Tycel J. Phillips, MD, and Alex F. Herrera, MD, both of the City of Hope National Medical Center, discuss findings from the POLARIX study, which provided the largest prospectively collected circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) data set on patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma....
Researchers have found that the bacteria, fungi, and viruses within the tumors of patients with colorectal cancer varied significantly depending on whether they were diagnosed with early-onset or late-onset disease, according to new findings presented by Weinberg et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual...
Invited discussant Rebecca A. Dent, MD, MSc, Senior Consultant, National Cancer Center Singapore, and Chairman of Medical Oncology at Duke-NUS Medical School, called the findings from these studies “very promising” and “provocative” but acknowledged that the small number of patients precludes...
In a collaborative study from the University of Freiburg and Stanford University reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jurik A. Mutter, BSc, of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, and colleagues found that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) identified prior to and during treatment...
In the Italian phase II VELO trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Napolitano et al found that anti-EGFR treatment rechallenge with the addition of panitumumab to trifluridine/tipiracil improved progression-free survival in the third-line setting for patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal...
Although hypomethylating agents previously appeared to be a promising treatment option for patients with bladder cancer refractory to immunotherapy, researchers were forced to halt a recent phase II clinical trial after patients experienced either no response to treatment or rapid tumor...
Researchers have found that azacitidine may be capable of increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy and aiding nearly 90% of patients who had peripheral T-cell lymphoma with the T follicular helper cell phenotype (PTCL-TFH) achieve remission, according to a novel study published by Ruan et al in ...
The addition of a checkpoint inhibitor to standard chemotherapy as first-line treatment of advanced endometrial cancer reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 70% in patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) tumors in two recent phase III studies. The results of the two...
In hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer, tumors eventually become resistant not only to endocrine blockade but to inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6). This obstacle to successful treatment is being tackled with novel hormone receptor–directed therapies, with the...
Amivantamab-vmjw, an EGFR and MET bispecific monoclonal antibody, has demonstrated encouraging long-term benefits and consistent efficacy in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 20 insertions, according to data presented by Pilar Garrido, MD, PhD, Associate...
Invited discussant of the phase II APPLE trial, Daniel SW Tan, BSc, MBBS, PhD, of the National Cancer Centre Singapore, noted that 17% of patients have had only molecular disease progression and were switched over to the sequential strategy. “This may be in some parts related to the sensitivity of...
Using liquid biopsies to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may soon transform treatment strategies for patients with advanced EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented during the European Lung Cancer Congress 2023 by lead study author Jordi Remon, MD, PhD, of...
In an analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Grace K. Dy, MD, and colleagues report 2-year outcomes of the CodeBreaK100 phase I/II trial of sotorasib in previously treated patients with KRAS G12C–mutated locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). According...
Researchers have found that studying the landscape of DNA and RNA alterations across multiple organs of metastasis may provide a new direction in cancer therapeutics to address treatment failure, according to a new study published by Liu et al in Nature Medicine. The new findings from analyzing...
Bone marrow transplantation in leukemia is one of the great success stories in the history of oncology, as is that of the late Nobel Laureate E. Donnall Thomas, MD, the pioneering clinical researcher whose name is synonymous with life-saving marrow transplantation. Dr. Thomas, who was born in the...
In hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, the ability to successfully target key mediators of endocrine resistance is changing the outlook of metastatic disease in this subtype, according to Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, FASCO, Director of Breast Cancer Research and Associate Professor at Harvard...
Moderator of the press conference at the 2023 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care, Callisia N. Clarke, MD, MS, FACS, FSSO, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, shared insights on the transition of circulating tumor DNA...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may transform disease monitoring and guide treatment for soft-tissue sarcomas, according to data presented at the 2023 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1 Findings of a retrospective review showed that 85% of patients...
The addition of a checkpoint inhibitor to standard chemotherapy as first-line treatment of advanced endometrial cancer reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 70% in patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) tumors in two recent phase III studies. The results of the two...
In three new clinical trials, researchers have found that the novel fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor pemigatinib and new poly (ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP)/ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR) inhibitor combinations may be effective at treating patients with multiple...
On this episode, we are sharing news presented during the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, which was held earlier this month in Orlando. We feature three researchers discussing their findings in non–small cell lung cancer, early-stage breast cancer, and solid tumors...
Researchers have discovered that co-occurring mutations in three tumor-suppressor genes—KEAP1, SMARCA4, and CDKN2A—may be linked with poor clinical outcomes in patients with KRAS G12C–mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were treated with the KRAS G12C inhibitors adagrasib or sotorasib,...
Timothy A. Yap, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses safety and efficacy data on three different PARP inhibitors combined with the ATR inhibitor camonsertib in patients with solid tumors harboring DNA damage response alterations. The findings showed that low-dose ...
Researchers have found that a combination of the PARP inhibitor olaparib and the investigational ATR inhibitor ceralasertib showed clinical benefit in pediatric patients with solid tumors exhibiting DNA replication and/or damage repair deficiencies, according to new findings presented by Gatz et al ...
Although plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) tests represent a promising approach for cancer screening, different methodologies vary in performance and many liquid biopsy tests show decreased performance in detecting early-stage or low-shedding DNA tumors. However, the results from a retrospective...
Black individuals are disproportionately affected by colorectal cancer. They have the highest rates of the disease of any racial or ethnic group in the United States, and are about 20% more likely to develop colorectal cancer and about 40% more likely to die of the disease than most other groups. A ...
mRNA-4157/V940, a personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine, in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab improved recurrence-free survival compared with pembrolizumab alone in patients with high-risk melanoma, and clinical benefit was observed regardless of tumor mutational...
Researchers have found that responses to PD-1 inhibitor treatment in patients with advanced melanoma may depend on whether they had received previous treatment with CTLA-4 inhibitors, according to a new study published by Campbell et al in Cancer Cell. “In our large set of data, features that have...
Penile cancer is a rare disease with an incidence that is rising globally. Driven by a goal to offer clinicians and patients guidance on the management of this rare condition, ASCO collaborated with the European Association of Urology (EAU) to develop new guidelines on its diagnosis and treatment....
Midhun Malla, MD, of the West Virginia University Cancer Institute, discusses the molecular landscape of metastatic colorectal cancer and the development and approvals of targeted treatments. Dr. Malla also details the range of HER2-targeted therapeutic options and the approval of trastuzumab and...
Researchers have revealed the potential mechanisms contributing to treatment resistance in patients with melanoma at the end of life, according to a new study published by Spain et al in Cancer Discovery. “These results present the most detailed picture yet of what melanoma looks like at the final...
Adding immunotherapy to standard chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced or the first recurrence of endometrial cancer significantly improved progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy alone, according to data presented by Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, and colleagues at the March...
Obesity may spur DNA damage in the breast tissue of patients who carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, possibly contributing to breast cancer development in patients who are already at a higher risk of the disease, according to a new study published by Bhardwaj et al in Science Translational Medicine....
Alex F. Herrera, MD, of the City of Hope National Medical Center, discusses results from the POLARIX study, which showed that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis has prognostic value for patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Patients who did not achieve 2.5 or...
In a global systematic review and meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Li et al found a high prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotype 16 and HPV33 in vulvar cancer and vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia, as well as a high frequency of p16INK4a positivity in HPV-positive vulvar...
Use of the novel menin inhibitor revumenib has led to remissions in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and associated findings have suggested the mechanisms through which cancer cells may become resistant to such treatment, according to two studies published by Issa et al and Perner et al, ...
In an Australian phase III trial (ONTRANS) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Allen et al found that 1 year of treatment with nicotinamide (vitamin B3) vs placebo did not reduce the risk of keratinocyte cancers or actinic keratoses in immunosuppressed solid organ transplant...
Researchers have found that screening for residual disease prior to a bone marrow transplant may help physicians identify which adult patients in remission from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are at risk of relapsing after the procedure, according to a novel study published by Dillon et al in JAMA....
ASCO has endorsed a new guideline from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) on the use of mismatch repair (MMR) and microsatellite instability (MSI) testing, which could help oncologists more accurately identify patients who may be suitable candidates for immune checkpoint inhibitor ...
Discussant of the INTRIGUE abstract, Breelyn A. Wilky, MD, Director of Sarcoma Medical Oncology, Deputy Associate Director for Clinical Research, University of Colorado, Aurora, called the data presented “compelling evidence of the power of ctDNA [circulating tumor DNA] to identify predictive...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis of KIT exon mutations may help to predict which second-line therapy is best for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: January 2023 Session.1 Exploratory analysis of the phase...
Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a fascinating disease from which many groundbreaking medical and oncologic lessons have been learned. Since the Irish surgeon Denis P. Burkitt, MD, FRCS, FRS, first described rapidly enlarging jaw and facial tumors in Ugandan children in 1958,1 the study of BL has led to...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hisham Mehanna, FRCS, and colleagues found that concordance and discordance of p16 immunohistochemistry and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA/RNA testing were associated with different outcomes among patients with squamous cell oropharyngeal carcinoma....
As in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium—its 20th such gathering—played to a full ballroom. It featured a stellar lineup of experts in the field as well as high-quality, impactful research in esophageal, gastric, hepatocellular, pancreatic, biliary tract, and ...
The TALAPRO-2 phase III clinical trial found that combining the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib with the androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide resulted in significantly better progression-free survival vs the current standard of care for patients with metastatic...
Long-term follow-up of survivors of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort showed signs of “epigenetic accelerated aging,” and many of these survivors had signs of neurocognitive impairment by their late 30s, researchers reported at the 2022 American Society of Hematology...
In a phase I/II trial (KRYSTAL-1) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Rona Yaeger, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues found that the KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib showed activity alone and in combination with cetuximab in heavily pretreated patients ...
In a study from the Children’s Oncology Group reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Abbou et al found that measuring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in intermediate-risk rhabdomyosarcoma was feasible and that the presence of ctDNA prior to treatment was associated with poorer prognosis. As...
On January 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved elacestrant (Orserdu) for postmenopausal women or adult men with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative, ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer with disease progression following at least one line of endocrine...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis of KIT exon mutations may help predict which second-line therapy is best for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), according to data presented by Bauer et al during the January ASCO Plenary Series session (Abstract 397784). An...