The first Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science has been awarded to James P. Allison, PhD, Chair of Immunology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD, of Japan’s Kyoto University for their research leading to cancer immunotherapy. “Both scholars’...
Andrew S. Kraft, MD, prostate cancer physician-scientist and cancer center administrator, has been named the Sydney E. Salmon Endowed Chair and Director of the University of Arizona Cancer Center and Associate Vice President for Oncology Programs for the University of Arizona Health Sciences...
Finishing up a 2-year term as President of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO), A. Kim Ritchey, MD, summarized ASPHO’s achievements in advocacy, education, and professional development in his State of the Society address at the ASPHO 27th Annual Meeting in Chicago. He also ...
Join fellow community-based researchers at the ASCO Community Research Forum Annual Meeting, September 28 to 29, 2014, at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. As part of ASCO’s efforts to support community-based researchers, this meeting provides a unique opportunity to discuss barriers and...
Please be counted in this year’s ASCO National Oncology Census—the only annual survey of the entire oncology community that aims to capture and describe changes in cancer care over time. Through the 2013 census, more than 8,000 oncologists in community practices, hospitals, and academic medical...
At the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting, Pasi Jänne, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, presented findings from a phase I study of AZD9291, a new mutant-selective EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor that offers a promising new treatment option for patients ...
This latest ASCO Answers guide helps patients transition into life after active treatment has finished. In addition to information on the challenges survivors may face and the importance of follow-up care, it includes a blank treatment summary and survivorship care form that patients can fill out...
Yanyan Lou, MD, PhD, a hematology/oncology fellow at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the recipient of the very first 2014 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Young Investigator Award (YIA), generously supported by the Women Who Conquer Cancer. After receiving her medical degree...
ASCO’s educational symposia have historically provided attendees with a forum for learning and discussion, demonstrating ASCO’s commitment to promoting a network of global oncology expertise. The 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium, to be held in San Francisco from Thursday, September 4, to Saturday,...
Brain metastases are a devastating complication of cancer, and occur in up to 50% of patients with advanced human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. Management of brain metastases requires individualized coordination between the traditional treatment modalities for...
As many as half of all patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer develop brain metastases over time. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recently released a clinical practice guideline on disease management for patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer and brain...
TH3RESA is a randomized phase III open-label study, reported in The Lancet Oncology and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post, which examined the activity of ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) in heavily pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.1 Formerly known as T-DM1,...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has announced the appointment of James R. Downing, MD, as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective July 15, 2014. Dr. Downing most recently has served as the Deputy Director, Executive Vice President and Scientific Director of the hospital. Dr. Downing’s...
The Mount Sinai Health System has announced the creation of a new academic Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Raja M. Flores, MD, will be the Founding Chairman of the Department for the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Flores, the Steven and...
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has named Li Ma, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Jeffrey Tyner, PhD, of Oregon Health & Science University, co-winners of the distinguished Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Award. Dr. Ma is...
The National Institutes of Health has announced the appointment of nine individuals to the NIH Council of Councils. The Council was established to advise the NIH Director on policies and activities of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI), including...
Diagnosed with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer in 2011, Stephen Wright turned to patient support groups where he learned about the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutation and a new drug that targeted it, crizotinib (Xalkori). He asked—then insisted—that he be tested for the mutation. He found ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 11 to 2 that current evidence from clinical studies does not support an accelerated approval for use of olaparib as a maintenance treatment for women with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer who have...
In advanced melanoma, two immune checkpoint inhibitors may be better than one, according to the promising outcomes of a study reported at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting. Concurrent treatment with the anti–CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab, an antibody targeting the programmed death...
The ASCO Post asked for comment about the presentation by Nowakowski et al from Nathan Fowler, MD, who developed and led many of the early studies of R-Squared (lenalidomide [Revlimid], rituximab [Rituxan]), in lymphoma as well. Dr. Fowler is Associate Professor in the Department of...
The combination of lenalidomide (Revlimid) and rituximab (Rituximab), dubbed the “R-squared” regimen, has gained attention lately, and ongoing trials are evaluating whether chemotherapy with R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, prednisone) can be improved by adding a...
The magic of this research is that it requires a liquid biopsy [circulating tumor cells in the blood]—a simple blood collection,” said Eleni Efstathiou, MD, PhD, Associate Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, commenting on the study presented by Antonarakis and...
Androgen receptor (AR) splice variant 7 (V7) appears to be a new biomarker for response and disease progression in patients treated with enzalutamide (Xtandi) or abiraterone (Zytiga). The presence of AR-V7 in circulating tumor cells predicted resistance to both drugs in men with metastatic...
Martin Reck, MD, PhD, Head of Thoracic Oncology at the Hospital Grosshansdorf in Germany, discussed the anti–PD-1 abstracts at the ASCO Annual Meeting. “We have seen tremendous results for immunotherapies for the reactivation of the immune system in patients with advanced melanoma. The question...
Monoclonal antibodies targeting the programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) pathway are expected to answer an unmet need in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With first-line platinum-doublets, 1-year overall survival is 30% to 50%, and while treatments targeting sensitizing mutations are more...
In the longest follow-up to date of any programmed death (PD)-1 receptor inhibitor in previously treated advanced melanoma, one-third of patients are demonstrating durable responses to the investigational agent nivolumab, and in some cases, these persist following discontinuation of the drug,...
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) has transformed the treatment of metastatic melanoma, producing long-term responses in about 20% of patients. A phase III study has now evaluated its impact in the adjuvant setting, and the results are a bit less striking. Primary Endpoint The European Organisation for Research...
The ASCO Annual Meeting in June confirmed—and expanded—the excitement of the oncology community about molecular medicine and its future. The complex molecular pathways were pictured in living color on many slides in many large auditoriums. Newspapers across the country were equally enthusiastic as...
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, Director of the Donald A. Adam Comprehensive Melanoma Research Center at the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, formally discussed the prembrolizumab study at the ASCO Annual Meeting. He called the response rate and the ongoing responses...
The latest bit of good news for the programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)–targeting antibodies in advanced melanoma comes for pembrolizumab (MK-3475). While the results came from only a phase I study, they were among those chosen for presentation at an ASCO press briefing during the Annual Meeting....
A multicenter, open-label phase II trial found that the selective proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib (Kyprolis), in combination with cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone produced high complete response rates and was associated with low toxicity in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma....
Survivors of nonmetastatic colorectal cancer, when surveyed about their needs and preferences for survivorship information, responded that they would prefer receiving more information about late effects of treatment, challenges to expect, general health maintenance, and risks of recurrence. Most of ...
Women who have small (≤ 1 cm), node-negative breast tumors “have an excellent prognosis without chemotherapy,” concluded the authors of a prospective cohort study involving 4,113 women with T1a,b, N0, M0 breast cancer. “Size and tumor subtype may identify patients in whom the rate of recurrence...
Anticancer immunity may be enhanced by harnessing the ability of dendritic cells to initiate T-cell immunity through efficient uptake and presentation of endocytosed material. In preclinical models, delivery of tumor-associated antigens to dendritic cells using receptor-specific monoclonal...
The antitumor activities of cytolytic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells are being increasingly investigated and exploited in cancer immunotherapy. One mechanism by which these cells recognize tumor cells is by engagement of NKG2D, an activating receptor on cytolytic T lymphocytes and natural...
Chronic inflammation is implicated in the development of colorectal cancer, and the plasma inflammatory biomarker macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1, GDF15) may have a direct role in tumorigenesis. As reported in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Mehta and colleagues found that...
Dysfunctional redox regulation in cancer results in production of reactive oxygen species, damaging DNA and free deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs). The MTH1 protein, which is nonessential in normal cells, sanitizes oxidized dNTP pools, preventing incorporation of damaged bases during DNA...
Moffitt Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Department Chair Scott Antonia, MD, PhD, received an Infrastructure Grant Florida’s James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program. The grant will help fund Moffitt’s comprehensive lung screening program. Earlier this year the U.S. Preventive Services Task ...
Members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) have elected David C. Beyer, MD, FASTRO, President-Elect of the ASTRO Board of Directors. Dr. Beyer will begin his term at the Annual Business Meeting in September during ASTRO’s 56th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Colleen A.F....
JULY 5th World Congress of International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies Annual Meeting of American Head and Neck SocietyJuly 26-30 • New York, New YorkFor more information:www.ahns.info/meetings/index.php AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research WorkshopJuly 26-August 1 •...
ASCO Answers: Managing the Cost of Cancer Care explains the various costs associated with cancer treatment, including health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act. It also provides a list of financial resources available to help offset expenses related to care and tips for organizing...
Editor’s note: In the July 10 issue of The ASCO Post, this article by Marie Krejci as told to Jo Cavallo was published; however, the published version was incomplete in that it did not reflect important updates made by Ms. Krejci. We apologize to Ms. Krejci for this error and to our readers for any ...
Unfortunately, when I see The ASCO Post, my first impression is that you enable a group of researchers (part-time clinicians) to pontificate about their own agendas. The agenda that seems to be missing is the presentation of information that either supports or refutes the freight train of “quality...
Prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 233,000 American men in 2014. It is one of the leading causes of death by a cancer (killing ~29,500 men annually).1 Hundreds of thousands of men undergo prostate biopsies each year, most for either benign disease or for a cancer that will never lead to their...
Researchers at the University of California Davis have determined that surgical biopsies can be safely performed on select patients with late-stage non-small cell lung cancer, which should enhance their access to drugs that target specific genetic mutations such as epidermal growth factor receptor...
Patrick G. Johnston, MD, PhD, FMedSci, Professor of Oncology and President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, grew up in Derry, a city in Northern Ireland. Derry is distinct in being Ireland’s only remaining fully intact walled city, considered one of the finest examples of a walled ...
The Ohio Hematology Oncology Society (OHOS) was formed 2 decades ago to advocate for and provide educational seminars and networking opportunities to hematologists and medical oncologists throughout the states of Ohio and West Virginia. Today, the society is focused on the needs of its nearly 200...
Intertriginous areas refer to skin folds (such as axillae, inguinal creases, and inframammary creases), which are characterized by increased friction, temperature, and occlusion. Intertriginous drug reactions are an underrecognized side effect associated with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin...
The International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies (IFHNOS), as part of the opening ceremonies of its 5th World Congress, and in collaboration with the annual meeting of the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS), will proclaim July 27th as “World Head and Neck Cancer Day.” The...
Oncologists now have a means of bringing personalized medicine to advanced squamous cell carcinoma, and it involves a biomarker-driven clinical trial that maximizes the chance of successful treatment and new drug approvals. Lung-MAP (Lung Cancer Master Protocol) is a unique concept in which the...