1980–1995, Villejeuf: Claud Jasmin, MD, advocates for the elimination of chronologic age from the eligibility criteria for clinical trials of cancer treatment. In 1995, Dr. Jasmin published a book entitled La Planète Blanche [The White Planet], where he foresaw challenges in a world crowded with...
With the aging of the world population, geriatric oncology is becoming a mainstay. Over the past year in The ASCO Post, we published a couple of articles on the history of oncology, including one on the history of geriatric oncology in the United States and Europe. Our goal was to promote a...
Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, FASCO, recently joined Emory School of Medicine as Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Jagsi was formerly the Newman Family Professor, Deputy Chair, and Residency Program Director in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Director of the Center for...
Abstract discussant Hisashi Saji, MD, Chair of Thoracic Surgery at St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan, said that, based on two recently reported phase III studies, sublobar resection, including wedge resection and segmentectomy, must be considered as a standard of care for...
After a nearly 20-year wait, the results are finally in: sublobar surgery has been found to be noninferior to lobectomy and may be the new standard of care of patients with small, early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Results of the phase III Alliance trial, presented at the International ...
The addition of cabozantinib to nivolumab plus ipilimumab prolonged progression-free survival in untreated intermediate-risk patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to the first results of the phase III COSMIC-313 trial. These findings were presented as a Presidential Symposium ...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Olson et al, the primary toxicity results of the phase II SABR-5 trial have shown a low rate of toxic effects with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for patients with up to five oligometastases. As stated by the investigators: “After the publication of the...
As reported in JAMA by Cheng et al, an interim analysis of the phase III ASTRUM-005 trial has shown that the addition of the PD-1 inhibitor serplulimab to chemotherapy improved overall survival in the first-line treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Study ...
Young women who are cancer survivors may be at a much higher risk of sexual problems, including loss of libido and discomfort, according to research published by Wettergren et al in the journal Acta Oncologica. The study also suggests that cancer type and intensity of treatment may influence the...
In a single-institution phase I study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sham Mailankody, MBBS, and colleagues found that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting G protein–coupled receptor, class C, group 5, member D (GPRC5D) were active in heavily pretreated patients with...
In a single-institution study reported in JAMA Oncology, Allen S. Ho, MD, and colleagues found evidence that active surveillance may be a suitable treatment for most patients with low-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma. Study Details The prospective study included 222 patients enrolled at...
Abstract discussant Anand Devaraj, MD, PhD, Professor in Thoracic Radiology at Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, and Professor of Thoracic Radiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, highlighted the increased risk of second primary tumors among current...
Lung cancer screening has been shown to significantly reduce lung cancer mortality, but some management protocols have more benefit than others, according to data presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).1 Although the...
The first discussant of the NADIM II study, Corinne Faivre-Finn, MD, PhD, Professor of Thoracic Radiation Oncology, University of Manchester, and Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England, called the results “very impressive” but noted that...
In patients with resectable, stage IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the addition of neoadjuvant nivolumab to platinum-based chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, according to data presented by Mariano Provencio, MD, PhD, at the...
The addition of the CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab to durvalumab and chemotherapy in the first-line setting has already demonstrated an overall survival and progression-free survival benefit vs chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). According to data...
The 2022 ASCO Quality Care Symposium took place in Chicago over the weekend. On this episode, we’re featuring two speakers who presented data at the meeting: the first focuses on the effects of Medicaid expansion on cancer mortality rates, and the second describes efforts to improve prescribing...
It may soon be possible to identify group 4 medulloblastomas from more aggressive group 3 tumors. Research based on a little-explored part of RNA that creates proteins may lead to the development of better-targeted therapies, according to investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center....
A large prospective analysis, published by Bayle et al in Annals of Oncology, evaluated differences between tissue and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) next-generation sequencing (NGS) with a large cancer gene panel. The investigators compared the impacts of both methods in terms of molecular tumor...
A research team led by Matthias Preusser, MD, PhD, Professor of Medical Oncology and Head of the Clinical Division of Oncology at the Medical University of Vienna, had already demonstrated that patients with cancer may benefit from a third vaccination to protect them against COVID-19. A recent...
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling in Dobbs v Jackson overruled Roe v Wade, returning an individual’s right to access abortion services to state law. New findings led by researchers at the American Cancer Society published by Jiang et al in The Lancet Oncology showed that more...
In the Italian phase II CAVEATT trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Conforti et al found that the combination of avelumab and axitinib was active in patients with unresectable or metastatic type B3 thymomas and thymic carcinomas who experienced disease progression after platinum-based...
In a French phase Ib/IIa trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Adotévi et al found that a therapeutic universal cancer peptide–based vaccine (UCPVax) induced specific CD4+ T helper–1 responses in many patients with refractory advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with...
Black patients of African descent tend to be diagnosed more frequently with prostate cancer and have higher mortality rates than patients of other races and ethnicities. Despite this substantial disparity, few prospective studies focused on maximizing the recruitment of African American patients...
Substituting biosimilars, generics, and clinically appropriate lower-cost drugs for established, costlier drugs was shown to be an effective way to reduce the total cost of care, by 5% or so, while maintaining the quality of care for patients with cancer. Even small shifts toward lower-cost drugs...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Stanton (“Stan”) L. Gerson, MD, Dean and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs, School of Medicine, and Acting Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and National Center for...
Guest Editor’s Note: Several studies have shown that regular physical activity helps to reduce the symptom burden and improve disease-related outcomes in patients with cancer. In this article, Jessica M. Scott, PhD, and Neil M. Iyengar, MD, summarize the current evidence surrounding exercise...
Despite a significant potential for cure, relapsed and refractory large B-cell lymphomas (LBCL) comprise the most common cause of lymphoma-related mortality. Sequential relapses reflect the limits of repeated exposure to chemotherapy, even when delivered at high doses. More than 30 years ago,...
ASCO and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) jointly released two resources to help research sites increase racial and ethnic equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in cancer clinical trials. The Just ASK™ Increasing Diversity in Cancer Clinical Research: An ACCC-ASCO Training...
The incorporation of blood-based measurements—ie, “liquid biopsies”—into imaging assessment may refine the accuracy of prognosis in aggressive lymphomas, as described by David Kurtz, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Division of Oncology, Stanford University Medical Center, in a talk at the 2022...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Frederick L. Locke, MD, of the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, and colleagues, the phase III ZUMA-7 trial in large B-cell lymphoma has shown improved event-free...
The addition of the CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab to durvalumab and chemotherapy in the first-line setting has already demonstrated an overall survival and progression-free survival benefit vs chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). According to data...
Globally, the population is aging, with the number of people aged 60 and older projected to double from 1 billion worldwide in 2020 to 2.1 billion by 2050. Given the aging population, coupled with the risk of cancer increasing with age, an exponential rise in cases of older adults diagnosed with...
From microchips to automobiles, people in the United States are experiencing shortages of all kinds of products, and oncology treatments are no exception. In particular, shortages related to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy have been reported, most acutely, for B-cell maturation...
The European Society For Medical Oncology (ESMO) launched its annual congress, held September 9–13, 2022, just as this issue of The ASCO Post was going to press. Watch upcoming issues for comprehensive coverage of the live congress, following 2 years of virtual meetings and remote presentations due ...
Lung cancer screening has been shown to significantly reduce lung cancer mortality, but some management protocols have more benefit than others, according to data presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).1 Although the...
Abstract discussant Kara N. Maxwell, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, highlighted evidence showing that some lung cancer is inherited. The Nordic Twin Study identified an 18% heritability of lung cancer, she said,...
The first discussant of the NADIM II study, Corinne Faivre-Finn, MD, PhD, Professor of Thoracic Radiation Oncology, University of Manchester, and Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England, called the results “very impressive” but noted that...
In patients with resectable, stage IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the addition of neoadjuvant nivolumab to platinum-based chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, according to data presented by Mariano Provencio, MD, PhD, at the...
Advances in more effective treatment and early detection diagnostics, coupled with reductions in smoking rates, have resulted in a 32% decline in cancer mortality in the United States since 1991, translating into nearly 3.5 million lives saved, according to the newly released American Association...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Vivek Subbiah, MD, and colleagues, the phase I/II LIBRETTO-001 basket trial has shown that the RET kinase inhibitor selpercatinib demonstrated activity in patients with RET fusion–positive solid tumors in an analysis excluding lung and thyroid cancers. Findings ...
Three-quarters of surveyed people preferred to do a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) rather than undergo a colonoscopy for their regular colorectal cancer screening, according to a new Cedars-Sinai study published by Makaroff et al in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. “One of the big issues...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Janos L. Tanyi, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that use of pafolacianine infusion for intraoperative imaging improved the detection of lesions in patients with folate receptor–positive ovarian cancer, compared with using white light...
On September 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to selpercatinib (Retevmo) for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a RET gene fusion (as detected by an FDA-approved test). The FDA also approved the Oncomine ...
New data show that the immuno-oncology drug atezolizumab may be a safe and effective treatment for patients with stage IB to IIIB non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prior to surgery, according to a study led by researchers with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James...
Researchers at The Marvin and Concetta Greenberg Pancreatic Cancer Institute at Fox Chase Cancer Center have found that a new synthetic lethal agent could be an effective treatment for pancreatic cancers with DNA damage repair (DDR) defects. Igor Astsaturov, MD, PhD, a co-director of the Institute...
The ASCO Nominating Committee has selected 11 distinguished members as candidates for open leadership positions within the Society. Voting members are urged to vote in the election beginning November 2, 2022. Voting will close on December 6, 2022. President-Elect (4-year term) Robin Zon, MD, FACP, ...
On September 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sodium thiosulfate (Pedmark) to reduce the risk of ototoxicity associated with cisplatin in pediatric patients aged 1 month and older with localized (nonmetastatic) solid tumors. Efficacy was evaluated in two multicenter,...
Certain genetic variants found in prostate tumors of men of African descent were associated with African ancestry, according to two studies presented at the 15th American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial and Ethnic Minorities...
In a Dutch prospective observational cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Haggenburg et al found that a third dose of the COVID-19 mRNA-1273 vaccine increased antibody levels in immunocompromised patients with hematologic cancers overall to levels comparable to those observed in healthy controls ...