A pair of studies by Smith et al published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention evaluating whether a mandated reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes may cause smokers to compensate by engaging in compensatory smoking to obtain more nicotine has found that a reduction in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, and colleagues, long-term follow-up of patients with previously treated advanced programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the KEYNOTE-010 trial has shown a continued survival...
As the number of solid organ transplants in the United States rises, cancer in this patient population is a growing concern. In fact, solid organ transplant recipients have an up to 50 times greater risk than the general population of developing skin cancers, and for kidney transplant recipients,...
Beginning this year, oncology specialists will have the opportunity to pursue a more flexible and less burdensome path to maintaining recertification. The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)/ASCO Medical Oncology: Learning & Assessment (MOLA) is a lower-stakes Maintenance of...
The EHE Foundation announced it will receive a $450,000 award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) to drive progress toward treatments and a cure for epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE), a rare vascular cancer diagnosed in about 20 individuals per year. The award recognizes The EHE...
Eileen Smith, MD, Medical Director of City of Hope’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinic, Associate Director of the Clinical Research Program, Clinical Professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, has been appointed the new Chair of the Department of Hematology &...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on allogeneic and autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation. For full...
The Prevent Cancer Foundation® has announced the funding of eight new United States–based researchers and four new cancer prevention and early detection projects in low- or middle-income countries. Research grants and fellowships awarded this year will increase cancer prevention and early detection ...
With the motto of “leaving no one behind,” 420 delegates from 40 countries and 61 faculty members from 19 countries attended the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) in Geneva on November 14–16, 2019. SIOG serves as a platform to discuss a myriad of aspects...
For the first-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, atezolizumab plus bevacizumab provided a significant overall survival benefit in the pivotal IMbrave150 trial. New findings from a prespecified analysis also showed numerous benefits for the doublet in terms of quality of life,...
In a phase I/II study of patients with advanced multiple myeloma and t(11;14) translocations, the combination of venetoclax and dexamethasone showed strong, durable activity, even in patients refractory to daratumumab, study investigators reported at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH)...
Comprehensive profiling of tumor samples taken from patients with osteosarcoma showed that multiple factors contribute to the traditionally poor responses observed with immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment in patients with this malignancy, according to new research published by Wu et al in Nature...
Adult patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) whose disease was effectively treated with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel showed sustained and clinically meaningful improvement in a variety of self-reported quality-of-life measures, according to...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Marina C. Garassino, MD, and colleagues, global health status/quality of life was maintained or improved with the addition of pembrolizumab vs placebo to pemetrexed/platinum therapy for previously untreated metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer...
I am responding to an article in the January 25, 2020, issue of The ASCO Post on the conclusion of the 19-year follow-up on the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) presented by Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: Postmenopausal estrogen administration does not ...
Gemtuzumab ozogamicin, once approved in 2000 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), was taken off the market in 2010 due to toxicity concerns. Idarubicin has been used in place of gemtuzumab ozogamicin in some chemotherapy regimens. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin was reintroduced to the market...
Another CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy may be poised to enter the marketplace for aggressive relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, based on a high rate of rapid and durable complete responses achieved with lisocabtagene maraleucel. The phase I TRANSCEND NHL...
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) recently announced that an international team of experts will take a new approach to fighting gastric cancer. The SU2C Gastric Cancer Interception Research Team: Early Detection and Interception of Diffuse and Intestinal Gastric Cancer was introduced at the SU2C Scientific ...
The ASH 2019 Annual Meeting & Exposition featured countless important sessions and lectures. It would be impossible to attend all the symposia, oral presentations, poster presentations, and special events. Below, we have selected some presentation highlights to supplement our coverage of the...
The second-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor acalabrutinib, alone, or in combination with obinutuzumab significantly improved progression-free survival compared with a standard combination of obinutuzumab/chlorambucil in treatment-naive patients with chronic lympocytic leukemia...
In findings of the SEQUOIA trial and updated results of the AU-003 trial,1,2 zanubrutinib, a Bruton’s tyrosine inhibitor (BTK), was shown to produce high overall response rates for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), even in the presence of...
Thierry Facon, MD, of Lille University Hospital in France, and Michael Jain, MD, PhD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, were interviewed by The ASCO Post on the second-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell products for treating multiple myeloma. According to Dr. Facon, essentially...
Two novel dual-target chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell strategies are yielding early and durable responses for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, as well as potentially less cytokine-release syndrome and neurotoxicity compared with first-generation CAR T-cell products,...
Two separate studies are investigating brentuximab vedotin plus nivolumab combination therapy for adults with Hodgkin lymphoma: one as first-line therapy and another as salvage therapy for relapsed/refractory classic disease, according to data presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting & Exposition...
FT596, a novel off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cell (CAR-NK) product, was as effective as existing CAR T-cell platforms in killing cancer cells in vivo, and the combination of FT596 plus rituximab killed lymphoma cancer cells that were no longer responding to CAR T-cell...
Mosunetuzumab, an investigational bispecific antibody, demonstrated activity in preliminary studies of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), including those who are refractory to or relapsed after third-line chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. With further study, mosunetuzumab,...
Among children, adolescents, and young adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the bispecific T-cell engager blinatumomab improved event-free survival and overall survival, compared with standard chemotherapy, as post-reinduction consolidation therapy at first relapse prior to...
Are second-generation bispecific antibodies the next big thing in lymphoma? Studies of these drugs were among the highlights of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. Years ago, the bispecific T-cell engager blinatumomab validated the concept of bispecific...
More than 25,000 specialists in hematology from over 115 countries attended the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition held last December in Orlando. The conference featured a stunning array of 4,900 abstracts with impressive new data in the treatment of multiple...
Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, summarizes two papers on metastatic renal cell carcinoma for which he was the discussant: nivolumab in combination with stereotactic body radiotherapy in pretreated patients, and combining dual immune checkpoint inhibition with...
Julie N. Graff, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University and Knight Cancer Institute, discusses study findings that show pembrolizumab plus enzalutamide after progression on enzalutamide produced clinical activity and can lead to durable responses, with a manageable safety profile. The phase...
Two novel treatments once thought to hold promise in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer have not proved to be effective in phase III trials, investigators reported at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. When combined with standard chemotherapy, a pegylated form of human...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to agents in lymphoma, lung cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and breast cancer, and granted Fast Track designation to a first-in-class radioenhancer hafnium oxide nanoparticle in head and neck cancer. Priority...
The use of bridging therapy before treatment with axicabtagene ciloleucel was associated with worse overall survival in univariate, multivariate, and propensity score–matched analyses performed on data from the U.S. Lymphoma CAR T Consortium, investigators reported at the 2019 American Society of...
A novel, first-in-class, small molecule, hypoxia-inducible factor 2 alpha (HIF2A) inhibitor showed single-agent activity in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. These results from a phase I/II study will be presented by Toni Choueiri, MD, and colleagues at...
Compared to individuals without a history of dengue virus infection, those previously infected with the virus had over twice the risk of developing leukemia, with the highest risk occurring between 3 and 6 years after infection. The results of a study conducted in Taiwan were published by Chien et...
The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) has joined the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium. The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium was created in 2013 to transform the conduct of cancer research through collaborative, hypothesis-driven, highly...
Once considered highly experimental, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is now an established third-line treatment option for B-cell lymphomas and leukemias. CAR T-cell therapy has saved the lives of people who would otherwise have run out of treatment options. But the question is...
Nicholas J. Short, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, received the 2019 Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando. This annual award (which includes a...
Urology of Virginia has announced the transition of Joshua Langston, MD, to the role of Chief Medical Officer for the organization. He assumed this new position on January 1 and will continue the legacy of patient care, organizational guidance, innovation, and service of his predecessor, Dr. Edwin...
The addition of pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy achieves higher rates of pathologic complete response compared with placebo in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to results of the phase III KEYNOTE-522 trial presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer...
In patients with large B-cell lymphoma undergoing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with axicabtagene ciloleucel, earlier-than-usual intervention with corticosteroids and tocilizumab may reduce the incidence of severe cytokine-release syndrome, according to the findings of a...
The art of oncology practice is tailored to the individual patient with cancer, and with the advent of highly personalized targeted therapies, patient outcomes have improved markedly over the past several decades. Although much of oncology practice is guideline- or protocol-driven, chemotherapy...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued 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 immunotherapies for patients with different types of non-Hodgkin...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued 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 therapies for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including the...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Robert L. Coleman, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III trial Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG)-0213 trial has shown no overall survival benefit with secondary surgical cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy with or...
Unlike ASCO’s Annual Meeting, symposia, and conferences, which highlight the current scientific advances in specific cancers and how they are improving cancer outcomes for the more than 18.1 million people worldwide diagnosed with cancer each year,1 ASCO Breakthrough: A Global Summit for Oncology...
In the first comparative clinical trial of lung cancer screening decision aid vs standard educational information, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that a decision aid delivered through tobacco quitlines effectively reaches a screening-eligible population...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Aurelien Marabelle, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Villejuif, and colleagues, the phase II KEYNOTE-158 trial has shown robust activity of pembrolizumab in patients with noncolorectal high...
The Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTK) zanubrutinib continues to achieve high overall response rates for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), even in the presence of high-risk cytogenetics, according to findings from two different trials...