PALB2 germline pathogenic variants are associated with a substantially increased risk for breast cancer and a smaller increased risk for pancreatic and ovarian cancers, warranting enhanced surveillance and the option of risk-reducing interventions, according to a global team of cancer genetic...
Given that death is a certain outcome in life, we seek the best way out as possible. What is a good death? According to Jeff Spiess, MD, author of the book Dying With Ease: A Compassionate Guide to Making Wiser End-of-Life Decisions, a good death is one in which pain and suffering are minimized and ...
Ensuring equitable cancer care for every patient, everywhere has been embedded into ASCO’s mission statement since the Society’s inception nearly 60 years ago. Nevertheless, events of the past year, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionally impacted minority communities, ...
On August 31, 2021, the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor zanubrutinib was approved for treatment of adults with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in patients receiving zanubrutinib in the phase III open-label ASPEN trial (ClinicalTrials.gov...
Maintenance durvalumab, the standard-of-care treatment for patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), remains significantly underutilized, according to data presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2021 World Conference on Lung...
Collectively, Black Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial/ethnic group in the United States for most cancers; Black men also have the highest cancer incidence rate. Despite improvements in survival disparities between Black and White Americans in specific cancers ...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Network Open, Sharp et al identified the frequency of use of postprotocol PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in control group patients receiving the tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib in randomized trials comparing PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor–containing combination therapy vs sunitinib ...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in a research letter in Blood Advances, Jennifer L. Crombie, MD, and colleagues found that axicabtagene ciloleucel produced high overall and complete response rates in patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. They also observed some evidence to...
For more than 2 decades, the chemotherapy agent gemcitabine has been a mainstay treatment for several types of cancer. Now, scientists have uncovered genetic evidence of which patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer are likely to benefit from the drug. In a study published by Panagiotis...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Seligmann et al, the phase II FOCUS4-C trial has shown activity of the WEE1 kinase inhibitor adavosertib in patients with TP53- and RAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer with disease control after first-line chemotherapy. As state by the...
In a single-center phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Kazandjian et al found that triplet therapy with carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd), followed by lenalidomide maintenance, produced high rates of measurable residual disease (MRD)-negative complete response and freedom...
In a single-center phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Elamin et al found that the tyrosine kinase inhibitor poziotinib showed activity in previously treated patients with HER2 exon 20–mutant advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). As related by the investigators,...
In the Japanese phase II/III JCOG0603 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kanemitsu et al found that the addition of adjuvant mFOLFOX6 (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) to hepatectomy improved disease-free survival in patients with liver-only metastatic colorectal cancer;...
In an interim analysis of the phase III IMCgp100-202 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Nathan et al found that tebentafusp, a bispecific protein consisting of an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor fused to an anti-CD3 effector, significantly improved overall survival vs...
On August 25, 2021, ivosidenib was approved for adults with previously treated, locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with an IDH1 mutation, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1 The FDA simultaneously approved the Oncomine Dx Target Test as a...
Every system in the body relies on oxygen. From cognition to digestion, effective breathing not only provides us with a greater sense of mental clarity, but it can also help us sleep better, digest food more efficiently, improve our body’s immune response, and reduce stress levels. According to...
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today. These highly resistant bacteria cause more than 750,000 deaths worldwide every year, a number that is predicted to rise dramatically....
The ASCO Post is pleased to present the Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Drs. Abutalib, Desai, and DeAngelis explore the treatment of older patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), which pose...
On July 21, 2021, pembrolizumab in combination with lenvatinib was granted regular approval for treatment of patients with advanced endometrial carcinoma that is not microsatellite instability–high or mismatch repair–deficient who have disease progression following prior systemic therapy in any...
Katherine Van Loon, MD, MPH, was raised in Miami, until the age of 12, and then her family relocated to Atlanta, where she spent her junior and high school years. “If you ask my parents about my decision to become a doctor, they will say I first declared it at age 5. Nobody knew how that idea came...
On August 19, 2021, the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab was approved for adjuvant treatment of patients with urothelial carcinoma who are at high risk of recurrence after undergoing radical resection.1 This is the first approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for adjuvant treatment of patients...
During the opening session of the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, Julio Frenk, MD, PhD, MPH, President of the University of Miami, gave a riveting presentation in which he described the devastating effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic on patients with cancer as well as on fragile and fragmented...
Oncologists who treat patients with melanoma will need to become familiar with another immunotherapy approach. For refractory metastatic disease, adoptive cell therapy is on the horizon. “Adoptive cell therapy will offer additional hope for our patients with melanoma. We’ll likely be seeing this...
On August 13, 2021, belzutifan, a hypoxia-inducible factor inhibitor, was approved for treatment of adults with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease who require therapy for associated renal cell carcinoma, central nervous system (CNS) hemangioblastomas, or pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors but do not...
On August 17, 2021, dostarlimab-gxly, aPD-1 blocking monoclonal antibody, was granted accelerated approval for adults with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) recurrent or advanced solid tumors, as determined by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test, who have had disease progression...
As reported in The Lancet by Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 649 trial has shown that the addition of first-line nivolumab to chemotherapy resulted in improved overall and...
The integration of radiation therapy into chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy may improve outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma, according to Charles A. Enke, MD, Professor and the Bill Bures and Jerry Pabst Chair in Radiation Oncology at the Fred and Pamela Buffett...
By the time my non–small cell lung cancer was diagnosed in 2004, it had already reached stage IIIB, and I was told there was little that could be done for me. I was 56, a wife, the mother of 3 children, and at the peak of my career as president of Olympian Oil. Although my aunt, brother, and...
Although the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has identified adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer as a distinct patient population from children and older adults with the disease, research into the diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship specific to this patient population has not kept...
In the Indian single-center phase III PARCER trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Supriya Chopra, MD, DNB, and colleagues found that adjuvant image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IG-IMRT) was associated with less late grade ≥ 2 gastrointestinal toxicity vs three-dimensional ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to allow for the use of a single booster dose to be administered at least 6 months after completion of the primary series in individuals aged 65 years and older;...
As reported by Stephen J. Schuster, MD, and colleagues in The Lancet Oncology, long-term outcomes of the pivotal phase II JULIET trial showed overall and complete response rates of 53% and 39% in adult patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive B-cell lymphomas treated with the T-cell...
In the phase II SAFRON II study reported in JAMA Oncology, Shankar Siva, PhD, MBBS, FRANZCR, and colleagues found no significant differences in safety or efficacy between single-fraction vs multifraction stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) for the treatment of pulmonary oligometastases. ...
Adjuvant pembrolizumab reduced the risk of disease recurrence in adults and children aged 12 years and older with high-risk stage II melanoma vs placebo, according to a late-breaking interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-716 trial presented by Jason J. Luke, MD, and colleagues at the European...
In a phase I/II study reported in The Lancet, Hutchings et al found that the novel bispecific antibody epcoritamab produced high response rates in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Epcoritamab works by targeting CD3 and CD20 and inducing T-cell–mediated cytotoxic...
“The phase III ENGOT/GCIG study1 proved to be negative, with no advantage seen with the extension of bevacizumab treatment,” said the abstract’s invited discussant, Carol Aghajanian, MD, Chief of the Medical Gynecologic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Dr....
Sentinel lymph node biopsy “had similar diagnostic accuracy and prognostic ability as lymphadenectomy in patients with high-grade endometrial cancer at greatest risk for nodal metastases,” according to the SENTOR trial, a prospective cohort study of 156 patients with clinical stage I disease. Using ...
In recent months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two treatment options for patients with endometrial cancer, which are summarized herein. Dostarlimab-gxly for dMMR Endometrial Cancer On April 22, 2021, the FDA granted accelerated approval to dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli) for adult...
Although the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased 1.03% a year over the past 17 years in the United States, likely due to screening or vaccination, other human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers are increasing in both men and women, according to a study by Cheng-I Liao, MD, currently of...
The addition of niraparib maintenance to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab demonstrated clinical benefit in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, according to data from the OVARIO study presented by Melissa M. Hardesty, MD, MPH, during the Society of Gynecologic Oncology...
In the 5-year follow-up of the pivotal SOLO-1 trial in women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA1/2 mutation, maintenance treatment with olaparib led to a more than doubling in progression-free survival, according to a presentation at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kathleen N. Moore, MD, and colleagues,1 the phase III IMagyn050/GOG 3015/ENGOT-OV39 trial has shown that the addition of atezolizumab to bevacizumab and chemotherapy did not significantly improve progression-free survival in patients with newly...
In women with locally advanced cervical cancer, adjuvant chemotherapy adds no benefit to standard cisplatin-based chemoradiation, results of the international phase III OUTBACK study have shown,1 as reported at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting by Linda R. Mileshkin, MD, Professor of Medical Oncology at ...
The KRAS-specific inhibitor sotorasib achieved responses in patients with KRAS G12C–mutated non–small lung cancer (NSCLC) who had experienced disease progression on platinum-based chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or both treatments. The objective response rate was 37.1%, and responses extended to all...
Atezolizumab given after chemotherapy to patients with resected stage II to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) significantly improved disease-free survival compared with best supportive care alone in patients whose tumors expressed PD-L1.1 These results of the global phase III IMpower010 trial ...
An updated analysis of the PALOMA-3 randomized, placebo-controlled trial demonstrated continued superiority for the combination of palbociclib (CDK4/6 inhibitor) plus fulvestrant over fulvestrant plus placebo in women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer whose...
Acalabrutinib was equally efficacious with less toxicity when compared directly with ibrutinib in patients with previously treated relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to the results of an open-label, randomized, noninferiority phase III trial presented at the 2021...
Adjuvant therapy with the PARP inhibitor olaparib for 1 year extended disease-free survival in patients with high-risk early-stage HER2-negative breast cancer with BRCA1/2 germline (inherited) mutations, according to a prespecified interim analysis of the phase III OlympiA trial presented at the...
Despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice-changing studies presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting clarified the continuing momentum in the oncology community to improve the lives of our patients. Immunotherapy demonstrated efficacy in cancers where it had not been...
For the challenging population of patients with multiple myeloma who have become refractory to essentially all current treatments, new approaches are much needed. Early clinical trials data suggest bispecific antibodies may help meet this need, as suggested by studies presented at the 2021 ASCO...