March 2, 2009. Just published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.1 And we even got the cover. Twists and turns of heat shock protein-90 (Hsp90), the chaperone, the evolutionary capacitor. Great name and important cancer target. People smiled when I talked about this at the Hsp90 conference....
In 2019, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed V. Craig Jordan, CMG, OBE, PhD, DSc, FMedSci, Companion of the Most Distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG), honoring his extraordinary scientific work in the development of selective estrogen receptor modulators, most notably...
When combined with radiotherapy as definitive treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, cisplatin at a dose of 40 mg/m2 weekly is noninferior to cisplatin at 100 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, according to the results of the ConCERT trial.1 These findings were presented by Atul...
In a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Sullivan et al described details of postmarketing cases of noninfectious colitis in patients with breast cancer reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that were considered possibly or probably related to alpelisib treatment. Key Findings A total of...
On September 5, 2022, the oncology community lost a pioneer in the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, Saul A. Rosenberg, MD, FASCO. Dr. Rosenberg was the Maureen Lyles D’Ambrogio Professor in the School of Medicine, Emeritus, at Stanford University. Together with the late Henry Kaplan, MD, Dr....
The randomized phase II GRIFFIN study evaluated the investigational use of daratumumab in combination with lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (RVd), followed by maintenance therapy with daratumumab and lenalidomide, compared to RVd followed by maintenance therapy with lenalidomide alone,...
Nipple-sparing techniques can provide better outcomes for women undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy, but due to complication risks, these approaches are often not offered to women with sagging or larger breasts. For this group of patients, a “batwing” incision may provide a safer...
A team of researchers from the University of Rochester discovered how certain genetic mutations fuel the growth of cholangiocarcinoma, a rare but aggressive type of malignancy that has been on the rise in the United States. Their work, published by Guo et al in Cell Reports this week, details the...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides recommendations on the use of radiation therapy to treat patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant grade 2 and grade 3 diffuse glioma. Evidence-based recommendations outline the multidisciplinary...
In the French phase III ESTIMABL2 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Leboulleux et al found that no use of radioiodine was noninferior to radioiodine ablation in the occurrence of functional, structural, or biologic events among patients undergoing thyroidectomy for low-risk...
Alexander T. Pearson, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, commended the artificial intelligence (AI)-augmented, ultrasound-based platform for screening and staging of thyroid cancer. “In this study, Dr. Chan and colleagues processed high-resolution ultrasound...
Positron-emission tomography (PET) scans obtained before and midway through treatment may be used to de-escalate therapy for patients with oropharyngeal cancer, leading to fewer side effects, according to data presented at the 2022 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.1 An interim...
According to Quynh-Thu Le, MD, FACR, FASTRO, Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology at Stanford, these results suggest that monitoring circulating human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA may lead to the detection of relapse prior to imaging. In an interview with The ASCO Post, Dr. Le also noted that...
In an Australian population–based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Spilsbury et al found that perioperative dispensing of nonselective beta-blockers was associated with improved survival among patients with a history of a cardiovascular condition undergoing surgery for epithelial ...
Advanced radiotherapy techniques may reduce the risk of severe and debilitating toxicity associated with radiation, but not all patients have equal access to these modalities, according to data presented at the 2022 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.1 Retrospective analysis of the...
The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor tislelizumab to first-line chemotherapy significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50% and, despite a 49% crossover rate, numerically boosted overall survival in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer, Zhang et al...
In a multinational study using artificial intelligence (AI), investigators developed an algorithm to improve the prediction of colorectal cancer recurrence. Study results were published by Pai et al in Gastroenterology. QuantCRC Rish K. Pai, MD, PhD, a pathologist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and...
Lung cancer, the most common cancer worldwide, is targeted with radiation therapy in nearly one-half of cases. Radiation therapy planning is a manual, resource-intensive process that can take days to weeks to complete, and even highly trained physicians vary in their determinations of how much...
In a Japanese phase III trial (TOPIC-NEC) reported in JAMA Oncology, Morizane et al found no difference in overall survival with etoposide/cisplatin (EP) vs irinotecan/cisplatin (IP) in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced digestive system neuroendocrine carcinoma. Study Details The open-label ...
MRI-guided focused ultrasound focal therapy produced “a high degree of success” and “a low rate of genitourinary adverse events” when used to treat select patients with intermediate-grade prostate cancer, Behfar Ehdaie, MD, MPH, and colleagues reported in The Lancet Oncology.1 Dr. Ehdaie is...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on the herb dong...
On May 27, 2022, tisagenlecleucel, a CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, was granted accelerated approval for adults with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the multicenter ELARA...
On May 20, 2022, azacitidine for injection was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pediatric patients with newly diagnosed juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the multicenter AZA-JMML-001 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov...
Radiotherapy to the prostate in addition to standard treatment may improve survival for some men with advanced prostate cancer without detriment to quality of life, long-term study results from the STAMPEDE trial confirmed. These findings were published by Chris C. Parker, MD, and colleagues in...
In a French phase III trial (IFCT-0302) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Westeel et al found that a strategy including computed tomography (CT) and x-ray vs x-ray alone did not improve overall survival when used in the follow-up of patients with completely resected non–small cell lung cancer...
Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD, of Duke Cancer Institute, discusses potentially practice-changing phase III results from the QuANTUM-First trial, which showed that adding quizartinib to standard chemotherapy and up to 3 years of continuation therapy led to improvement in overall survival for adults aged 18 ...
Children in Pennsylvania living near unconventional oil and gas developments at birth were two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia between the ages of 2 and 7 years than children who did not live near this oil and gas activity, after accounting for other factors that could...
In an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 reported in The Lancet, researchers from the GBD 2019 Cancer Risk Factors Collaborators found that cancers attributable to behavioral, environmental/occupational, and metabolic risk factors accounted for 44% of all cancer deaths globally...
ASCO recently announced that nine outpatient oncology group practices have achieved certification through the new ASCO Patient-Centered Cancer Care Certification pilot based on their adherence to oncology medical home (OMH) standards, a single set of comprehensive, expert-backed standards for...
Two ASCO guideline updates provide new evidence-based recommendations for the systemic treatment of stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with and without driver alterations.1,2 Among several other updates, these new guidelines add the ALK and ROS1 inhibitor lorlatinib and the PD-L1 immune...
On June 24, 2022, lisocabtagene maraleucel was approved for adults with large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) who have (1) refractory disease to first-line chemoimmunotherapy or relapse within 12 months of first-line chemoimmunotherapy; or (2) refractory disease to first-line chemoimmunotherapy or relapse...
Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), announced his intention to step down from his various roles in December 2022. He issued the following statement on August 22: I am announcing today that I will be stepping down from the positions...
Ultraviolet (UV) protection from the sun and avoiding indoor tanning play important roles in reducing a person’s risk for skin cancer, the most common cancer in the United States and one of the most preventable. A recent article published by Yang et al in the Journal of the American Academy of...
Katrina S. Pedersen, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, said while the results of the phase II -SEQUENCE trial1 are encouraging and the drugs are available to translate into the clinic without delay, phase III validation would be needed...
The 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting was filled with important science, engaging data, and several practice-changing abstracts, many of which have been covered in detail on other pages or in earlier issues of The ASCO Post. There were numerous high-impact studies and attendees, whether present at the...
About 3 years ago, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute launched PROMISE (Predicting Progression of Developing Myeloma in a High-Risk Screen Population; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03689595), a large, ambitious screening study to identify individuals at high risk of developing...
In locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immunotherapy consolidation with the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab improved overall survival in the PACIFIC trial,1 thus leading to its use after chemoradiotherapy as a standard of care. Real-world evidence of durvalumab’s effect on overall and...
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine are studying the rare genetic condition called familial adenomatous polyposis, looking for potential ways to prevent colorectal cancer in the general population at an earlier, more...
An article in The New York Times earlier this year crystallized the dilemma facing health-care providers when they are presented with a patient in a life-threatening situation: Should they rely on advance care directives written years prior to the current medical situation to accurately determine...
Exposure to a synthetic chemical found widely in the environment may be linked to the development of nonviral hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a new study published by Goodrich et al in JHEP Reports. The chemical—called perfluorooctane sulfate, or PFOS—is one of a class of man-made chemicals...
In the investigator-initiated, prospective, open-label, single-arm phase II TUXEDO-1 study conducted among patients with newly diagnosed or progressive brain metastases from HER2-positive breast cancer, the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) yielded responses according...
The ASCO Post asked Michael Cecchini, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Colorectal Program in the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancer at Yale School of Medicine and Smilow Cancer Hospital Center, New Haven, to comment on the RATIONALE-306 findings. He said the study...
As reported in The Lancet by Chua et al, the phase III BIG 3-07/TROG 07.01 trial has shown reduced risk of local recurrence with vs without tumor bed boost after conventional or hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation (WBI) in women receiving breast-conserving surgery for non–low-risk ductal...
In a Swedish population-based cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Lin et al found that men with type 2 diabetes receiving gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists for prostate cancer were more likely to have an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease compared with those...
A newly constructed map of the landscape of genetic changes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) may provide a better understanding of this complex malignancy, which could lead to more accurate prognoses for patients, improved diagnostics, and novel treatments. These research findings were...
Young people with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who received doses of tisagenlecleucel, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, at the higher end of the approved dosing range had significantly better survival rates at 1 year compared with those who received lower doses within...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Offersen et al, the phase III Danish Breast Cancer Group Partial Breast Irradiation Trial showed that partial-breast irradiation was noninferior to whole-breast irradiation in terms of the risk for breast induration in women aged ≥ 60 years...
In a population-based retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Sood et al found that longer time to adjuvant endocrine therapy initiation in Medicaid-insured women with breast cancer was associated with a reduced likelihood of short- and long-term adherence to treatment. As stated...
About 7 years ago, I had emergency hernia surgery and soon after began experiencing severe constipation and abdominal bloating. I had started to have minor symptoms leading up to the surgery, but now the pain and exhaustion of trying to have a bowel movement became unbearable. I met with a...
At the 2022 Summit on Cancer Health Disparities in Seattle, leaders from five of the leading professional societies in cancer discussed their respective organizations’ current initiatives toward improving cancer health disparities.1 Representatives from ASCO, the American Society for Clinical...