On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg (Adstiladrin), a nonreplicating adenoviral vector–based gene therapy indicated for the treatment of adult patients with high-risk bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive non–muscle-invasive...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fu et al found that the WEE1 kinase inhibitor adavosertib was active in patients with refractory solid tumors with CCNE1 amplification, with evidence of increased activity in epithelial ovarian cancer. Study Details In the trial, 30...
In a Dutch-Danish phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Rohaan et al found that tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy prolonged progression-free survival vs ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma. Study Details The open-label trial included 168 patients...
In a European cohort study (EPI-CT) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hauptmann et al found an increased risk of brain cancer with increasing brain radiation dose among children and young adults who had undergone computed tomography (CT) scans. Study Details The study used pooled data from nine...
In the Canadian 5C study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Puts et al found that a geriatric assessment and management intervention did not improve quality of life, unplanned health-care use, mortality, or toxicity compared with usual care in patients aged 70 years or older with cancer. ...
Researchers revealed that patients with neuroendocrine cancer overwhelmingly prioritized quality of life over living longer, according to a new study published by Li et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The researchers surveyed 60 patients with advanced...
Paul G. Richardson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses preliminary results from the dose-expansion phase of the CC-92480-MM-001 Trial, which showed promising efficacy in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, including those with prior BCMA-targeted therapies....
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Hammad et al found that adjuvant therapy was associated with better outcomes vs no adjuvant therapy in patients with node-negative disease after neoadjuvant therapy and resection of pancreatic carcinoma. Study Details The study used data...
Investigators revealed that the travel time to the nearest mammography facility may be long for a considerable proportion of patients in the United States, particularly affecting more than 50% of patients in the rural areas of 28 states, according to a new study published by Wiese et al in the...
The novel drug modakafusp alfa has shown early promise in combating relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, according to new findings presented by Vogl et al at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract 565). Background Modakafusp alfa is a fusion protein...
On December 14, Monica M. FACS, Bertagnolli, MD, FASCO, Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), released the following statement: I was very recently diagnosed with early breast cancer. The prognosis is very favorable. The cancer is hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer...
Richter syndrome is an aggressive lymphoma that develops in up to 1% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and it serves as an example of histologic transformation. While recent advances have transformed the treatment landscape of CLL, Richter syndrome remains associated with poor...
Zanubrutinib showed superior efficacy to ibrutinib—with fewer side effects—in the first head-to-head comparison between the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), according to data presented by Jennifer...
A novel study evaluating the addition of venetoclax to the intensive chemotherapy regimen of cladribine, idarubicin, and cytarabine as a front-line therapy demonstrated high rates of disease control and remissions in younger patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and high-risk...
A new phase II trial demonstrated that the chemotherapy-free regimen of ponatinib and blinatumomab may have achieved high response rates and reduced the need for an allogeneic stem cell transplant for patients with recently diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic...
Researchers observed encouraging response rates in older or high-risk patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) when treated with the triplet combination therapy of azacitidine, venetoclax, and magrolimab in a phase I/II trial, according to new findings presented by Daver et al at...
A three-drug combination that showed success at sending patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) into deep remissions in a clinical trial may be effective at treating patients with high-risk types of the disease, according to new findings presented by Ryan et al at the 2022 American Society ...
Patients of non-European ancestry and especially those of low socioeconomic status are more likely to receive the most specialized types of allogeneic stem cell transplantation that require the highest level of care, according to new findings presented by Fingrut et al at the 2022 American Society...
Research shows that long-term survivors of pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma are at an elevated risk for a variety of health conditions, including cardiopulmonary morbidity, cognitive impairment, and premature death, and could also be at heightened risk for the premature onset of dementia. A new study of...
A previous analysis by Khurana et al on the impact of inclusion/exclusion criteria in clinical trial design for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) found that up to 24% of patients treated with standard immunochemotherapy were excluded based on five lab-based criteria alone. A new...
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center presented preliminary results of an ongoing phase I clinical trial demonstrating successful retreatment with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for patients whose cancers relapsed after previous CAR T-cell therapy. ...
Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that inhibiting menin with an oral small-molecule inhibitor of the menin-KMT2A interaction, SNDX-5613—now named revumenib—yielded encouraging responses for patients with advanced acute leukemias and KMT2A rearrangements or...
Jorge E. Cortes, MD, of Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, discusses new findings on vodobatinib, which was administered to patients with chronic-phase Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and appeared to be efficacious and safe in people who had received...
Elias Jabbour, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses an analysis confirming that olverembatinib is a potentially viable treatment option for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), including...
The latest analysis of the TROPiCS-02 breast cancer trial shows that sacituzumab govitecan-hziy is effective in patients with a wide range of Trop-2 expression levels. The findings were reported at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium by Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine and...
Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from the POSITIVE trial, which showed that a temporary interruption of endocrine therapy in women with hormone-responsive breast cancer in order to attempt pregnancy, does not affect short-term disease outcomes. The study ...
In a new survey, a majority (64%) of patients diagnosed with breast cancer younger than 46 years reported significant impacts to their sexual health, yet 86% of patients reported that their health-care provider was unable to help address sexual health issues, according to findings presented by...
The results of a new study answer some questions and raise new ones about the optimal treatment strategy for children and young adults living with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or lymphoblastic leukemia (LBL). The randomized study is the first to test whether the use of a shorter, higher-dose...
In an early-phase trial, nearly three-quarters of patients who received talquetamab—a first-in-class, off-the-shelf, T-cell–redirecting bispecific antibody targeting both the GPRC5D and CD3 receptors—for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma saw a significant reduction in cancer burden within a...
Per Karlsson, MD, PhD, of Sweden’s University of Gothenburg and the Sahlgrenska Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses results from the POLAR study, which was a meta-analysis of three clinical trials of breast-conserving surgery with or without radiotherapy. POLAR is the first genomic classifier...
Elacestrant—an investigational oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD)—achieved longer progression-free survival vs standard-of-care endocrine monotherapy as second- or third-line therapy in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative, advanced or metastatic breast cancer...
Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) whose disease relapsed or did not respond to initial chemotherapy had similar outcomes when they proceeded directly to allogeneic stem cell transplantation compared with those who underwent intensive salvage chemotherapy to achieve complete remission...
In a recent trial of the European MCL Network, people with mantle cell lymphoma who received the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib had rates of progression-free survival and overall survival that were on par with the current standard of care (high-dose immunochemotherapy followed by...
Chemotherapy followed by endocrine therapy led to more cancer-related cognitive impairment compared with endocrine therapy alone in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer at 36 months, according to patient-reported responses. These findings—from a substudy of the phase ...
Patients with invasive breast cancer who had low scores on an investigational gene molecular signature had similar rates of local recurrence independent of whether they received adjuvant radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery, according to findings presented by Karlsson et al at the 2022 ...
Patients with multiple tumors in a single breast who underwent a lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy had local recurrence rates comparable to those historically observed in patients with a single tumor, according to new findings presented by Judy C. Boughey, MD, and colleagues at the 2022 San...
On December 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients aged 2 years and older with unresectable or metastatic alveolar soft-part sarcoma (ASPS). Study ML39345 Efficacy was evaluated in Study ML39345...
Editor’s Note: ASCO was deeply saddened by the news that Dr. Jeff Ward passed away on November 3, 2022. In an interview with Dr. Ward this past summer, published in ASCO Connection (August 30, 2022), ASCO recognized Dr. Ward’s commitment to exceptional patient care and public advocacy. An...
My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994, when he was just 55 years old. He died 6 years later. The cancer was so aggressive, it took only a few weeks from the time he was diagnosed for the cancer to grow to the size of a softball, and even a radical prostatectomy couldn’t save his...
A new drug that inhibits an enzyme playing a crucial role in cell division and growth has shown signs of anticancer activity with manageable side effects in patients with liver cancer who have been treated unsuccessfully previously with up to three lines of treatment. These findings were presented...
In a trial matching the genetic makeup of tumors with new treatments, tumors shrank in 22% of patients with cancer who received the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib. Participants included those with breast cancer and endometrial cancer as well as those with two rarer types of cancer, anal and salivary...
Researchers have found that liquid biopsies may be able to detect the blood disorder clonal hematopoiesis, which places patients at higher risk of developing blood cancers. The findings were presented at the 2022 European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)–National Cancer...
Physiologic changes of pregnancy, such as increased breast volume and firmness, present challenges to detecting breast cancer. Meeting those challenges requires “education and continued diligence, both on the patient side as well as on the physician side,” Luis Zabala Blanco, Jr, MD, said in an...
“Pregnancy confers a dual effect” on breast cancer risk, “with an initial transient increased risk for breast cancer that is followed by long-term protection over time,” Luis Zabala Blanco, Jr, MD, noted in an update on the pathology of pregnancy-associated breast cancer, which was presented at the ...
“I knew my husband was dying in June. He’d been living with a terminal diagnosis for 6 years, but suddenly his cancer turned aggressive…. The last time we saw the oncologist, he sent us home with a DNR order and told me to put it on the refrigerator, because that’s where the EMTs look,” writes...
Breast cancer specialist Brittany L. Bychkovsky, MD, MSc, grew up primarily in Kansas; however, given that her father was a pilot, her childhood was not wholly centered in the Sunflower State. “When I was 12 years old, my mom, who was a schoolteacher, was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. Her ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Bolivia. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
The repercussions from the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, to overturn Roe v Wade, effectively ending a nearly 50-year federal constitutional right to an abortion and allowing instead states to determine abortion access, are starting to be felt in the cancer care community. The ...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, a physician-scientist who currently serves as President of the City of Hope National Medical Center and the Deana and Steve Campbell Physician-in-Chief...
The use of circulating tumor cell counts to guide the choice between chemotherapy and endocrine therapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic, estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer provided overall survival benefits compared with physician’s choice of treatment,...