Biliary tract cancer is particularly difficult to treat, with a median overall survival of about 1 year with standard-of-care gemcitabine-based regimens. Advanced biliary tract cancer is an area of significant unmet need because of its aggressive nature, limited treatment options, and poor...
Researchers have found that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) may be an effective treatment for patients with early-stage lung neuroendocrine tumors, according to a new study published by Oliver et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. Background Primary...
Investigators have revealed that individuals who react defensively to an invitation for colorectal cancer screening may be less likely to take part, according to a new study published by Clarke et al in Cancer. Background Colorectal cancer is one of the most treatable cancer types—especially if...
Biorepositories created to support precision cancer research through their vast stores of genomic data may lack sufficient representation of cancer distribution among racial and ethnic minorities, according to a new study published by Cheung et al in npj Precision Oncology. The investigators also...
Researchers revealed that the blood pressure drug losartan may prevent immunotherapy-induced edema and allow patients with glioblastoma to continue receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors without developing adverse effects in the brain, according to a new study published by Datta et al in...
In a study from the Children’s Oncology Group reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Abbou et al found that measuring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in intermediate-risk rhabdomyosarcoma was feasible and that the presence of ctDNA prior to treatment was associated with poorer prognosis. As...
In a Dutch study reported in JAMA Oncology, Geurts et al found a dose-response relationship between radiotherapy and risk of colorectal cancer among survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma, with the risk being increased with increasing procarbazine dose. Study Details The nested case-control study included...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, and colleagues, results from the phase II SORAYA study showed activity of mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx, an antibody-drug conjugate targeting folate receptor alpha (FRα), in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer...
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new Global Breast Cancer Initiative Framework, providing a roadmap to attain targets to save 2.5 million lives from breast cancer by 2040. The new framework recommends that countries implement three pillars of health promotion—early detection,...
The 2023 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium took place from January 19 to 21 in San Francisco. On this episode, we’re hearing from the presenting authors of three studies reported at that meeting—the SUNLIGHT, SPOTLIGHT, and NAPOLI-3 trials—which examined novel regimens in colorectal, gastric, ...
On February 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy) for patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic, hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 0, IHC 1+, or IHC 2+ with a negative in situ...
The newly identified category of “HER2-low” breast cancer has raised many new issues in this malignancy now that the DESTINY Breast-041 trial determined that fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) may effectively treat this tumor. Among the issues are challenges in accurately identifying just...
A new study from University Hospitals (UH) Connor Whole Health found children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer or sickle cell disease treated at a pediatric academic medical center reported clinically significant reductions in pain, stress, and anxiety in response to massage therapy....
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)—in light of World Cancer Day, taking place on February 4—has called on governments around the world to prioritize policy actions to reduce preventable cancers caused by tobacco use and the consumption of alcohol and ultraprocessed foods, including...
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, known as SPHINKS, capable of performing advanced computational analyses to identify potential therapeutic targets for patients with glioblastoma multiforme. The platform may also have applicability in other cancers, according to...
The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) has shown that general population screening did not significantly reduce ovarian and tubal cancer deaths, and the researchers concluded that such screening cannot be recommended. The findings from the study prompted the Ovarian Cancer ...
Moderator of the session, Emily K. Curran, MD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, in Ohio, said that the data presented by Dr. Short and colleagues demonstrated very impressive event-free and overall survival rates, especially for a disease that...
The combination of ponatinib and blinatumomab has led to rapid and durable remissions in patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to data presented at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and...
According to a review published by Ashley et al in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, preexisting dementia may complicate cancer care and increase the risk of worse clinical outcome and inferior patient experience. People living with dementia are more likely to have cancer diagnosed at an...
Higher consumption of ultraprocessed foods may be linked to increased cancer burden and mortality, according to a new, UK-based study published by Chang et al in eClinicalMedicine. Ultraprocessed foods are food items which have been heavily processed during their production—such as fizzy drinks,...
The EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor osimertinib may improve rates of disease-free survival and reduce the risk of recurrence in patients with resected, EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a new exploratory analysis of the ADAURA trial published by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by DuBois et al, the Children’s Oncology Group phase III AEWS1221 trial showed no event-free survival benefit with the addition of the anti–insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) monoclonal antibody ganitumab to interval-compressed...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eric J. Chow, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that the use of dexrazoxane was associated with long-term protection of heart function in childhood cancer survivors who received doxorubicin for their cancer. According to the study investigators,...
In a population-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Coltin et al found that survivors of childhood medulloblastoma in Ontario were at an increased risk of numerous adverse health outcomes compared with matched noncancer controls. Study Details In the study, all 5-year...
Compared to other common supplemental screening methods, breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was superior at detecting breast cancer in patients with dense breasts, according to a new study published by Hussein et al in Radiology. Background Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer...
Age-based heuristics may lead to large differences in breast cancer treatment based on small differences in chronologic age, according to a new study published by Talcott et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • and Physics. Background Radiation therapy often is given...
In a first-in-human, phase I, dose-escalation and dose-expansion study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mrinal M. Gounder, MD, and colleagues identified the dose and schedule for further evaluation of the oral MDM2 inhibitor milademetan in a population of patients with advanced...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Josephine M.N. Lopes Cardozo, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that a higher score on a polygenic risk score consisting of 313 common genetic variants (the PRS313) was generally associated with more favorable tumor characteristics in patients...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bhatia et al found that boys were significantly more likely than girls to be diagnosed with childhood cancers in India. Study Details The retrospective multicohort study involved individual data from patients aged 0 to 19 years from hospital-based records ...
Population-based genomic screening may facilitate early detection of medullary thyroid cancer in patients with variants in the RET gene, according to a new study published by Pichardo et al in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Background Medullary thyroid cancer accounts for 2% to 5% of...
The targeted therapy momelotinib may offer clinically significant improvement in disease-related symptoms, including anemia and spleen enlargement, for patients with myelofibrosis, according to a novel study published by Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD, and colleagues in The Lancet. The findings support...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Aranzazu Fernandez-Martinez, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that several B-cell–related gene signatures provided better prediction of pathologic complete response and event-free survival than tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) levels among patients with...
In one of the first clinical trials combining immunotherapy and targeted therapy for patients with BRAF V600E–mutated colorectal cancer, researchers discovered that a combination regimen of dabrafenib, trametinib, and spartalizumab resulted in long-lasting responses. The study findings published by ...
In a Japanese phase III trial (JCOG1202, ASCOT) reported in The Lancet, Nakachi et al found that adjuvant S-1 was associated with significantly improved overall survival vs observation in patients with resected biliary tract cancer. Study Details The multicenter, open-label trial included 440...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Li et al found that adjuvant hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy with FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) significantly improved disease-free survival vs routine follow-up in patients with hepatocellular...
On January 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca) for patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma after at least two lines of systemic therapy, including a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor. BRUIN Efficacy was...
On January 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved elacestrant (Orserdu) for postmenopausal women or adult men with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative, ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer with disease progression following at least one line of endocrine...
On this episode, Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FSSO, FRCS, FACS, Professor of Surgical Oncology and Global Health at University of Nebraska Medical Center, and an editorial advisor for The ASCO Post, holds a conversation with John H. Strickler, MD, a medical oncologist at Duke University Medical...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, McDonald et al found that receipt of blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) was associated with an increased risk of subsequent malignant neoplasms of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. As stated by the investigators, “Survivors of BMT are at increased risk of...
In a phase II trial (NRG/RTOG 0912) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sherman et al found that the addition of pazopanib to concurrent radiotherapy and paclitaxel did not improve overall survival in patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer. Study Details In the U.S. multicenter, double-blind trial,...
Individuals who ovulate for longer over their lifetimes may have a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer, suggesting that suppressing ovulation can lower this risk, according to a new study published by Fu et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The researchers also offered clues...
New research shows that patients with type 2 diabetes may experience a substantially higher rate of cancer mortality than the general population—by 18% for all cancers combined, 9% for breast cancer, and as much as 2.4-fold for colorectal cancer—according to a new study published by Ling et al in...
On January 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for adjuvant treatment following resection and platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with stage IB (T2a, ≥ 4 cm), II, or IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). KEYNOTE-091 Efficacy was evaluated in...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis of KIT exon mutations may help predict which second-line therapy is best for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), according to data presented by Bauer et al during the January ASCO Plenary Series session (Abstract 397784). An...
As reported in The Lancet by Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, and colleagues, updated results of the phase III DESTINY-Breast03 trial showed significantly improved overall survival with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) vs ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in patients with HER2-positive unresectable or...
In a Taiwanese study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hsu et al found that survivors of childhood and adolescent cancers were at a significantly increased risk of multiple major psychiatric disorders compared to those without cancer. Study Details The study used data from a...
Utilizing chronochemotherapy—a method aimed at delivering chemotherapy at a time when the body is least vulnerable to its harmful effects and when the cancer cells are at their most vulnerable—may improve the outcomes of some patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to a novel ...
Emily C. Daugherty, MD, of the University of Cincinnati, discusses results from the FAST-01 study, which showed that FLASH proton radiotherapy, delivered at ultra-high–dose rates, may be efficacious, with adverse events comparable to conventional dose-rate treatment of patients with cancer....
Soon after my marriage, in 2003, I noticed swelling in the glands around my throat. Although I otherwise felt fine, I went to see my primary care physician for a checkup and a blood test. The results of the test showed that I had an abnormally high number of lymphocytes circulating in my...
Atrium Health recently announced that Ruben A. Mesa, MD, FACP, has been named President and Executive Director of its cancer service line—which includes both Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center—and Vice Dean for Cancer Programs at...