An artificial intelligence (AI) model trained using sequential health information derived from electronic health records identified a subset of individuals with a 25-fold risk of developing pancreatic cancer within 3 to 36 months, according to results presented by Placido et al at the American...
Alana L. Welm, PhD, of the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute, discusses her findings of a new pathway that regulates the antitumor immune response during metastatic outgrowth. Interfering with a particular isoform of RON kinase may cause metastatic tumors to be swarmed by T cells and...
Yaqi Zhao, MSc, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, discusses findings from the phase III INO-VATE trial, which showed that inotuzumab ozogamicin reduced the signs and symptoms of acute lymphoblastic leukemia associated with a variety of gene and chromosome changes. Future studies may confirm ...
Over the past decade, an improved understanding of kidney cancer biology together with the development of novel systemic therapies have substantially improved the outcomes of patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC).1 Following extensive clinical investigations, combinations...
Recently, I had the honor of coauthoring a chapter with Eric P. Winer, MD, President-Elect of ASCO, on the evolution of clinical cancer care since the enactment of the National Care Act of 1971 for the book A New Deal for Cancer: Lessons From a 50-Year War, by Abbe R. Gluck and Charles S. Fuchs,...
“Refugees and displaced people may see their cancer treatment interrupted, or they may develop a new cancer while they are in host countries. They often present with advanced disease and suffer more complications. These patients have poor outcomes because of poor hygiene and living conditions, as...
Somatic genomic testing should be a routine part of clinical care for many patients with metastatic or advanced solid tumors, according to a new ASCO provisional clinical opinion.1 As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the expert panel found that genomic testing in oncology practice has...
Three grants for research that could transform cancer therapies have been awarded by the AACR-MPM Oncology Charitable Foundation Transformative Cancer Research Grants Program, an innovative partnership between the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the UBS Oncology Impact Fund...
Nothing can really prepare you for cancer, but it helped that I have dedicated my life in service to others as a minister and advocate for social justice and health equity in breast cancer survivorship. Before my own breast cancer diagnosis in 2016, I had spent years as a volunteer for several...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien (Jason) Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present the Hematology Expert Review, an occasional feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Drs. Abutalib, Kröger, and Mikulska focus on the challenges of providing cancer care amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Here they present two...
The Prevent Cancer Foundation recently announced funding for seven scientists who are researching cancer prevention and early detection. Each scientist has been awarded $100,000 for 2 years. The following individuals are the 2022 research grantees: Sarah Bernhardt, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Oregon...
In the recently published results of the RELATIVITY-047 trial,1 summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post, the addition of relatlimab to nivolumab monotherapy was associated with improved progression-free survival compared with nivolumab alone in patients with previously untreated advanced,...
In a phase II/III trial (RELATIVITY-047) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hussein A. Tawbi, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues found that the addition of relatlimab, a lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3)–blocking antibody, to nivolumab...
The Hamoui Foundation and LUNGevity Foundation recently announced the 2022 recipients of the first The Hamoui Foundation/LUNGevity Clinical Research Award for RET-Positive Lung Cancer. RET is a driver mutation found in approximately 1% to 2% of people with non–small cell lung cancer. The goal of...
In a recently published paper in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 R. Donald Harvey, PharmD, BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA, of Emory University, Atlanta, and coleagues reflected on the growth in availability of oral anticancer therapies over the past decade and noted that as these treatments are easy to take ...
Margaret A. Tempero, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the most effective ways to use the regimens available to treat patients with pancreatic cancer (FOLFIRINOX [fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin] and...
A novel screening platform flagged more than 95% of stage I pancreatic cancers, in addition to other early-stage malignancies, according to a pilot study published by Hinestrosa et al in Nature Communications Medicine. If validated by future studies, the approach may offer a new way to detect the...
Using the nation’s largest COVID-19 data resource, a research team found that the COVID-19 vaccine offered protection for most patients with cancer. However, patients with certain types of cancer—especially those with hematologic malignancies—had a higher and widely varied risk of breakthrough...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Qin et al found that gains in body weight and body fat were common in a prospective cohort of Black breast cancer survivors. The researchers also identified factors associated with these changes. As stated by the investigators, “Unfavorable...
Gary Walker, MD, MPH, MS, a head and neck radiation oncologist at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, Arizona, expressed concern about the disparities identified in the adoption of advanced radiation therapy techniques for patients with head and neck cancer. “Despite widespread availability of...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Robert J. Motzer, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, the final overall survival analysis of the phase III IMmotion151 trial has shown no significant difference for the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab plus bevacizumab vs sunitinib in patients ...
Advanced radiotherapy techniques may reduce the risk of severe and debilitating toxicity associated with radiation, but not all patients have equal access to these modalities, according to data presented at the 2022 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.1 Retrospective analysis of the...
Young women with nonmetastatic breast cancer have similar survival rates whether they are treated with mastectomy or lumpectomy, despite tumors that are typically more aggressive and discovered at a later stage compared to their older counterparts. These findings were from a recent study examining...
Positive lymph node status may not be a reliable indicator of the need for adjuvant chemotherapy, and sentinel node biopsy may be unnecessary in older women with certain low-risk cancers, according to a new study presented by Nicholson et al at the American Society of Breast Surgeons 23rd Annual...
The 1-year local COVID-19 restrictions negatively impacted breast cancer stage at presentation, time to treatment, and time to surgery at an urban safety-net hospital, increasing the vulnerability of an already high-risk population. These findings were from a recent study presented by Kapp et al at ...
In the phase III TAPPAS trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Jones et al found that the addition of carotuximab to pazopanib did not improve progression-free survival in patients with advanced angiosarcoma. Carotuximab is an IgG1 antibody that binds endoglin, which is highly expressed on proliferating...
COVID-19 may have caught the world off guard in 2020, but in the 2 years since the pandemic began, several effective monoclonal antibodies and antiviral drugs have emerged to protect the most vulnerable patients. The ASCO Post spoke with Gunjan L. Shah, MD, a hematologic oncologist at Memorial...
In the phase II ARCS-M trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hedy L. Kindler, MD, FASCO, and colleagues found that the antimesothelin antibody–tubulin inhibitor conjugate anetumab ravtansine did not improve progression-free survival vs vinorelbine as second-line treatment for patients with...
In a long-term follow-up of a Chinese phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wang et al found that the combination of anti–B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells produced durable responses and favorable survival outcomes in...
Two studies presented at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium explored the role of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in urothelial cancer: ATLANTIS and BAYOU.1,2 Results suggest that PARP inhibitors may be useful in certain genetic subgroups and perhaps in combination with...
Tumor budding is an emerging prognostic biomarker in colon cancer and currently influences decision-making in patients with pT1 and stage II colon cancer. In stage III colon cancer, its prognostic impact has been limited to small and retrospective cohorts. In a post hoc analysis of the IDEA-France...
In a population-based cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Schonfeld et al identified the incidence of immune-related adverse events among White patients aged ≥ 65 years with newly diagnosed melanoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. They compared the risk of these adverse events...
In an analysis from the Children’s Oncology Group protocol AAML1013 reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pollard et al found that the addition of sorafenib to standard chemotherapy may benefit pediatric patients with high allelic ratio FLT3-ITD–positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Study...
The combination of nivolumab plus cabozantinib achieved a continued survival benefit compared with sunitinib in patients with untreated clear cell metastatic or advanced renal cell carcinoma, according to a final overall survival analysis of the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial.1 Additionally,...
In a single-center study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Riner et al found that traditional eligibility criteria for clinical trials in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma excluded a higher proportion of Black vs White patients and identified factors that commonly led to exclusion. As...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Javier Cortés, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III DESTINY-Breast03 trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) vs ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in patients with...
Findings from a meta-analysis of individual patient data were reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Steenbeek et al found that among women with BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants who underwent risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy for prevention of epithelial ovarian cancer, those with serous tubal...
In a single-institution phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chung-Han Lee, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the combination of cabozantinib and nivolumab was active in patients with advanced non–clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) variants, particularly those with...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Changchuan Jiang, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that U.S. cancer survivors were more likely to report delays in health care due to transportation barriers than persons without a history of cancer, with the difference driven by barriers...
Novel hormonal therapies for breast cancer could provide additional therapeutic options for patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. The emerging landscape for these new agents was described at the 2022 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, sponsored by PER, by Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH,...
New research has found that the weakened immune systems of patients with lymphoma may improve after they receive a third COVID-19 vaccination. Patients with lymphoma have defects in their immune system that restrict its response to vaccination; despite this, a study published by Lim et al in Nature ...
In a German study reported in JAMA Oncology, Li et al found that assessment of risk of colorectal cancer based on cumulative lifetime excess weight may be more accurate than risk indicated by single body mass index (BMI) measurements. As stated by the investigators, “Excess weight is associated...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Kenneth L. Kehl, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that only a slight majority of patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were enrolled in a U.S. screening study (ALCHEMIST) received guideline-recommended adequate lymph ...
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the number of attacks on health-care facilities continues to mount. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of March 16, there have been 43 attacks on health facilities, including 34 attacks that have directly impacted health facilities and...
The invited discussant of the CodeBreaK 100 data, E. Gabriela Chiorean, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Clinical Director of the Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology program at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, found the efficacy of ...
Anthony El-Khoueiry, MD, Member of the Section of Gastrointestinal Cancers, Director of the phase I program, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the findings of the...
Patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma may be gaining another first-line treatment option. In the global phase III HIMALAYA trial, a single priming dose of tremelimumab plus regular-interval durvalumab significantly improved overall survival, according to Ghassan K....
The phase III COSMIC-312 study has met its primary endpoint, showing a significant improvement in progression-free survival with cabozantinib plus atezolizumab compared with sorafenib in treatment-naive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), investigators reported at a European Society for Medical...
The invited discussant of the RATIONALE 208 trial, Chris Verslype, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, said tislelizumab is an “active and safe” investigational PD-1 antibody, “comparable to other PD-1 agents.” In particular, he noted, the results of RATIONALE...