Cancer has stalked my family for generations. My mother, brother, and maternal uncle were diagnosed with melanoma. Fortunately, all survived. When my sister was diagnosed with early-stage invasive ductal carcinoma in 2010, she underwent genetic testing, which showed she was positive for the BRCA2...
In hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, the ability to successfully target key mediators of endocrine resistance is changing the outlook of metastatic disease in this subtype, according to Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, FASCO, Director of Breast Cancer Research and Associate Professor at Harvard...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may transform disease monitoring and guide treatment for soft-tissue sarcomas, according to data presented at the 2023 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1 Findings of a retrospective review showed that 85% of patients...
Study after study has demonstrated race-based differences in survival and other clinical outcomes for patients with cancer. But as health professionals, we are learning that these differences are less about a patient’s skin color and more about the legacy of racial inequality.1 This knowledge...
The GLOW study’s invited discussant, Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, Chief of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, said the GLOW findings are “practice-changing,” validating that high claudin-18.2 (CLDN18.2) expression as an important biomarker in...
In the first-line setting, the monoclonal antibody zolbetuximab in combination with chemotherapy extended overall survival in patients with claudin-18.2 (CLDN18.2)-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma. This regimen is now positioned as a new standard of...
“Endometrial cancer is the most frequently diagnosed gynecologic malignancy in the United States, and it is the only one where the mortality has actually risen over the past 40 years,” noted Rebecca Arend, MD, MSH, Associate Professor at the University of Alabama and Associate Scientist in the...
The addition of a checkpoint inhibitor to standard chemotherapy as first-line treatment of advanced endometrial cancer reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 70% in patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) tumors in two recent phase III studies. The results of the two...
Pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) living in extreme poverty and undergoing maintenance therapy may have almost a twofold greater risk of relapse compared with pediatric patients who weren’t living in extreme poverty, according to a new study published by Wadhwa et al in...
In the phase II TRASTS study reported in JAMA Oncology, Sanfilippo et al found that neoadjuvant trabectedin and radiotherapy did not meet the target objective response rate per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) in patients with myxoid liposarcoma but did exhibit activity...
An interim analysis of the Neotorch study highlighted the potential of immunotherapy for the treatment of early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented by Lu et al during the ASCO Plenary Series: April 2023 Session (Abstract 425126). The findings showed a significant...
This is Part 3 of Novel Hormonal Therapies for Prostate Cancer, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Alicia K. Morgans, Neeraj Agarwal, and David VanderWeele discuss the management of locally advanced high-risk...
In three new clinical trials, researchers have found that the novel fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor pemigatinib and new poly (ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP)/ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR) inhibitor combinations may be effective at treating patients with multiple...
Investigators have uncovered factors contributing to the COVID-19 pandemic’s destabilization of the usual patterns of cancer care, described specific ways that National Cancer Database data models were impacted by the pandemic, and offered guidance to cancer centers across the United States on how...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Patel et al found that delayed or foregone care due to patient-clinician discordance of identity (eg, race, religion, gender) was more common among patients with cancer vs noncancer controls. Approximately one-quarter of younger patients...
In a Chinese phase II study (GEMSTONE-201) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Huang et al found that the PD-L1 inhibitor sugemalimab produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 78...
Researchers have discovered that co-occurring mutations in three tumor-suppressor genes—KEAP1, SMARCA4, and CDKN2A—may be linked with poor clinical outcomes in patients with KRAS G12C–mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were treated with the KRAS G12C inhibitors adagrasib or sotorasib,...
The yes-associated protein (YAP)/transcriptional enhancer activator domain (TEAD) inhibitor VT3989 may have been well tolerated with durable antitumor responses in patients with advanced malignant mesothelioma as well as other NF2-mutated solid tumors, according to new findings presented by Yap et...
On April 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin-piiq (Polivy) with a rituximab product, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone (R-CHP) for previously untreated adult patients who have diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)–not...
An investigational deep learning model requiring one histopathologic slide may be effective at predicting the risk of distant recurrence in patients with endometrial cancer, according to novel findings presented by Fremond et al at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting...
In a phase II study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Agrawal et al found that a single treatment with psilocybin (COMP360) with a 1:1 therapist-to-patient ratio reduced symptoms of depression in patients with cancer and major depression disorder treated at a single community cancer...
Although the 5-year relative survival rate for multiple myeloma is improving—up from 34.6% in 1998 to 53.9% in 2016—due to the approval of more effective therapies, multiple myeloma remains incurable, and new treatment options are needed, especially in the relapsed/refractory setting. A small phase ...
On April 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved omidubicel-onlv (Omisirge) for use in adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with hematologic malignancies who are planned for umbilical cord blood transplantation following myeloablative conditioning to reduce the time ...
Adjuvant therapy with atezolizumab and bevacizumab improved recurrence-free survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following surgical resection or ablation, according to results from the phase III IMbrave050 clinical trial, which were presented by Chow et al at the American...
Monotherapy with pembrolizumab led to clinical responses in 89% of patients with unresectable metastatic desmoplastic melanoma, according to results from the phase II S1512 clinical trial presented by Kendra et al at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023 (Abstract...
mRNA-4157/V940, a personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine, in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab improved recurrence-free survival compared with pembrolizumab alone in patients with high-risk melanoma, and clinical benefit was observed regardless of tumor mutational...
The addition of pembrolizumab to gemcitabine and cisplatin improved overall survival in patients with untreated metastatic or unresectable biliary tract cancer, according to results from the phase III KEYNOTE-966 clinical trial, which were presented by Robin Katie Kelley, MD, and colleagues at the...
Treatment-naive patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received neoadjuvant durvalumab plus chemotherapy and adjuvant durvalumab monotherapy had improved event-free survival and pathologic complete response compared with those who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone,...
Guest Editor’s Note: Despite its high prevalence, cancer pain remains undertreated. Racial disparities present further challenges to assessing and managing pain. Music therapy, a nonpharmacologic intervention, has been documented to be effective in controlling cancer pain. In this article, Kevin T. ...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Tang et al, the phase II EXTEND (External Beam Radiation to Eliminate Nominal Metastatic Disease) trial has shown that the addition of metastasis-directed therapy to intermittent hormone therapy improved progression-free survival in patients with oligometastatic...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Michael J. Morris, MD, and colleagues, the phase III Alliance A031201 trial has shown no significant improvement in overall survival with the addition of abiraterone acetate and prednisone to enzalutamide as first-line treatment for metastatic...
In a U.S. phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of the hypoxia-inducible factor 2α inhibitor belzutifan and the VEGFR kinase inhibitor cabozantinib showed promising activity in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell...
Hereditary cancer syndromes are caused by a pathogenic variant in cancer susceptibility genes, which overall account for approximately 10% of all cancers. Carriers of pathogenic variants are at an increased risk of developing cancer during their lifetime. Genomic cancer risk assessment makes it...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Kevin J. Harrington, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues, the phase II CheckMate 714 trial has shown that the addition of ipilimumab to nivolumab did not improve objective response rate as first-line treatment in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of ...
In an analysis of the German phase II PanaMa trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stahler et al evaluated consensus molecular subtypes as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer receiving fluorouracil and leucovorin with or...
In a single-institution Italian phase I/II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Del Bufalo et al found that treatment with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting the disialoganglioside GD2 expressed on tumor cells (GD2-CART01) produced responses in pediatric patients...
Researchers have found that the novel intravesical chemotherapy delivery system TAR-200 may be safe and effective for patients with advanced muscle-invasive bladder cancer who are medically unfit for standard treatment, according to a new study published by Tyson et al in The Journal of Urology....
Pancreatic cancer is a rare disease, accounting for about 3% of all cancers in the United States. It is the deadliest of all solid malignancies, accounting for about 7% of all cancer deaths each year, and carries a 5-year survival rate of just 11.5%. According to the American Cancer Society, in...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Squifflet et al found that pathologic complete response (pCR) was a weak surrogate for event-free and overall survival in neoadjuvant trials of anti-HER2 therapy in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer. Study Details In the study,...
In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Asif et al found that endoscopic surveillance may be an alternative to prophylactic total gastrectomy in patients at risk for hereditary diffuse gastric cancer due to germline CDH1 pathogenic variants. Study Details In the study, 270...
In an Indian single-center study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sandhya et al found that olanzapine was associated with weight gain and improved appetite vs placebo in patients receiving chemotherapy for newly diagnosed locally advanced or metastatic gastric,...
In a Japanese phase II trial (STATICE) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nishikawa et al found that fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) showed activity in patients with HER2-expressing advanced or recurrent uterine carcinosarcoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 32 evaluable ...
The questions I am challenged to answer are twofold: (1) Should you attend the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting? (2) If you attend, how is your time best spent? Most people agree scientific conferences are important venues for cancer researchers and clinicians to share and discuss research findings,...
On March 3, 2023, abemaciclib was approved for use with endocrine therapy (tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) for adjuvant treatment of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.1 Abemaciclib was previously approved...
Although advances in radiation therapy have rendered this treatment modality more tolerable, they have not completely eliminated the burden of radiation-related toxicity. In an ideal setting, clinicians would be able to identify patients whose risk of recurrence is sufficiently low that they can...
The management of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer has been evolving at a fast pace, thanks largely to the discovery that immune checkpoint blockade can be effective in this subtype. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Priyanka Sharma, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of...
Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab may significantly improve the management of desmoplastic melanoma, increasing the likelihood of successful resection and reducing the need for further surgery or radiation therapy, according to the response data presented at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, with the surgical...
Here are some brief reports from the 2023 ASCO Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium that we hope are of interest. They include real-world evidence about the use of avelumab maintenance in metastatic urothelial carcinoma, data on the feasibility of sequencing radium-223 and Lu-177–PSMA-617 in...
Researchers have demonstrated that patients with low-grade lymphomatoid granulomatosis who were treated with the immunotherapy interferon alfa-2b may survive for a median of 20 years after diagnosis, according to a novel study published by Melani et al in The Lancet Haematology. The findings...
Specially trained oncology infusion room nurses may be capable of improving advance care planning for patients with advanced cancer at the end of life, according to a new study published by Cohen et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Background “Advance care planning...