Researchers have found that neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be safe and effective in patients with locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma, according to a recent study published by Rose et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The findings may help address a critical gap in...
The ASCO Post obtained comments on the Smart Stop study from Dipenkumar Modi, MD, a medical oncologist and hematologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Assistant Professor of Oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit. Dr. Modi applauded the investigators for...
The addition of the CD38 monoclonal antibody daratumumab to a standard regimen for patients with newly diagnosed transplant-eligible multiple myeloma significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs standard treatment in the phase III PERSEUS trial. The study was reported as a late-breaking...
Research shows that about half of adults near the end of life in the United States are too ill to participate in decisions about whether to accept life-prolonging treatment,1 requiring family members and other proxies to serve as surrogate decision-makers for their critically ill loved ones....
In the phase III ALLELE trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Mahadeo et al found that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific T-cell immunotherapy tabelecleucel produced high response rates—and few of the toxicities associated with other adoptive T-cell therapies—in allogeneic hematopoietic stem...
In September 2023, ASCO announced the establishment of its fourth regional council, the Central and Eastern European Regional Council, which includes representatives from 17 countries, with the goal of expanding ASCO’s mission globally to “conquer cancer through research, education, and promotion...
In a small phase I/II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Schenk et al found that treatment with tacrolimus, prednisone, and nivolumab without or with ipilimumab produced few responses in kidney transplant recipients with advanced skin cancers, with treatment-related allograft loss...
Combination therapy with two or more antihypertensive drugs may reduce blood pressure in patients receiving ibrutinib, according to a recent study published by Samples et al in Blood Advances. Background Ibrutinib was the first Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor to receive U.S. Food and Drug...
It has been almost 20 years since the approval of trastuzumab for the treatment of early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer. I remember returning from the 2005 ASCO Annual Meeting excited to offer patients a treatment that led to significant improvement in clinical outcomes. However, within a short ...
We have been taught that early cancer detection and treatment save lives. The way to cure cancer is to find it early and treat it aggressively. The public has subscribed to this approach in our struggle to “eradicate cancer.” In certain disease types, there is merit to this philosophy. The ability...
An increase in annual cardiorespiratory fitness may be linked to a lower risk of developing prostate cancer, according to a recent study published by Bolam et al in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Background There are relatively few known risk factors for prostate cancer. Although research...
Investigators have found that the protein UCHL1 may be used as a molecular biomarker for diagnosing patients with highly aggressive neuroendocrine carcinomas and neuroblastoma and predicting and monitoring responses to therapy, according to a study published by Liu et al in Cell Reports Medicine....
The development of any type of secondary cancer following chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy may be rare, according to a recent study published by Ghilardi et al in Nature Medicine. Background Secondary cancers, including T-cell lymphomas, are known risks of cancer treatments such as...
In a UK trial (NCRI AML19) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Russell et al found that intensified induction therapy with FLAG-Ida (fludarabine, cytarabine, granulocyte colony–stimulating factor, and idarubicin) plus gemtuzumab ozogamicin did not improve overall survival in younger...
In a comparison of real-world outcomes for two common first-line regimens for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), treatment with the IDH1-targeted agent ivosidenib plus a hypomethylating agent was associated with better outcomes than venetoclax plus a...
Decisions regarding the rationing of chemotherapy are commonplace in many countries around the world—including those where patients must pay for chemotherapy out of pocket—and increasingly so in cancer settings that treat both well-off and socioeconomically disadvantaged patients. However, these...
The addition of the CD38 monoclonal antibody daratumumab to a standard regimen for patients with newly diagnosed transplant-eligible multiple myeloma significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs standard treatment in the phase III PERSEUS trial. The study was reported as a late-breaking...
In heavily pretreated patients with a challenging type of acute leukemia, the menin inhibitor revumenib demonstrated clinically meaningful activity, including high rates of response and measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity, according to the efficacy and safety results of the phase II...
Although overall cancer mortality has continued to decline, resulting in over 4 million fewer deaths in the United States since 1991, increasing incidence for 6 of the top 10 cancers pushed the projected number of new diagnoses to over 2 million (2,001,140) for the first time, according to the...
In 2023, nearly 300,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in the United States, and approximately 56,000 new cases of ductal carcinoma in situ were diagnosed. Although most of those cancers are diagnosed in older adults, about 9% of all new cases of breast cancer are found in women ...
Researchers have developed a novel computational model for personalized prognosis prediction in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, according to a new study published by Maura et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Their model for individualized risk in multiple myeloma, or IRMMa,...
It may be possible for some patients with breast cancer to avoid adjuvant regional nodal irradiation safely, according to the results of the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-51/RTOG 1304 clinical trial presented at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 These findings particularly apply to patients...
A rare subset of T cells called V-delta 1 gamma-delta (Vd1-gd) T cells could help predict which patients with advanced skin cancer may be responsive to immunotherapy, according to a novel study published by Davies et al in Nature Cancer. The new findings may lead to the development of new and more...
Invited discussant of the phase I trial of the claudin 18.2-specific antibody-drug conjugate CMG901 in advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer was Elizabeth Smyth, MD, of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She said CMG901 demonstrated “encouraging results,” but more...
Except for a series of unexplained multiple broken bones and inexplicable excruciating pain in my right hip and leg, I had no other hallmarks of multiple myeloma when I was diagnosed with the disease at age 48 in 2014. My blood test values were all normal, and I didn’t have anemia or kidney damage. ...
Investigators have uncovered concerningly large gaps in evidence regarding the true benefits of opioids for pain relief in patients with cancer, according to a novel study published by Shaheed et al in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The new findings could challenge the commonly held view that ...
The data developed over the past few years have overwhelmingly favored geriatric assessment as part of the routine care for older patients with cancer. It has become the standard of care. ASCO has recently published a Practical Geriatric Assessment to aid in the implementation of this vital...
At the 2023 Global Cardio-Oncology Summit in Madrid, in a joint session with ASCO and the International Cardio-Oncology Society, Anita Arnold, DO, FACC, MBA, Director, Noninvasive Cardiology, and Director of Cardio-Oncology, Lee Memorial Health Systems, Fort Myers, Florida, discussed the...
Adding the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) to the HER2-targeted agent tucatinib extended progression-free survival by about 2 months vs treatment with T-DM1 alone among patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, according to...
On December 11, ConcertAI announced the acquisition of CancerLinQ, previously a subsidiary of ASCO. In conjunction with the acquisition, ASCO will maintain a multiyear cooperation agreement with CancerLinQ. Building on CancerLinQ’s mission when launched by ASCO in 2013, this new venture will...
The Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor ruxolitinib plus the B-cell lymphoma 2 protein inhibitor navitoclax may be twice as effective at spleen volume reduction compared with standard-of-care ruxolitinib monotherapy in adult patients with intermediate- or high-risk myelofibrosis, according to new findings ...
Researchers may have uncovered a new type of targeted therapy for patients with advanced myelofibrosis, according to new findings presented by Watts et al at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract 750). Background Historically, there have been few...
Data presented at the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition suggest that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy remains a viable option for patients who have lymphoma that goes into remission before the cell therapy begins (Abstract 615). While the findings do not answer the...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Nina Shah, MD, Global Head of Multiple Myeloma Clinical Development and Strategy, Hematology, Oncology Research and Development at AstraZeneca. She is a hematologist who specializes in...
Comprehensive profiling of fusion RNAs present in a large cohort of metastatic breast tumors revealed unique fusion mutations that may be therapeutically targetable, according to results presented at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract GS03-09). Fusion mutations occur when a...
For the treatment of advanced melanoma that is refractory to anti–PD-1 antibodies, there is no standard approach. The various options, with a look to the future, were discussed by Melinda L. Yushak, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Hematology and Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, at...
A combination of two HER2-targeted drugs—tucatinib and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), extended progression-free survival among patients with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer compared with T-DM1 alone, according to results from the HER2CLIMB-02 trial...
Patients who regularly attend screening mammograms may have a reduced risk of breast cancer mortality, according to recent findings presented by Smith et al at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2023 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting (Abstract R1-SSBR10-4). Background Early...
The novel ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor iruplinalkib has demonstrated potential for a difficult-to-treat subset of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer.1 A...
First-line treatment with osimertinib plus platinum-based chemotherapy achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful progression-free survival improvement compared with osimertinib alone in patients with advanced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non–small cell lung...
A lot of my experience with cancer is hazy to me. I was taking narcotics for pain around the clock when I was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in 2013, so there are some missing memories during those early days. I was 19 and a freshman in college when my symptoms started. I have always been active in ...
As reported in The Lancet by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG), an individual patient meta-analysis has shown that more recent—but not older—trials of regional lymph node radiotherapy vs no radiotherapy in patients with early breast cancer showed benefits of...
The risk of developing skin cancer may be twofold for patients with lymphedema, according to a recent study published by Anand et al in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The new findings may contribute to growing information linking lymphedema to localized changes in immunity and a predisposition for...
The management of ovarian cancer remains challenging within health-care systems worldwide. Recently, clinical and translational research on ovarian cancer has led to promising advances that have improved the survival outcomes of women diagnosed with this aggressive gynecologic cancer. These...
Remarkable progress has been made in the treatment of lung cancer in the past 10 to 15 years; it is therefore not surprising that lung cancer mortality in the United States is declining consistently, at the rate of 2% to 4% annually in recent years. Long-term survival is possible even for patients...
I’ve been contending with health issues since I was 12, when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. As I began my early 30s, I was feeling the healthiest of my life. I was working out 5 days a week and attributed sudden weight loss and fatigue to weight training and high-intensity Zumba classes....
Guest Editor’s Note: Virtual platforms have grown increasingly popular for health- and wellness-promoting activities. But given patients’ unique backgrounds, capabilities, interests, and goals, promoting engagement represents a complex challenge both in the context of care delivery as well as...
Currently most use of artificial intelligence (AI) in cancer care has been limited to diagnostics, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving nearly 700 medical devices that utilize AI and/or machine learning, the majority of which are used in the fields of radiology and pathology....
Researchers have found that a DNA repair–facilitating mechanism may be responsible for a tumor’s treatment resistance and could be treated with a combination of chemotherapies, according to a recent study published by Marullo et al in Cancer Research. The mechanism involves the shuttling of...
Researchers have found that presenting older patients with personalized information regarding the benefits and harms of colorectal cancer screenings may reduce unnecessary screenings, according to a recent study published by Saini et al in JAMA Internal Medicine. Background Colorectal cancer...