Cancer clinical trial research rapidly adapted to the circumstances of enrolling and treating patients in clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to findings from a study of enrollment during 2020 and early 2021 published by Joseph M. Unger, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA Network ...
A meta-analysis of nearly 200,000 men revealed 22 new genetic locations that could be susceptible to inherited testicular germ cell tumors—a 40% increase in the number of regions known to be associated with the cancer. The new findings, published by Pluta et al in Nature Communications, could help...
NEOTALA’s invited discussant, Lisa Carey, MD, the Richardson and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer Distinguished Professor in Breast Cancer Research and Deputy Director of Clinical Sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, saw the findings as part of a bigger trend toward reducing the use of...
For the neoadjuvant treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, the oral poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib yielded promising pathologic complete response rates in the phase II single-arm NEOTALA trial presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Preoperative chemotherapy is...
Worldwide, the global average surface temperature has risen at a similar rate of 0.17°F per decade since 1901, with the warmest year on record occurring in 2016 and the second warmest occurring in 2020. However, according to NOAA, since the late 1970s, the United States has warmed faster than the...
Chemotherapy has helped make acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) one of the most survivable childhood cancers. Now, a research team has shown how thiopurines may lead to mutations that set patients up for disease relapse. These findings were published by Yang et al in Nature Cancer. The research...
“KAITLIN didnot meet its primary endpoint, either in the intent-to-treat or node-positive population,1 but in context with the APHINITY trial [1 year of adjuvant pertuzumab/trastuzumab plus chemotherapy],2 whose outcomes were similar at 3 years, you can appreciate that both arms did extremely...
In the phase III KAITLIN trial, replacing adjuvant taxane and trastuzumab with ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) did not result in a significant improvement in invasive disease–free survival in the node-positive or intent-to-treat population of women with high-risk, HER2-positive early breast...
In a Canadian population-based cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Chesney et al found that the 5-year rate of cancer-related deaths exceeded that of non–cancer-related deaths among patients aged 70 or older undergoing surgery for cancer. Study Details The study used data from ICES (formerly...
On July 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for high-risk, early-stage triple-negative breast cancer in combination with chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment, and then continued as a single agent as adjuvant treatment after surgery. The FDA also...
In this video, Drs. Sara A. Hurvitz, William J. Gradishar, and Sara M. Tolaney discuss the management of hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer. The faculty present the case of a 54-year-old perimenopausal Black woman who has been diagnosed with high-grade T3N1 left...
Ovarian cancer carries a heavy morbidity and mortality burden, particularly in settings and regions of the globe that feature significant limitations in health-care resources. Given that ovarian cancer is more lethal than breast cancer, clinicians in resource-limited areas require guidance on the...
On March 22, 2021, pembrolizumab was approved for use in combination with platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy for patients with metastatic or locally advanced esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (tumors with epicenter 1 to 5 cm above the gastroesophageal junction) carcinoma who...
According to George W. Sledge, Jr, MD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Oncology at Stanford University Medical Center, by the beginning of the next decade, clinicians will be aided by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in many facets of care and by the approval of a wave of new ...
Patients with ultra-low–risk breast cancer, as classified by the MammaPrint 70-gene assay, had “excellent” long-term outcomes regardless of clinical risk or receipt of adjuvant therapy, a new analysis of the MINDACT trial has shown.1 In a separate study, a retrospective analysis of the National...
The following letter is adapted from comments made to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by the American College of Radiology, the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. “The American College of Radiology, the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, and the...
Prostate cancer experts have often stated it is important to add a bone-protecting agent for patients on treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Recent evidence in support of this recommendation comes from a study presented during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, confirming a...
“Learning never exhausts the mind.” —Leonardo da Vinci To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on treatments under study ...
In patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, the antibody-drug conjugate mirvetuximab soravtansine, given with bevacizumab, showed antitumor activity leading to durable responses in platinum-agnostic patients with strong expression of folate receptor alpha (FRα), researchers reported at the 2021 ASCO ...
Native Americans are among the most underserved minority populations in the United States and are disproportionately affected by cancer. They have the lowest survival rates for nearly all types of cancer of any minority population and much higher rates of certain types of cancer, including lung,...
Oncologist Angelo Di Leo, MD, PhD, recently died after a long struggle with neurodegenerative disease. He was 58 years old. Dr. Di Leo was devoted to breast cancer research for more than 25 years. He first trained with Gianni Bonadonna, MD, in Milan, followed by postdoctoral research at Jules...
Women account for a growing proportion of the oncology workforce. Multiple studies, however, show that women oncologists are underrepresented in leadership positions, may have significantly lower salaries than men, and may be subjected to discriminatory practices stimulated by a medical culture...
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women of reproductive age. Approximately 10% of breast cancers are diagnosed in this age group.1 Young age at diagnosis is an adverse prognostic factor, and most young women will be offered chemotherapy and/or endocrine therapy, both of which ...
Moderator of the session at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Virtual Oncology Policy Summit, Clifford Goodman, PhD, Senior Vice President at The Lewin Group, said he was struck by the diverse impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic had on cancer care. One area that remained relatively...
From a dramatic drop in caseloads to missed screenings and diagnoses as well as the emergence of telemedicine, COVID-19 turned the world of oncology upside down. During the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Virtual Oncology Policy Summit, “Defining the ‘New Normal’ 2021 and the State of...
Evidence shows that early detection and treatment of cancer can significantly improve health outcomes. However, women in Mississippi—particularly in underserved populations—experience high rates of late-stage cancer diagnoses. A report published by Michelle Williams, PhD, and colleagues in the...
In advanced ovarian cancer, the duration of maintenance bevacizumab should remain 15 months, according to the European multicenter phase III ENGOT/GCIG trial. These results were presented during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting by Jacobus Pfisterer, MD, PhD, of the AGO Study Group and Gynecologic...
In the phase II cohort of a phase I/II trial (PIVOT-02) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Adi Diab, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of the interleukin-2 pathway agonist bempegaldesleukin and nivolumab produced high response rates and extended progression-free survival in...
A report published by Oba et al in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer shares new data on combining standard treatment for breast cancer with a particular form of cancer immunotherapy—dendritic cell vaccines. The study is reportedly the first to demonstrate that in situ dendritic cell vaccines...
A phase II study published by Kanwal Raghav, MBBS, MD, and colleagues in Cancer Discovery found that combination treatment with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab and the VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab was well tolerated and resulted in a 40% objective response rate in patients with advanced malignant...
A study from the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) estimates that annual costs associated with metastatic breast cancer treatment among women in the United States will total $152.4 billion in 2030—nearly two and a half times the estimate for 2015 costs—due to an increase ...
Locoregional delivery of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has resulted in objective responses in adults with glioblastoma, but the approach has not been evaluated in pediatric patients with brain and central nervous system tumors. The innovative, ongoing phase I BrainChild-01 trial is...
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, elective medical procedures, including screenings for breast cancer, were curtailed to prioritize urgent medical needs and reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus in health-care settings. A study showed that, as of May 2020, preventive...
Invited discussant of the Short-HER trial, Evandro de Azambuja, MD, PhD, Head of the Medical Support Team at the Institut Jules Bordet, Brussels, acknowledged the good outcomes in low- and intermediate-risk patients treated with either a short or long duration of trastuzumab but said 1 year of the...
Long-term analysis of the Short-HER trial showed that 9 weeks of adjuvant trastuzumab conveyed benefits comparable to a 1-year course in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer deemed to be at low or intermediate risk for recurrence. High-risk patients, however, derived considerably more...
Melinda L. Telli, MD, of Stanford University, discusses results of a phase II study on neoadjuvant talazoparib in germline BRCA1/2 mutation–positive, early HER2-negative breast cancer. In this setting, talazoparib monotherapy was active and yielded pathologic complete response rates comparable to...
The invited discussant of LEAP-004, Jason J. Luke, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cancer Immunotherapeutics Center, University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center, said the investigators of LEAP-0041 deserve credit for designing a study with a clearly defined...
The invited discussant of APACT,1 Thomas Seufferlein, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Ulm in Germany, said the updated overall survival data “suggest an improved outcome with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine vs gemcitabine alone…. The combination improves long-term survival and...
In a 1-year interim analysis of a Dutch study (I CARE) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Vos et al found no clinically meaningful difference in changes in quality of life from baseline among patients with colon cancer with general practitioner– vs surgeon-led survivorship care. In addition,...
Mount Sinai Health System has recruited an internationally recognized expert in the management of breast cancer and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated malignancies, Joseph A. Sparano, MD, FACP, as Chief of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Deputy Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute...
Pediatric melanoma is a rare disease, with only around 400 cases diagnosed in the United States every year. To better understand this disease and how best to treat it, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists created a registry called Molecular Analysis of Childhood MELanocytic Tumors...
Black men most likely to benefit from advanced prostate cancer therapies are 11% less likely to receive them than non-Black men. This happens despite apparent equal opportunities in obtaining health-care services, a new study focused on American veterans has shown. Disparities Exposed Published by...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, John Mascarenhas, MD, and colleagues found that treatment with the telomerase inhibitor imetelstat at a dose of 9.4 mg/kg produced clinical benefit in patients with relapsed or refractory myelofibrosis after Janus-associated kinase...
The past 2 decades have seen so many advances in the treatment of multiple myeloma; in addition, median patient survival has grown from just 3 years in the late 1990s to between 8 and 10 years today,1 with some patients exceeding that prognosis by many years. Although still considered a stubbornly...
India has witnessed a major paradigm shift in the field of breast cancer and its management over the past 4 decades. The discipline of medical oncology has evolved exponentially over this period—a growth that few other scientific disciplines have experienced. Interventions at the individual,...
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, is pleased to announce the recipients of its awards supporting researchers with projects spanning across many areas in cancer care, including immunotherapy, precision medicine, breast cancer, and palliative care. This year, Conquer Cancer is funding the largest...
Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare, announced that Navneet Majhail, MD, MS, FASTCT, has been named Deputy Physician-in-Chief of Blood Cancers for the Sarah Cannon Transplant and Cellular Therapy Network (formerly the Sarah Cannon Blood Cancer Network). In his role, Dr. Majhail...
EA1131 study discussant, Melinda Telli, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, Director of the Breast Cancer Program at the Stanford Cancer Institute, and Associate Director of the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center, commented: “At this point,1 capecitabine remains preferred as...
In patients with triple-negative breast cancer who have residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant capecitabine remains the standard of care. In the multicenter randomized noninferiority EA1131 trial, which included primarily basal tumors, noninferiority of adjuvant platinum over...
“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.” –Kahlil Gibran To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting &...