In an interim analysis of a prospective observational study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Monin et al found that a single dose of the BNT162b2 Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was poorly immunogenic in patients with cancer, with immunogenicity markedly improving at 2 weeks after a second dose...
Researchers have made progress in unravelling the genetic underpinnings of pediatric neuroblastoma. Two main inherited pathogenic genetic variants have been identified and appear to be associated with worse outcomes: the ALK gene and loss of function in PHOX2B. The research, conducted with the...
In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Falandry et al found that single-agent carboplatin was associated with poorer survival vs a standard carboplatin/paclitaxel regimen as first-line treatment for stage III/IV ovarian cancer in women aged 70 or older with high geriatric vulnerability...
More news has emerged from this week’s meeting of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC). The group voted 8 to 0 in favor of continuing the accelerated approval for pembrolizumab in sorafenib-pretreated patients with hepatocellular carcinoma; 6 to 2...
In a small, single-institution phase I trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Kamran et al found that the use of a contralateral esophagus-sparing radiotherapy technique in patients receiving high-dose chemoradiation for locally advanced lung cancer was associated with no cases of grade ≥ 3 esophagitis,...
Survivors of low-risk breast cancer may experience wide-ranging and significant physical and psychological symptoms after cancer treatment, according to a new study presented by Jessica Schumacher, PhD, and colleagues at the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) Annual Meeting. Researchers...
The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly altered breast cancer treatment approaches, with a significant rise in neoadjuvant endocrine therapy for estrogen receptor–positive tumors, enabling immediate evidence-based treatment of women with an extremely common form of breast cancer, while delaying surgery and...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Aditya Bardia, MD, of the Division of Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III ASCENT trial has shown prolonged progression-free and overall survival with the Trop-2–directed antibody-drug...
Social media platforms are valuable tools for educating patients about serious health topics, but they can also spread false and biased information with potentially harmful results, according to recent research published by Stacy Loeb, MD, MSc, and colleagues in European Urology. Researchers...
Using data from the 2010–2018 National Health Interview Surveys, Chen et al found that just 16% of men who were 18 to 21 years old had received at least one dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine at any age. In comparison, 42% of women in the same age bracket had gotten at least one shot of ...
Roche announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted seven to two in favor of maintaining accelerated approval of atezolizumab in combination with chemotherapy (nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel, or nab-paclitaxel) for the treatment of ...
Disease regression was observed in 82% of women with endometrial hyperplasia with atypia and 43% of women with endometrial cancer after treatment for 6 months with a hormonal intrauterine device in a phase II study reported during the virtual edition of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)...
Editor’s note: Dr. Gale is an authority on medical response to nuclear and radiation accidents and participated in rescue efforts at the Chernobyl disaster, as well as at Goiania, Tokaimura, and Fukushima, among other radiation and nuclear accidents. Anyone reading the popular press or even...
In the phase I NRG-BR001 trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Chmura et al found that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) could be used safely to treat multiple metastases in patients with breast, lung, and prostate cancers. Study Details The trial was conducted within a consortium of North...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lv et al found noninferior progression-free survival with induction therapy with the third-generation platinum lobaplatin/fluorouracil vs cisplatin/fluorouracil, followed by lobaplatin- vs cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy, in patients...
In a phase IIa study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jagasia et al found that the oral ROCK2 inhibitor belumosudil produced high response rates and reduced corticosteroid use among patients with chronic graft-vs-host disease after allogeneic bone marrow or hematopoietic cell...
On April 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to loncastuximab tesirine-lpyl (Zynlonta), a CD19-directed antibody and alkylating agent conjugate, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy, ...
The top two barriers to accessing complementary and integrative therapies, according to a survey of 576 patients with cancer and caregivers, were cost, cited by 56%, and a lack of knowledge about the therapies, cited by 52.1%. “Other barriers included a lack of time (29.2%), location of the...
Everything about my breast cancer diagnosis, from my presentation to diagnosis, was strange. In the spring of 2006, I was performing my monthly breast self-exam when I felt a hard lump in the upper left quadrant of my left breast. Having lost a good friend to breast cancer 4 years earlier, I was...
On February 5, 2021, umbralisib was granted accelerated approval for the following indications: adult patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma who have received at least one prior anti–CD20-based regimen and adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have...
Randomized clinical trials are highly regulated initiatives that must comply with multiple requirements while maintaining high epistemic standards, a balance that becomes increasingly difficult as the research questions surrounding immunotherapy and targeted agents become more complex. To shed...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Griffin P. Rodgers, MD, MACP, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Rodgers, a physician-scientist,...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sherif S. Farag, MD, PhD, of Indiana University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that the addition of the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4; CD26) inhibitor sitagliptin to tacrolimus and sirolimus prophylaxis resulted in a low ...
In a brief report in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ayumu Arakawa, MD, of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, and colleagues described identification of lung cancer in two boys that likely resulted from transmission of maternal cervical cancer tumor...
On February 9, 2021, cemiplimab-rwlc was granted regular approval for the treatment of patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) who were previously treated with a Hedgehog pathway inhibitor or for whom this type of therapy is not appropriate and granted accelerated approval for...
In a Perspective article in The New England Journal of Medicine, Julia A. Beaver, MD, and Richard Pazdur, MD, of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence (OCD), discussed issues surrounding “dangling” accelerated approvals of anti–PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies—ie,...
A study published by Small et al in the journal Brachytherapy found that the common procedure of interstitial or intracavitary radiotherapy may continue safely—potentially without delay or antibiotics—in patients with cervical cancer following uterine perforation. According to the World Health...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thierry Conroy, MD, and colleagues, the French phase III UNICANCER-PRODIGE 23 trial has shown that intensification of preoperative therapy with FOLFIRINOX (oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin, fluorouracil [5-FU]) prior to chemoradiotherapy resulted in improved ...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hutchings et al found that the bivalent CD20-targeting T-cell–engaging bispecific antibody glofitamab produced high response rates and was associated with manageable toxicity in patients with predominantly refractory aggressive B-cell ...
Introduction of immunotherapy has revealed a paradigm shift in the management of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that does not harbor a therapeutically targetable driver mutation. Over the past 5 years, several trials have informed treatment decisions, based on disease...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Luis Paz-Ares, MD, of the Universidad Complutense & CiberOnc, Madrid, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 9LA trial has shown improved overall survival with first-line nivolumab/ipilimumab plus two cycles of chemotherapy vs four cycles of chemotherapy...
Lisa Baumann Kreuziger, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Hematology/Oncology at Versiti/Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, introduced Terry B. Gernsheimer, MD, at the Plenary Session and spoke with The ASCO Post about the results of the study. “The investigators of the A-TREAT trial tested a...
A national survey conducted by Zhu et al to identify patient preferences among colorectal cancer screening modalities to improve population adherence to colorectal cancer screening has found, when presented with a choice, most individuals with an average risk of colorectal cancer prefer stool-based ...
In a phase II study (innovaTV 204/GOG-3023/ENGOT-cx6) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Robert L. Coleman, MD, and colleagues found that the tissue factor–directed antibody-drug conjugate tisotumab vedotin produced durable responses in previously treated patients with recurrent or metastatic...
Findings from the ASCO-designed phase II Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) basket trial, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Alva et al, indicated that pembrolizumab showed activity in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer and high mutational...
Landmark changes in the treatment of genitourinary cancers have occurred over the past year, as summarized in this year’s Genitourinary Oncology Almanac from The ASCO Post. Starting with our area of focus, metastatic renal cell carcinoma, the saga continues with two more positive phase III trials...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Robert J. Motzer, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and colleagues, the phase III CLEAR trial has shown prolonged progression-free survival with lenvatinib/pembrolizumab and with lenvatinib/everolimus vs sunitinib and...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Hope S. Rugo, MD, and colleagues, findings in one cohort of the phase II BYLieve trial indicated activity of the PI3Kα-selective inhibitor and degrader alpelisib plus fulvestrant in patients with PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced ...
In the ENACT study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Murphy et al found that use of the 12-gene Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) in a predominantly Black patient population with relatively low-risk prostate cancer tended to be associated with reduced selection of active...
Despite decades of scientific progress against cancer, access to treatment remains highly unequal. Some of the reasons—like institutional racism and poverty—are a reflection of our broader society. Other inequities may go unrecognized but are no less damaging. People with underlying health...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulatory decisions related to treatments for urothelial cancer, cervical cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, solid tumors, and colorectal cancer. Acceptance of Two Supplemental Biologics License Applications for Enfortumab Vedotin-ejfv in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sibylle Loibl, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III PENELOPE-B trial has shown that palbociclib plus endocrine therapy did not improve invasive disease–free survival vs placebo plus endocrine therapy in patients with residual invasive hormone...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Nancy Y. Lee, MD, and colleagues, the phase III JAVELIN Head and Neck 100 trial showed no improvement in progression-free survival with the addition of the PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab to chemoradiotherapy in patients with previously untreated locally advanced...
Two new studies published in the journal Blood suggest that the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine may have reduced efficacy in individuals with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and multiple myeloma. According to researchers, these studies could help inform the ideal time for vaccination of these...
Death from infection—the leading cause of death for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)—may be linked to specific gene mutations, according to results from a study published by Else et al in the journal Leukemia. Testing for these mutations could be used to identify patients at a...
A report published by Kotecha et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network suggests that baseline brain imaging should be considered in most patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Researchers found incidental brain metastases occur in a clinically significant...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Metzger et al found that the integration of brentuximab vedotin into front-line treatment of pediatric patients with high-risk classical Hodgkin lymphoma resulted in avoidance of radiotherapy in many patients, as well as high rates of...
In a genome-wide association study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bowden et al identified six independent variants among the PAX8, CLPTM1L, and HLA genes that were associated with risk for invasive cervical cancer or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3). As stated by the...
In an Israeli case-control study reported in a commentary in The Lancet Oncology, Waissengrin et al found that the short-term safety of the Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was similar in patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors compared with healthy controls. Study Details...
Although head and neck cancers include multiple histologies and primary sites, squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) originating in the oropharynx, oral cavity, larynx, or hypopharynx are the most common. Today, we recognize different types of head and neck cancers, primarily those that are human...