Which is the preferred second-line treatment option for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL): high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy? This was the subject of a debate at the...
The pace of cancer drug development may have accelerated over the past decade, but so too has the cost of care, which threatens to limit access for a large percentage of Americans in the decade to come. During the keynote lecture at the 2022 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, ...
Pain is highly prevalent in people with cancer throughout the disease trajectory. Often persisting for years after initial diagnosis and undertreated, it is associated with poor functional, mental, and cancer-related outcomes.1 Consequently, the need for effective pain management strategies has...
The KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib doubled the rate of progression-free survival at 12 months and reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 34% compared with standard second-line docetaxel for patients with previously treated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and KRAS G12C mutations....
When Stephanie L. Walker, RN, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2015, she was not given information about an appropriate clinical trial or help navigating her way through the financial difficulties she was having after a stroke from complications of the cancer forced her to leave her...
Among the topics discussed at the 4th Global Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Congress held online in December 2021 was the urgent need for clinicians, researchers, and advocates in adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology to join forces to eradicate racist approaches to patient engagement in...
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson Low-intensity therapy for older or unfit patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was introduced in the early 2000s in the form of low-dose cytarabine or hypomethylation therapy (azacitidine or decitabine). Recent studies...
As reported in The Lancet by Kamdar et al,1 and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post, the international phase III TRANSFORM trial was completed in 184 patients with primary refractory or early (≤ 12 months) relapsed large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL). Patients were randomly assigned to receive...
Patients with nonmetastatic soft-tissue sarcoma who need preoperative radiation therapy can safely receive hypofractionated treatment for 3 weeks instead of 5 weeks, with comparable tumor control and no increased risk of major complications in wound healing, according to a new study published by...
A small subset of patients who have undergone treatment for head and neck cancer may require a gastrostomy tube many years into survivorship, according to a new study published by Galloway et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics. The findings were also...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Castellino et al, the phase III Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AHOD1331 trial showed improved event-free survival with brentuximab vedotin plus chemotherapy vs standard chemotherapy in previously untreated pediatric patients with high-risk...
On November 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo) in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for adult patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR, ALK, or ROS1 aberrations. Study 16113 Efficacy was...
Researchers have found that a new drug may be able to target—and for the first time, inhibit—the function of the MYC gene. Until now, no other drug has been able to do this safely and effectively, according to findings from a phase I clinical trial published by Garralda et al in the European...
In an Indian single-center phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vijay Patil, MBBS, MD, DM, and colleagues found that the addition of low-dose nivolumab to triple metronomic chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ann S. LaCasce, MD, MMSc, and colleagues, the phase II CALGB 50801/Alliance trial has shown that a positron-emission tomography (PET)-adapted treatment strategy allowed many patients with bulky stage I/II classical Hodgkin lymphoma to avoid...
Preliminary data from a phase I clinical trial of the ROS1 inhibitor NVL-520 to treat patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other solid tumors suggested that it may have the potential to both halt tumor growth by inhibiting a cancer-causing gene change and reach cancer cells within...
In a Chinese phase II trial (CARTIFAN-1) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mi et al found that the anti–B-cell maturation antigen chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy ciltacabtagene autoleucel was active in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Study Details...
In a French phase I trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Loap et al found that concurrent olaparib and radiotherapy was well tolerated in patients with triple-negative breast cancer who had incomplete pathologic response or unresectable disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Survival outcomes with the ...
Olaparib and adavosertib can be safely used to treat patients with cancers that are driven by certain mutations occurring in response to DNA damage if they are given in sequence rather than concurrently, according to a novel study published by Yap et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The...
Researchers have identified a range of genetic mutations in gliomas that may help them understand how different mutations in the BRAF gene interact with other gene mutations—and which ones are more susceptible to targeted treatments in adults—according to a new study published by Schreck et al in...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Georgina V. Long, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues, an analysis from the phase III KEYNOTE-716 trial has shown significant improvement in the secondary endpoint of distant metastasis–free survival with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in resected stage IIB or IIC...
In a phase Ib trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the combination of telisotuzumab vedotin and erlotinib showed activity in c-Met protein–expressing advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including those with an EGFR mutation ...
In a prespecified analysis from the Australian phase II TheraP trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Buteau et al found that higher gallium-68–labeled PSMA-11 positron-emission tomography (PSMA-PET) mean standardized uptake values (SUVmean) were associated with a greater likelihood of...
The ASCO Post asked for comment from Glenn J. Hanna, MD, Director of the Center for Salivary and Rare Head and Neck Cancers, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hanna said it is important to put the findings of KEYNOTE-4121 into context...
Pembrolizumab plus chemoradiation therapy failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in event-free survival vs chemoradiation therapy alone in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but favorable numerical trends were demonstrated, according to...
The results of SWOG S18011 were met with enthusiasm by attendees at the Presidential Symposium of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022. The ASCO Post captured the thoughts of several melanoma experts, who had somewhat different ideas about the immediate clinical...
In resectable stage III to IV melanoma, three cycles of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab was significantly more beneficial than adjuvant pembrolizumab alone, based on the results of the phase II SWOG S1801 trial presented in a Presidential Symposium at the European...
Robin Kate Kelley, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, was invited to discuss the results of LEAP-002.1 She said the main take-away is that lenvatinib monotherapy is active as a preferred first-line agent for fit patients who have contraindications to ...
The highly anticipated final analysis of the phase III LEAP-002 trial failed to meet expectations, as first-line treatment with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab did not significantly improve outcomes in unresectable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Both progression-free survival and overall survival ...
Invited discussant James Larkin, PhD, a clinical researcher at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, commented on the findings from NICHE-2.1 “These striking data are consistent with the recent report in locally advanced mismatch repair–deficient [dMMR] rectal cancer from Memorial Sloan Kettering.2...
Treatment with neoadjuvant immunotherapy in colon cancer resulted in major pathologic responses in 95% of patients, NICHE-2 investigators reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022.1 Additionally, after 4 weeks of nivolumab plus ipilimumab, 67% of patients with...
Three negative phase III trials presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 may dampen enthusiasm for immunotherapy as adjuvant therapy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). None of the three trials—CheckMate 914, IMmotion010, and PROSPER—met its primary endpoint.1-3 The...
“Hats off to the investigators for the first comparison of triplet to doublet in advanced renal cell carcinoma. This is also the first results using a contemporary control group. The study met its primary endpoint,” said Sumanta K. Pal, MD, FASCO, Co-Director of the Kidney Cancer Program, City of...
The addition of cabozantinib to nivolumab plus ipilimumab prolonged progression-free survival in untreated intermediate-risk patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to the first results of the phase III COSMIC-313 trial. These findings were presented as a Presidential Symposium ...
Formal discussant Mary O’Brien, MD, Head of the Lung Unit, the Royal Marsden Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, London, commented on the POSEIDON trial. “The POSEIDON trial is the largest data set we have on KRAS-mutated [non–small cell lung cancer], with a positive signal in picking up some patients...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Priscilla K. Brastianos, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase II Alliance A071401 trial showed activity of the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor GSK2256098 in patients with recurrent or progressive grade 1 to 3 meningioma and somatic NF2...
After 4 years, a limited course of five cycles of tremelimumab added to durvalumab plus chemotherapy extended overall survival in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with chemotherapy alone, according to an updated exploratory analysis of the phase III POSEIDON...
“Platinum-ineligible patients are typically excluded from clinical trials, yet they represent the majority of patients that we diagnose and treat—patients with poor performance status and comorbidities,” said invited discussant Natasha Leighl, MD, of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto....
In platinum-ineligible patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), first-line treatment with the PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab improved overall survival by an absolute value of about 1 month but almost doubled the rate of 2-year overall survival compared with chemotherapy...
The KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib doubled the rate of progression-free survival at 12 months and reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 34% compared with standard second-line docetaxel for patients with previously treated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and KRAS G12C mutations....
Colorectal cancer ranks third among cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States, with an estimated 106,000 new cases and 52,000 deaths anticipated in 2022.1 Colorectal cancer rates have declined by approximately 2% per year from 2014 to 2018 in people over the age of 50 years, which is ...
“Adjuvant osimertinib has been adopted widespread as a standard of care as a result of the primary results of ADAURA,” said formal discussant Sanjay Popat, FRCP, PhD, medical oncologist and lung specialist at the Royal Marsden Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, London. “We have more granularity about ...
With longer-term follow-up, adjuvant treatment with osimertinib led to a 77% reduction in the risk of disease recurrence or death following complete resection vs placebo-treated patients with EGFR-mutated, stage II to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Disease-free survival was improved...
Andrea McKee, MD, and the late Brady McKee, MD, will be honored with the James L. Mulshine, MD, National Leadership Award on Thursday, November 3, at the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s 19th annual Quantitative Imaging Workshop. The annual Mulshine Award is given to an individual or individuals who has ...
At this year’s European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, we experienced an eagerly awaited return to normality (or almost), and the quality of the science on display was anything but disappointing: from molecular medicine to treatment de-escalation, from early cancer detection and...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Bryant et al found that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening rates at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities declined between 2005 and 2019—and that diagnoses of metastatic prostate cancer increased over the same time period....
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Pamela L. Kunz, MD, and colleagues, the phase II ECOG-ACRIN E2211 trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with the addition of capecitabine to temozolomide in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Study ...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chung et al described the performance of a newly developed assay using genomic microsatellite signatures (LOGIC; low-pass genomic instability characterization) in detecting germline mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) in patients with the...
This is Part 3 of Updates in Hepatobiliary Cancer, a four-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Ghassan Abou-Alfa, Richard Finn, and Rachna Shroff discuss the role of adjuvant therapy in biliary tract cancer. The patient is a ...
In addition to, or instead of, receiving therapies that are the standard of care, patients with cancer sometimes request to receive complementary (therapies used in conjunction with standard cancer treatment) and alternative (nonstandard treatments used in place of standard cancer treatment)...