The 2019 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was jointly awarded to three researchers. Their discoveries paved the way for promising new strategies to treat anemia, cancer, and many other diseases. One of the three Nobel Laureates is William G. Kaelin, Jr, MD, who continues his research at his...
ASCO President-Elect Everett E. Vokes, MD, FASCO, is the John E. Ultmann Professor, Chair of the Department of Medicine, and Physician-in-Chief of University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences. After a journey from the United States to Germany and back again, Dr. Vokes arrived at the...
As reported in The Lancet by Matthew D. Galsky, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor130 trial has shown prolonged progression-free survival with first-line atezolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy vs platinum-based chemotherapy alone in patients ...
When oncology luminary Joyce A. O’Shaughnessy, MD, was in her early teens, her youngest sister, Teri, developed acute lymphocytic leukemia at age 5. Dr. O’Shaughnessy, the oldest of four girls, recalled that her sister’s struggle with the disease had a profound effect on her worldview. “Teri went...
Geriatric assessment–driven interventions—such as physical therapy, nutritional recommendations, and social support, among others—can reduce toxicity due to chemotherapy in adults with cancer aged 65 years and older, according to results from a randomized clinical trial presented as part of ASCO20...
Patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and a mutation that leads to mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) exon 14 skipping had a 46.5% objective response rate to the targeted therapy drug tepotinib, as shown in a study presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program...
As reported at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program by Charles M. Rudin, MD, PhD, and colleagues (Abstract 9001), the phase III KEYNOTE-604 trial has shown that first-line pembrolizumab plus etoposide/platinum significantly prolonged progression-free survival and prolonged overall survival at a...
The first trial of immunotherapy for gestational trophoblastic tumors proved effective in almost 50% of patients resistant to single-agent chemotherapy, French investigators reported in an abstract presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.1 The results of the phase II TROPHIMMUN trial ...
Data from the global TERAVOLT Consortium, which is investigating the impact of COVID-19 infection on patients with thoracic cancers, have found that these patients are at high risk for hospitalization and death. Prior use of chemotherapy was associated with an increased risk of mortality, as was...
For the first time, upfront treatment with immunotherapy has improved—in fact, doubled—median progression-free survival in a subset of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The findings are from the interim analysis of the randomized open-label phase III KEYNOTE-177 trial comparing the...
As reported by Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, and colleagues in The Lancet Oncology, the phase III ClarIDHy trial has shown that the isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) inhibitor ivosidenib improved progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with advanced IDH1-mutant chemotherapy-refractory...
Telephone outreach coupled with scheduling assistance significantly increased screening mammography setup and follow-through in a population characterized by low rates of screening mammography and high rates of advanced breast cancer at diagnosis. These are findings from a new study conducted by...
The majority of women with multiple tumors in a single breast reported good or excellent satisfaction with the cosmetic results of lumpectomy, despite loss of significant breast volume and often multiple incisions. These findings are from an ongoing multicenter prospective trial examining the...
The human drama within the oncology world is a never-ending story of triumph, tragedy, and all of the valiant efforts and human emotions in between. The doctor-patient relationship in oncology is deeper and longer than in most medical specialties due to the life-and-death stakes at play after a...
In recognition of Melanoma Awareness Month, the Melanoma Research Alliance has announced funding for 26 research awards, totaling $10.9 million. These grant awards are made possible through the significant contributions of individuals, families, institutions, and corporate allies. The 26 awards...
On April 15, 2020, mitomycin gel was approved for the treatment of adult patients with low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer.1,2 Mitomycin gel is for pyelocalyceal use alone and not for intravenous, topical, or oral administration. Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the...
Pulling together the 2020 American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting in less than 1 month was a Herculean task, and an important component was producing a session on COVID-19 and cancer care. This special session involved researchers from the front lines of the pandemic...
Despite facing challenges such as limited access to personal protective equipment (PPE) following the COVID-19 outbreak, radiation oncology clinics quickly implemented safety and process enhancements that allowed them to continue caring for patients, according to a new national survey conducted by...
Over the last decade, researchers have become concerned about a possible link between a benign gynecologic lesion called endosalpingiosis and ovarian cancer. However, using a diagnostic method typically reserved for specimens suspected of being cancerous, a team has found the prevalence of...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Shu et al found that neoadjuvant treatment with atezolizumab plus nab-paclitaxel/carboplatin produced a major pathologic response in 57% of patients and a complete pathologic response in 33% of patients with resectable, predominantly stage IIIA...
In correspondence published in The New England Journal of Medicine, two practitioners from Tata Memorial Centre, India’s largest cancer center, describe measures taken to continue providing cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. As related by the authors, scaling back of operations at...
The overall risk of needing a total thyroidectomy was found to be 19.4% for patients undergoing lobectomy for indeterminate and high-risk thyroid nodule, according to a report published by Moore et al in the World Journal of Surgery. The study also found that 21% and 26.5% of patients originally...
Patients with non–immune-infiltrated “cold” tumors have low frequencies of intratumoral tumor-reactive, checkpoint-positive cytotoxic lymphocytes, making them less responsive to checkpoint blockage than patients with immune-infiltrated “hot” tumors. A phase II study by Alain P. Algazi, MD, and...
People who quit smoking at any time—even 2 years before a lung cancer diagnosis—improve their chances of survival after being diagnosed with the disease, according to the results of a large international study presented by Fares et al in a press briefing in advance of the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific...
According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, the number of adult individuals in the United States providing care for patients with cancer ranges between 2.8 million and 6.1 million. Caregivers for patients with cancer who live more than 1 hour away report having higher levels of anxiety and...
A full geriatric assessment and geriatrician-led multidisciplinary care improved the quality of life of patients aged 70 and older undergoing chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy, according to results of a prospective, randomized, controlled, open-label trial, reported in a press...
States that adopted Medicaid expansion after passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 saw a decline in cancer mortality rates by 29% compared with 25% in states that did not expand access to Medicaid, according to a study by Anna Lee, MD, MPH, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New...
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed cancer care, seemingly overnight, as practices scrambled to ensure a safe environment for caregivers and patients. Although regulatory burdens have been relaxed to allow patients to continue on trial treatment and telemedicine has expanded its competency and reach, ...
Charles L. Sawyers, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the SWOG S1320 study presented at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting. “Intermittent therapy is standard with chemotherapy due to toxicity, but targeted therapies...
Continuous dosing with dabrafenib and trametinib improved progression-free survival in patients with BRAF-mutated advanced melanoma compared with an intermittent-dosing strategy, according to results of the phase II SWOG S1320 randomized trial reported at the opening Plenary Session of the 2020...
People who received information from the Screen to Save program, a culturally tailored initiative from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD), increased their knowledge of colorectal cancer and indicated willingness to adopt potentially preventive...
A survey of American Cancer Society grantees found that about half reported their cancer research has been halted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Cancer Society reached out to all of its funded researchers to assess the state of their projects and collect information to guide...
Patient-reported outcomes are measures used in clinical trials to capture aspects of a patient’s health condition, reported directly by the patient, without introduction of bias from third parties. They are distinct from the physical toxicities reported by clinicians1 and are collected using a...
The 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition featured a cornucopia of sessions. It was impossible to attend all the lectures, symposia, oral presentations, poster presentations, and special events because many were concurrent. Below, we have selected some...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has approved funding for 79 research and training grants, totaling $36,165,100 in the first of two grant cycles for 2020. Grant applications were reviewed and approved remotely in light of the coronavirus epidemic. The grants will fund investigators at 59...
Studies of second-generation bispecific antibodies were among the highlights of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. The bispecific T-cell engager blinatumomab was the first such agent to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in...
Can patients with breast cancer who achieve an “exceptional response” to neoadjuvant therapy safely forgo surgery? That is a question being seriously explored in multinational trials. “We’ve known for a long time that we can eliminate disease in many patients if they have chemosensitive tumors....
Several novel strategies for the treatment of patients with stage III or IV melanoma showed promise in studies presented at the 2020 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium.1,2 Vaccine for High-Risk Patients After Resection A tumor lysate, particle-loaded, dendritic cell (TLPLDC) vaccine was...
Systemic treatment of melanoma has changed rapidly since the introduction of ipilimumab in 2011. Newer therapies approved for melanoma since that time include immunotherapy, targeted therapy for mutation-bearing tumors, and injectional therapy for cutaneous or palpable lesions. ASCO has released...
Alexandra Leary, MD, PhD, of the Gustave Roussy Institute of Oncology, Paris, underscored the controversy surrounding the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced ovarian cancer, suggesting the discord may be “more cultural and emotional than scientific” to some degree. “Some countries, such as ...
The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer may not have the negative impact on survival feared by many gynecologic oncologists. In fact, according to a pair of studies that were to have been presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2020 Annual Meeting on Women’s...
In a commentary published in The Lancet Oncology, Dinmohamed et al detailed a nationwide reduction in cancer diagnoses in the Netherlands in the several weeks following the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country compared with the several weeks preceding the first documented case. This...
In the single-arm phase III OLYMPUS trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Kleinmann et al found that primary chemoablation of low-grade upper tract urothelial carcinoma using a mitomycin-containing reverse thermal gel (UGN-101) resulted in disease eradication in more than half of patients. As...
This week, we’ll start off with a report that showed that ibrutinib may help to protect patients infected with COVID-19 from pulmonary injury due to the disease. Next, we’ll move onto a report from the AACR Virtual Annual Meeting on talazoparib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic...
“The hypothesis of combining kinase inhibitors with checkpoint inhibitors could be a fantastic idea,” said formal study discussant Charles Sawyers, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. “This trial [IMspire150] is positive, and that is great news. Triple therapy is superior to...
The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab to two targeted therapies (the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib and the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib) as initial therapy improved outcomes compared with the two targeted therapies plus placebo in patients with newly diagnosed BRAF V600E/K–mutant advanced ...
A randomized multicenter study of a combination of immunotherapy with a targeted therapy improved cancer control for some patients with biliary tract cancer, according to research presented by Yarchoan et al at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting (Abstract...
A team of researchers and patient advocates have addressed the challenges related to traveling after receiving radiation therapy involving Lu-177 dotatate in a study published by Kendi et al in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Due to the residual radiation activity of Lu-177 dotatate, some patients ...
In the phase II monarcHER trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sara M. Tolaney, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of abemaciclib, fulvestrant, and trastuzumab prolonged progression-free survival vs trastuzumab plus standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients with previously treated...
In a Japanese phase Ib/dose-expansion trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fukuoka et al found that the combination of regorafenib and nivolumab showed activity in patients with previously treated gastric cancer and colorectal cancer with microsatellite stable/mismatch...