The ASCO Post is pleased to introduce this special focus on the worldwide cancer burden, beginning in this issue with a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
An increase in the stage of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) due to cancer-positive lymph node discovery was more common following open chest surgery for lung lobe removal of early-stage lung cancer compared to the closed-chest procedure known as video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). The...
Acupuncture has been practiced for thousands of years in Eastern Asian cultures as a component of traditional Chinese medicine.1 In the United States, acupuncture became known to the public as a complementary and alternative medicine technique in the 1970s, but it took many years before it was...
A multi-institutional international investigation led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, has revealed new information about how molecules called long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) interact with HIF-1, a signaling pathway that is overexpressed in many cancers....
Treatment of mantle cell lymphoma continues to evolve, both in the front-line and relapsed settings. Key advances include better use of established agents, such as the incorporation of high-dose cytarabine into initial induction regimens and application of rituximab (Rituxan)...
In aphase III trial reported in The Lancet and at the recent American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, Martin Dreyling, MD, of the European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network, and colleagues found that ibrutinib (Imbruvica) was associated with improved progression-free survival vs...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Oncology Research Program (ORP) has awarded five grants to investigators to evaluate and define the preclinical and clinical effectiveness of enzalutamide (Xtandi) in mantle cell lymphoma and endometrial, hepatocellular, and prostate cancers. These...
Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. In 2015, according to the National Cancer Institute, 231,840 women were to be diagnosed with the disease and 40,290 were to die from it. The death rate is highest among women who are not screened regularly...
Mantle cell lymphoma is a pernicious, incurable disease. Front-line therapies for this disease are not currently standardized; however, novel therapies for relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma can ideally be translated into beneficial treatments for newly diagnosed patients, as clearly...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jia Ruan, MD, PhD, and colleagues, first-line treatment with the immunomodulatory agent lenalidomide (Revlimid) and the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab (Rituxan) followed by maintenance lenalidomide and rituximab produced a high...
Terence S. Dermody, MD, has been named the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief and Scientific Director at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Dr. Dermody will officially...
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for community oncology practices and the patients they serve, announced the election of a new Board of Directors and Executive Committee officers. “2016 is primed to be an important year for community oncology....
A seismic shift is underway in screening and treatment approaches for breast cancer. These changes are being fueled by studies showing that mammography in younger women may do more harm than good and that advances in genomic testing and a better understanding of the biology of breast cancers may...
In a genome-wide association study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hervé Ghesquieres, MD, PhD, of Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon, France, and colleagues identified two inherited genetic variants that were associated with poorer event-free and overall survival in patients with diffuse large...
About 7 in 10 middle and high school students—more than 18 million young people—see e-cigarette advertising in stores, online, in newspapers and magazines, or on television and in movies, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vital Signs report. E-cigarette ads use...
Surveys conducted between 1950 and 1970 show that most physicians considered it inhumane to give patients with a poor cancer prognosis the bad news.1,2 Since then, it has been well established that open communication between physician and patient is an essential part of effective cancer care and...
Since the initial discovery of ALK rearrangement in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 2007,1 small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors of ALK have transformed the course of disease for those patients with ALK-rearranged (ie, ALK-positive) NSCLC. Crizotinib (Xalkori), a multitargeted tyrosine...
The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has named Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD, as the next Dean of the College of Medicine. Dr. DuBois will assume his new role effective March 1, 2016, with an academic appointment as Professor in the College of Medicine while also holding an appointment in...
ASCO University has created a new multidisciplinary immunology program that provides a broad overview of immunobiology, as well as an in-depth focus on topics relevant to the practicing clinician, such as treatment, efficacy, monitoring, and management of immunobiologic agents. ASCO University’s...
On December 15, ASCO submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the agency’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) Stage 3 of Meaningful Use and Modifications in 2015 through 2017. The Society’s comments provided recommendations to CMS regarding the implementation of...
The International Innovation Grant, funded by the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of ASCO, provides research funding in support of novel and innovative projects that can have a significant impact on cancer control in low- and middle-income countries. The grant is intended to support research that...
Thomas G. Roberts, Jr, MD, a global investor and oncologist, has been named as the new Chair of the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) Board of Directors. Two new members of the Board have also been announced: Margaret Tempero, MD, FASCO, a Past President of ASCO and a pioneer in cancer treatment and...
In October 2015, the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) hosted its first Scientific and Career Development Retreat at ASCO Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, for past recipients of the Young Investigator Award (YIA) and Career Development Award (CDA). The YIA provides funding to promising...
In two phase II trials, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and The Lancet Oncology, the ALK inhibitor alectinib (Alecensa), which is active against acquired crizotinib resistance mutations and exhibits high central nervous system (CNS) penetration, was associated with considerable...
Investigators are looking at biomarkers to predict the probability of cytokine-release syndrome [in patients receiving chimeric antigen receptor–modified T-cell (CAR-T) therapy] so that they can intervene early. This study [from the University of Pennsylvania] identified two biomarkers that appear...
Dramatic advances have been made in using genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells (CAR-T) with anti-CD19 specificity to treat highly refractory hematologic malignancies. The highest complete remission rates have been achieved in patients with relapsed or refractory acute...
Responding to the assertion that bortezomib (Velcade)/lenalidomide (Revlimid)/low-dose dexamethasone induction followed by continuous lenalidomide/dexamethasone is potentially a new standard of care in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, Sagar Lonial, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Winship Cancer...
Triplets should be the standard of care in most newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients, according to a study that validated a practice that has become common in the United States, though not necessarily elsewhere. The use of three drugs led to significant reductions in disease progression and...
ASCO Answers: Managing the Cost of Cancer Care explains the various costs associated with cancer treatment, including health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act. It also provides a list of financial resources available to help offset expenses related to care and tips for organizing...
At age 73, I’m no shrinking violet and I don’t run to the doctor at the first sign of a problem. I practice naturopathy and can usually ward off potential health issues by maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. When I began experiencing some mild discomfort in my rectum 2½ years ago, I was...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Heather M. Conklin, PhD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and colleagues found that computerized cognitive training showed promise in reducing cognitive late effects in survivors of childhood cancer.1 Study Details In the study,...
It is estimated that nearly half of adults over age 80 living in the community are frail despite apparent functional well-being.1 Frailty is recognized as a clinical syndrome in which three or more of the following criteria are present: unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, weakness, ...
Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at the Taussig Cancer Institute of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, said he believes neratinib is “an extremely active drug, once we learn how best to give it.” Dr. Abraham has been involved in some of the studies of neratinib. “In this...
An exploratory analysis of the ExteNET study of neratinib in early HER2-positive breast cancer after treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin) upheld the findings previously reported for the 2-year analysis, according to the study’s principal investigator Arlene Chan, MD, of the Breast Cancer...
George Sledge, MD, Professor, and Chief, Division of Oncology, Stanford University Medical Center, told The ASCO Post that he found the data from the pooled analysis “very exciting.” “One of the big questions in triple-negative breast cancer is how to select which drugs work best for which...
The homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) score may be a predictive biomarker of response to neoadjuvant platinum-based therapy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to studies presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. “We found, in our adjusted analysis,...
Pancreatic cancer tumors are ripe for analysis with a liquid biopsy, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In a proof-of-principle study published recently in Annals of Oncology,1 the investigators reported on research in which they conducted whole-genome,...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 11, 2015, uridine triacetate (Vistogard) was approved...
The formal discussant for the CALGB 40603 and GeparSixto studies at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was Angela DeMichele, MD, Professor of Medicine and Miller Chair in Breast Cancer Excellence at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennyslvania. “The key questions raised by these ...
Studies presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium built upon an increasing body of data in support of the neoadjuvant use of carboplatin in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Overall, however, the studies fell short of establishing carboplatin’s role in this malignancy and ...
Immunotherapy is at the forefront of exciting new approaches to cancer, with excellent and long-lasting responses in metastatic melanoma and non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and several immunotherapy agents now approved for those malignancies by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The...
For the most part, the cardiotoxicity with trastuzumab appears to be largely reversible, unlike anthracyclines, which cause permanent cardiac damage,” said Lisa Carey, MD, Distinguished Professor at the UNC Lineberger Breast Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “In this small study, they saw no...
The beta-blocker bisoprolol was able to prevent trastuzumab (Herceptin)-associated declines in left-ventricular ejection fraction, whereas the effect of the angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitor perindopril was less robust. Use of bisoprolol reduced dose interruptions for trastuzumab due to ...
Sally Vernon, PhD, Chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, has been appointed to the Board of Scientific Counselors for Clinical Sciences and Epidemiology at the National...
The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute recently announced the promotion of two physician scientists: Elisabeth Heath, MD, FACP, and Ulka Vaishampayan, MD. Elisabeth Heath, MD, FACP Dr. Heath will lead the Genitourinary Oncology Multidisciplinary Team at Karmanos Cancer Institute. She will also...
This study confirms that what is important is a negative margin, not the margin size,” said Kevin S. Hughes, MD, a breast surgeon who is Co-Director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. “This is a confirmatory study of the consensus...
The width of the surgical margin doesn’t matter, as long as the margin is negative, according to a large study of breast-conserving surgery in patients with invasive breast cancer. The risk of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence was similar for wide negative margins (2–4 mm) or narrow negative...
Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, the Donna S. Hall Chair in Breast Cancer Research and Director of the Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, commented on the BELLE-2 trial for The ASCO Post. “We have learned that there is a subgroup of patients, who are...
Addition of the oral investigational pan-PI3K inhibitor buparlisib to the endocrine agent fulvestrant (Faslodex) improved progression-free survival among postmenopausal women with advanced hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. “We are happy to announce that the phase III...
Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine reported that minority and ethnic groups are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at younger ages and more advanced stages than non-Hispanic whites. The study was recently published in Cancer Medicine.1 “While we know the risk of...