Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH, and Jessica Wu, BA, both of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, discuss long-term morbidity and mortality experienced by chronic myeloid leukemia patients after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (Abstract 823).
Syed A. Abutalib, MD, of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Nelli Bejanyan, MD, of the University of Minnesota, discuss findings from a study conducted by the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research on treatment for ALL patients, with an available donor, undergoing...
Syed A. Abutalib, MD, of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Alex F. Herrera, MD, of City of Hope National Medical Center, discuss study findings that suggest allogeneic stem cell transplantation may overcome the chemoresistance of double-hit/double-expressor tumors (Abstract 830).
Catherine Thieblemont, MD, PhD, of Hôpital Saint-Louis and INSERM, and Julie Vose, MD, MBA, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, discuss phase III trial findings on lenalidomide maintenance in elderly patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP in the first-line setting (Abstract 471).
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses novel treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, touching specifically on the Gilead 115 trial.
Laurie H. Sehn, MD, MPH, of the British Columbia Cancer Agency, discusses agents in the pipeline for follicular lymphoma, including drugs targeting the immune microenvironment, novel monoclonal antibodies, and emerging immunotherapeutics.
Umberto Vitolo, MD, of Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital and University, and Sagar Lonial, MD, of Emory University, discuss study findings on obinutuzumab or rituximab plus CHOP in patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (Abstract 470).
Brenda M. Sandmaier, MD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Sagar Lonial, MD, of Emory University, discuss study findings on sirolimus combined with mycophenolate mofetil and cyclosporine to improve prevention of acute graft-vs-host-disease after unrelated hematopoietic cell...
Jose F. Leis, MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, and Sagar Lonial, MD, of Emory University, discuss a session on CLL treatment (excluding transplantation): ibrutinib resistance, transformation, and cellular therapy.
Joshua Brody, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, summarizes important data on passive and active immunotherapy (Abstracts 1213, 1214, 1215, 1216, 1217, 1218).
Jean M. Connors, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Julie Vose, MD, MBA, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, discuss a roundup of key findings on a critical area in the treatment of hematologic malignancies (Abstracts 17, 85, 86, 135, 139, 143, 273, 415, 419, 719, 877, 880).
Jonathon Cohen, MD, and Sagar Lonial, MD, both of Emory University, discuss study findings on R-CHOP vs DA-EPOCH-R and molecular analysis of untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (Abstract 469).
A study led by researchers at the University of Liverpool presented by Clark et al at the 58th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 938) suggests many patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) may be able to safely reduce tyrosine kinase inhibitor side...
In one of the largest-ever trials to assess the safety of stopping tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy—the Euro-Ski trial—about half of 821 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) showed no evidence of relapse 2 years after treatment cessation, suggesting that some patients can...
In a clinical trial presented by Erba et al at the 58th American Society of Hematology (ASH) AnnualMeeting & Exposition (Abstract 211), vadastuximab talirine was found to be safe when used in combination with standard chemotherapy treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The...
Patients who potentially could benefit most from participation in clinical trials due to poor prognoses often are not included based on eligibility criteria, such as existing medical illnesses. A novel study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center revealed some patients with acute...
Patients successfully treated for breast, colon, and other cancers can go on to develop an often-fatal form of leukemia, sometimes years after completion of treatment, due to a genetic mutation leading to secondary malignancies known as therapy-related myeloid neoplasms. A study conducted by...
Children and young adults with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who receive chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD22, a protein found on the surface of leukemic cells, appear to mount a clinical response and, in some cases, achieve remission....
It may be possible to safely prevent one of the most common—and costly to treat—infections contracted by hospitalized patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of blood cancers, according to a study from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of...
A new analysis presented by Lancet et al at the 58th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 906) found older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) survived longer after receiving an allogeneic stem cell transplant if they were first treated with the...
In an analysis of outcomes in the North Central Cancer Treatment Group/Alliance N9831 trial reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Perez et al found that patients with tumors scored as HER2-enriched or luminal subtype derived a recurrence-free survival benefit from the addition...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy, for the treatment of patients with refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma or for...
A new McGill University study published by Syrowatka et al in JNCCN – Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network found that most patients with breast cancer aged 65 and older use psychotropic and opioid medications during active treatment, often in the first year of...
Having a child with cancer led to income reductions for parents and job discontinuation among mothers in a recent study, even after adjusting for prediagnosis sociodemographic factors. Published by Norberg et al in Cancer, the findings indicate that childhood cancer affects parents' income and...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chow et al found that hematopoietic cell transplantation survivors had higher rates of morbidity and mortality compared with a matched population of patients with cancer not undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation. The study involved...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Roberts et al found a high frequency of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)–like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults with B-cell ALL and poorer outcome with conventional therapy in these patients. Frequency of Disease The frequency...
Ryan Corcoran, MD, PhD, Translational Research Director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, described to attendees of the 2016 EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics the results of a program at MGH focused...
Two studies at the 28th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Munich, Germany focused on the inhibition of mutations in the KIT and PDGFRα oncogenes. These genes provide instructions for making proteins that are part of a family of proteins called receptor...
Proactive outreach to cirrhosis patients in a safety net health system successfully doubled their screening rates for liver cancer, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers found in a study published by Singal et al in Gastroenterology. Cirrhosis patients are at high risk to develop liver...
In the largest-ever study on screening mammography outcomes, researchers found that there is no clear cutoff age to stop breast cancer screening. The findings were presented November 28, 2016, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). This research adds support ...
In an analysis of patients with high-risk neuroblastoma from the Children’s Oncology Group A3973 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, von Allmen et al found that surgeon-assessed resection of at least 90% was associated with improved event-free survival and a reduced cumulative ...
Greenlee et al found that obesity, overweight, and low levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with an increased risk of taxane-related peripheral neuropathy in women with invasive breast cancer, according to a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ...
In a retrospective analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Adra et al found that good survival outcomes were achieved with the use of high-dose chemotherapy and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) in second-, third-, or later-line treatment of patients with relapsed...
Although alcohol consumption is associated with increasing the risk of many cancers, including liver, pancreatic, colon, rectal, and breast, the link between alcohol and higher risk of melanoma is equivocal. Now, a large prospective study by Rivera et al investigating the link between alcohol...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted ponatinib (Iclusig) full approval for the treatment of adult patients with chronic-phase, accelerated-phase, or blast-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) for whom no ...
ASCO today released Criteria for High-Quality Clinical Pathways in Oncology, a set of 15 inter-related criteria that provide an overarching framework for assessing pathway programs in the United States. ASCO developed the criteria to guide stakeholders in assessing the quality, utility, and...
On November 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted for review the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of previously treated patients with advanced microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) cancer. The FDA granted...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chen et al predicted that an increase in the number of patients living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) due to improved treatment with oral targeted therapies will be accompanied by a markedly increased overall cost to patients and ...
Chambers et al found that a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy intervention did not improve measures of distress or anxiety vs minimally enhanced usual care among men with advanced prostate cancer, according to an Australian study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. In the study, 189...
In the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) 005 prospective biomarker study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Visvanathan et al, a cumulative methylation index was found to be predictive of progression-free survival, overall survival, and disease status at first...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-approved provider-led entity for imaging appropriate use criteria, continues to build its library of these standards and has published NCCN Imaging Appropriate Use Criteria™ for an ...
Andrew W. Gurman, MD, President of the American Medical Association (AMA), issued the following statement on November 21: “The nation’s slide toward health insurance monopolies will be contested in federal court today as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a bipartisan group of...
In an analysis in the Nurses’ Health Study population reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Holmes et al found modest reductions in the risk for distant recurrence of breast cancer with greater protein intake. No associations with intake of essential amino acids, branched-chain amino...
Women with early-stage breast cancer previously treated for depression were more likely to receive nonguideline treatment for breast cancer, “probably contributing to poorer overall and cancer-specific survival,” according to a nationwide Danish cohort study reported in the Journal of...
In an analysis of a French trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Balsat et al found that postinduction minimal residual disease was predictive of outcome and benefit from allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in patients with NPM1-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The study...
Like many patients in the chronic phase of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), my cancer was discovered during a routine physical, when an off-the-chart white blood cell count signaled a serious problem that my primary care physician attributed to unspecified internal bleeding. Fortunately for me, my...
In the phase I/II CheckMate 032 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Padmanee Sharma, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues found that nivolumab (Opdivo) was active in locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma progressing after platinum-based therapy....
In the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial finasteride was found to reduce the risk of low-grade prostate cancer but to have no effect on overall survival. Results of the trial, in which 18,880 men were randomized to receive finasteride or placebo for 7 years, were reported in 2003. In a recent study...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Fumagalli et al identified genetic markers associated with pathologic complete response among women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant therapy in the phase III NeoALTTO trial. Christos Sotiriou, MD, PhD, of Institut Jules...
Most women with breast cancer reported high primary care physician quality, engagement, and communication, with a minority reporting high levels of primary care physician participation in treatment decisions, according to a study reported by Lauren P. Wallner, PhD, MPH, of the University of...