New, long-term use of opioids after lung cancer surgery was linked to a 40% increased risk of death from any cause within the following 2 years, according to findings published by Oh et al in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. Persistent postoperative pain has been reported in up...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by O’Brien et al, the second interim analysis of the phase III PEARLS/KEYNOTE-091 trial has shown significantly improved disease-free survival with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with completely resected stage IB to IIIA non-small cell lung cancer...
A novel imaging technique may significantly improve the accuracy of the diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) compared to clinical and dermoscopic examinations alone, according to new research presented at the 31st European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress. The study found...
New data show that the immuno-oncology drug atezolizumab may be a safe and effective treatment for patients with stage IB to IIIB non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prior to surgery, according to a study led by researchers with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James...
In a National Cancer Database analysis reported in JAMA Network Open, Brand et al found that patients with colon cancer who lived farther from their treatment facility and those with no insurance or Medicaid alone were more likely to present with advanced-stage disease. As stated by the...
Researchers at The Marvin and Concetta Greenberg Pancreatic Cancer Institute at Fox Chase Cancer Center have found that a new synthetic lethal agent could be an effective treatment for pancreatic cancers with DNA damage repair (DDR) defects. Igor Astsaturov, MD, PhD, a co-director of the Institute...
Studies show that Hispanic individuals have higher incidence rates of developing liver cancer and higher mortality rates—by 50% or more—than non-Hispanic White individuals for several cancers, including liver cancer. A new study investigating hepatocellular carcinoma among successive generations of ...
Certain genetic variants found in prostate tumors of men of African descent were associated with African ancestry, according to two studies presented at the 15th American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial and Ethnic Minorities...
In a large study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS), men and women who drank two or more servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a 5% increased risk of death from an obesity-related cancer, including gastrointestinal, postmenopausal breast, endometrial, and kidney...
New computed tomography (CT) technology paired with artificial intelligence (AI)-based noise reduction may offer superior detection of bone disease associated with multiple myeloma at lower radiation doses than conventional CT, according to a recent study published by Baffour et al in Radiology....
Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center shared data on a treatment option for patients with bladder cancer at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 (Abstract LBA73). Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, medical oncologist and Chief of the Genitourinary Oncology...
A new, large study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed the rising costs of cancer treatment led to increases in total costs of care, and when compounded with greater cost-sharing, increased out-of-pocket costs for...
In a phase II trial (SECOMBIT) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, and colleagues found that sequential immunotherapy and targeted therapy with ipilimumab/nivolumab followed at disease progression by encorafenib/binimetinib was associated with good survival...
Neal D. Shore, MD, of Carolina Urologic Research Center/Genesis Care, discusses new data from the ENACT trial, which showed that patients with prostate cancer and the RNA biomarkers PAM50 and AR-A were likely to have better outcomes with enzalutamide treatment. The results suggest that such RNA...
Newly released results from the phase III ADAURA trial revealed that osimertinib yielded a 5.5-year median disease-free survival in the postsurgical treatment of patients with EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and nearly three in four patients treated with adjuvant osimertinib were...
Merkel cell carcinoma has a high rate of metastasis and poor patient outcomes. The current standard of care for patients with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic disease is immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy targeting PD-1 and PD-L1, but only about half of patients respond to this therapy....
On September 12, Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, Board Chair of the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), made the following statement: “President John F. Kennedy’s historic speech that inspired our nation and an entire generation of Americans to achieve manned space exploration underscored ...
Martin Reck, MD, PhD, of Germany’s Lung Clinic Grosshansdorf, details two trials that included patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer: 3-year survival outcomes in the EMPOWER-Lung 1 study of continued cemiplimab-rwlc beyond disease progression with the addition of chemotherapy, and phase ...
Charles Swanton, PhD, of The Francis Crick Institute, discusses a newly discovered mechanism of action for air pollution–induced non–small cell lung cancer in which particles linked to climate change appear to promote cancerous changes. The finding might pave the way for new potential approaches to ...
In an international, multicenter phase II clinical trial, 63.3% of patients with stage II to IV cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma saw their tumors nearly or completely eradicated when treated with the anti–PD-1 agent cemiplimab-rwlc before surgery. The results were presented by Gross et al at the...
Physicians, care providers, and payers may be preparing for a major shift in early cancer detection that will affect almost every stage of cancer diagnosis and treatment. New data supporting the accuracy of multicancer early detection blood testing, presented by Deb Schrag, MD, FASCO, MPH, at the...
Patients with high-risk melanoma who received the anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab both before and after surgery to remove cancerous tissue had a significantly lower risk of their cancer recurring than similar patients who received the drug only after surgery. These results from a study by the SWOG...
Sapna P. Patel, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the latest findings from the SWOG S1801 trial, which showed that using single-agent pembrolizumab as neoadjuvant therapy improved event-free survival compared to adjuvant therapy in high-risk resectable stage III–IV ...
Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, of Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, discusses an analysis of long-term survival from the EMPOWER-Cervical 1/GOG-3016/ENGOT-cx9 trial. Cemiplimab-rwlc is the first immunotherapy to demonstrate an overall survival benefit as a second-line monotherapy for patients...
Paul A. DiSilvestro, MD, of Women & Infants Hospital and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, discusses overall survival results after a 7-year follow-up of the SOLO1/GOG-3004 trial for patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation who received...
An overall survival benefit has now emerged for sacituzumab govitecan-hziy in patients with previously treated hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative locally recurrent inoperable or metastatic breast cancer, according to a planned second interim analysis of the phase III TROPiCS-02 trial. These...
Patients who received fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) for HER2-low metastatic breast cancer reported that the treatment maintained their quality of life compared to conventional chemotherapy, according to results presented by Ueno et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
A novel treatment strategy with personalized cell therapy significantly improved progression-free survival compared to standard immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma, according to results from the phase III M14TIL trial reported by John Haanen, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the European...
Significant improvements in progression-free survival and response rate—combined with reduced symptoms and better quality of life—were reported as outcomes of a new treatment approach for patients with desmoid tumors, benign but locally aggressive and invasive soft-tissue tumors. Through targeting...
A new mechanism has been identified through which very small pollutant particles in the air may trigger lung cancer in people who have never smoked, paving the way to new prevention approaches and the development of novel therapies, according to late-breaking data reported by Charles Swanton, MBBS, ...
On September 9, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), together with the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS), announced the launch of the Europe-wide “Cancer Prevention Across Europe” campaign (PrEvCan) aimed at reducing the burden of cancer. The announcement was made at the opening ...
I was just 31 and about to give birth to my fourth child, Yitzchok, when I received a diagnosis of primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. The news was terrifying and crippling. For months, I had been experiencing shortness of breath, coughing, and a pain in my left shoulder, all of which were...
“I think the biggest innovations of the 21st century will be at the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning!” —Steve Jobs Relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma remains a treatment challenge. Promising responses have been demonstrated with bispecific antibodies, with a...
The numbers are dizzying. The costs of cancer care in the United States are rising so fast that by 2030, it is projected the national cancer-attributable costs will total more than $246 billion, up from $183 billion in 2015—a 34% increase.1 And although the total global economic burden of cancer is ...
The James P. Allison Institute at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, recently announced the establishment of its scientific advisory board to provide strategic guidance and evaluation of its research portfolio and programs. The 11-person advisory board will be co-chaired by ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) recently announced that Ochsner Cancer Institute in New Orleans is a recipient of a 2022 ACCC Innovator Award. The award recognizes Ochsner Cancer Institute’s Chemotherapy Care Companion program—a digital technology system that allows the cancer...
ASCO has issued a new practice guideline update on the use of biomarkers in the management of metastatic breast cancer.1 The updated guideline revisits recommendations from the 2015 guideline and addresses topics that have emerged since then in the move toward personalized medicine in metastatic...
The GOG Foundation, Inc (GOG-F), Board of Directors recently announced the election of Thomas J. Herzog, MD, as its next President, succeeding Larry J. Copeland, MD, who has served in this role since 2017. Under Dr. Copeland’s leadership, the GOG-F has experienced unprecedented growth in its...
People with light skin tones are far more likely to develop melanoma than people with darker skin tones. This large disparity results from far more than can be explained by the ultraviolet (UV) protective effects of melanin pigment, owing in large part to the melanin precursor...
Mount Sinai researchers have published results that show alternate therapeutic options for patients with multiple myeloma after first-line treatment with bispecific antibodies fails. While new T cell–based immunotherapies, or “T-cell redirection” therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the 30-month follow-up of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial showed a continued disease-free survival benefit with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma who are at increased risk...
March 2, 2009. Just published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.1 And we even got the cover. Twists and turns of heat shock protein-90 (Hsp90), the chaperone, the evolutionary capacitor. Great name and important cancer target. People smiled when I talked about this at the Hsp90 conference....
In 2019, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed V. Craig Jordan, CMG, OBE, PhD, DSc, FMedSci, Companion of the Most Distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG), honoring his extraordinary scientific work in the development of selective estrogen receptor modulators, most notably...
When combined with radiotherapy as definitive treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, cisplatin at a dose of 40 mg/m2 weekly is noninferior to cisplatin at 100 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, according to the results of the ConCERT trial.1 These findings were presented by Atul...
The randomized phase II GRIFFIN study evaluated the investigational use of daratumumab in combination with lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (RVd), followed by maintenance therapy with daratumumab and lenalidomide, compared to RVd followed by maintenance therapy with lenalidomide alone,...
Nipple-sparing techniques can provide better outcomes for women undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy, but due to complication risks, these approaches are often not offered to women with sagging or larger breasts. For this group of patients, a “batwing” incision may provide a safer...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Nizar M. Tannir, MD, FACP, and colleagues, the phase II CANTATA trial showed no improvement in progression-free survival with the addition of the glutaminase inhibitor telaglenastat to cabozantinib in previously treated patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell...
Interim results of a phase II study have demonstrated the safety and feasibility of treating elderly and frail patients with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with the monoclonal antibody durvalumab during and after radiation therapy, without chemotherapy. The results of a...
Two studies published simultaneously by Jaratlerdsiri et al in Nature and Gong et al in Genome Medicine have identified genetic signatures explaining ethnic differences in the severity of prostate cancer, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Through genetic sequencing of prostate cancer tumors from...
In a long-term follow-up of the German phase II PACE-MDS trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Uwe Platzbecker, MD, and colleagues described erythroid, neutrophil, and platelet hematologic improvement rates with luspatercept treatment for anemia in patients with lower-risk...