In a large study of 5,671 older adults with COVID-19 and cancer, performed by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19), the CCC19 geriatric risk index was associated with poorer outcomes, including clinical complications, hospitalization, and mortality. A higher CCC19 geriatric risk index was...
T-cell responses directed against the receptor-binding domain of the SARS–CoV-2 spike protein were associated with protection from SARS–CoV-2 infection in vaccinated individuals with or without cancer, with lower T-cell responses observed in patients with blood cancers, according to results from a...
For the first-line treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the percentage of patients achieving measurable residual disease (MRD, previously called minimal residual disease) negativity was significantly greater when the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab was added to a standard...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, examining second-line therapy for relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, the CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care. These findings were presented at the...
“My doctor has not told me to get the vaccine.” That was the number one reason patients with cancer gave in a survey at an outpatient infusion therapy clinic for not having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Rivalling that reason were concerns about safety and fear of vaccine side...
When I got the call from the radiology department telling me I had to come back for a follow-up mammogram right before Christmas of 2020, I wasn’t surprised or initially concerned. I have dense breasts, and my first mammogram 2 years earlier had also detected suspicious areas in one of my breasts...
In December 2021, Nobel laureates, cancer center directors, physicians, scientists, politicians, public health officials, and patient advocates gathered at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the National...
In an effort to synthesize findings from multiple guidelines on various management approaches for brain metastases, ASCO, the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO), and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) spearheaded the development of a novel publication to inform and update physician...
On February 2, 2022, Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, Board Chair of the Association for Clinical Oncology, issued the following statement: “The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) applauds President Biden for his decision to relaunch the Cancer Moonshot with ambitious and worthy ...
ASCO and the American Cancer Society (ACS) initiated a collaboration to ensure that people can easily find the trusted, expert-approved cancer content they need when turning to either organization for information. As an initial step, the organizations are cross-sharing select cancer prevention,...
Jenny C. Chang, MD, the Emily Herrmann Chair in Cancer Research and Director of the Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, found the results from imaging mass cytometry to be exciting and intriguing.1 The researchers examined “spatial connectivity” among cancer...
A next-generation technology that focuses on protein expression at the single-cell level has yielded a wealth of information about “spatial connectivity” between cancer cells and their microenvironment. It also provided information on the benefit of adding the immune checkpoint inhibitor...
On January 25, 2022, tebentafusp-tebn, a bispecific gp100 peptide-HLA–directed CD3 T-cell engager, was approved for treatment of adults with HLA-A*02:01–positive, unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the open-label, multicenter...
The GAIA trial raises some important points, according to Susan M. O’Brien, MD, Associate Director for Clinical Research at the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in Irvine, California. Dr. O’Brien co-moderated the session where Dr. Eichhorst presented study results. “The CLL14 trial...
New research published by Keith et al in BMC Cancer showed that angiotensin blockers—commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure—may also impact survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. The results are from the largest population-based study of this question and suggest that a broader,...
The use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assays in early-stage colorectal cancer is highly prognostic for recurrence and may help identify patients who could benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, according to findings from the GALAXY trial, presented at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers...
The combination of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor niraparib plus abiraterone acetate and prednisone as first-line therapy significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone and placebo alone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer...
Melanoma is often curable when detected and treated in its early stages. However, the disease can rapidly spread to other organs in the body and become deadly. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have transformed the treatment of certain cancers, including melanoma, and improved patient care. But despite...
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning, intersexed (LGBTQI+) community face numerous challenges and barriers when accessing the health-care system in the United States, including cancer care; as a result, they may be at greater risk for developing cancer and...
An interim analysis of an ongoing phase III study indicated that using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to guide stereotactic body radiotherapy for patients with prostate cancer reduced side effects associated with the treatment. The findings were presented at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers...
The autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel failed to improve event-free survival vs standard-of-care treatment strategies in patients with aggressive, relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), according to the results of the phase III BELINDA trial,...
A new study published by Zhou et al in JAMA Network Open independently verified the value of a system that assesses hepatoblastoma risk in children. The researchers also discovered the potential for tumor histology to predict a patient’s hepatoblastoma prognosis. Hepatoblastoma is a rare childhood ...
Long-term survival data from the first prospective, randomized biomarker validation trial in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer being treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy before surgery are being reported at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium by Thomas W. Flaig, MD, and...
The GAIA trial raises some important points, according to Susan M. O’Brien, MD, Associate Director for Clinical Research at the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in Irvine, California. Dr. O’Brien co-moderated the session where Dr. Eichhorst presented study results. “The CLL14 trial...
The moderator of the press briefing on COVID-19 in patients with blood disorders, held during the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, was Laura C. Michaelis, MD, a clinician and clinical researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Dr. Michaelis...
New research underscores the need for aggressive support of patients hospitalized with blood cancer and COVID-19, according to data presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. Two studies of one of the largest data sets of patients with blood cancer...
This past fall, Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York expanded its adolescent and young adult (AYA) program with the establishment of the Lisa and Scott Stuart Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers. The Stuart Center is now part of the increasing list of about 50 academic ...
In 2015, an unprecedented phenomenon occurred in the United States: according to the World Bank Group, the nation’s average life expectancy fell from 78.8 years in 2014 to 78.7 years in 2015, then to 78.5 years in 2017. The last time our life expectancy registered a similar decline was in the years ...
Patients with cancer undergoing active treatment were more likely to believe misinformation related to COVID-19 than those without a history of cancer, according to a new study published by Guidry et al in Patient Education and Counseling. “These findings help us better understand the threat of...
A new screening tool (called PHS290) that incorporates 290 inherited genetic variants associated with prostate cancer was able to accurately identify people with high vs low lifetime risks of developing metastatic prostate cancer or dying from prostate cancer. These findings of a genetic risk...
The Cancer Research Institute (CRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of powerful immunotherapies for all types of cancer, has announced the publication of a new analysis of the global landscape of clinical development of drugs that target the PD-1/PD-L1 immune...
A recent study published by Conley et al in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment aimed to evaluate factors that influence the ability of people with metastatic breast cancer to adhere to their prescribed regimen of oral anticancer medication. Researchers found that multiple factors affected...
Far from being hobbled by fears of COVID-19, patients with lung cancer actually showed less depression and anxiety during the pandemic than their healthy peers, according to results from a new study by Arrato et al published in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Researchers ...
ASCO has published updated guidance on the use of adjuvant therapy in the management of stage II colon cancer, providing clinicians with a newer evidence-based framework that can be used in shared decision-making with patients.1 Need for Updated Guidance “How to approach patients with stage II...
I was honored to contribute a chapter on the cancer care delivery system and how to improve it for the book A New Deal for Cancer: Lessons From a 50 Year War, edited by Abbe R. Gluck and Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH (Public Affairs, 2021). The book chronicles what has been accomplished in the 50 years...
Although bone marrow transplantation is routinely employed in the United States and other wealthy nations, this costly life-saving procedure has struggled to gain a foothold in many low- to moderate-income countries, where resources are triaged to make the best use of precious health-care funding. ...
The ASCO Post asked Debu Tripathy, MD, Professor and Chair of Medical Breast Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine, Director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California San...
The start of January 2014 was filled with excitement. I was undergoing fertility treatments to have a second child and was living my professional dream. I was a network news anchor and medical news reporter for a national broadcast network. Although I was exhausted from my grueling early morning...
Invited discussant Anne Blaes, MD, of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, emphasized the main takeaway finding of the combined updated analysis of the SOFT and TEXT trials. “In early-stage estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer, premenopausal women who don’t require chemotherapy do very...
The discussant of KEYNOTE-522 at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine and Director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, commented: “We are clearly making...
On December 15, 2021, abatacept, a selective T-cell costimulation modulator, was approved for prophylaxis of acute graft-vs-host disease in combination with a calcineurin inhibitor (eg, cyclosporine, tacrolimus) and methotrexate in adults and pediatric patients aged ≥ 2 years undergoing...
Nilofer Azad, MD, Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Co-Director of Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, was invited to discuss the results of the phase III TOPAZ-1 study, which found an overall survival...
On February 2, 2022, City of Hope announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), a network of oncology hospitals and outpatient care centers across the United States. City of Hope, in Duarte, California, now has expanded its...
On February 9, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released the AACR Report on the Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Research and Patient Care. According to findings contained within the report, patients with cancer are not only at an increased risk for developing severe COVID-19, but...
New findings from researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center published by Nguyen et al in Cell support an emerging framework in cancer science that views metastasis as not primarily driven by genetic mutations, but rather, by epigenetic changes that occur in cancer cells because of their ...
The combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib with cetuximab and nivolumab produced responses in 50% of patients and disease control in 96% of patients with microsatellite-stable BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer in a phase I/II trial reported at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal...
The ASCO Post invited Mandana Kamgar, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, LaBahn Pancreatic Cancer Program, Milwaukee, to comment on the KRYSTAL-1 trial. “The KRYSTAL-1 study in totality is a multiphase and multiarm ongoing study exploring the role of...
Hyaluronic acid is a known presence in pancreatic tumors, but a new study published by Kim et al in eLife has shown that hyaluronic acid can also act as a nutrient to fuel pancreatic cancer metabolism. These findings provide insight into how pancreatic cancer cells grow and indicate new...
Kerryn Reding, PhD, MPH, RN—whose research focuses on reducing cancer incidence and improving survival, with particular interests in lifestyle interventions and biomarkers of risk—was born in Australia, but her family moved to Iowa when she was a toddler. “Both of my parents were in health care. My ...
As Vice President, in 2016, Joe Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot with the mission to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer. The cancer and patient community and medical researchers responded with energy and ingenuity. On February 2, President Biden announced the reigniting of the Cancer ...