In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Wu et al found that vaccination with SARS–CoV-2 messenger RNA vaccines reduced the incidence of COVID-19 infection vs no vaccination in Veterans Affairs (VA) patients with cancer. Vaccine effectiveness varied according to time between last systemic therapy and...
In a cohort of the phase II ZENITH20-2 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Le et al found that the tyrosine kinase inhibitor poziotinib produced responses in previously treated patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and HER2 exon 20 insertion mutations. Study Details In...
The final overall survival results from the KEYNOTE-355 study showed a statistically significant 27% reduction in the risk of death for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer whose tumors were strongly positive for PD-L1, defined as a combined positive score (CPS) of at least 10 and ...
Patients with multiple myeloma lacking an antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination may also fail to mount a T-cell response, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have reported. This scenario seemed to be most common among patients actively treated with anti-CD38 and...
In a European Network of Gynecologic Oncology Trialists–Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup trial (DESKTOP III) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Philipp Harter, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of cytoreductive surgery to platinum-based chemotherapy improved overall...
In a single-institution Israeli study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Rottenberg et al found that a booster dose of the SARS–CoV-2 BNT162b2 mRNA resulted in increased spike protein antibody titers in patients with solid tumors undergoing active treatment. Study Details The study...
A novel vaccine platform administered in combination with pembrolizumab appears to be safe and effective in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to data presented by Mark Yarchoan, MD, and colleagues at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2021 Annual Meeting...
Next-generation sequencing of bone marrow samples from pediatric and young adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with tisagenlecleucel was more accurate in predicting relapse than flow cytometry and monitoring of B-cell aplasia, according to the results from a study by...
In an interim analysis of a phase II basket trial (ROAR) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Patrick Y. Wen, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib produced responses in adult patients with recurrent or progressive BRAF V600E–mutant high-grade and low-grade glioma. ...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Montminy et al found that the incidence of colorectal adenocarcinoma in people aged 40 to 49 years in the United States has increased in White individuals and remained stable in Black individuals between 2000 and 2017, with incidence rates being equivalent...
Advances in treating breast cancer “increasingly create opportunities to consider where radiation therapy might safely be omitted,” Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, told participants at the 2021 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “But, I would encourage us,” she continued, “not to assume that women who...
Invited discussant of the phase III DREAMseq trial, Keith T. Flaherty, MD, said the findings still leave room for nuanced decision-making.1 Dr. Flaherty is Professor of Medicine at Harvard and Director of the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy at the Massachusetts General...
In the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma containing BRAF mutations, initial treatment with an immunotherapy combination achieved superior overall survival compared with targeted therapy in the phase III DREAMseq trial, also known as the ECOG-ACRIN EA6134 trial. The results were reported ...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Kutny et al, the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AAML1331 trial has shown that treatment with arsenic trioxide and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) with no maintenance therapy produced high event-free and overall survival rates in pediatric patients with acute...
The immunomodulatory effects of neoadjuvant immune-based treatments for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are becoming clearer, in part due to data presented by Schmidt et al at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2021 Annual Meeting (Abstract 962). The first integrated analysis of...
The invited discussant of monarchE,1 Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, Director, Breast Cancer Research, and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, commented: “Based on a hazard ratio of 0.69 for invasive disease–free survival, the results are statistically significant and clinically...
Longer-term follow-up of the global phase III monarchE trial showed an increasing benefit for adding abemaciclib to endocrine therapy in the adjuvant treatment of early high-risk hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, regardless of Ki67 index. The latest findings were reported at a ...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Castillo et al found that venetoclax produced a high major response rate in previously treated patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. As stated by the investigators, “BCL2 is overexpressed and confers prosurvival signaling in ...
In the phase II MK-6482-004 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Eric Jonasch, MD, and colleagues found that the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α inhibitor belzutifan produced responses in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) associated with von Hippel-Lindau disease....
In a small single-institution study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Parvathaneni et al found that SARS–CoV-2 mRNA vaccination produced antibody responses in nearly half—and CD4 T-cell responses in more than half—of patients with B-cell depletion due to treatment with...
In a phase I dose-escalation and dose-expansion study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fischer et al found that the ALK inhibitor ceritinib produced durable responses in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory, locally advanced or metastatic ALK-positive malignancies. Study Details In the...
A diagnosis of prostate cancer may translate to approximately a 30% increase in the incidence of depression and anxiety, a fourfold higher risk of heart attack, and a twofold higher risk of suicide. A study published by Kaushik et al in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases aimed to evaluate the...
In the phase II coopERA Breast Cancer trial, which evaluated two endocrine neoadjuvant therapies in estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer, the oral selective estrogen receptor degrader giredestrant led to a greater reduction in Ki67 level—a measure of cancer cell...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Myers et al found that lack of response to prior blinatumomab treatment was associated with poorer outcomes with CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy (CD19-CAR) in children and young adults with relapsed or refractory...
Moles and melanomas both originate from the same type of cell—melanocytes. A study published by McNeal et al in eLife Magazine aimed to explain how common moles and melanomas form and why moles can subsequently change into melanoma. Melanocytes are cells that give color to the skin to protect it...
In a single-institution study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Qian et al found that the administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors after 4:30 PM was associated with poorer overall survival vs infusion earlier in the day in patients with metastatic melanoma. As stated by the investigators, “The ...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Kratzer et al found that mortality from cancer overall has decreased significantly since the passage of the National Cancer Act in 1971, with reductions observed in 12 of the 15 cancer sites associated with the highest mortality rates in...
After an extensive national search, Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health have announced that Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, will be the next Director of Yale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, effective February 1, 2022. Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA,...
In a single-institution study reported in Cancer, Bei Hu, MD, of the Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health in Charlotte, and colleagues found that use of a dedicated nurse navigation program contributed to redressing the recognized inequities...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Masakazu Toi, MD, PhD, a clinical breast cancer expert who is keen on research that translates basic science into clinical study. He is involved in various innovative research projects on the development ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Philippe Moreau, MD, of the University Hospital Hôtel-Dieu, Nantes, and colleagues, an interim analysis of part 2 of the phase III CASSIOPEIA trial has showed significantly prolonged progression-free survival with maintenance daratumumab vs observation...
National surveys consistently show that spirituality and religion are important components in the lives of most Americans, with more than 90% of adults expressing a belief in God and more than 70% identifying religion as one of the most important influences in their lives.1 Studies also show that...
On November 2, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and Quality Payment Program (QPP) final rule. Although ASCO will analyze the rule in greater detail in the coming days, initial highlights from the rule are outlined...
A recent study published in JCO Oncology Practice found that patients with certain cancers have a higher mortality risk than those with other cancer types if they have contracted the novel coronavirus (SARS–CoV-2).1 Specifically, older patients with B-cell malignancies who acquire SARS–CoV-2 who...
ASCO has compiled a number of resources to help people with cancer navigate COVID-19. Coronavirus and COVID-19: What People With Cancer Need to Know Cases of COVID-19 have arisen all over the world. Here’s what people with cancer and cancer survivors need to know about the disease. Available at...
Estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer is the most common type of breast cancer, diagnosed in more than 2.3 million women around the world each year, including more than 200,000 in the United States alone. Adjuvant endocrine therapy is a mainstay of treatment for these millions of women and is a...
Although cancer in adolescents and young adults (AYAs), defined by the National Cancer Institute as those between the ages of 15 and 39, is relatively rare—in 2020 nearly 90,000 AYAs were diagnosed with cancer and about 9,300 died of the disease1—and 5-year relative survival rates are high, between ...
In an Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group phase III trial (ABCSG-16/SALSA) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Michael Gnant, MD, of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, and colleagues found no difference in disease-free survival with 2 vs 5...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Rare Cancer Research Foundation have launched a collaboration designed to accelerate the development of new treatments for rare cancers by empowering all patients in the United States to contribute tumor samples directly to MD Anderson for...
Renal cell carcinoma is a common malignancy among men and women in the United States.1 The incidence continues to increase with the ever-increasing use of contemporary medical imaging. Although many patients who present with localized disease are cured with definitive surgery, some patients develop ...
“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” —Mark Twain To complement The ASCO Post’s extensive coverage of the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel treatments under study in high-risk multiple myeloma. For...
In a phase III trial (IPATential150) reported in The Lancet, Christopher Sweeney, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, found that the addition of the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to abiraterone and prednisolone produced a significant improvement in radiographic progression-free...
Low-dose lung cancer screening by computed tomography (CT) is associated with a 16% relative reduction in lung cancer mortality over no lung cancer screening of high-risk individuals, based on a meta-analysis conducted by investigators with the United Kingdom Lung Cancer Screening (UKLS) trial.1...
Updated results from the phase III CheckMate 743 trial support the durable and superior benefits of immunotherapy with nivolumab plus ipilimumab over chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.1 In the most recent updated analysis of the...
Previously treated patients with HER2-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) achieved encouraging response rates and duration of response to the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in the phase II DESTINY-Lung01 trial. These results were reported at the European...
The ASCO Post has published a wealth of practice-changing studies and news about other advances presented during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021. In addition to the biggest news from this international meeting, here are several summaries of interesting study findings...
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an estimated 19.3 million new cancer cases occurred worldwide in 2020, resulting in almost 10 million deaths. The IARC projects a 50% rise in global cancer incidence and mortality by 2040. To help control this looming crisis,...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to a gene therapy for patients with β-thalassemia, and Fast Track designation to a SETD2 inhibitor for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Priority Review: Betibeglogene Autotemcel for...
Newly identified genetic abnormalities in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), as well as therapies that can target some of those abnormalities, are now available as the landscape for treatment continues to evolve. During the 2021 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Congress: Hematologic...
During its virtual Annual Meeting 2021 held on November 9 and 10, Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) urged all stakeholders in the cancer community to work together to optimize dosing in oncology drug development to maximize benefit for patients and reduce treatment toxicity, and to abandon the...