On March 21, 2017, Gravely et al published a study1 in Lancet Public Health on the 2003 global tobacco control treaty’s impact on the adoption of tobacco-reduction measures around the world, which has led to a 2.5% reduction in global smoking rates. The treaty obligates the 180 countries committed...
A test that measures the levels of five chemicals in the breath has shown promising results for the detection of cancers of the esophagus and stomach, in a large patient trial presented by Markar et al at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (Abstract 6LBA).1 Together, stomach and esophageal cancers...
ASCO and the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) proudly announce the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards, the Society’s highest honors, and the CCF Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Award. The recipients of these awards include researchers, patient advocates, and global oncology leaders who have worked ...
James Ewing Lecture: Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, presented the 2017 James Ewing Lecture on “Immunologic Checkpoint Blockade: Exploring Combinations and Mechanisms.” Dr. Wolchok is the Lloyd J. Old and Daniel K. Ludwig Chair in Clinical Investigation, Chief of the Melanoma and Immunotherapeutics...
At this year’s ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Neeraj K. Arora, PhD, Associate Director at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, opened his presentation by stressing that integrating the patient’s voice and experience into the clinical setting produces better health outcomes.1 Dr. Arora,...
On April 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who are not eligible for cisplatin chemotherapy. Atezolizumab was previously approved for people...
“The status quo for HPV [human papillomavirus]-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is not sufficient.… Our treatment is effective, but the toxicity associated with it is not tolerable.” And HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer “is a cancer of relatively younger patients,” said Nishant...
Mark S. Soberman, MD, MBA, FACS, was elected as the 2017–2018 President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) during its 43rd Annual Meeting on March 31, 2017, in Washington, DC. Dr. Soberman brings a wealth of experience in thoracic surgery, thoracic oncology, and value-based...
Twenty-five of the nation’s leading medical groups issued this statement on April 17: As the world's leading organizations representing clinicians, laboratory researchers, and physician-scientists committed to improving patient care, we support the March for Science and its nonpartisan call...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued a new clinical guideline for the management of oropharyngeal cancer. The guideline, “Radiation therapy for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: An ASTRO Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline,” was published by Sher et ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) issued congratulations to Allison S. Betof, MD, PhD, on her election to Chairperson-elect of the Associate Member Council (AMC) of AACR. Dr. Betof assumed office at the AACR Annual Meeting earlier this month and will serve as Chairperson-elect...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Moran et al found that a radiotherapy boost for ductal carcinoma in situ with local control after whole-breast radiotherapy was associated with a reduction in the risk for ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence. Study Details The analysis pooled...
The combination of trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus lapatinib (Tykerb) achieved positive results in patients with heavily pretreated, HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer, according to the final results of the phase II HERACLES-A trial. This two-pronged, HER2-directed approach achieved clinical...
A new analysis of patients who have undergone treatment for prostate cancer shows a connection between androgen-deprivation therapy and dementia, according to researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Previous studies from Penn have shown men who undergo...
Despite highly aggressive therapy that includes maximal tumor resection, high-dose radiation, and temozolomide chemotherapy, the prognosis for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma is dismal, with a median survival of less than 15 months, prompting researchers to study novel approaches to...
Matching the size of a tumor to the body’s immune response could help physicians tailor immunotherapy treatments for patients with metastatic melanoma. Researchers found that patients who didn’t respond to treatment had an imbalance between the size of their tumor and how exhausted...
A study of data from large prospective U.S. cohorts has shown that current cigarette smoking, greater pack-years, and heavy smoking were associated with poorer survival among patients with pancreatic cancer. The study was reported by Yuan et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Study Details...
In a research statement reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Visvanathan et al, ASCO has outlined steps for incorporating high-quality observational research into the evidence base for clinical decision-making. As stated by the authors: “ASCO believes that high-quality...
On April 11, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) released its first report examining the costs of treating cancer, specifically the out-of-pocket portion patients face. The report, released at the organization’s annual national policy forum, found U.S. cancer patients...
In a Spanish phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, García-Donas et al found that maintenance therapy with vinflunine improved progression-free survival vs best supportive care alone in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma with disease control on first-line chemotherapy....
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Martinelli et al found that blinatumomab (Blincyto) produced complete responses in patients with relapsed/refractory Philadelphia chromosome–positive (Ph+) B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) progressing after...
Overall cancer death rates continue to decrease in men, women, and children for all major racial and ethnic groups, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2014, published by Jemal et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The report...
To better understand the conditions and mechanisms driving health disparities in the United States, The Lancet partnered with physicians and public health researchers from the City University of New York, Harvard Medical School, Cornell University, Yale School of Medicine, and the New York...
Publicity surrounding a recent study showing a sharp increase in colorectal cancer among young people, even those in their 20s,1 may result in increased patient visits and questions. Among people aged 20 to 39, colon cancer rates have increased 1% to 2.4%, and rectal cancer rates have increased...
The incidence of colorectal cancer continues to increase among young adults, with the sharpest increase among those aged 20 to 29, according to a recent article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.1 This trend has been called disturbing and ominous, but the widely reported results of...
With its recently issued clinical practice guideline update, reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, ASCO has spoken: Interdisciplinary palliative care teams improve the outcomes of cancer care; patients live longer and feel better.1 There is no doubt. Multiple well-designed studies show the...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline update on integration of palliative care into standard oncology care.1 This update of a 2012 ASCO provisional clinical opinion2 is based on an Expert Panel’s systematic review of data reported between...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2017 CCF Merit Awards in Gastrointestinal Cancers, Cancer Survivorship, Genitourinary Cancers, Immuno-Oncology, and Quality Care. The following 65 young researchers, recognized for the scientific merit of their ...
At this year’s ASCO Quality Care Symposium, CancerLinQ’s Vice President and Medical Director, Robert S. Miller, MD, shed light on CancerLinQ’s current and future value in the oncology community.1 Dr. Miller opened by explaining to the audience that CancerLinQ™ is an instrument for quality...
A protein known as arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) may be a potential therapeutic target for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, according to results presented by Giuliani et al the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Washington, DC (Abstract 3016)....
A study presented by Hildebrandt et al at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR; Abstract 990) revealed several findings about racial disparities in health-related quality of life among colorectal cancer patients. Hispanics and blacks had a higher burden of...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Adelson et al found that using standardized criteria for palliative care consultation on a solid tumor oncology service resulted in increased hospice referral and reduced rates of hospital readmission and chemotherapy use after discharge....
A multinational equivalence trial has shown no difference in disease-free survival with total laparoscopic hysterectomy vs total abdominal hysterectomy in women with treatment-naive stage I endometrial cancer. The findings were reported by Janda et al in JAMA. Study Details In the trial, 760...
Adding the investigational immunotherapy indoximod to the immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) increased the proportion of patients with advanced melanoma who responded to treatment compared with previously reported response rates for pembrolizumab monotherapy, according to interim results from a ...
Tumors with mutations in the proteins isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 or -2 (IDH1/2) exhibited features similar to BRCA-mutant tumors and were more likely to respond better to PARP inhibitors than to IDH inhibitors, according to preclinical data presented by Sulkowski et al at the 2017 American...
In a report from the Children’s Oncology Group Study AALL03N1 published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Landier et al found no association between oral mercaptopurine ingestion habits in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and risk of relapse after adjustment for medication...
The adaptive phase II/III GATSBY trial has shown no survival difference between ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) vs taxane treatment in patients with previously treated locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Results were reported by Thuss-Patience et...
Among patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who were treated with the anti–programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq), those who responded to the treatment had a longer overall survival compared with those who did not respond, according to data...
Treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) yielded durable responses in some patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with a 5-year survival rate of 16%, according to data from a phase I clinical trial presented by Brahmer et al at the American...
In the phase II SUMMIT clinical trial, the likelihood that a patient’s cancer responded to the investigational pan-HER–targeted therapeutic neratinib was influenced by both the cancer type and the identity of the gene mutation present in the cancer, according to results presented by...
Few pediatric oncology patients or their parents expressed negative attitudes toward early integration of palliative care during cancer treatment, according to a study by Levine et al reported in JAMA Oncology. Study Details The study involved completion of surveys by 129 patient-parent dyads...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Calip et al found that polypharmacy overall was associated with increased adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer. However, frequent use of some medication classes was associated with decreased...
Promising 3-year outcomes were found in patients from a Japanese phase I/II study of alectinib (Alecensa) in previously treated patients with ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The findings were reported by Tamura et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Study Details In the ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved niraparib (Zejula) for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer, whose tumors have achieved complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy....
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists report data from a new study providing evidence that random, unpredictable DNA copying “mistakes” account for nearly two-thirds of the mutations that cause cancer. Their research is grounded on a novel mathematic model based on DNA...
Christina S. Chu, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses the link between human papillomavirus and genital cancers and what is known about the effect of HPV on treatment response and outcome.
All patients with cancer experience some level of distress associated with their cancer diagnosis and the effects of the disease and its treatment—regardless of the stage of disease. Not only does distress affect a patient’s mental and psychosocial well-being, but because distress is a...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to avelumab (Bavencio) for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, including those who have not received prior chemotherapy. Avelumab is a programmed cell...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Chan Shen, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues found that more than three-quarters of patients receiving targeted oral therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) reached the catastrophic phase of the...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, authors Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present a case study...