Researchers have found that a DNA repair–facilitating mechanism may be responsible for a tumor’s treatment resistance and could be treated with a combination of chemotherapies, according to a recent study published by Marullo et al in Cancer Research. The mechanism involves the shuttling of...
Researchers have discovered that resistance to PI3K-alpha inhibitors and reduced drug binding in patients with breast cancer may be driven by secondary PIK3CA mutations and so may be effectively treated with a novel class of PI3K-alpha inhibitors designed to bind to different parts of the target,...
An interim analysis of the phase III LIBRETTO-431 trial has shown significantly improved progression-free survival with first-line selpercatinib vs platinum-based chemotherapy with or without pembrolizumab in patients with RET fusion–positive advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The...
In the phase II DeLLphi-301 trial—presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (Abstract LBA92) and reported by Ahn et al in The New England Journal of Medicine—tarlatamab, a bispecific T-cell engager targeting delta-like ligand 3 and CD3, exhibited activity in...
On November 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) on tobacco product use among U.S. youth. The findings—which were collected between March and June 2023 and were...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III AEGEAN trial has shown that perioperative durvalumab improved event-free survival and pathologic complete response (pCR) rate in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer ...
Researchers have developed a highly sensitive blood test capable of early detection by identifying a key protein produced by cancer cells, according to a novel study published by Taylor et al in Cancer Discovery. Background Many tumors become deadly by remaining asymptomatic until they’re too...
Researchers have explored the impact of immune checkpoint inhibition and single-fraction stereotactic radiosurgery on radiation necrosis in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) brain metastases, according to a novel study published by Lehrer et al in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology. Study ...
Building upon recommendations from the 2015 Lancet Oncology Global Cancer Surgery Commission, a new Commission report aims to provide a pragmatic roadmap for decision-makers to reduce inequities and promote safe, timely, and affordable cancer surgery for every patient. The Commission report was...
Lung cancer incidence overall has been declining in the United States since 1992 and since 2006–2007 for both men and women by 2.7% annually and 1.1%, respectively, and overall mortality rates have declined in both men and women due to smoking cessation efforts and advances in therapy and early...
As presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (Abstract LBA3) and reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Hadoux et al, an interim analysis from the phase III LIBRETTO-531 trial has shown improved progression-free survival with selpercatinib vs...
In an analysis presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (Abstract LBA50) and reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jessica C. Hassel, MD, and colleagues, overall survival at 3 years in the phase III IMCgp100-202 trial continued to favor...
Investigators have found that U.S. adult patients with prior insurance coverage disruptions may be less likely to receive guideline-concordant and past-year cancer screenings compared with those with continuous coverage, according to new findings presented by Shi et al at the 2023 ASCO Quality Care ...
Researchers have reported that soy expansion and the subsequent increase of pesticide use in Brazil’s Cerrado and Amazon biomes may correlate with an increased risk of mortality among pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The study was published by Skidmore et al in...
The phase III PAPILLON study has shown that the addition of amivantamab-vmjw to chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival in the first-line treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 20 insertions. The findings were presented at the European Society...
Ze-rui Zhao, PhD, of China’s Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, discusses new phase II findings on stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with sequential immunochemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment of patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This therapy yielded a high...
Investigators have uncovered that only about 25% of patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer have documented physician discussions about the costs of care, which may make it more difficult to identify patient needs and track the outcomes of referrals for assistance, according to new findings...
Investigators have discovered that cancer survivors in the United States may be increasingly utilizing crowdfunding campaigns like GoFundMe to help cover the costs of medical and other basic household expenses, according to new findings presented by Zheng et al and Yu et al at the 2023 ASCO Quality ...
The phase III CodeBreaK 300 trial showed that sotorasib plus panitumumab improved progression-free survival vs standard care in patients with KRAS G12C–mutated refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Findings were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (LBA10)...
More attention is being paid to the topic of cardio-oncology, where the focus is on patients with cancer who may be at risk for developing cardiovascular diseases as a result of anticancer treatments. However, a less well-known but related clinical area is now garnering some interest. Referred to...
Although surgery remains the standard of care for primary renal cell carcinoma, a novel, noninvasive approach has yielded positive results that could pave the way for future treatment strategies, according to data presented at the 2023 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual...
Prostate cancer treatment just got a major boost from the PACE trials, which may have established a new standard of care in low- and favorable intermediate-risk disease, according to data presented at the 2023 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.1 The results of the phase ...
“CheckMate 77T shows very promising results to support the use of perioperative nivolumab in resectable NSCLC,” said formal discussant Marina C. Garassino, MD, of the University of Chicago. “In particular, the trial demonstrated that patients could achieve incredible disease control rates. These...
A perioperative regimen of neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant nivolumab achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in event-free survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus placebo followed by surgery and adjuvant...
Two new studies—presented by Drumheller et al and Vento et al at the 2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium—utilized data from ASCO’s CancerLinQ® database (Abstracts 418 and 532). One study revealed deficiencies in biomarker testing and tracking in electronic health records, and the other analyzed...
The TROP-2–directed antibody-drug conjugate datopotamab deruxtecan may significantly improve progression-free survival in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially in patients with non–squamous cell tumors, according to new findings simultaneously published by Ahn et...
In the phase III EMBARK trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Stephen J. Freedland, MD, and colleagues found that enzalutamide/leuprolide and enzalutamide alone improved metastasis-free survival vs leuprolide alone in patients with high-risk biochemical recurrence of prostate...
On October 25, 2023, ASCO announced the launch of its new flagship quality program ASCO Certified™, with the goal of ensuring that every patient with cancer has access to high-quality, patient-centered, coordinated cancer care.1 The program, which officially launched on October 27, 2023, to...
Researchers have found that a text message–based program in combination with routine laboratory testing could safely accelerate patients to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, eliminate the need for in-person assessments with their physicians, and save them about 1.5 hours in total wait...
Yoga-based supportive care may help alleviate the negative side effects of radiation treatment, decrease the use of feeding tube placements, and reduce emergency department visits in patients with head and neck cancer, especially when family caregivers participate, according to new findings...
Participation in virtual mind-body fitness classes may be effective at reducing hospitalizations, urgent care visits, and the length of hospital stays among patients with cancer by about 50%, according to new findings presented by Mao et al at the 2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium (Abstract 473)....
In letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) commented on provisions that impact cancer care for Medicare beneficiaries in the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) and Quality Payment Program (QPP) proposed rule, as well...
Findings from the Annual Report to theNation on the Status of Cancer, Part 2: Early Assessment of the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Cancer Diagnosis show new diagnoses of six major cancer types in the United States fell sharply between March and May 2020, coinciding with the beginning of the...
Invited discussant Matthew Hatton, MBChB, MSc, FRCP, FRCR, a consultant and Honorary Professor in Clinical Oncology at Weston Park Cancer Center, Sheffield, UK, pointed out that the original analysis of RTOG 0617 was disappointing and failed to find evidence that intensity-modulated radiation...
Early-phase trials demonstrate the potential for TROP-2–directed antibody-drug conjugates to enhance the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without actionable genomic alterations, several investigators reported at the International...
Gender diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in medicine has long been acknowledged as more than “the right thing to do,” with clear evidence of benefits in innovation, collaboration, and workplace culture.1 Yet the data continue to showcase challenges in achieving these goals despite women...
I have been fascinated with death since I was 3 years old. I remember going to my great-grandfather’s funeral and asking my mother where my great-grandfather was. She said he is in heaven. I asked her if I were going to heaven, too, and she said, “Yes, but not for a long time.” Today, I don’t...
On September 14, 2023, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced the winners of the 2024 awards, honoring an esteemed group of the world’s researchers for their impactful scientific discoveries, including a subset responsible for substantial progress in the understanding and treatment of major...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Elisabete Weiderpass, MD, MSc, PhD, a Brazilian cancer researcher who is a naturalized Swedish and Finnish citizen. She is an expert in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention. In...
The treatment of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated lung cancer that progresses on EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been challenging. In the phase II HERTHENA-Lung01 trial, the topoisomerase-1 HER3-targeting antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan...
Investigators have discovered that reliable educational materials about breast cancer surgery may be difficult to access and are often presented at much higher reading levels than recommended, according to the findings of two new studies presented by Brennan et al and Satarasinghe et al at the...
Researchers have developed a novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based Cancer Survival Calculator for estimating long-term survival in patients with newly diagnosed cancer, according to new findings presented by Janczewski et al at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2023....
Researchers have discovered that it may be possible to detect and treat dormant tumor cells in breast cancer survivors, according to new findings presented by DeMichele et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (Abstract 244MO). The results may have offered a...
In exploratory analyses of results from the SWOG S1801 trial in patients with stage III to IV resectable melanoma, researchers saw a major pathologic response in more than half of surgical specimens taken from patients who had been treated with neoadjuvant pembrolizumab. These and other results of...
Researchers have found that a short course of induction chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation may be effective at reducing the rate of relapse and mortality among patients with locally advanced cervical cancer, according to new preliminary findings presented by McCormack et al at the European...
Researchers have found that nivolumab in combination with a chemotherapy regimen may improve the rate of survival in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma, according to new findings simultaneously published by van der Heijden et al in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the ...
The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology announced detailed results from CABINET (Alliance A021602), a phase III pivotal trial evaluating cabozantinib compared with placebo in two cohorts of previously treated patients with neuroendocrine tumors. The data were presented by Chan et al at the...
Targeted treatment with the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor erdafitinib improved responses and overall survival compared to standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma with FGFR alterations. Results from the phase III THOR trial, led by...
Tina Cascone, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses new phase III findings from the CheckMate 77T trial of patients with previously untreated resectable stage II–IIIB non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The trial showed clinically meaningful improvement in...
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023, new findings are being presented in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, late-stage melanoma, and refractory melanoma brain metastases. Presurgical Immunotherapy in Advanced Operable Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients with...