Direct oral anticoagulants should be considered the standard of care to treat adult patients with cancer-associated thrombosis, according to a new, ongoing study by Mayo Clinic researchers published by Riaz et al in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The report examined the results of four randomized...
Despite growing national awareness of health-care inequities, cancer care for many rural Americans remains inadequate. To shed some light on the challenges faced by patients with cancer in rural areas, The ASCO Post spoke with Mary Charlton, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the...
Yevgeniy R. Semenov, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, discusses new findings suggesting cutaneous adverse events such as vitiligo, lichenoid dermatitis, and psoriasis—which often occur in patients with cancer who receive immune checkpoint inhibitors—may be strongly...
Rates of cervical cancer screening have dropped recently in the United States, with screening rates lowest among Asian and Hispanic women, as well as women who live in rural areas, are uninsured, or are sexual minorities, according to findings published by Ryan Suk, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA...
On February 4, 2022, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) will launch a new 3-year campaign for World Cancer Day that brings together individuals, organizations, and governments around the world in an effort to create awareness and help close the gap in cancer care. The campaign...
Tycel Phillips, MD, of the Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, discusses phase II findings from the CITADEL-204 study of parsaclisib, a next-generation inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. The agent, used as a monotherapy, appeared to benefit patients with relapsed or refractory...
Although radiation can be an effective therapy for prostate cancer, about one in six men will experience more frequent or painful urination as a lingering side effect. These disruptive genitourinary toxicities can occur whether the patient receives conventionally fractionated radiotherapy or...
In a recent phase II clinical trial, the combination of the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab and the CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab curtailed tumor growth in some patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that was resistant to a single immunotherapy agent. The addition of radiation therapy to the...
A study published by Deng et al in JAMA Network Open showed that chemotherapy after surgery for gastric adenocarcinoma was significantly associated with longer survival in patients with chemosensitive disease, but not in those with very sensitive or refractory disease. These findings suggest that...
In a study published by Charnita Zeigler-Johnson, PhD, MPH, and colleagues in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, gathering men at high risk for developing prostate cancer for discussion about prostate cancer or other health concerns increased their knowledge about prostate cancer...
Two recent studies correct a long-standing misconception about the origins of Barrett’s esophagus and, in doing so, may point to new avenues of treatment or prevention to lower the risk of esophageal cancer. The first study, published by Singh et al in the journal Gastroenterology, demonstrated...
Mehmet Altan, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses findings from a phase Ib dose-escalation study, which showed early evidence of activity for NKTR-255, an investigational IL-15 receptor agonist, plus cetuximab in patients with solid tumors. Treatment appeared to lead ...
Lynda Chin, MD, of the University of Texas, Austin Dell Medical School and Apricity Health, discusses precision medicine, barriers to its progress, and the challenges that must be met to facilitate better outcomes for patients. Building evidence and trust is key, Dr. Chin explains, as is developing ...
A molecular feature in prostate cancer called endogenous retroviral (ERV) RNA has been found to have prognostic value and also distinguish differences between prostate tumors in men of African and European or Middle Eastern ancestry, according to a study published by Kumar et al in the journal...
Proteasome inhibitors, the therapeutic backbone of current treatments for multiple myeloma, are effective in treating newly diagnosed disease, but resistance or intolerance to these molecules often develops, leading to relapse. While studying a neglected tropical disease, Buruli ulcer, researchers...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have become the standard of care for many patients with advanced cancers; however, these medications cause cutaneous adverse events in 20% to 40% of all patients who receive them. A study by Tang et al published in JAMA Dermatology indicated that these side effects may...
Meredith M. Regan, ScD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses findings that point to the potential benefits of using adjuvant exemestane plus ovarian function suppression (OFS) to treat premenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive early breast cancer. This conclusion came after 13 years...
Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, discusses the progress made in recent years treating patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), including approval of the immunotherapy agents pembrolizumab and sacituzumab govitecan-hziy, a new standard of ...
A clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides guidance on the use of radiation therapy to treat adult patients with primary liver cancers using external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT). Evidence-based recommendations outline indications and optimal EBRT...
Research published by Manjappachar et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network examined the impact of septic shock on people with hematologic malignancies. They found that the mortality rate was 67.8% at 28 days, and only 19.4% of patients remained alive after 90 days. The...
Romanos Sklavenitis-Pistofidis, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses study findings on a next generation of clinical assays to assess both tumor biology and immune state, as well as common clinical biomarkers in the marrow or blood. These biomarkers may accurately predict which patients...
Anil Aktas-Samur, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses study findings on the genomic characterization of non-progressor smoldering multiple myeloma, results that may provide a molecular definition of the disease as well as its risk-driving features. Combining this low-risk model with...
Less experienced radiologists are more likely to recommend additional imaging for women undergoing breast cancer screening when they read digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) images later in the day, according to a new study published by Bernstein et al in the journal Radiology. The results highlight ...
In a study published in the journal Gastroenterology, Trivedi et al described an increase in early-onset colorectal cancer and precancerous polyps, based on a large, nationally representative study of patients younger than 50 who underwent colonoscopy. It was the first large-scale study to look at...
Musa Yilmaz, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses study results suggesting that quizartinib with decitabine and venetoclax is active in patients with FLT3-ITD–mutated acute myeloid leukemia and that RAS/MAPK mutations continue to drive primary and secondary resistance ...
Manali Kamdar, MD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the TRANSFORM study, which suggest that lisocabtagene maraleucel, a CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy, improved outcomes with a favorable safety profile and may be a potential new standard of care for...
New research indicates that psychological distress from cancer and its treatment can cause many adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors to seek additional care and burden them with considerable medical expenses. The findings were published by Abdelhadi et al in the journal Cancer....
A team of researchers has revealed some of the mechanisms by which polyps develop into colorectal cancer, setting the framework for improved surveillance for the disease. Their study, published by Chen et al in the journal Cell, describes findings using a single-cell transcriptomic and imaging...
Research published by Hahn et al in JAMA showed depression screening for patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer was highly effective at identifying patients in need of behavioral health care. The new screening initiative was subsequently and successfully built into the patient care and daily...
On January 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to shorten the time between the completion of a primary series of the vaccine and a booster dose to at least 5 months for individuals aged 18 years and older....
A team of scientists has used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify which patients with certain head and neck cancers may benefit from reducing the intensity of treatments such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Their findings were published by Corredor et al in the Journal of the National...
A portable, rapid prostate cancer screening kit could provide early warning to populations with a higher incidence of prostate cancer and may particularly aid those with limited access to health care. The proof-of-concept test, described by Srinivasan et al in Current Research in Biotechnology, is...
Banu Arun, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a session she moderated that included discussion of how exercise and diet may reduce the risk of breast cancer, and emerging non-endocrine treatments that may help prevent the disease.
A new study published by Hannan et al in European Urology Oncology showed that highly focused radiation to isolated metastases that progress despite drug therapy may prolong drug efficacy in patients with kidney cancer. Together with a Canadian report recently published by Cheung et al in European...
Patients with lung cancer who quit smoking after their diagnosis experienced improvement in their overall survival compared to patients who continued smoking after diagnosis, according to results from a meta-analysis published by Caini et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Researchers led by...
Patrick Hwu, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center and President of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), and Mary Dean, JD, CAE, SITC Executive Director, discuss the organization’s mission, strides made in cancer immunology, meeting the challenge of immunoresistance, and the new SITC app for...
Joe Schroers-Martin, MD, of Stanford University, discusses his latest study findings, which show that follicular lymphoma driver mutations are detectable in blood and saliva years prior to a clinical diagnosis. These data build on previous work and suggest that researchers may be able to stratify...
Today, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) published significant updates to the expert consensus recommendations on vaccination and preexposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 for people with cancer. The NCCN Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination and Preexposure Prophylaxis meets...
Cancer deaths rose to 10 million and new cases jumped to over 23 million globally in 2019, according to a new study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine published in JAMA Oncology. At the start of the decade in 2010, total...
A study evaluating the clinical characteristics and outcomes of fully vaccinated patients with cancer who had breakthrough COVID-19 infections indicated they remained at high risk for hospitalization and death. The report, published by Schmidt et al in Annals of Oncology, showed that fully...
Nikhil C. Munshi, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the findings from a large nationwide Veterans Affairs study, which showed that, for patients with multiple myeloma, the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine is reduced, likely due to patients’ immunosuppression. Dr. Munshi...
Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses what she considers to be the most notable presentations at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. They include the focus on early-stage disease, especially in the TEXT/SOFT, RxPonder, and KEYNOTE-522 trials, as well as...
Nearly 100% of patients with solid tumors have antibodies effective against the SARS–CoV-2 delta variant after a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to results published as a correspondence by Fendler et al in Cancer Cell. The new findings also highlight a proportion of patients with blood...
Patients with melanoma who reported eating more fiber-rich foods when they began treatment with immunotherapy survived longer without cancer growth than patients with insufficient dietary fiber intake, according to new research published by Spencer et al in Science. The benefit was most noticeable...
On January 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to expand the use of a single booster dose to include use in individuals aged 12 to 15 years; shorten the time between the completion of primary...
Sangeetha Venugopal, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a retrospective analysis of 562 patients with treated secondary acute myeloid leukemia and prior exposure to hypomethylating agents (HMAs). The results showed that an HMA plus venetoclax yielded significantly...
Andrew Matthews, MD, of the Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, discusses findings from a retrospective study at an academic institution, which showed there was no statistically significant difference in overall survival between induction with CPX-351 and venetoclax/azacitidine for...
Oropharyngeal cancer incidence among men is continuing to rise rapidly in nearly all 50 U.S. states and among women living in states in the Midwest and Southeast regions, according to a new study published by Damgacioglu et al in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. In addition, the...
Eight substances have been added to the Report on Carcinogens, bringing the total list to 256 substances that are known—or reasonably anticipated—to cause cancer in humans. The 15th Report on Carcinogens, which is a cumulative report mandated by Congress and prepared by the National Toxicology...
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses findings from a pooled analysis of the MONALEESA-2, -3, and -7 trials. Among the findings was a consistent overall survival benefit with ribociclib plus endocrine therapy...