On August 5, 2022, fam-trastuzumab deruxte-can-nxki was approved for patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-low (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 1+ or IHC 2+/in situ hybridization–negative) breast cancer who have received prior chemotherapy in the metastatic setting or developed disease...
Researchers have created a model for predicting an individual’s breast cancer risk that could be used to create personalized breast cancer screening strategies, according to a new study published by Louro et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The research, also presented at the 13th European...
In a preplanned analysis of the stage IIA cohort of the PALLAS trial, the addition of adjuvant palbociclib to standard endocrine therapy did not improve outcomes over endocrine therapy alone. This finding suggests this agent provides no benefit in reducing the risk of early relapse in patients with ...
Marking World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (taking place November 18 to 24), the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) emphasized the danger that drug resistance poses to individuals who are particularly vulnerable to infection, such as people living with cancer. There has been substantial...
A 3-week course of radiation therapy including a concomitant boost of radiation to the surgical site appears to be as safe and effective as 4 to 6 weeks of radiation therapy given with a sequential boost of radiation for patients with early-stage breast cancer who have a high risk of recurrence....
Colorectal cancer ranks third among cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States, with an estimated 150,000 new cases and 52,000 deaths anticipated in 2022.1 Colorectal cancer rates have declined by approximately 2% per year from 2014 to 2018 in people older than age 50, which is...
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion and returning the power to regulate reproductive health for women to the states, ASCO, the American Cancer Society Action...
First-line maintenance therapy with olaparib extended survival beyond historical expectations in some women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer, according to long-term follow-up of two phase III studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022.1,2 Paul...
In a phase II trial (SALV-ENZA) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Phuoc T. Tran, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of enzalutamide to salvage radiotherapy improved freedom from prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate...
In an analysis from a Canadian/U.S. phase III trial (Alliance N107C/CEC.3) reported in JAMA Oncology, Palmer et al found that use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) vs whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) among patients who had undergone resection of one brain metastasis was associated with better...
Researchers have found changes in the levels of particular proteins in patients’ blood up to 2 years before they were diagnosed with breast cancer, according to a novel study published by Hagenaars et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The study, also presented at the 13th European Breast Cancer ...
Patients and survivors of breast cancer may have better mental health, physical health, and quality of life when taking part in a “behavioral graded activity” in combination with psychological therapies, according to a new study published by Lahousse et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The new ...
In a registry-based retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Ziad Bakouny, MD, and colleagues in the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19 registry) found that patients receiving cancer immunotherapy who had baseline immunosuppression, but not those without baseline immunosuppression,...
On November 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new Monday/Wednesday/Friday dosing regimen for asparaginase erwinia chrysanthemi (recombinant)-rywn (Rylaze). Under the new regimen, patients should receive 25 mg/m2 intramuscularly on Monday and Wednesday mornings and 50 mg/m2...
Although socioeconomic status often influences survival outcomes, pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were living in poverty and were treated with CAR T-cell therapy achieved similar overall survival and were equally likely to achieve a complete...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lannes et al found that single-cell genomics could identify the presence of high-risk copy number abnormalities (CNAs) in small subclonal populations at diagnosis of multiple myeloma in many patients. The investigators stated, “Multiple...
On June 22, 2022, dabrafenib in combination with trametinib was granted accelerated approval for treatment of adult and pediatric patients (aged 6 and older) with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors with BRAF V600E mutation whose disease progressed following prior treatment and who have no...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, and colleagues, the final overall survival results of the pivotal phase III SOPHIA trial have shown no significant difference between margetuximab-cmkb plus chemotherapy vs trastuzumab plus chemotherapy in previously...
On October 25, 2022, the bispecific B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed CD3 T-cell engager teclistamab-cqyv was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least four prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome...
After examining the impact of exercise on the gut microbiome of patients with cancer and reporting a positive association, researchers discovered that regular physical activity may extend the survival of patients with colorectal cancer, according to a new study published by Himbert et al in the...
For many patients who have smoldering myeloma, early treatment can slow or delay the disease’s progression to multiple myeloma, according to a new study published by Sklavenitis-Pistofidis et al in Cancer Cell. Investigators demonstrated that changes in immune system cells may indicate which cases...
Benjamin Movsas, MD, who was not involved in the phase II trial of prophylactic radiation for bone metastases, commented: “I thought this was a very important study. We will need to see the details in the final paper, but this approach could make a meaningfuldifference in the quality of life for...
The use of prophylactic radiation therapy for patients with metastatic cancer who had asymptomatic, high-risk bone metastases reduced the incidence of skeletal-related events, reduced pain and the number of hospitalizations, and was associated with significantly longer overall survival compared...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Reid et al found that undergoing prophylactic bilateral mastectomy was as common in women with breast cancer with pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in ATM and CHEK2 (moderate-penetrance genes) as in those with variants in BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2...
On September 21, 2022, selpercatinib was granted accelerated approval for adults with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors with RET gene fusion whose disease has progressed on or following prior systemic treatment or who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options.1 On the same day,...
The 2022 State of Lung Cancer report by the American Lung Association revealed that only 5.8% of eligible Americans had been screened for lung cancer in 2021, and some states had screening rates as low as 1%. The 5th annual report highlighted how the toll of lung cancer varied by state and examined ...
MicroRNA may be used as a biomarker to predict which patients are likely to face breast cancer recurrence and mortality, according to a new study published by Davey et al in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. While long-term outcomes have improved for patients with breast cancer, 20%...
Talal El Zarif, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Abdul Rafeh Naqash, MD, of Stephenson Cancer Center at The University of Oklahoma, discuss the results of their cohort study of patients living with HIV and metastatic non–small cell lung cancer, who are often underrepresented in clinical...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Rees-Punia et al found that the risk of frailty-related bone fractures among older cancer survivors was significantly greater vs that among older adults without a history of cancer. Study Details The longitudinal cohort study used data from 92,431 older adults...
New research examining whether patients with ovarian cancer were receiving care concordant with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) found clear disparities based on patients’ race, ability to pay, and access to specialists and...
Researchers identified a subset of patients who had early-stage melanoma with almost no melanoma-related deaths, potentially representing cases contributing to overdiagnosis, according to a new study published by Eguchi et al in Cancer. The findings may help clinicians determine which patients have ...
On November 14, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx (Elahere) for adult patients with folate receptor alpha (FRα)-positive, platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer, who have received...
In a pooled analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gallois et al found that early discontinuation of adjuvant oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine regimens—consisting of FOLFOX (infusional fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) or CAPOX (capecitabine and oxaliplatin)—was associated...
In a cost-effective analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wong et al found that only the mammography component of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) breast cancer screening guidelines for chest-irradiated Hodgkin lymphoma survivors was cost-effective; magnetic resonance imaging...
As reported in a letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine by Papke et al, data from a prospective biopsy screening program at a large gastrointestinal pathology group indicate that approximately 3% of rectal adenocarcinomas are mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient. Study Background As...
In a single-institution analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Benjamin L. Lampson, MD, and colleagues found a higher prevalence of rare germline ATM variants in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) vs other lymphoid and myeloid disorders. They also determined that patients with CLL...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Gilberto de Castro, Jr, MD, PhD, and colleagues, 5-year follow-up of the KEYNOTE-042 trial showed a maintained overall survival benefit with first-line pembrolizumab vs chemotherapy in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a PD-L1...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are safe and effective for people living with HIV who have metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented by El Zarif et al at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2022 Annual Meeting (Abstract 437). Findings from the first matched...
Researchers have identified potential therapies to treat patients with multiple myeloma whose cancer has relapsed following chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, according to a novel study published by Van Oekelen et al in Blood. CAR T-cell therapy has been a revolutionary treatment for...
In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jacola et al found that survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who received central nervous system (CNS)-directed therapy excluding cranial irradiation had poorer outcomes in numerous neurocognitive...
On November 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tremelimumab (Imjudo) in combination with durvalumab (Imfinzi) and platinum-based chemotherapy for adult patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR mutations or ALK genomic tumor aberrations. ...
There I was, crying once again all the way from the hospital’s parking lot to my apartment, into the shower, and while trying to fall asleep. This had become the norm during my internal medicine residency. For years, I tried hard every day to be someone else to fit in. It started with off-hand...
Robin Kate Kelley, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, was invited to discuss the results of LEAP-002.1 She said the main takeaway is that lenvatinib monotherapy is active as a preferred first-line agent for fit patients who have contraindications to...
Pembrolizumab plus chemoradiation failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in event-free survival vs chemoradiation alone in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but favorable numerical trends were demonstrated, according to results of the phase ...
Cedars-Sinai Cancer Medical Center recently announced the appointment of Yuan Yuan, MD, PhD, a breast medical oncologist and physician scientist who specializes in triple-negative breast cancer and breast cancer immunotherapy, as Director of Breast Oncology. Finding Cutting-Edge Therapies...
Eytan M. Stein, MD, will assume the role of Chief of the Leukemia Service in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), New York. Dr. Stein joined MSK as a medical oncology/hematology fellow in 2010, became a faculty member in 2013, and was appointed...
After nearly a year-long search, the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) has announced its new Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and Professional Integrity: Don S. Dizon, MD, who is currently Chair of the organization’s Digital Engagement Committee. Dr. Dizon is Director of the Pelvic...
HUTCHMED (China) Limited recently announced that the global phase III FRESCO-2 trial evaluating the investigational use of the anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tyrosine kinase inhibitor fruquintinib met its primary endpoint of overall survival in patients with advanced, refractory...
A new resource-stratified ASCO guideline update provides new evidence-based recommendations for the secondary prevention of cervical cancer in various resource settings.1 In the updated guideline, the screening recommendations cover basic, limited, enhanced, and maximal resource settings. Since...
In a post hoc analysis of the phase III TROPiCS-02 trial, sacituzumab govitecan-hziy improved efficacy outcomes in HER2-negative immunohistochemistry (IHC) subgroups.1 Results were consistent with those of the intent-to-treat population of hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast...