In the primary overall survival analysis of ZUMA-7, second-line treatment with axicabtagene ciloleucel significantly improved overall survival compared with high-dose therapy plus autologous stem cell transplantation (auto-HCT) in patients with early relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma....
The past several months have brought significant advances within the field of hematologic oncology. Here we will review some key updates focusing on pivotal clinical trials and new drug approvals. Advances in Lymphoma Presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, SWOG S1826 compared nivolumab plus...
Researchers have identified a novel parameter of T cells that may help oncologists anticipate which patients are most likely to develop immunotherapy toxicity. The findings, published by Ostmeyer in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, could lead to improved treatments for a variety of ...
In a Chinese study (CCLG-AML 2015) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Li et al found that homoharringtonine (HHT)-based induction therapy was associated with promising outcomes in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML). As stated by the investigators, “HHT is commonly used for the...
On August 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the fixed-dose combination of niraparib and abiraterone acetate (Akeega), with prednisone, for adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious BRCA-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, as determined by...
Researchers have found a way to use artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose sarcopenia in patients with head and neck cancer. The tool may be used to improve treatment and supportive care for patients, according to a report published by Ye et al in JAMA Network Open. “Sarcopenia is an indicator...
In a single-institution study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Kooshesh et al found that adults who had undergone thymectomy may be at an increased risk of death; cancer; and, in certain cases, autoimmune disease. As stated by the investigators: “The function of the thymus in human...
On August 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the bispecific antibody talquetamab-tgvs (Talvey) for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least four prior lines of therapy (including a proteasome inhibitor, an...
The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently elected three new officers to ASTRO’s Board of Directors: Sameer Keole, MD, FASTRO, as President-Elect; Wendy Woodward, MD, PhD, FASTRO, as Science Council Vice Chair; and Vivek S. Kavadi, MD, MBA, FASTRO, as Health Policy...
I knew the moment my fingers found a lump in my left breast, in 2018, that it was cancer, and I wondered if I was going to die. My maternal grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 39, the same age I was when I discovered the mass in my breast. She died 5 years later. Divorced ...
Susan M. Love, MD, MBA, a renowned surgeon, author, researcher, and patient advocate who dedicated her life’s work to breast cancer care, died on July 2, 2023, at her home in Los Angeles. The cause of death was recurrent leukemia. She was 75. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on February 9, 1948,...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. With this installment, we launch a new series of articles on commercially available chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. Syed Ali Abutalib, MD, and Jennifer N. ...
A report published by Kwan et al in the journal Cancer provides new information that may help oncologists answer one of the most common questions they hear from breast cancer survivors: Is it safe to drink alcohol? The findings suggest drinking alcohol is not associated with an increased risk of...
Approximately 65% of adults in the United States consume sugar-sweetened beverages daily. Researchers led a study examining the associations among intake of sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages and the incidence of liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality in a large cohort of ...
A machine-learning model found that background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) on breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be an indicator of breast cancer risk in patients with extremely dense breasts, according to a study published by Wang et al in Radiology. Patients with extremely dense...
In the phase III EVEREST trial reported in The Lancet, Christopher W. Ryan, MD, and colleagues found that adjuvant everolimus was not associated with a significant improvement in event-free survival vs placebo in patients at high risk of disease recurrence following surgery for renal cell...
In the phase II RAGNAR study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Shubham Pant, MBBS, and colleagues found that the pan-FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erdafitinib showed activity in patients with advanced solid tumors with FGFR alterations. Study Details In the ongoing study, 217 patients aged ≥ 12...
ASCO has been awarded $11 million in research funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study dosing strategies of oral CDK4/6 inhibitors in older adults living with metastatic breast cancer. The study aims to address a critical evidence gap in the treatment of this...
Formal discussant Daniel G. Stover, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the SONIA and PALMIRA trials raised several questions. Can CDK4/6 inhibitors be personalized and differentiated? Can patients delay treatment with these agents? Should all patients receive a...
Two studies presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting challenge the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors as part of upfront treatment of advanced hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The first, the SONIA trial, found that first-line treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors led to greater toxicity...
Preparing and running a medical conference is usually a complex but rewarding mission. It is a demanding job that is typically done voluntarily by physicians and educators who are dedicated to professional and community service; advancement of research and education; as well as the dissemination of ...
As we detailed in our Special Report “Surviving, but Not Always Thriving, After Cancer,” in the May 25, 2023, issue of The ASCO Post, the combination of advances in more effective therapies to treat cancer, gains in early detection, and sharp declines in tobacco use have led to a staggering 33%...
The probability of obtaining a HER2-low test result increases with the number of biopsies performed, according to a study of more than 500 biopsy samples in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. For patients originally labeled as having no HER2 expression (HER2 0), each successive biopsy...
New research published by Ou et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network evaluated how an important analysis on adjuvant chemotherapy for advanced colon cancer impacted prescribing patterns. The IDEA collaboration included more than 12,000 patients with stage III colon...
Experts have suspected that depression and anxiety may increase cancer risk by affecting a person’s health-related behaviors or by having biological effects on the body that support cancer development. Some research has supported an association among depression, anxiety, and cancer incidence,...
A study covering the northeast region of Colombia found nearly 12% of patients with a high body mass index (BMI) being treated for breast cancer at a regional center experienced cardiotoxicity during chemotherapy. The study will be presented at the upcoming American College of Cardiology Latin...
In a registry-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Galanaud et al found that outcomes in patients with cancer-associated isolated distal deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) were similar to those in patients with cancer-associated proximal DVT. Study Details The study included data from ...
In a Taiwanese study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lou et al compared two methods of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) screening to identify nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study Details Blood samples were obtained from 819 incident Taiwanese nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases (including 213 cases of...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Elizabeth A. Raetz, MD, and colleagues found that outcomes in children and young adults with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who do not achieve remission at the end of induction therapy have improved in contemporary...
In patients with N2 and N3 nasopharyngeal carcinoma, adjuvant treatment with concurrent gemcitabine and cisplatin significantly improved progression-free survival, with acceptable toxicity, over fluorouracil plus cisplatin, according to a phase III trial reported from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer...
Presented here are summaries of three abstracts from the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting that are pertinent for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The first two focus on men with homologous recombinant repair (HRR) gene alterations, including BRCA1/2. In the first study,...
Investigators have found that exposure to wildfires within 1 year of surgery may significantly lower the chance of survival in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a recent study published by Zhang et al in JAMA Oncology. Background Lung cancer is the second most common...
Researchers have compared the efficacy of surgical and nonsurgical interventions for patients with malignant bowel obstructions, according to a recent study published by Krouse et al in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. The new findings may help to inform clinical decision-making in the ...
Investigators have found that monthly U.S. adult cancer diagnoses decreased by 50% early in April 2020 and that the largest decreases were observed for stage I tumors, resulting in a higher proportion of late-stage cancer diagnoses, according to a recent study published by Han et al in The Lancet...
The American College of Physicians (ACP) suggested screening asymptomatic, average-risk adults for colorectal cancer at age 50 years, according to updated clinical guidelines published by Qaseem et al in the Annals of Internal Medicine. New ACP Clinical Guidelines Colorectal cancer has the fourth...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, FASCO, and colleagues, the phase III PROSPECT trial has shown neoadjuvant FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) was noninferior in disease-free survival vs chemoradiotherapy among patients with locally advanced...
The second-generation FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib has recently emerged as a treatment option for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in both FLT3-ITD–wild-type and FLT3-ITD–mutated cases. At the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2023 Hybrid Congress, several studies demonstrated the...
On August 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved trifluridine and tipiracil (Lonsurf) with bevacizumab for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF biological therapy, and, if ...
About 80% of geriatric female colorectal cancer survivors may experience a range of gastrointestinal symptoms years after receiving a diagnosis and treatment for their tumors, according to a recent study published by Han et al in PLOS ONE. Background While depression, anxiety, and fatigue are...
Researchers may have uncovered the immune adverse events and the specific type of CD8 T cells that characterize inflammatory arthritis induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to a recent study published by Wang et al in Science Immunology. Immune checkpoint inhibitors used to treat...
With an estimated 4.8 million new cases and 3.4 million deaths worldwide recorded in 2018, cancers of the gastrointestinal tract account for over one-quarter (26%) of global cancer incidence and over one-third (35%) of all cancer-related deaths. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...
Joshua Zeidner, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief of Leukemia Research, and Associate Chief of Hematology Research at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, emphasized the high risk of relapse, even after allogeneic stem cell transplantation, for patients ...
A new therapeutic option is under study for use in a difficult-to-treat subset of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a presentation during the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2023 Hybrid Congress.1 Exploratory results of the phase III MORPHO trial showed a benefit to the ...
Researchers in Japan have developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based diagnostic tool for colposcopy examinations that may accurately identify cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and subsequently suggest appropriate biopsy sites. The research will be presented by Ueda et al at the 2023...
As presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, the phase III IMerge trial of imetelstat1 and the phase III COMMANDS trial of luspatercept2 met their primary endpoints of transfusion independence. The findings suggest that lower-risk patients with transfusion-dependent, non-del(5q) myelodysplastic...
In the primary analysis of the phase III randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled IMerge trial, in those achieving the primary endpoint of 8-week transfusion independence, treatment with imetelstat significantly reduced transfusion dependence—for a median duration of 1 year—and improved a...
Investigators have found that just 4.5 minutes of vigorous activity per day could reduce the risk of some cancer types by up to 32%. The results of the recent study were published by Stamatakis et al in JAMA Oncology. Background Vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity describes very...
Patients who reside in lower-income communities may be less likely to undergo colorectal cancer screenings with computed tomography (CT) colonography than those who reside in higher-income communities, according to a new study published by Christensen et al in the American Journal of ...
In the phase III CARTITUDE-4 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, San-Miguel et al found that receipt of ciltacabtagene autoleucel following bridging therapy significantly improved progression-free survival vs standard care in patients with lenalidomide-refractory multiple...
In the Dutch single-institution phase II PERICLES trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, de Vries et al found atezolizumab produced activity in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the penis. Study Details In the study, 32 patients enrolled at The Netherlands Cancer...