding, from a collaborative study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and published by...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, McQuade et al found that obesity was associated with improved outcomes in treatment of metastatic melanoma with targeted therapy or immunotherapy—but not chemotherapy—with a survival benefit appearing to be restricted to obese male patients....
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Luke et al found that a strategy of multisite stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) followed by pembrolizumab was feasible in patients with metastatic solid tumors. It was hypothesized that stimulation of immune responses by SBRT...
ASCO AND the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) have launched their new, joint platform for quality reporting, making it easier for oncologists to comply with federal government reporting requirements in 2018. The new QOPI® Reporting Registry, a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR), ...
The number of U.S. cases of Merkel cell carcinoma is rising about six times faster than most other cancers, and at nearly twice the rate of melanoma. Paulson et al reported these findings in The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, which are based on research conducted at the University...
OBESE PATIENTS with metastatic melanoma who are treated with targeted or immune therapies live significantly longer than those with a normal body mass index (BMI), according to a study published in The Lancet Oncology of 1,918 patients in 6 independent clinical cohorts.1 This effect—referred to as ...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Kleppe et al found that a novel marker for chromatin organization in tumor cell nuclei was associated with outcome in a variety of cancer types. Study Details In the study, machine learning algorithms analyzed chromatin organization in 461,000 images of ...
Results from the first and largest prospective trial to determine the safety of multisite ablative stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in combination with anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (anti–PD-1) immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) suggest the combination regimen may improve outcomes...
ASCO has released its review of leading oncology pathway vendors in the United States. “Oncology Clinical Pathways: Charting the Landscape of Pathway Providers,” published in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP), examines the clinical pathways offered by six commercial vendors using...
Gregory R. Pond, PhD, of McMaster University, discusses a new six-factor prognostic model for patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma receiving post platinum atezolizumab (Abstract 413).
In a single-center phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Giaccone et al found that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) produced durable responses in patients with recurrent thymic carcinoma. Study Details In the study, 40 evaluable patients with advanced disease progressing after at least one line ...
DARATUMUMAB (DARZALEX) may be an effective treatment for systemic amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis, according to phase II studies reported at the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1,2 While the cohorts were small and the arms uncontrolled, the findings...
Researchers have developed a model to predict overall survival for people with advanced urothelial cancers treated with the immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq). The model, which is based on six clinical factors, may help inform treatment decisions for use of atezolizumab in these...
Updated results from the ELIANA clinical trial of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah), formerly CTL019, in relapsed or refractory pediatric and young adult patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have been published by Maude et al in The New England Journal of Medicine. New data include...
In a single-center phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Kantarjian et al found that the addition of inotuzumab ozogamicin (Besponsa) to low-intensity chemotherapy produced promising outcomes in older patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–negative acute lymphoblastic ...
Primary endpoint findings and updated results of secondary endpoints from the phase II LAPACT trial of nanoparticle albumin–bound (nab)-paclitaxel (Abraxane) plus gemcitabine in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer were presented by Hammel et al at the 2018 Gastrointestinal (GI)...
Detailed results of the phase III CELESTIAL trial in patients with previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were presented in a late-breaking oral session by Abou-Alfa et al at the 2018 ASCO Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers Symposium (Abstract 207). Study Findings In CELESTIAL,...
Primary analysis of the JULIET trial adds to mounting evidence that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is effective for the treatment of lymphoma in patients with no other good treatment options. A single infusion of CAR T cells (CTL019) achieved durable remissions in almost 40% of...
Older patients with Hodgkin lymphoma typically do not fare as well as younger patients on standard regimens. A phase II study reported the best outcomes to date in older patients with Hodgkin lymphoma who were treated with sequential brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) before and after a regimen of...
Can aggressive treatment of high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma patients prevent disease worsening? A carfilzomib (Kyprolis)-based regimen and autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) plus maintenance produced encouraging outcomes in the phase II GEM-CESAR study by the Spanish Myeloma Group. The...
Here is an update on five different studies featured at the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. Topics center on possible newer treatment regimens in both Hodgkin and Burkitt lymphomas, relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and newly...
The combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus trastuzumab (Herceptin) may turn out to be a good treatment option for patients with trastuzumab-resistant advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, according to the results of an early study presented at the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium...
Press briefing moderator Virginia Kaklamani, MD, Professor of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, along with Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, commented on the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel ...
The oncology community mourns the sudden passing of Jimmie C. Holland, MD, who died on December 24, 2017, at the age of 89. Dr. Holland’s achievements over her 40-year career are legend. They include the founding of the subspecialty of psycho-oncology, the establishment of a full-time Psychiatry...
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” —Albert Einstein The phase III international ECHELON-1 study, designed to evaluate brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) as part of a front-line chemotherapy regimen for previously untreated advanced classic...
In an Italian phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gianni et al found that neoadjuvant therapy with the RB1 inhibitor palbociclib (Ibrance), estrogen receptor (ER) inhibitor fulvestrant (Faslodex), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) inhibitors trastuzumab (Herceptin) and ...
In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified shift work with circadian disruption or chronodisruption as a probable human carcinogen. Now, a meta-analysis investigating whether long-term shift work increases the risks of common cancers in women has found that, overall, night...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology by Denkert et al, increased levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in women receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy were associated with improved prognosis in HER2-positive breast cancer and triple-negative breast cancer, but poorer outcome in luminal...
Jimmie C. Holland, MD, died suddenly on December 24, 2017, at the age of 89 years. Dr. Holland was the Attending Psychiatrist and Wayne E. Chapman Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center and Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York....
On November 16, 2017, obinutuzumab (Gazyva) was granted regular approval in combination with chemotherapy, followed by obinutuzumab monotherapy for patients achieving at least a partial remission, for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated stage II bulky, III, or IV follicular...
AS REPORTED in The Lancet Oncology by Matthijs Oudkerk, MD, of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and colleagues, a European Union (EU) expert group has issued a position statement on low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer, proposing a near-term phased implementation ...
In 2017, the District of Columbia (DC) became the seventh jurisdiction in the United States to legalize medical aid in dying,1 which gives terminally ill patients the option of how and when they die. The new DC statute is nearly identical to earlier enacted medical aid in dying statutes in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jean-Sebastien Frenel, MD, of the Institut de Cancerologie de l’Ouest, Centre Rene Gauducheau, Saint-Herblain, France, and colleagues, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) treatment was found to be active in patients with programmed cell death ligand 1...
INCREASING THE DOSE density of chemotherapy lowers the risk of recurrence and breast cancer death by about 15% in women with early breast cancer, according to a large, meticulously conducted meta-analysis by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG).1 The trials included in...
Immunotherapy in PD-L1–Positive Advanced Cervical Cancer Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) treatment was active in patients with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)–positive advanced cervical cancer enrolled in the phase Ib KEYNOTE-028 trial. The findings were reported by Jean-Sebastien Frenel, MD, of...
Ulixertinib (BVD-523) is an ERK1/2 kinase inhibitor with potent preclinical activity in BRAF- and RAS-mutant cell lines. Now, a multicenter phase I study investigating its safety and efficacy in the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumors has found that ulixertinib to have an acceptable...
People with cancer face an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Under current guidelines, cancer patients who develop VTE are prescribed low–molecular-weight heparin, an anticoagulant that must be injected under the skin daily for several months. While effective, this regimen can...
In the phase III MURANO trial, treatment with the targeted cancer drug venetoclax (Venclexta) in combination with rituximab (Rituxan) more than doubled the likelihood that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) would survive for 2 years without cancer progression, compared to treatment...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Spratt et al have developed an integrated clinical-genomic risk classifier for predicting distant metastasis in patients with localized prostate cancer. The classifier uses National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN) risk categories and risk...