In the phase II TOPARP-B trial—reported by Mateo et al in The Lancet Oncology—investigators found that olaparib showed activity in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DNA damage response (DDR) gene aberrations who had received one or two prior taxane regimens. Study...
A report by Wang et al in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics described the use of acoustofluidics, a noninvasive method that analyzes saliva for the presence of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16), the pathogenic strain of the disease associated with oropharyngeal cancers. This novel technique...
Multiple myeloma is a malignancy characterized by clonal proliferation of terminally differentiated plasma cells within the bone marrow. Although it leads to a host of different issues within the body, overall survival has steadily improved in recent years. “This is largely because of better...
Primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma is an uncommon but distinct clinicopathologic variant of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that typically presents with an aggressive mediastinal mass and invasion of local structures. Most patients are young, typically in their 20s and 30s, and there is a...
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced a collaboration to expand access to LLS’s free service that provides clinical trials navigation and support to patients with hematologic malignancies and their families. With approximately 5%...
A year before my diagnosis of multiple myeloma, in 2010, my husband Paul and I moved with our six children to Monterrey, Mexico, where Paul was helping to create a venture capital industry. We were so busy settling into a new country and getting our children integrated into school that when I...
Late in 2018, the FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib was approved for the treatment of adult patients who have relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a FLT3 mutation, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1,2 The FDA also approved an expanded indication...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). For full details of these...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Syed Ali Abutalib, MD, and L. Jeffrey Medeiros, MD, explore the updated World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid ...
Preet M. Chaudhary, MD, PhD, of the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, commented on the HOVON-96 trial for The ASCO Post. Dr. Chaudhary is Professor and Chief of Hematology, the Ronald H. Bloom Family Chair in Lymphoma Research, and Program Director of...
Following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cyclophosphamide significantly reduced grades II to IV acute and chronic extensive graft-vs-host disease compared with conventional immunosuppression, investigators reported during the Plenary Session at the 2019 American Society of...
Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare, a leading rural health-care organization, is proud to announce its new cancer center and partnership with Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute at HCA Midwest Health, a leader in world-class cancer care, and HCA Midwest Health, Kansas City’s largest health network and...
On November 21, 2019, the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor acalabrutinib was approved for the treatment of adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).1,2 The review resulting in approval was conducted under Project Orbis, an initiative of the U.S....
In patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, two novel dual-target chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell strategies are yielding early and durable responses, with seemingly less cytokine-release syndrome and neurotoxicity than first-generation CAR T-cell products, according to the...
Few grade 3 or higher immune-related adverse events were observed in patients treated with first-line durvalumab plus platinum/etoposide for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to findings from the safety analysis of the phase III CASPIAN study presented by Özgüroğlu et al at...
On December 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev) for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who have previously received neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with a programmed cell death protein 1 ...
Rashmi K. Murthy, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses data on the efficacy and safety of tucatinib, trastuzumab, and capecitabine, a treatment regimen under investigation for patients with advanced HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer refractory to standard-of-care ...
Patients with metastatic breast cancer who received an oral formulation of paclitaxel had better response and survival and less neuropathy than patients who received intravenous paclitaxel, according to results of a phase III trial presented at by Umanzor et al at the San Antonio Breast Cancer...
A study investigating the long-term influence of estrogen plus progestin compared with estrogen alone on breast cancer incidence in postmenopausal women has found that the menopausal hormone therapies had opposite effects on breast cancer incidence. While estrogen alone decreased breast cancer...
The addition of tucatinib to capecitabine and trastuzumab significantly improved progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, with or without brain metastasis. These findings—from the HER2CLIMB study—were presented by Murthy et al at the 2019 ...
Researchers have completed the first comprehensive analysis combining full genomic sequencing and gene-expression profiles of more than 1,300 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The research was presented by Iacobucci et al during the 2019 American Society...
On November 14, 2019, the oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor zanubrutinib was granted accelerated approval in the treatment of adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data The approval was based on findings from...
In a new effort to improve early breast cancer detection and reduce false-positive exams in women with dense breasts, the American College of Radiology (ACR), the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), and GE Healthcare are partnering to support the Contrast-Enhanced Mammography Imaging...
Earlier this month, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) published new state-of-the-art guidelines on the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia. The guidelines were published in the journal Blood Advances.1 The 2019 ASH Clinical Practice Guidelines on Immune Thrombocytopenia, developed in...
Although pancreatic cancer survival rates have slowly improved over the past few decades for all stages of pancreatic cancer combined, the 1-year rate is 20%, and the 5-year rate is about 9%. There is no single diagnostic test to detect pancreatic cancer, and less than 20% of tumors are confined to ...
Despite the unprecedented improvement in clinical outcomes with the advent of immune checkpoint blockade for cancer,1,2 robust biomarkers for therapeutic success as well as novel strategies to increase their efficacy are urgently needed. In addition to exploring novel immune checkpoints and other...
Multiple myeloma expert Nina Shah, MD, was born and reared in the Northeast. During grade school, she developed a passion for science that would lead to an early decision to pursue a career in medicine. “My ninth-grade biology class really got me interested in human biology, and that’s when I...
David P. Steensma, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses early study findings on H3B-8800, which decreased the need for red blood cell or platelet transfusion in 14% of patients. This splicing modulator, used in the trial to treat patients with hematologic malignancies, also showed safety, ...
Cancer.Net provides timely, comprehensive, oncologist-approved information for patients from ASCO with support from Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation. Cancer.Net brings the expertise and resources of ASCO to people living with cancer and those who care for them to help patients and families make ...
For the country, and for me personally, 2001 was a watershed year. In May, my mother died; the following month my brother, Dom, then 57, called to tell me he had just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Except for some fatigue Dom had complained about at our mother’s funeral, there were no...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On October 23, 2019, the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase...
Patients with follicular lymphoma who have been treated and are in remission for at least 2 years may no longer be incurable based on highly sensitive testing. This may mean they no longer need therapy or active follow-up, according to findings presented by Sarraf Yazdy et al at the 2019 American...
On November 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to voxelotor (Oxbryta) for adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with sickle cell disease. “[Voxelotor] is an inhibitor of deoxygenated sickle hemoglobin polymerization, which is the central...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized three Choosing Wisely® Champions, practitioners working to tackle the overuse of hematology tests and treatments, at its 2019 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando: Stephen L. Wang, MD, of Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, Santa...
In patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, the addition of daratumumab to carfilzomib plus dexamethasone improved multiple outcomes, compared with carfilzomib/dexamethasone alone, in the international phase III CANDOR trial.1 “Overall, carfilzomib/dexamethasone/daratumumab was...
Even though autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHCT) is an effective treatment for multiple myeloma, only 4 out of 10 patients receive this therapy. A new study presented by Munshi et al at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 782) ...
For patients with high-risk myeloid malignancies undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, adding the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax to a reduced-intensity drug regimen prior to transplant is safe and does not impair the ability of the donor cells to engraft. The phase I study was...
More than three out of four patients with relapsed multiple myeloma, or myeloma that was refractory to at least two therapies, remained in remission 7 months after treatment with a novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting two proteins that are frequently found on myeloma...
Patients with multiple myeloma who had received a median of five prior therapies with refractory disease had a high response rate when treated with the investigational chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy JNJ-4528, which targets B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), a protein commonly found...
Preclinical studies have provided the first evidence that cellular immunotherapy for B-cell cancers could ultimately become an off-the-shelf product, capable of being uniformly manufactured in large quantities. The product—FT596—is among the first cellular immunotherapies to be based on...
Invited study discussant, Mafalda Oliveira, MD, PhD, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, said the phase II G1T28-04 study was “a ‘negative’ trial with clinically ‘positive’ results: an improved toxicity profile and overall survival benefit…. Despite the statistically negative...
An unanticipated result of a randomized phase II study was the improvement in overall survival achieved with the investigational CDK4/6 inhibitor trilaciclib in women with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. The drug was not being evaluated for its anticancer effects, but rather as a means of ...
A novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided procedure that uses therapeutic ultrasound may effectively treat prostate cancer with minimal side effects, according to a new study presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) (Abstract SSC07-07)....
Oncologists have become accustomed to seeing pneumonitis associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), requiring intervention by pulmonologists in the management of severe cases. At CHEST 2019, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest...
As the Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a-changin’.” Heather Cheng, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Washington, Associate Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Director, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Prostate Cancer Genetics Clinic, quoted this line in...
People with risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (determined by traditional risk, 10-year artherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score, and biomarkers) were also at higher risk for developing cancer compared to people with lower cardiovascular disease risk, according to research presented ...
In 2018, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute launched a large, ambitious screening study called (PROMISE; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03689595) to identify people with premalignant precursor conditions of multiple myeloma, to understand the molecular signs of progression to myeloma...
Older adults with blood cancers may benefit from a team-based, holistic evaluation before undergoing transplantation, according to a study published by Derman et al in Blood Advances. The study, which reported on a multidisciplinary clinic at the University of Chicago Medical Center, found that...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Danila et al found that the antibody-drug conjugate DSTP3086S, which targets the six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate 1 (STEAP1), had acceptable safety and evidence of activity in patients with metastatic...
On November 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to voxelotor (Oxbryta) for adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with sickle cell disease. “[Voxelotor] is an inhibitor of deoxygenated sickle hemoglobin polymerization, which is the central...