In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Sumanta K. Pal, MD, FASCO, and colleagues found that the addition of the ATR inhibitor berzosertib to cisplatin/gemcitabine provided no benefit in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. The triplet did not prolong progression-free survival, and ...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ward et al estimated the improvements in global overall survival for female breast cancer that could be achieved via increased availability of treatment and imaging modalities, as well as improvements in quality of care. Study Details The study used a...
As reported in The Lancet by Sun et al, the phase III KEYNOTE-590 trial showed that the addition of first-line pembrolizumab to chemotherapy resulted in improved overall and progression-free survival in patients with advanced esophageal and Siewert type 1 gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers....
Where does triplet therapy fit in the treatment of patients with stage IV BRAF-mutated melanoma? Is there strong evidence for combining a BRAF inhibitor, MEK inhibitor, and checkpoint inhibitor? Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, Chair of the Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee at Winship Cancer Institute ...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor veliparib to platinum-based chemotherapy did not improve overall survival in current smokers with previously untreated...
Advances in molecular imaging are having a big impact on prostate cancer management and outcomes, according to Ashesh B. Jani, MD, the James C. Kennedy Professor in Prostate Cancer, Department of Radiation Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Atlanta. Dr. Jani described his ...
In a letter to the editor published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Bagchi et al describe the course of treatment in a 3-year-old child with an intracranial tumor and his response to therapy with the kinase inhibitor lorlatinib. Key Points Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the head in a...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Casal et al showed that removing race as a factor in the Chronic Kidney Disease–Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) would result in calculation of a lower eGFR in Black patients. This might result...
The measurement of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is changing the way gastrointestinal cancers are managed, according to Bassel F. El-Rayes, MD, Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Hematology and Oncology, Emory University, and Associate Cancer Center Director,...
In a Swedish prostate cancer screening trial (STHLM3-MRI) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Nordström et al found that use of the Stockholm3 screening test together with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided biopsy reduced overdetection of disease while preserving the ability to detect clinically...
In a phase I/II trial (HOVON124/ECWM-R2) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kersten et al found that the combination of oral ixazomib with subcutaneous rituximab and dexamethasone showed efficacy in patients with relapsed or refractory Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, with a manageable...
In an analysis of long-term outcomes from the phase III NRG/RTOG 9804 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Beryl McCormick, MD, and colleagues found that whole-breast irradiation vs observation was associated with reduced risk of all and invasive ipsilateral breast recurrence at 15...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhou et al provided a profile of treatment-related adverse events observed in clinical trials combining PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy. Study Details The...
Even before my breast cancer diagnosis in early 2002, the year was shaping up to be life-altering for me and my family. We had moved from Seattle to Houston for a new career opportunity for my husband and were just settling into our new home when I felt a pea-sized nodule in my left breast during a ...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Pamela Kunz, MD, Director, Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Kunz is an international leader in the clinical care of patients with neuroendocrine...
On April 7, 2021, sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was granted regular approval for treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have received two or more prior systemic therapies, at least one of them for metastatic disease.1 Sacituzumab...
On April 13, 2021, sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was granted accelerated approval to treat patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who had received platinum-containing chemotherapy and either a PD-1 or a PD-L1 inhibitor.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings...
On July 16, 2021, belumosudil, an inhibitor of Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase 2, was approved for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older with chronic graft-vs-host disease after the failure of at least two prior lines of systemic therapy.1 Supporting Efficacy Data...
On March 31, 2021, the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab-irfc was approved for use in combination with carfilzomib and dexamethasone for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received one to three prior lines of therapy.1 Supporting Efficacy Data...
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women around the world, making it a significant public health problem.1 The disease affects both men and women, although it is rare in men, accounting for just 1% of all breast cancer diagnoses in the United States and less than 0.1% of...
Every interaction with patients is an opportunity to change the course of their lives. In the context of screening for disease, every encounter is an opportunity to detect the precursors or early changes that signal early pathophysiology. Smoking status and age are the factors that currently...
For the treatment of relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, updated data from the ZUMA-5 trial, as compared with the findings of the external control cohort of SCHOLAR-5, showed substantial improvement in all key clinical endpoints with axicabtagene ciloleucel, ZUMA-5 investigators reported in ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to an agent for the prevention of acute graft-vs-host disease; Breakthrough Therapy designation to an anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody for the treatment of metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma; and Fast Track designation to a ...
Patients with metastatic melanoma who were previously treated with PD-1 or MAPK inhibition are significantly less likely to develop durable objective responses to adoptive cell transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (ACT-TIL) than patients naive to these treatments, according to a study...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial showed improved disease-free survival with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo after nephrectomy in high-risk patients with clear cell renal cell...
An updated analysis of the PALOMA-3 randomized, placebo-controlled trial demonstrated continued superiority for the combination of palbociclib (CDK4/6 inhibitor) plus fulvestrant over fulvestrant plus placebo in women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer whose...
On August 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and will now be marketed as Comirnaty, for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals aged 16 years and older. The vaccine also...
In the phase I/II ITCC-050 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gaspar et al found that the combination of lenvatinib with etoposide/ifosfamide showed antitumor activity, including good progression-free survival outcomes, in patients with relapsed or refractory osteosarcoma. Study Details...
Outcomes in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are almost rivaling those in pediatric ALL, thanks to the benefits achieved by incorporating blinatumomab and inotuzumab into chemotherapy regimens. New ways of administering the chemotherapy component are also increasing tolerability and...
A team of researchers studied the relationship between benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer in 405 men by quantitatively looking at different parts of the prostate tissue on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Findings from their analysis were published by Nandalur et al in the...
Levorphanol was associated with improved pain and symptom control in patients with advanced cancer, according to data from an early phase I trial, reported by Akhila Reddy, MD, at the 2021 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology (MASCC/ISOO)...
In an Italian phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Martinelli et al found that cetuximab rechallenge plus avelumab showed activity and was well tolerated in patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer who had responded to first-line chemotherapy plus an anti-EGFR agent and then...
Eric Deutsch, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology at Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, commended the speakers for conducting trials whose results he found “very interesting.” The Averectal trial involved a short course of radiation with modified FOLFOX-6 (oxaliplatin, fluorouracil...
In the treatment of newly diagnosed locally advanced rectal cancer, two phase II studies evaluating the addition of the PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab to chemoradiotherapy showed promising rates of pathologic complete response, major pathologic response, and tumor downstaging. The study investigators...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hong et al, the final overall survival analysis of the Chinese phase III GEM20110714 trial showed a significant benefit with gemcitabine/cisplatin vs fluorouracil/cisplatin as first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal...
In a Chinese single-institution phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pan et al found that donor-derived CD7 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy produced a high complete remission rate in patients with relapsed or refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia...
In recent years, the gut microbiome has garnered considerable attention as a scientific field, with far-reaching potential for clinical good. The trillions of microorganisms that inhabit the digestive tract form an incredibly complex community, which participates in countless interactions with its...
In the phase II TALAPRO-1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Johann S. de Bono, PhD, and colleagues found that monotherapy with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib produced durable responses in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DNA...
On August 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli), an anti–PD-1 antibody, for adult patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) recurrent or advanced solid tumors, as determined by an FDA-approved test, who have had disease...
In the Spanish phase III PREMER trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rodríguez de Dios et al found that hippocampal avoidance during prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) was associated with better preservation of cognitive function vs PCI alone and ...
In a small study of 16 patients with angiosarcoma published by Michael Wagner, MD, and colleagues in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 4 patients experienced a partial or complete response to treatment with a combination of the immunotherapies ipilimumab and nivolumab, and another 2 patients ...
In a phase III trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Puneeth Iyengar, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that accelerated hypofractionated image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) did not improve 1-year overall survival vs conventional radiotherapy in patients with stage II/III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Roisin M. Connolly, MB, BCh, MD, and colleagues, the phase III ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group E2112 trial showed no significant improvement in progression-free or overall survival with the addition of the histone deacetylase inhibitor entinostat...
Although poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors interfere with DNA repair processes, leading to warnings in terms of risk for developing second primary malignancies, findings from a systematic review and safety meta-analysis of placebo-controlled randomized studies are reassuring for...
In a phase I trial (MajesTEC-1) reported in The Lancet, Saad Z. Usmani, MD, FACP, and colleagues found that the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-CD3 bispecific antibody teclistamab produced a high rate of durable responses at the recommended phase II dose in patients with relapsed or refractory...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Yoon-Koo Kang, MD, and colleagues, the phase III VOYAGER trial showed no improvement in progression-free survival with avapritinib vs regorafenib as third- or later-line treatment of patients with molecularly unselected, locally advanced,...
In a study conducted by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group and reported in The Lancet Oncology by Bradley et al, an individual patient data meta-analysis of randomized trials has shown that the addition of adjuvant trastuzumab to chemotherapy reduces the risk of disease...
Pancreatic cancer remains an incorrigible foe, but recent advances in genomic profiling and targeted drug development are slowly improving the outlook for patients, according to Eileen M. O’Reilly, MD, Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair in Medical Oncology and Section Head,...
On August 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved belzutifan (Welireg), a hypoxia-inducible factor inhibitor, for adult patients with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease who require therapy for associated renal cell carcinoma (RCC), central nervous system (CNS) hemangioblastomas, or...
In a European phase II trial (VIT-0910) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Defachelles et al found that the combination of vincristine/irinotecan with vs without temozolomide produced better outcomes—albeit with increased toxicity—in children and adults with relapsed or refractory...