A retrospective cohort study published in JAMA Network Open found glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists to be associated with lower all-cause mortality than dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, with no significant difference from sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors, ...
For patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, chemotherapy can sometimes cause severe, even life-threatening side effects in those who carry certain genetic variants that may impact how their bodies process the drugs used to treat their disease. Testing for variants in two genes before starting...
Researchers have identified age-, sex-, and race-related disparities around treatment with hypomethylating agents for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes in the United States. The receipt of hypomethylating agents was found to favor younger, male, White patients, according to findings published ...
In patients with small cell lung cancer, second-line treatment with the bispecific T-cell engager tarlatamab-dlle (which targets the delta-like ligand 3 [DLL3]) vs standard-of-care chemotherapy appeared to significantly improve overall survival, progression-free survival, and patient-reported...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to dordaviprone (Modeyso) a protease activator, for adult and pediatric patients aged 1 year and older with diffuse midline glioma harboring an H3 K27M mutation who have progressive disease after prior therapy. This...
The aging population is rapidly growing, with the number of older adults rising steadily each year. In the 1980s, experts predicted a rise in the number of older patients with cancer, yet we were unprepared. The shortage of oncologists, along with many experienced clinicians retiring early, has...
Immunoglobulin replacement therapy did not lead to a reduction in the risk for serious infections leading to hospitalizations for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to the results of a real-world Australian cohort study published in Blood Advances. This finding is at odds...
Guest Editor’s Note: Ayurveda, the traditional medical system that originated in India, focuses on improving overall well-being through self-care, diet, and herbal formulations. There is a growing patient interest in using Ayurveda for symptom control and to improve quality of life. In this...
The true upside of the many advances in cancer treatment is clear. Approximately 18.6 million people in the United States have a history of cancer, and the number of cancer survivors is expected to exceed 22 million by the year 2035.1However, one downside affecting many of these individuals is...
The randomized phase III C-POST trial attempted to learn whether the standard-of-care treatment in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma—cemiplimab-rwlc, which blocks the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway—could reduce recurrence after definitive local therapy for patients who had high-risk features....
Based on the results of an analysis reported in JAMA Network Open by Zhang et al, preexisting depression is associated with an increased risk of mortality from prostate cancer. The investigators commented, “Approximately one in six patients with prostate cancer experience major depression, a...
Updated clinical guidelines for the management of patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) recommend use of more minimally invasive procedures and methods where possible. The guidelines, published in the journal CHEST,...
Earlier this year, the first interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-689 trial showed that the use of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab as part of a perioperative treatment regimen with standard-of-care surgery plus adjuvant radiotherapy (with or without cisplatin alone) improved event-free...
Cannabis use disorder was associated with at least a threefold increase in the risk for developing oral cancer over 5 years compared with those without cannabis use disorder, according to findings from a multicenter clinical cohort analysis published in Preventive Medicine Reports. “Cannabis smoke ...
The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) has released a best practice guideline addressing cancer in pregnancy, a condition with limited data and complex diagnostic challenges. This new guidance—published by Nanda et al in the International Journal of Gynecology &...
A cross-sectional study of cancer drug indications granted accelerated approval, which was published in JAMA Network Open, found that prescribing increased more after accelerated approval than after conversion to regular approval. Parikh et al also noted that off-label prescribing after accelerated ...
In an Australian phase II trial (De-Squamate) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ladwa et al found that the use of pembrolizumab produced a high rate of clinical or pathologic complete response in patients with resectable cutaneous squamous cell cancer (cSCC), suggesting the potential to ...
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–cleared artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm was able to detect and correctly localize almost one-third of interval breast cancers in a retrospective evaluation of screening digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), findings published in Radiology showed. The...
Globally, three in five liver cancer cases may be due to preventable risk factors, and obesity-linked cases of the disease are on the rise, according to findings from The Lancet Commission on hepatocellular carcinoma. The majority of liver cancer cases could be prevented by reducing levels of viral ...
As reported in JAMA Network Open by Sugumar et al, a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials comparing neoadjuvant therapies in rectal cancer showed no trial-level association between pathologic complete response and survival. “Our study’s findings suggest a recommendation ...
ASCO has issued a new update to its living guideline regarding therapy for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without driver alterations, based on results of three studies published recently.1 The update (the first since a previous version in February 2025) includes discussion of...
ASCO has issued a new update to its living guideline on treatment of stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with driver alterations based on two recent studies.1 The update, which amends the most recent version published in February 2025, includes a discussion of osimertinib therapy options in ...
I’ve been blessed to have remained healthy for most of my life. In fact, I can’t remember ever spending a night in the hospital until I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, at age 86, in the summer of 2024. And even then, the symptoms that drove me to seek care in the emergency room of my local...
The risk of death does not appear to increase with the use of menopausal hormone therapy in women with early-onset, BRCA-mutated breast cancer who began hormone supplementation after diagnosis, based on preliminary data presented during the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “Management of early surgical...
A large prospective cohort study conducted by Ye and Kang et al and published in JAMA Network Open found that, after adjusting for familial and other cancer-related factors, interstitial lung disease (ILD) was associated with an increased risk of developing most histologic subtypes of lung cancer....
The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently elected four new officers to ASTRO’s Board of Directors: Catheryn M. Yashar, MD, FASTRO, President-Elect Jonathan Strauss, MD, MBA, Secretary/Treasurer-Elect Anita Mahajan, MD, FASTRO, Health Policy Council Vice Chair...
In the phase III ASCENT-04/KEYNOTE-D19 trial, the combination of the TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy plus the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab in previously untreated patients with PD-L1–positive advanced triple-negative breast cancer significantly reduced the risk of...
Continuing its efforts to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced plans to significantly enhance Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) auditing in Medicare Advantage. Beginning immediately, CMS will audit all eligible...
Systemic amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is characterized by the deposition of immunoglobulin light chains, produced by clonal CD38-positive plasma cells, as insoluble amyloid fibrils in vital organs. It is a disease that can progress rapidly and is fatal without treatment. The past decade...
In an individual patient-level meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Villacampa et al found that the HER2DX assay risk score was prognostic for event-free survival outcomes in patients with early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer. Study Details Systematic review of the literature...
Alcohol-associated cancer deaths have doubled in the United States, disproportionately affecting men and those aged 55 or older, according to the results of an observational study presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Over the study period of 30 years, proportional mortality rates increased...
Patients in their 80s or older with B-cell lymphomas are able to receive chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy safely, results of a multicenter retrospective study published in Bone Marrow Transplantation showed. These patients are usually not eligible for clinical trials of CAR T-cell...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have significantly impacted treatment options for a wide range of cancers given their efficacy, especially among cancer types that are considered immunologically “hot.” With this broad benefit across many tumor types, researchers continue to look for ways to...
In a UK population-based study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Watling et al examined the relationship between ever use vs never use of oral contraceptives and the risk of liver cancer. Some findings suggested the possibility of slightly increased risk with longer-term use. As noted by the...
Aprepitant, a commonly used antiemetic, led to improvements in patient outcomes when given during chemotherapy treatment for patients with non-luminal early breast cancer. Patients showed better prognoses and survival advantages, particularly among those with triple-negative breast cancer. Study...
Teclistamab-cqyv is the first bispecific T-cell engager antibody that targets both B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) proteins on myeloma cells and CD3 proteins on T cells. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2022 for treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Desai et al examined survival outcomes with the addition of immunotherapy to neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Study Details The study involved data from the Flatiron...
Rates of early-onset gastrointestinal cancers, beyond just colorectal cancer, are rising among people younger than age 50, according to experts from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Researchers from Dana-Farber published a literature review in the British Journal of Surgery showing that cases of newly ...
In the 3-year final analysis of the phase III REACH3 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zeiser et al compared the use of ruxolitinib vs best available therapy (BAT) in terms of failure-free survival and duration of response in patients with steroid-refractory or -dependent chronic...
Corticosteroids, which are commonly prescribed to alleviate cancer-related symptoms in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with immunotherapy, may be the reason certain immunotherapies fail in treating the disease, according to new research published by Polyakov et al in Cancer ...
A study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society examining the association between the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and changes in survival disparities by health insurance coverage among patients with newly diagnosed stage IV melanoma, non–small cell lung cancer...
Investigators have found that two common types of hormone therapy may alter breast cancer risk in women before age 55. Women treated with unopposed estrogen hormone therapy (E-HT) were less likely to develop the disease than those who did not use this type of hormone therapy. Additionally, women...
Panoramic photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) with machine learning assistance could be a safe, noninvasive, and sensitive alternative to mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for breast cancer screening, according to study results that were published in Nature...
Erika Hamilton, MD, Director, Breast Cancer Research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, provides a look at “where we stand in 2025” in the field of oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) for patients with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. She discusses the first...
The 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting has officially concluded. Our sincere thanks to the global oncology community and ASCO for creating such a remarkable forum advancing cancer care. Here we highlight the most impactful updates in genitourinary tumors from this year’s meeting. Kidney Cancer: Long-Term...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Kirby et al, 10-year follow-up of the phase III UK IMPORT LOW trial has shown that partial-breast and reduced-dose radiotherapy continue to be associated with similar ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) outcomes compared with whole-breast radiotherapy...
About one in six tested chemotherapies in sub-Saharan Africa were found to have serious quality defects, according to the results of a study published in The Lancet Global Health. Researchers assessed the appearance, packaging, and labeling of each cancer medication and measured the quantity of...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) focuses on the use of radiation therapy for adults with World Health Organization (WHO) grade 4 diffuse gliomas, a category that includes some of the most common and most aggressive primary brain tumors. The...
Injection with botulinum toxin (BTX) type A (IncoA) plus transdermal scopolamine led to the reduction in radiation-induced salivary gland toxicity without compromising PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen) tumor uptake in patients with metastatic prostate cancer who were receiving...
Breast cancer survivors may have a slightly lower risk of developing Alzheimer dementia compared with cancer-free individuals, according to the results of a study published by Jeong et al in JAMA Network Open. “The risk of Alzheimer dementia is a crucial aspect of overall well-being among breast...