Physicians, care providers, and payers may be preparing for a major shift in early cancer detection that will affect almost every stage of cancer diagnosis and treatment. New data supporting the accuracy of multicancer early detection blood testing, presented by Deb Schrag, MD, FASCO, MPH, at the...
Patients with high-risk melanoma who received the anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab both before and after surgery to remove cancerous tissue had a significantly lower risk of their cancer recurring than similar patients who received the drug only after surgery. These results from a study by the SWOG...
Marinde J.G. Bond, PhD Candidate, of the University Medical Center, Utrecht, discusses phase III findings from the CAIRO5 study of the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group, the first such trial in defined subgroups of patients with initially unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases and left-sided...
Sapna P. Patel, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the latest findings from the SWOG S1801 trial, which showed that using single-agent pembrolizumab as neoadjuvant therapy improved event-free survival compared to adjuvant therapy in high-risk resectable stage III–IV ...
Antonio Marra, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses a mutational signature analysis that reveals patterns of genomic instability linked to resistance to endocrine therapy with or without CDK4/6 inhibition in patients with estrogen receptor–positive/HER2-negative metastatic...
Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, of Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, discusses findings from the CheckMate 358 trial, which showed that chemotherapy-free immunotherapy with nivolumab alone or in combination with ipilimumab may provide durable tumor regression with manageable toxicity in patients...
Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, of Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, discusses an analysis of long-term survival from the EMPOWER-Cervical 1/GOG-3016/ENGOT-cx9 trial. Cemiplimab-rwlc is the first immunotherapy to demonstrate an overall survival benefit as a second-line monotherapy for patients...
Christelle de la Fouchardiere, MD, of France’s Centre Léon Bérard, discusses phase III findings from the PRODIGE 65–UCGI 36–GEMPAX UNICANCER study, which evaluated whether the combination of gemcitabine and paclitaxel improves overall survival compared with gemcitabine alone in patients with...
Bernd Kasper, MD, PhD, of Germany’s Mannheim Cancer Center, discusses phase III data from the DeFi trial, the largest study conducted to date for patients with desmoid tumors. The trial showed that the gamma secretase inhibitor nirogacestat demonstrated improvements in all primary and secondary...
Paul A. DiSilvestro, MD, of Women & Infants Hospital and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, discusses overall survival results after a 7-year follow-up of the SOLO1/GOG-3004 trial for patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation who received...
Aggarwal et al presented data from PRESTO (AFT-19) at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 (Abstract LBA63), the first trial to evaluate whether intensifying treatment beyond androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) by adding apalutamide with or without abiraterone acetate plus...
Patients who received fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) for HER2-low metastatic breast cancer reported that the treatment maintained their quality of life compared to conventional chemotherapy, according to results presented by Ueno et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
A novel treatment strategy with personalized cell therapy significantly improved progression-free survival compared to standard immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma, according to results from the phase III M14TIL trial reported by John Haanen, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the European...
Significant improvements in progression-free survival and response rate—combined with reduced symptoms and better quality of life—were reported as outcomes of a new treatment approach for patients with desmoid tumors, benign but locally aggressive and invasive soft-tissue tumors. Through targeting...
A targeted kinase inhibitor added to a two-drug immunotherapy combination slowed the progression of advanced kidney cancer in previously untreated patients, according to research led by Toni K. Choueiri, MD. Dr. Choueiri, who is the Director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Cancer at...
The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group presented data from PROSPER RCC (EA8143), the first randomized phase III trial of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in patients with kidney cancer, at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 (Abstract LBA67). Patients with high-risk renal cell...
On September 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved eflapegrastim-xnst injection (Rolvedon)—a long-acting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) with a novel formulation—to decrease the incidence of infection, as manifested by febrile neutropenia, in adult patients with...
A new mechanism has been identified through which very small pollutant particles in the air may trigger lung cancer in people who have never smoked, paving the way to new prevention approaches and the development of novel therapies, according to late-breaking data reported by Charles Swanton, MBBS, ...
On September 9, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), together with the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS), announced the launch of the Europe-wide “Cancer Prevention Across Europe” campaign (PrEvCan) aimed at reducing the burden of cancer. The announcement was made at the opening ...
Perhaps the best known of all cancer predisposition genes are inherited mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. They were originally associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers. Later studies revealed that they also increased the risk of prostate and pancreatic cancers and, in...
A recent study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) reported that nearly 123,000 cancer deaths, or close to 30% of all cancer deaths, were from cigarette smoking in the United States in 2019, leading to more than 2 million person-years of lost life and nearly $21 billion in...
The James P. Allison Institute at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, recently announced the establishment of its scientific advisory board to provide strategic guidance and evaluation of its research portfolio and programs. The 11-person advisory board will be co-chaired by ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) recently announced that Ochsner Cancer Institute in New Orleans is a recipient of a 2022 ACCC Innovator Award. The award recognizes Ochsner Cancer Institute’s Chemotherapy Care Companion program—a digital technology system that allows the cancer...
Three thoracic oncologists were named co-chairs of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), which will take place September 9–12 in Singapore. Co-chairs work with IASLC to plan the annual research meeting, select program track...
Ashish Shah, MD, has assumed the newly created position of Director of Clinical Trials and Translational Research and principal investigator in the Section of Virology and Immunotherapy at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Brain Tumor Initiative (BTI) at the University of Miami Miller School ...
Pebbles Fagan, PhD, MPH, has been named Director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Dr. Fagan will serve as Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education in the...
The GOG Foundation, Inc (GOG-F), Board of Directors recently announced the election of Thomas J. Herzog, MD, as its next President, succeeding Larry J. Copeland, MD, who has served in this role since 2017. Under Dr. Copeland’s leadership, the GOG-F has experienced unprecedented growth in its...
On August 11, 2022, Roche announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a label expansion for the Ventana MMR RxDx Panel. The Ventana MMR RxDx Panel is the first immunohistochemistry companion diagnostic test to aid in identifying patients whose solid tumors are deficient in DNA ...
People with light skin tones are far more likely to develop melanoma than people with darker skin tones. This large disparity results from far more than can be explained by the ultraviolet (UV) protective effects of melanin pigment, owing in large part to the melanin precursor...
Over recent decades, more and more adults under the age of 50 are developing cancer. A recently published study revealed that the incidence of early-onset cancers (those diagnosed before age 50)—including breast, colon, esophageal, kidney, liver, and pancreatic cancers, among others—has...
Mount Sinai researchers have published results that show alternate therapeutic options for patients with multiple myeloma after first-line treatment with bispecific antibodies fails. While new T cell–based immunotherapies, or “T-cell redirection” therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)...
Researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have received a $9.5 million National Cancer Institute Program Project (P01) grant to investigate esophageal adenocarcinoma. “People with chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease can develop a...
The randomized phase II GRIFFIN study evaluated the investigational use of daratumumab in combination with lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (RVd), followed by maintenance therapy with daratumumab and lenalidomide, compared to RVd followed by maintenance therapy with lenalidomide alone,...
Nipple-sparing techniques can provide better outcomes for women undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy, but due to complication risks, these approaches are often not offered to women with sagging or larger breasts. For this group of patients, a “batwing” incision may provide a safer...
On September 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved durvalumab (Imfinzi) in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer. TOPAZ-1 Efficacy was evaluated in TOPAZ-1 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:...
Two studies published simultaneously by Jaratlerdsiri et al in Nature and Gong et al in Genome Medicine have identified genetic signatures explaining ethnic differences in the severity of prostate cancer, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Through genetic sequencing of prostate cancer tumors from...
A team of researchers from the University of Rochester discovered how certain genetic mutations fuel the growth of cholangiocarcinoma, a rare but aggressive type of malignancy that has been on the rise in the United States. Their work, published by Guo et al in Cell Reports this week, details the...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides recommendations on the use of radiation therapy to treat patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant grade 2 and grade 3 diffuse glioma. Evidence-based recommendations outline the multidisciplinary...
On September 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cabozantinib (Cabometyx) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed following prior vascular endothelial growth...
Women with a breast cancer diagnosis undergoing procedures for fertility preservation are not at an increased risk for recurrence of the disease or disease-specific mortality, according to the results of a study from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that followed participants for 5 years on...
In a multinational study using artificial intelligence (AI), investigators developed an algorithm to improve the prediction of colorectal cancer recurrence. Study results were published by Pai et al in Gastroenterology. QuantCRC Rish K. Pai, MD, PhD, a pathologist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and...
A new study published by Birhiray et al in Blood Advances outlines practical strategies for promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in cancer clinical research. The study highlights significant racial disparities in cancer research, citing that between 2008 and 2018, only 7.8% of...
On August 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pemigatinib (Pemazyre), a selective fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor, for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with FGFR1 rearrangement. Myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with...
Lung cancer, the most common cancer worldwide, is targeted with radiation therapy in nearly one-half of cases. Radiation therapy planning is a manual, resource-intensive process that can take days to weeks to complete, and even highly trained physicians vary in their determinations of how much...
Researchers have identified biological markers in patients with triple-negative breast cancer that are associated with resistance to chemotherapy. The study was published by Anurag et al in the journal Cancer Discovery and was funded by the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomics Tumor...
African Americans have been underrepresented in tobacco treatment research, including the clinical trials that led to the 2006 U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of varenicline (Chantix), the leading pharmacologic treatment for smoking cessation. Meanwhile, African Americans suffer higher...
Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, FASCO, an internationally acclaimed medical oncologist whose innovations in immunotherapy have revolutionized melanoma treatment, has been chosen as the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Wolchok played a pivotal role...
On August 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for pediatric patients aged at least 1 year with chronic graft-vs-host disease after failure of one or more lines of systemic therapy. Formulations include capsules, tablets, and oral suspension. iMAGINE Trial...
Radiotherapy to the prostate in addition to standard treatment may improve survival for some men with advanced prostate cancer without detriment to quality of life, long-term study results from the STAMPEDE trial confirmed. These findings were published by Chris C. Parker, MD, and colleagues in...
Recent research published by Xuesong Han, PhD, and colleagues in the journal Cancer indicated that during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of working-aged U.S. adults without health insurance did not change despite increases in unemployment. The prevalence of unhealthy...