Global Cancer Institute (GCI), which is focused on improving survival rates for underserved patients with cancer worldwide, recently announced it has extended its programs to Bangladesh. The extension begins with the launch of monthly tumor boards, which help physicians and oncologists in...
The international hunt to find more genetic risk markers for testicular cancer is expanding. A team of researchers led by Katherine L. Nathanson, MD, Deputy Director of the Abramson Cancer Center and the Pearl Basser Professor for BRCA-Related Research in the Perelman School of Medicine at the...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues, the phase III IMpower110 trial has shown significantly prolonged overall survival with first-line atezolizumab vs platinum-based chemotherapy in metastatic non–small cell lung...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Stephen R.D. Johnston, MD, PhD, of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, and colleagues, an interim analysis in the phase III monarchE trial has shown that adjuvant abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy significantly improved invasive...
On October 16, 2020, venetoclax was granted regular approval for use in combination with azacitidine, decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine for the treatment of newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults aged 75 years or older or those with comorbidities precluding intensive induction...
New diagnostic criteria and modern imaging techniques, a wealth of new therapeutics, and an update on current thinking as to when to treat patients with smoldering myeloma were highlighted during the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2020 Virtual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™....
New Jersey Brain and Spine has announced that Timothy Vogel, MD, PhD, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, has cofounded a new laboratory for pediatric neuro-oncology with Derek Hanson, MD, at the Center for Discovery and Innovation at Hackensack University Medical Center. Dr. Vogel also serves as ...
Angiotensin receptor blockers, commonly used to treat hypertension, may improve outcomes in patients treated with anti–PD-1/L1 agents, according to an observational study of almost 600 patients reported at the virtual 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.1 The...
Another novel oral KRAS inhibitor—adagrasib (MRTX849)—has shown promise in early clinical trials, according to investigators of the KRYSTAL-1 study who reported findings at the virtual 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.1,2 The conference is jointly provided...
One of Lebanon’s highest national awards, the National Cedar Medal (Commander Rank), was recently bestowed upon Nagi S. El Saghir, MD, FACP, FASCO, in recognition of his extensive contributions to the fields of medicine, education, and science—and most particularly, for his efforts in the fight...
Stereotactic radiosurgery appears to be a new standard of care for patients with four or more nonmelanoma brain metastases, perhaps replacing whole-brain radiotherapy in this setting, according to a potentially practice-changing phase III study presented at the 2020 American Society for Radiation...
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was superior to conventional radiation therapy in reducing pain from spinal metastases in a phase II/III study reported at the virtual edition of the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.1 More than twice as many patients...
In a comprehensive analysis of patients with cancer who had exceptional responses to therapy, researchers identified molecular changes in the patients’ tumors that may explain some of these outcomes. The results, published by Wheeler et al in Cancer Cell, demonstrated that genomic characterizations ...
Invited study discussant, Deborah B. Doroshow, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York, noted that the current first-line treatment paradigm for patients with advanced NSCLC and no driver mutation is based on...
The addition of the radiotracer fluciclovine to positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging for radiotherapy treatment planning led to superior failure-free survival compared with conventional imaging in men with prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy and were experiencing biologic ...
As reported in The Lancet by Grosicki et al, the phase III BOSTON trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with once-weekly selinexor plus bortezomib/dexamethasone vs twice-weekly bortezomib/dexamethasone in previously treated patients with multiple myeloma. Study Details...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III CROWN trial has shown that first-line lorlatinib significantly improved progression-free survival and intracranial response rate vs crizotinib in patients with advanced ...
In a single-institution phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Zsiros et al found that the combination of pembrolizumab with bevacizumab and oral metronomic cyclophosphamide produced objective response in approximately half of women with recurrent ovarian cancer taking part in the study....
The Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors have been one of the most exciting advances in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and have led to the development of chemotherapy-free treatments for both treatment-naive as well as relapsed or refractory CLL based on...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD, of the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy, and colleagues, the phase III ASCEND trial showed significantly prolonged progression-free survival with acalabrutinib monotherapy vs investigator’s choice of either...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Shaji K. Kumar, MD, of the Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, and colleagues,1 the phase III ENDURANCE trial has shown no improvement in progression-free survival with carfilzomib plus lenalidomide/dexamethasone (KRd) vs bortezomib plus...
The antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin yielded responses as a single agent and in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to two reports from the DREAMM team at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.1,2 In the...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Daniel O. Persky, MD, of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, and colleagues, the phase II Intergroup National Clinical Trials Network Study S1001 has shown good outcomes with positron-emission tomography (PET)-directed therapy in...
As chemotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy regimens reach their maximal impact in follicular lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma, clinicians are turning to chemotherapy-free approaches to achieve better control, less toxicity, and (hopefully) a cure. During the ASCO20 Virtual Education Program, Sonali...
A new study by Tsay et al sheds light on the role the lung microbiome may play in lung cancer pathogenesis and prognosis. According to the study’s findings, enrichment of the lungs with oral commensal microbes was associated with advanced-stage disease, worse prognosis, and tumor progression....
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, Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on the role of virtual...
In a phase Ib study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Courtney D. DiNardo, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of ivosidenib and azacitidine produced a high response rate in patients with newly diagnosed isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1)-mutant acute myeloid leukemia...
In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Mariotti et al found that the addition of the indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) pathway inhibitor indoximod to a taxane did not improve progression-free survival in first-line treatment of patients with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer. As...
Michaela A. Dinan, PhD, has been appointed Co-Leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at Yale Cancer Center, beginning January 1, 2021. Dr. Dinan was also named Associate Professor in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and will...
On October 2, 2020, the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) was approved for first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.1-3 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the open-label phase III CheckMate 743 trial...
“What am I doing here? This question kept running through my mind as the incoming freshman medical students at the University of Chicago assembled for the first time.” The person asking the introspective question was Marvin Stone, fresh out of college, recently married to his wife, Jill, and now a...
Although remarkable progress has been made in advancing pediatric cancer research, critical unmet needs remain, especially for more aggressive cancers such as neuroblastomas and Ewing sarcoma. The Stand Up To Cancer–Cancer Research UK Pediatric Cancer New Discoveries Challenge has awarded three...
The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) presented the third annual Mary Pazdur Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice in Oncology to Christina Cone, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, AOCNP, of Duke Cancer Institute, at this year’s JADPRO Live Virtual conference, an annual...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recognized the recipients of its 2020 Gold Medal awards and other honors at the 62nd ASTRO Annual Meeting, which was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ASTRO Gold Medal Bruce Haffty, MD, FASTRO, and Brian O’Sullivan, MD, FASTRO, were each...
Identifying patients at risk for adverse outcomes and intervening with intensive clinical services may improve cancer care while saving billions of dollars in avoidable emergency department (ED) visits. And, in fact, cancer centers may already have all the information they need to do so, according...
Reducing the financial impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment may save not only bank accounts but lives as well, according to recent data. Two separate survey studies presented during the 2020 ASCO Quality Care Symposium have highlighted the pervasiveness and deadliness of financial toxicity,...
Older women with estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer have poorer survival than younger women, but this gap might be closed by offering surgery to women over age 70 who are fit and have resectable tumors. According to a study presented at the 12th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC 12),...
In the phase III KEYNOTE-355 trial, pembrolizumab combined with several chemotherapy partners yielded a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival vs chemotherapy alone in patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic...
A study of oncology staff carried out immediately after the spring peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom indicated that many had been infected with the coronavirus, including those who did not show any symptoms. The study—presented by Favara et al at the NCRI (National Cancer Research ...
In a single-institution phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pelster et al found that nivolumab plus ipilimumab produced durable responses and improved survival outcomes in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. Study Details The trial enrolled 35 patients at The...
“Triple-negative breast cancer has multiple different subtypes, and there are targeted therapies that can be used based on the biomarkers that we identify for each patient,” Kari B. Wisinski, MD, noted in a review of recently approved and emerging therapies at the 2020 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer...
In the preceding two issues of The ASCO Post, we explored the overall history of geriatric oncology from 1980 to 2020. In this concluding part of the series, we focus on the invaluable contributions made by oncology nurses to the field. Over the past several decades, geriatric oncology has...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Takashi Kojima, MD, of the National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan, and colleagues, the phase III KEYNOTE-181 trial has shown that second-line pembrolizumab improved overall survival vs the investigator choice of chemotherapy in...
As reported inThe New England Journal of Medicine by Alexander Drilon, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues and by Lori J. Wirth, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues, the phase I/II LIBRETTO-001 trial has shown marked activity of the RET kinase ...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Thomas Powles, MD, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues, the phase III JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial found that maintenance treatment with avelumab plus best supportive care significantly improved overall survival...
The invited discussant of the phase III INOVATYON trial was Andreas du Bois, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology at Kliniken Essen Mitte, Germany, and Chairman of the AGO Study Group. As Dr. du Bois explained, the study “dealt with an old question: Does...
In a phase II Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) study (TBCRC 048; Olaparib Expanded) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nadine M. Tung, MD, and colleagues found that olaparib produced high response rates in patients with metastatic breast cancer and germline PALB2...
A strategy for giving intermittent, high doses of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib seemed to be well tolerated by patients with advanced cancer and increased drug concentrations in solid tumors, which was associated with improved survival. This research was presented by Gerritse et al at the ...
The advent of effective combination chemotherapies has changed the treatment landscape for metastatic pancreatic cancer, extending median survival and leading to durable responses in a subset of patients. However, perpetual chemotherapy is cumulatively toxic, leading to progressive bone marrow...
Cynthia Menard, MD, of the University of Montreal, discusses a study on the use of prostate-specific membrane antigen PET and CT to guide treatment. The scans led to high rates of new lesion detection and therefore intensification of radiotherapy for patients with prostate cancer, without an...