Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified variants in two genes that may be associated with accelerated aging in childhood cancer survivors. Their research looked at the difference between the survivors’ biologic age and chronologic age. The study, published by Dong et...
In patients with breast cancer tumors harboring BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, inhibitors of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) have emerged as essential therapeutic agents. What more needs to be done to obtain even more benefit from these targeted agents? This question was tackled at the 2022 Miami...
A phase I/Ib trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network group NRG Oncology, NRG-GY017, concluded that the addition of the immunotherapy atezolizumab prior to and concurrently given with chemoradiation was safe for women with node-positive, locally advanced...
In a single-institution retrospective review reported in JAMA Oncology, Zurko et al found that early intrathecal therapy with hydrocortisone with or without intrathecal chemotherapy was effective in treating grade ≥ 3 immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) in patients...
On March 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a single agent for patients with advanced endometrial carcinoma that is microsatellite instability–high or mismatch repair–deficient (as determined by an FDA-approved test). Eligible patients have disease...
Adjuvant pembrolizumab may improve disease-free survival compared to placebo in patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following complete resection and adjuvant chemotherapy when indicated, investigators from the PEARLS/KEYNOTE-091 trial reported in a European Society for...
In the prospective observational DELUGE study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers in the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation (BMHCC) found that programs for low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening and for management of incidentally detected lung nodules were...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Pfister et al, the French phase III GETUG-AFU V05 VESPER trial showed a nonsignificant improvement in 3-year progression-free survival with dose-dense methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (dd- MVAC) vs gemcitabine/cisplatin given...
In an Italian phase II study (MAYA) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Morano et al found that patients with microsatellite-stable (MSS) and O6-methylguanine–DNA methyltransferase (MGMT)-silenced metastatic colorectal cancer without disease progression on temozolomide derived benefit...
On March 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab and relatlimab-rmbw (Opdualag) for adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age or older with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The approved treatment is a fixed-dose combination of the LAG-3–blocking antibody relatlimab ...
The OlympiA trial of adjuvant olaparib in patients with HER2-negative, high-risk early breast cancer and BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations has demonstrated a significant overall survival benefit, reducing the risk of death over placebo by 32%. Andrew Tutt, MBChB, PhD, Director of Breast Cancer Now at the...
The past year has witnessed tremendous advances in genitourinary oncology. I am pleased to review these findings in this year’s Genitourinary Oncology Almanac from The ASCO Post. I hope that you will find this roadmap helpful in highlighting a selection of these exciting developments. Checkpoint...
Enzalutamide is a common first-line choice for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, but response in some patients eventually wanes and then patients are switched to a different treatment. According to the phase IIIb PRESIDE trial, reported at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary...
Triplet therapy with the oral androgen receptor inhibitor darolutamide plus docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer vs docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy, according to results of the...
The combination of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor niraparib plus abiraterone acetate and prednisone as first-line therapy significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone and placebo alone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer...
In a phase III trial (IPATential150) reported in The Lancet, Christopher Sweeney, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, found that the addition of the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to abiraterone and prednisolone produced a significant improvement in radiographic progression-free...
Hypofractionated radiotherapy to the prostate bed proved to be noninferior to conventionally fractionated radiotherapy after prostatectomy regarding gastrointestinal and genitourinary side effects, according to the results of the phase III NRG Oncology GU003 trial, presented at the 2021 American...
The addition of 2 years of abiraterone acetate plus prednisolone (AAP) to androgen-deprivation therapy improves metastasis-free survival and overall survival compared with androgen-deprivation therapy alone in men with nonmetastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer, according to a primary...
The addition of abiraterone acetate plus prednisone on top of androgen-deprivation therapy plus docetaxel improved survival in patients with de novo metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer vs androgen-deprivation therapy plus docetaxel alone. These results were from the phase III PEACE-1...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kim N. Chi, MD, of BC Cancer and Vancouver Prostate Centre, and colleagues, the final overall survival analysis of the phase III TITAN trial showed significant benefit of apalutamide plus androgen-deprivation therapy vs placebo plus...
An updated analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial continues to support the use of adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with renal cell carcinoma at high risk of recurrence, according to a presentation at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 At 30 months of follow-up,...
Adjuvant pembrolizumab following surgery significantly improved disease-free survival compared with placebo among patients with high-risk clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to the international phase III KEYNOTE-564 study presented at the Plenary session during the 2021 ASCO Annual...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial has shown that the combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib improved progression-free survival and...
Neoadjuvant treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv achieved notable antitumor activity in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who are ineligible for treatment with cisplatin, according to preliminary results for cohort H of the EV-103 trial reported at the 2022...
Adding the PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab to chemotherapy significantly improved survival compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without EGFR/ALK mutations, according to research presented by Wang et al during the March 2022 session of the ASCO...
The VESPER phase III trial answers some key questions regarding the optimal management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The study found that the neoadjuvant regimen of dose-dense methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (dd-MVAC) was superior to standard gemcitabine/cisplatin in...
A novel immunotherapeutic combination that targets PD-1 and the LAG-3 pathway may significantly delay disease progression as a first-line treatment of advanced or unresectable melanoma. Updated results of the global phase III RELATIVITY-047 trial validated the study’s initial findings and were...
As reported inThe New England Journal of Medicine by Dean F. Bajorin, MD, of the Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III CheckMate 274 trial has shown improved disease-free survival with adjuvant nivolumab vs placebo...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Thomas Powles, MD, of Barts Cancer Centre, Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues, a prespecified interim analysis of the phase III EV-301 trial has shown improved overall survival with the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab...
In a cohort of the phase II TROPHY-U-01 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Scott T. Tagawa, MD, MS, of Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, and colleagues, found that the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy produced durable responses in patients with metastatic...
Formal discussant Celestia S. Higano, MD, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, had the task of reviewing the results of both the MAGNITUDE and PROpel trials, which were presented at the same session. Of the two trials, PROpel...
The PARP inhibitor olaparib in combination with abiraterone demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in radiographic progression-free survival vs current standard-of-care abiraterone as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic castration-resistant...
Gabriel A. Brooks, MPH, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, was invited to discuss the results of the ACCENT/IDEA database analysis of early treatment discontinuation in stage III colon cancer.1 Although the results confirm the...
For patients with stage III colon cancer, early discontinuation of adjuvant chemotherapy leads to worse outcomes—but early discontinuation of oxaliplatin did not. These findings, which came from an analysis of the large ACCENT and IDEA clinical trials databases, were presented at the 2022 ASCO...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Teachey et al, the phase III Children’s Oncology Group AALL1231 trial has shown that the addition of bortezomib to a modified augmented Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM) backbone improved survival outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed T-cell...
In the French phase III ESTIMABL2 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Leboulleux et al found that no use of radioiodine was noninferior to radioiodine ablation in the occurrence of functional, structural, or biologic events among patients undergoing thyroidectomy for low-risk...
Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of City of Hope National Medical Center, discusses some key research developments in kidney cancer, including data on nivolumab and ipilimumab with or without CBM588 in metastatic renal cell carcinoma; intestinal microbiome associated with the development of grade 3 or 4 adverse ...
We are all following the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine with surprise and horror. I’m sure few readers of The ASCO Post imagined the invasion of a European country by its European neighbor was possible again, naively thinking wars like this ended with the Allied victory in World War II. But...
On March 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved olaparib (Lynparza) for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated, HER2-negative, high-risk early breast cancer who have been treated with neoadjuvant or adjuvant...
An updated analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial continues to support the use of adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with renal cell carcinoma at high risk of recurrence, according to a presentation at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 At 30 months of follow-up,...
In a Japanese phase II/III trial (JCOG1008) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kiyota et al found that overall survival with once-weekly cisplatin in postoperative chemoradiation was noninferior to every-3-week cisplatin for patients with high-risk locally advanced squamous cell...
A new report from an ASCO expert panel that addresses unanswered questions about biosimilars—licensed biologic products that are largely analogous to products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—found that they may represent an affordable and effective alternative for cancer...
An update to a joint guideline from Cancer Care Ontario (now a division of Ontario Health) and ASCO provides revised recommendations for the use of adjuvant bone-modifying agents for patients with nonmetastatic breast cancer, with the overarching goal of improving relapse and survival rates.1,2...
Advances over the past 3 decades in improvements in cancer prevention and screening strategies and more effective diagnostics and therapies in cancer care have led to unprecedented declines in death rates from all cancers, including prostate, gynecologic, and colorectal/anal cancers. The fastest...
OCE Insights is an occasional column developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, Gautam U. Mehta, MD, Neurosurgical Oncologist and Clinical Reviewer, Division of Oncology 2; Fatima Rizvi,...
I had the privilege of sitting in a meeting on the treatment of endometrial cancer as a junior investigator in January 2015 where a representative from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was present. The topic of the meeting was on how to design the next endometrial cancer trials. I remember...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Vicky Makker, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III Study 309/KEYNOTE-775 trial has shown prolonged progression-free and overall survival with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab vs physician’s choice of...
Priyanka Sharma, MD, of the University of Kansas Medical Center in Westwood, the invited discussant of the poster, noted that the DAISY study asked whether HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugates—in this case, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd)—have activity beyond the conventional...
The antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) has led to practice changes in previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Most notably, in the DESTINY-Breast03 trial, treatment with T-DXd produced a doubling in 12-month progression-free survival vs...
The current standard of care for the neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer consists of trastuzumab plus pertuzumab and polychemotherapy. But some patients, particularly those with locally advanced or inflammatory disease, still relapse and die. Furthermore, multiagent...