Mark looked at me shyly through his oversized Elvis Costello–style glasses. Was he feeling embarrassed by his own reply or just waiting for my reaction? He was sitting between his mom and dad, wearing a t-shirt with a huge Minion print. His braces showed when he smiled, something he does often in...
It is well documented that physical activity benefits patients with cancer, both during and after treatment. Exercise helps patients combat both the physical and psychological impacts of cancer treatment, giving them a sense of well-being, control, stress reduction, and empowerment. However,...
New results presented at the 2017 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting from a large, community-based, multicenter clinical validation study conducted at Kaiser Permanente confirmed that the Oncotype DX Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) test is a strong independent predictor of prostate...
As reported by Kim et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the phase II ALTA trial showed that the next-generation oral ALK inhibitor brigatinib produced a high response rate, including intracranial responses, in patients with advanced crizotinib-refractory non–small cell lung cancer...
After phase I results of Seattle Children's Pediatric Leukemia Adoptive Therapy (PLAT-02) trial, published by Gardner et al in Blood, showed T-cell immunotherapy to be effective in sending 93% of patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) into complete initial...
Opioid overdoses are claiming the lives of thousands of Canadians. The impact of the opioid crisis continues to be devastating to individuals, families, and communities. Inappropriate prescribing of opioids has led to long-term dependence on this class of drugs. To help address problematic...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Brigitte Dréno, MD, of Nantes University, Nantes, France, and colleagues found that two long-term intermittent vismodegib (Erivedge) dosing regimens provided a similar reduction in the number of clinically significant basal cell carcinomas among...
Hematologist-oncologist Ahmad Samer Al-Homsi, MD, MBA, will lead a new bone marrow transplantation program at New York University (NYU) Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center for treating blood-borne cancers and potentially utilize transplantation as an adjunct to immunotherapy for solid tumors. He...
On March 23, 2017, avelumab (Bavencio) was granted accelerated approval for treatment of patients aged ≥ 12 years with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma. Avelumab is the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved product to treat this disease.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on ...
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) together with the National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) announced the launch of a church-based initiative addressing striking health-care disparities among African Americans with multiple myeloma. Black Americans have twice the incidence of multiple...
From immunomodulatory agents and proteasome inhibitors to steroids, alkylators, and antibodies, recent years have witnessed an explosion of drug approvals for multiple myeloma. The challenge now, said Amrita Krishnan, MD, FACP, is figuring out how to incorporate them all, particularly in the...
Cancer Research UK has announced that six leading American scientists are among the winners of a global competition to help overcome the biggest challenges facing cancer research. The initial $87 million “Grand Challenge” fund will be distributed across 4 international teams of academics from 6...
A new score that incorporates tumor biology and response outperforms conventional histopathologic criteria for the staging of breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, finds a retrospective validation cohort study.1 Investigators led by John R. Bergquist, MD, MS, MA, a general surgery...
The race is on to identify combinations of immune checkpoint inhibitors that can improve outcomes over the use of immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy. Updated results of the phase III CheckMate 067 trial found the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) improved survival in...
According to a study by Skinner et al, the primary cause of death in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is local treatment failure. Although human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is sensitive to radiation, HPV-negative tumors are...
In a phase III trial (NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group GOG-0213 trial) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Coleman et al found evidence of an overall survival advantage with the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to paclitaxel-carboplatin in recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer. The...
The robust progression-free survival benefits achieved with the use of the CDK4/6 inhibitors palbociclib or ribociclib in the metastatic setting provided the impetus to study these agents in early-stage breast cancer. Adjuvant studies are underway, but they take time to mature. For evaluating...
The novel mechanism of action of drugs that inhibit the cyclin D–dependent kinases CDK4 and CDK6 has prompted effective new treatment strategies. Although the bulk of the data supporting the use of selective CDK4/6 inhibitors is currently in breast cancer, patients with other tumor types are...
Declines in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing that came after changes in government screening guidelines have abated in recent years, according to a new study. In JAMA Internal Medicine, American Cancer Society (ACS) investigators led by Stacy A. Fedewa, PhD, wrote that about 1 in 3 men aged...
Nivolumab (Opdivo) has been found to produce durable responses in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, in the phase I/II CheckMate 040 trial. These findings were reported in The Lancet by El-Khoueiry et al. Study Details The phase I/II dose-escalation and dose-expansion trial was...
In the international phase III REMARC trial reported by Thieblemont et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, lenalidomide (Revlimid) maintenance was found to prolong progression-free survival vs placebo in older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma responding to first-line R-CHOP...
The latest in a series of studies led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that addition of a widely available, noninvasive imaging test called 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT (single-photon emission computed tomography plus computed tomography) to conventional CT or magnetic resonance imaging...
Research from epidemiologists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, published by Minlikeeva et al in Cancer Causes & Control, suggests that hypertension and diabetes and the use of medications to treat these comorbidities may have an effect on survival outcomes in women with ovarian cancer. Study...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recently announced the appointment of Keith T. Flaherty, MD, as Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Flaherty is Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies and Director of Clinical Research at the Massachusetts General...
In an Italian phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Marcello Tiseo, MD, of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Parma, Italy, and colleagues found that adding first-line bevacizumab (Avastin) to cisplatin/etoposide did not prolong overall survival in patients with...
The human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family consists of four members—epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), HER2, HER3, and HER4—all transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases, which regulate cell growth and survival, differentiation, and migration, as well as other cellular responses.1 ...
The advent of successful monoclonal antibody therapy in the treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma has dramatically improved the prognosis of patients for whom currently approved novel therapies have failed. In 2015, the approval of the combination of elotuzumab (Empliciti) with lenalidomide...
Alexandra Levine, MD, MACP, is Professor in the Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, Duarte, California, and has been on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic from the beginning—before the disease even had a name. Dr. Levine spoke with The ASCO Post about ...
Although the prognosis of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has improved with R-CHOP—the addition of rituximab (Rituxan) to the cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone chemotherapy regimen—one-third of patients still relapse after therapy, and patients with the ...
Judy E. Garber, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has been honored by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) for outstanding achievement in clinical cancer research. Dr. Garber, a medical oncologist and clinical cancer...
On February 2, 2017, nivolumab (Opdivo) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have disease progression during or after platinum-containing chemotherapy or have disease progression within 12 months of neoadjuvant...
Medical oncologist Ophira Ginsburg, MD, has joined New York University (NYU) Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center as Director of its new High Risk Program, which identifies, studies, and cares for patients with hereditary syndromes that increase cancer risk. Dr. Ginsburg also holds a faculty...
Early-phase studies suggest that venetoclax (Venclexta) holds promise as a treatment for myeloma. At the 2016 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, investigators reported strong activity in heavily pretreated patients, especially those with the t(11;14)...
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) has selected David M. Sabatini, MD, PhD, to receive its 5th annual Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences for discovery of the mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) cellular pathway as a key regulator of growth and metabolism in response to...
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have begun to establish a biologic basis for the long-held but not well-tested theory that neighborhood exposures can impact health outcomes. Shannon Lynch, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Fox Chase, led a team...
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...
Not all cancer research will result in a positive outcome for patients, but all research does provide information that continues to advance the treatment of cancer care. Recent clinical trials, including one funded in part by the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of ASCO, show that most prostate...
Rucaparib (Rubraca) led to frequent durable remissions among patients with relapsed high-grade ovarian cancer with BRCA mutations, regardless of whether the mutations were germline or somatic, according to the results of the ARIEL2 trial presented at the 2017 Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual...
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 ...
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...
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 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...
On April 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) requirements for the use of epoetin alfa and darbepoetin alfa to treat patients with anemia due to associated myelosuppressive chemotherapy. The Agency's announcement regarding...
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...
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have begun to establish a biological basis for the long-held but not well-tested theory that neighborhood exposures can impact health outcomes. Shannon Lynch, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Fox Chase, led a team...
The length of the telomeres that protect the tips of chromosomes may predict cancer risk and be a potential target for future therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) scientists reported at the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in...
Scientific and clinical pioneers have one thing in common: they move beyond their comfort zone and take calculated risks. One such pioneer, whose calculated risks gave hope to otherwise hopelessly ill people, was Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD, who performed the world’s first successful liver...
On March 13, the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali) was approved for use in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as initial endocrine-based therapy for the treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast ...
For more than 3 decades, Nancy E. Davidson, MD, has dedicated her clinical and research career to better understanding the molecular mechanisms driving the development of breast cancer and to the discovery of more effective therapies to treat the disease. The recipient of an ASCO Young...