In a retrospective registry study reported in JAMA Oncology, Kharfan-Dabaja et al found no overall survival difference with second allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) vs donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) relapse. The study involved 418...
Question 1 Which of the following is one of the four major criteria for the diagnosis of essential thrombocythemia? Correct Answer: A. Platelet count ≥ 450 × 109/L. Expert Perspective The diagnosis of essential thrombocythemia requires that all four major criteria or the first three major...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Drs. Abutalib and Medeiros explore the recently updated World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissue...
EARLY IN 2018, abiraterone acetate tablets (Zytiga) in combination with prednisone were approved for the treatment of metastatic high-risk castration-sensitive prostate cancer.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data APPROVAL WAS based on the findings of the phase III LATITUDE trial, in which 1,199 patients...
On July 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved filgrastim-aafi (Nivestym), a biosimilar to filgrastim (Neupogen), for all eligible indications of the reference product. “The FDA approval of filgrastim-aafi marks an important step in helping expand access to critical...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ivosidenib (Tibsovo) tablets for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have a specific genetic mutation. This is the first drug in its class (isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 [IDH1]...
Mailing colorectal cancer screening tests to patients insured by Medicaid increased screening rates for this population, reported researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. In collaboration with the Mecklenburg County Health Department in...
In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Autio et al found that prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)–targeted docetaxel nanoparticle (BIND-014) treatment was active in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Study Details In the multicenter trial,...
A study published by Patil et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology explores the occurrence and treatment of brain metastases in stage IV ROS1-positive non–small cell lung cancer. ROS1-Positive Disease vs Other Genetic Mutations Importantly, and in contrast with the findings ...
“What is a reasonable plan of follow-up for patients with cancers for which early detection of metastatic disease offers no advantage?” Posing that question during his Presidential Address at the 2018 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Cancer Symposium, Kelly M. McMasters, MD,PhD,...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has recently released The NCCN Guidelines for Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), which includes resources for better-informed medical decision-making. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients with AML is endorsed by the Aplastic Anemia and MDS...
Two pancreatic cancer specialists commented on the PREOPANC-1 study for The ASCO Post: Colin D. Weekes, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, who had discussed the abstract at the ASCO Annual Meeting, and Manish A. Shah, MD, FASCO, Chief of the Solid Tumor...
Pancreatic cancer often metastasizes to the liver or lungs. The prognosis is better for patients with metastases in the lungs. However, the organ that is more likely to be affected depends on the cancer cells’ ability to alter their characteristics and shape—as a research team at the...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Scher and colleagues found that the presence of nuclear-localized androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) protein in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may predict better survival with taxane therapy vs androgen receptor signaling (ARS) inhibitor treatment in...
ASCO EXPERT David Graham, MD, FASCO, Medical Director at the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina, was enthusiastic about this new technology. “This is an important first step showing there is an easier way to detect lung cancer at earlier stages. If the promise of this report...
IF THE INITIAL promise of research presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting bears fruit, we may one day have a simple blood test to screen for early-stage lung cancer and possibly other cancers. Although it is still very early days for this test, an initial report from the ongoing Circulating...
A REGIMEN COMBINING ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax (Venclexta) in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) greatly reduced the risk of venetoclax-associated tumor-lysis syndrome and led to promising rates of undetectable minimal residual disease (MRD) in the phase ...
Imagine health care in the not too distant future… JOHN IS GOING about his usual Saturday at home, when his health-care–enabled smart watch alerts him to a sudden rise in his heart rate. As he is wondering about the reason, he feels a sharp pain in his left lower quadrant. The tachycardia...
Eight years ago, I was having a series of colds I couldn’t shake and pain that radiated throughout my back. Still, my symptoms weren’t concerning until, on Halloween morning in 2010, I stepped out of bed and fell to the floor in excruciating pain, unable to move. A visit to the emergency room and a ...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief, Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. “Mindfulness” has gained significant popularity in the lay press in recent...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Shannon L. Maude, MD, PhD, of Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues, the phase II ELIANA trial has shown that the anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, McCullough et al found reduced risk for colorectal cancer with increasing levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D). Study Details The study was an international pooling project using participant-level data from 17...
The lungs can be a difficult organ to biopsy with a needle, so the promise of identifying lung cancer through a blood-based biopsy has lung cancer experts and patients optimistic. Knowing how and when to use a liquid biopsy is critically important and led global experts at the International...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology, Psallidas et al developed a model that is predictive of 3-month survival in patients with malignant pleural effusion. Study Details The PROMISE study involved an analysis of 5 independent data sets from randomized trials to discover, validate, and prospectively ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently accepted a supplementary premarket approval (PMA) application for BRACAnalysis CDx to be used as a companion diagnostic with the poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib. The new drug application (NDA) for...
Austrian researchers have discovered that a small number of patients taking targeted drugs known as Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors to treat myelofibrosis may develop aggressive lymphomas. They also speculate that screening for a preexisting B-cell clone before starting therapy may help prevent this...
In a first-in-human study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Brudno et al found that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) autologous T cells targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) produced responses in patients with poor-prognosis relapsed multiple myeloma. Study Details The current...
The final results of a phase III trial reported by Roger Stupp, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, and colleagues in JAMA indicate that adding antimitotic treatment with tumor-treating fields to maintenance temozolomide is associated with improved...
In the phase II DAWN study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gopal et al found that ibrutinib (Imbruvica) produced a response in a minority of patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. Study Details In the study, 110 patients with ≥ 2 prior lines of treatment...
In a study of National Cancer Database data reported in Blood Advances, Bhatt et al found that 25% of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) did not receive initial chemotherapy, despite evidence that chemotherapy is associated with a survival benefit and improvement in symptoms ...
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. Gary Deng, MD, PhD, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present information on the potential health benefits ...
Valentina Nardi, MD, is a staff pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and her current clinical work includes implementing molecular assays for hematologic malignancies at the Center for Integrated Diagnostics. “I was born in Rome, but I did my high school and college education in Genoa. I ...
RESEARCHERS AT the University of California (UC), Davis, have shown that patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who received their care at a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center in California had a dramatically reduced risk of early mortality. Using data from the California Cancer...
The ASCO updated guidelines on the treatment of metastatic non-castrate prostate cancer penned by Morris and his colleagues1 provide valuable information annotated to the strengths of evidence in recently reported prostate cancer studies. CHAARTED, GETUG-AFU 15, LATITUDE, and STAMPEDE have...
“In CheckMate 227, the benefit of nivolumab [Opdivo] plus ipilimumab [Yervoy] was the same in tumor mutational burden–high patients whether or not they were programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)–high or –low,” said formal discussant of this paper, Naiyer Rizvi, MD, Director of Thoracic Oncology...
In the modern era of targeted therapy, some patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma may be able to forgo nephrectomy and be treated with sunitinib (Sutent) alone, according to results of the phase III CARMENA trial reported during the Plenary Session at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 The...
Testing for minimal residual disease (MRD) has become an established part of the management of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the technology still warrants validation. To address issues and set new standards, the European LeukemiaNet Working Party recently ...
A new comparison study showed that among polycythemia vera patients who were resistant or intolerant to hydroxyurea, those treated with ruxolitinib (Jakavi) had a significantly reduced risk of thrombosis and death compared to those who received best available therapy. The study findings are based...
Investigational data from a new analysis of undetectable minimal residual disease (MRD) rates from the phase III MURANO trial of venetoclax (Venclexta, a first-in-class oral B-cell lymphoma 2 [BCL2] inhibitor) in combination with rituximab (Rituxan) in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic...
In an analysis from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Chlebowski et al found that overall survival after the diagnosis of incident breast cancer was improved in women in the reduced-fat dietary intervention group vs control group, reflecting reduced...
A national retrospective study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found no association between intensity of posttreatment surveillance and detection of recurrence or overall survival (OS) in patients with stage I, II, or III colorectal cancer. Published by...
In a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ratner et al describe rapid progression of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) in three consecutive patients receiving programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor therapy with nivolumab (Opdivo). As stated by the authors,...
FORMAL DISCUSSANT of this trial, John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, also was optimistic about these early findings. “This is a proof-of-concept study showing this approach is safe. Only modest activity was observed with standard [Response...
A NOVEL APPROACH using two doses of nivolumab (Opdivo) prior to surgery achieved major pathologic responses in 45% of patients with resectable stages I to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the results of a small Stand Up 2 Cancer–Cancer Research Institute Dream Team study...
PATIENTS UNDERGOING minimally invasive radical hysterectomy for early cervical cancer had higher rates of disease recurrence and worse disease-free, progression-free, and overall survival than did women who had the open approach, according to results from the phase III LACC trial, presented by...
THE QUANTITY of original research presented at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Annual Conference has been growing, and at the 2018 meeting, 121 researchers presented their work. The ASCO Post captured some of the findings for this report. Blood Markers Correlate With Anti–PD-1...
A RANDOMIZED clinical trial evaluating the use of mobile and sensor technology to remotely monitor symptoms in patients receiving radiation therapy for head and neck cancer found that use of this technology reduced the severity of symptoms related to cancer and its treatment compared with usual...
Dr. Hayes, ASCO President 2016–2017, is Professor of Internal Medicine; Stuart B. Padnos Professor in Breast Cancer; and Clinical Director of the Breast Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor. AS I COMPLETE my 3-year term as ASCO President, I am...
ADVANCES IN cancer treatment have been nothing short of breathtaking in recent years. Among the most important has been the advent of effective oral therapies, marking a significant change in the way many patients receive treatment and in the oversight required by the cancer care team. As with...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...