Despite a 30-year history as an ASCO volunteer, for Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, this past year as President-Elect has opened new perspectives on the organization he will soon lead as ASCO’s 62nd President, effective during the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting, May 30–June 3, 2025, in Chicago. After serving...
Studies have shown that having overweight or obesity increases the risk of developing more than a dozen cancers, including meningioma; multiple myeloma; and esophageal, thyroid, breast, gallbladder, stomach, liver, pancreatic, kidney, ovarian, uterine, and colorectal cancers. The presence of excess ...
Results from a global phase III clinical trial found that maintenance therapy with a combination of the alkylating agent lurbinectedin and the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab improved survival in some patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) compared with maintenance therapy with...
The accuracy of HER2 breast cancer scoring improved with the use of AI assistance, especially for patients with low and ultralow levels of HER2 expression, results from a multinational study showed. The findings were presented in a press briefing ahead of the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract...
Abbreviated breast MRI scans demonstrated comparable diagnostic accuracy to full multiparametric protocol MRI scans for women with extremely dense breasts, according to findings from the DENSE trial published in Radiology. MRI scans have greater diagnostic accuracy than mammograms for women with...
In a Chinese phase III trial (APOLLO) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhou et al evaluated whether the combination of the multikinase inhibitor anlotinib and the PD-1 inhibitor penpulimab improved progression-free survival and overall survival vs sorafenib in first-line treatment of unresectable...
Investigators have identified two genetic risk loci that may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer for Black South African women, according to findings from a genome-wide association study published in Nature Communications. The two risk loci were between UNC13C and RAB27A on...
The disease we now call diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has gone by the names of reticulum cell sarcoma, diffuse histiocytic lymphoma, and diffuse large cell lymphoma, and included both lymphomas of B cells and T cells. We now know DLBCL is still heterogenous and some subtypes might benefit...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Millstein et al attempted to develop a predictive model—Pediatric Holistic Evaluation of Auditory Risk (PedsHEAR)—for hearing loss associated with cisplatin chemotherapy in children and adolescents with cancer. Study Details PedsHEAR was...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as a promising biomarker in colorectal cancer, offering dynamic insight into disease burden and recurrence risk. However, questions remain about its clinical utility and optimal application, as well as its equitable access across practice settings. At the...
Forty nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations issued a statement this week to the House Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means Committees in regard to budget cuts and policy changes affecting Medicaid and health-care marketplaces. “As organizations representing millions of patients with serious...
In a phase II trial (PEACE V–STORM) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ost et al found that elective nodal radiotherapy (ENRT) to the pelvis was associated with longer metastasis-free survival vs metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) in patients with pelvic nodal oligorecurrences of prostate cancer....
In a French phase III trial (PRODIGE 51-FFCD-GASTFOX) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zaanan et al found that a modified FLOT (fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel) regimen known as TFOX (docetaxel, folinic acid, oxaliplatin, and fluorouracil) improved outcomes vs FOLFOX (folinic acid,...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) released its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) in 1996, covering eight tumor types. Today, guidelines are available for more than 60 tumor types, subtypes, and related topics. During the NCCN’s 30th Annual...
For postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) treated with breast-conserving surgery, whole-breast irradiation, and adjuvant endocrine therapy, reexcision to achieve wider surgical margins (≥ 1 mm or ≥ 2 mm) may not be necessary, according to data presented ...
Investigators have found that the risk of developing breast cancer could be nearly three times higher among women who experience notable weight gain after the age of 20 years and either give birth after age 30 or don’t have children compared with those who give birth before age 30 and whose weight...
Thousands of forward-looking research studies defined the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. Here, aside from our fuller coverage of key presentations in The ASCO Post, we offer a snapshot of a few additional abstracts that may be of interest to cancer researchers...
The accelerated approval program of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows certain medications to be marketed if they are indicated for serious disease and there has been preliminary evidence of the drug’s efficacy. Pharmaceutical companies must then conduct postapproval trials to...
Several medical organizations recently released a joint Clinical Practice Guideline to provide recommendations on opioid conversion in adults with cancer.1 ASCO, together with the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in 2017 to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.1 Over the past decade, other CAR T-cell therapies have been FDA approved to treat adults with blood cancers, including...
Angela Nolin, MD, a gynecologic oncology fellow at Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues conducted a multi-institutional study to determine whether racial differences in transvaginal ultrasound efficacy combined with timely receipt of indicated endometrial...
The 2025 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer advanced the field with updates of practice-changing trials and other research that challenges the conventional approaches to treating gynecologic cancers. We have briefly captured some of that research here for readers ...
In a Children’s Oncology Group (COG) study (AAML1831) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Huang et al found that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was associated with improved outcomes in pediatric patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Study Details The study...
Five pivotal studies presented at ESTRO 2025 showcase how radiotherapy is reshaping the landscape for anal and rectal cancers. From reduced-dose treatments to cutting-edge combinations with immunotherapy and chemotherapy, these innovations offer safer, more effective, and organ-preserving...
The Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute established a Financial Toxicity Tumor Board in 2019. The board is the first known institutional-level intervention of its kind and functions like a traditional disease-focused multidisciplinary tumor board—with a singular focus on financial distress. Now,...
Sequential molecular measurable residual disease (MRD) testing and monitoring led to a survival benefit among younger patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and NPM1 and FLT3-ITD mutations, according to the results of a study published in The Lancet Haematology. Patients with both mutations...
In the phase III KEYNOTE-689 trial, perioperative use of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab given with standard therapy significantly improved event-free survival in newly diagnosed, previously untreated patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, researchers reported at the ...
The use of computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques for planning jaw reconstructions for patients with head and neck cancer undergoing free fibula reconstruction of the lower jaw may potentially shorten the duration of the surgery and reduce removal rates due to complications,...
Ruxolitinib may prove to be an effective treatment of parkinsonism arising from ciltacabtagene autoleucel treatment for patients with multiple myeloma, according to the results of a case report published in the Journal of Hematology. The report featured two cases of patients with multiple myeloma...
“Knowledge is like a lion; it cannot be gently embraced.” –South African Proverb Long-term efficacy and safety confirm that a hypomethylating agent and venetoclax is an improvement in the standard of care for patients with AML who are not eligible for intensive chemotherapy because of advanced age...
A novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called AIC100, which targets the ICAM-1 protein, demonstrated encouraging responses and an acceptable safety profile in patients with two types of advanced thyroid cancer. Results from a small, first-in-human phase I trial were presented at the ...
A new gene-expression atlas developed using single-cell RNA sequencing data sheds light on how normal hematopoietic cells differentiate and was used to catalog the multiple ways aberrant differentiation can lead to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Andy G.X. Zeng, PhD, an MD/PhD candidate at the...
Female cancer survivors are more likely to experience cancer-related fatigue and depression than male cancer survivors, and those with cancer-related fatigue and/or depression are almost two times as likely to reduce their recreational activities, according to the results of a retrospective study...
Use of a multimodal deep learning–based model led to more accurate and earlier identifications of cancer cachexia than standard clinical and radiological observations, according to findings presented at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting (Abstract 1143)....
During the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, Richard Pazdur, MD, Director of the Oncology Center of Excellence at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), accepted the 2025 AACR Enduring Impact Award for Transformative Service to Cancer Science and Medicine...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in 2017 to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Over the past decade, other CAR T-cell therapies have been FDA-approved to treat adults with blood cancers, including...
The oral KRAS G12D inhibitor zoldonrasib could provide clinical benefit in patients with previously treated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors harbored a KRAS G12D mutation, according to new findings presented by Arbour et al at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...
PD-1 blockade with the PD-1 inhibitor dostarlimab-gxly induced complete tumor clearance and resolved the need for surgery in patients with locally advanced, mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) cancers, according to preliminary results from a phase II trial presented at the 2025 American Association...
The addition of neoadjuvant and adjuvant pembrolizumab to standard-of-care therapy significantly improved event-free survival over the standard of care alone for patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer in the phase III KEYNOTE-689 trial, according to results presented at the American...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the humanized IgG1 monoclonal anti–PD-1 antibody penpulimab-kcqx with cisplatin or carboplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with recurrent or metastatic nonkeratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The FDA also...
Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) investigators were informed on April 21 that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will terminate WHI Regional Center (RC) contracts at the end of the current fiscal year (September 2025). The WHI Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC) will continue...
In late January 2013, while playing with my young son, I noticed my left breast seemed slightly larger than my right breast. Although, at the time, I had no idea this type of swelling is a hallmark of inflammatory breast cancer, a rare and aggressive disease, I immediately made an appointment with...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib (Cabometyx) for adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with previously treated, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic, well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors...
Nicolas Girard, MD, a thoracic oncologist at the Institut Curie, Paris, presented the results of an interim analysis of the open-label phase II COCOON study, at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2025.1 A readily available preventive regimen (the COCOON regimen) reduced moderate-to-severe...
A few weeks ago, a family member underwent a minor outpatient operative procedure. From a few weeks before the scheduled date of the procedure, multiple text messages and e-mails were forwarded to provide preparatory instructions for the procedure. The day before the procedure, another...
Updates from several clinical trials of the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor osimertinib across stages and settings of EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were presented at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2025. The updated results from the phase III LAURA trial were presented by ...
Ongoing efforts to rein in government spending have been described as a “chainsaw for bureaucracy.” It’s an apt metaphor for the haphazard budget cuts that many federal agencies are still experiencing. On February 7, 2025, the chainsaw made its way to facilities and administrative (F&A)...
In a single-center phase I/II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shah et al found that adaptive manufactured lentiviral anti-CD20/anti-CD19 (LV20.19) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment was highly active in relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma. Study Details In...
Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have transformed the treatment landscape over the last decade for patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the agents can also stimulate uncontrolled immunity against normal tissues and organs, leading to a cascade of immune-related adverse...
In a pooled analysis of the phase II TRUST-I and TRUST-II trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pérol et al found that the oral, potent, CNS-active, selective, next-generation ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) taletrectinib was highly active in ROS1-positive advanced or metastatic ...