Narjust Duma, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the many factors that lead to poorer outcomes in lower-income and minority patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer and the urgent need to address these disparities and physician bias. Women of color and other minority patients...
On February 9, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released the AACR Report on the Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Research and Patient Care. According to findings contained within the report, patients with cancer are not only at an increased risk for developing severe COVID-19, but...
New research published by Shulman et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network confirmed that mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 are just as safe for people with cancer as they are for cancer-free individuals. Researchers from a single institution tracked short-term side effects from ...
Mirek Fatyga, PhD, of Mayo Clinic Arizona, discusses his findings on overall survival in patients with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer who are treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy or conventionally fractionated radiotherapy. He notes that a high dose of > 50 Gy to the...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, researchers from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium found that pathogenic germline variants in nine breast cancer susceptibility genes were associated with different breast cancer subtypes, although most were also associated with triple-negative disease....
A new study published by Zhang et al in Science Translational Medicine shows inhibition of the CECR2 gene may prevent triple-negative breast cancer from advancing or metastasizing. The discovery is an early step in finding new therapeutics for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most...
New findings from researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center published by Nguyen et al in Cell support an emerging framework in cancer science that views metastasis as not primarily driven by genetic mutations, but rather, by epigenetic changes that occur in cancer cells because of their ...
A study published by David Gershenson, MD, and colleagues in The Lancet reported that the MEK inhibitor trametinib reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 52% compared to standard-of-care therapies in low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. The international, multicenter phase II/III trial...
Rona Yaeger, MD, Associate Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, offered her thoughts on the findings of Morris et al for the combination regimen of encorafenib, cetuximab, and nivolumab in patients with microsatellite-stable BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic...
The combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib with cetuximab and nivolumab produced responses in 50% of patients and disease control in 96% of patients with microsatellite-stable BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer in a phase I/II trial reported at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal...
The invited discussant of the SOLSTICE trial1 was Demetris Papamichael, MB, BS, Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre and Associate Professor at St. George’s Hospital and Medical School, University of London. He said that although the study concluded...
For the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer in patients unfit for intensive chemotherapy, trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab as first-line therapy was no more effective than capecitabine plus bevacizumab, investigators from the phase III SOLSTICE trial reported in a European Society for...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating a possible increased risk of death associated with umbralisib (Ukoniq), a kinase inhibitor including PI3K-delta and CK1-epsilon, approved to treat marginal zone and follicular lymphomas. The FDA determined that initial findings from the...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Li et al found that pathogenic variants in BRCA1 or BRCA2—recognized risk factors for female breast and ovarian cancers—were also associated with increased risks of male breast, pancreatic, stomach, colorectal, gallbladder, and prostate...
A disease control rate of 100% was achieved in gastrointestinal cancers treated with the KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib in the phase II KRYSTAL-1 trial, presented at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 The population included primarily those with pancreatic cancer; other noncolorectal ...
Financial assistance may be available for some individuals with cancer from CancerCare, a nonprofit organization helping people cope with and manage the emotional and practical challenges of cancer. Two assistance programs tailored to specific individuals are available to meet financial challenges...
Julie Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, ASCO’S Chief Medical Officer, issued the following statement in light of World Cancer Day on February 4. “This year’s World Cancer Day theme, ‘Close the Care Gap,’ speaks to the heart of what it means to achieve progress against cancer today. In the shadow of COVID’s ...
Hyaluronic acid is a known presence in pancreatic tumors, but a new study published by Kim et al in eLife has shown that hyaluronic acid can also act as a nutrient to fuel pancreatic cancer metabolism. These findings provide insight into how pancreatic cancer cells grow and indicate new...
Weight loss for adults, particularly those who are overweight or obese, may reduce their risk of developing a type of polyp that may lead to colorectal cancer, according to a new study published by He et al in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. Losing weight from early to late adulthood (up to the mid-70s)—at...
Treating women diagnosed with a certain type of early-stage breast cancer with the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab after surgery may reduce the risk of the cancer returning, according to a report published by Ali et al in Scientific Reports. The research team from the University of Saskatchewan...
In an interview with The ASCO Post, Hanno R. Hock, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, highlighted the study’s “very nice response rate” and “encouraging data” while also noting that a pediatric-based treatment regimen in fit adults ...
A pediatric-based protocol has delivered promising preliminary results in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL), according to data presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 Findings from the large,...
Kerryn Reding, PhD, MPH, RN—whose research focuses on reducing cancer incidence and improving survival, with particular interests in lifestyle interventions and biomarkers of risk—was born in Australia, but her family moved to Iowa when she was a toddler. “Both of my parents were in health care. My ...
As Vice President, in 2016, Joe Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot with the mission to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer. The cancer and patient community and medical researchers responded with energy and ingenuity. On February 2, President Biden announced the reigniting of the Cancer ...
ASCO and the American Cancer Society (ACS) today initiated a collaboration to ensure that people can easily find the trusted, expert-approved cancer content they need when turning to either organization for information. As an initial step, the organizations are cross-sharing select cancer...
In 2014, The ASCO Post spoke with Mark J. Clemons, MB BS, BMedSci, MSc, MD, FRCP, FRCPC, of Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, about the retirement challenges faced by many oncologists. With market demand expected to exceed supply of oncologists soon, it is clear retirement is...
Researchers have found that disparities in the incidence of head and neck cancer are driven by behavioral and environmental risk factors rather than race. They demonstrated this in the first-ever study to compare head and neck cancer incidence in Black patients in the United States, the Caribbean,...
On January 31, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a second COVID-19 vaccine, which has been known as the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, for the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals aged 18 years and older; the approved vaccine will be marketed as Spikevax. “The FDA’s approval of [the...
In a French phase II trial (IFCT-1703-R2D2) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Julien Mazieres, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the combination of trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and docetaxel produced durable responses in previously treated patients with advanced HER2-mutant non–small cell...
The era of precision oncology, in which molecular biomarkers are used to help guide drug delivery, has dovetailed with the emerging issues of value-based care and cost containment. To shed light on these issues and more, The ASCO Post spoke with Hanna K. Sanoff, MD, MPH, Clinical Medical Director...
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are studying the impact of genetic ancestry on childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The scientists assembled an international cohort to determine how genetic ancestry affects leukemia biology and outcomes for modern therapy; they found...
A new risk score may aid in identifying men and women younger than 50 who are most likely to develop a cancer of the colon or rectum, an international study published by Archaumbault et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed. More About Scoring The score—a number between 0 and...
In a population-based cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Veena Shankaran, MD, MS, and colleagues found that patients with cancer were at a significantly increased risk of past-due credit card payments and other adverse financial events vs matched noncancer controls. As...
Gabriel A. Brooks, MPH, MD, of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, discusses key studies that, when synthesized, suggest the benefits of oxaliplatin may be less than often assumed. The toxicities are well described (especially neuropathy), and the agent should be used cautiously and sparingly beyond...
There is strong evidence showing that avoiding tobacco use, maintaining a healthy diet and weight, and being physically active are effective strategies for reducing cancer risk. In addition, the early detection of certain cancer types through screening has the potential to reduce cancer mortality...
Further analyses of the MONALEESA metastatic breast cancer trials have shown that the benefit of ribociclib plus endocrine therapy in the first-line setting extends to most intrinsic molecular subtypes and is consistent across multiple subgroups. The studies were presented at the 2021 San Antonio...
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States. In 2020, approximately 148,000 people were diagnosed with the disease, and 53,200 people died from it, including 17,930 cases and 3,640 deaths in individuals younger than age 50. According to the American Cancer...
People who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation have an increased risk of pancreatic, stomach, and prostate cancers, as well as the previously well-known risk of breast and ovarian cancers, according to new research calling for increased testing in male carriers to detect the cancers early. The...
In an individual patient-level meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Amar U. Kishan, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) to definitive radiotherapy prolonged metastasis-free and overall survival in patients with localized prostate cancer. Longer ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Howard P. Safran, MD, and colleagues, the phase III NRG Oncology/RTOG-101 trial has shown no significant disease-free survival benefit with the addition of perioperative trastuzumab to neoadjuvant chemoradiation in previously untreated patients with...
Carolyn Presley, MD, of The Ohio State University, discusses the differences between “chemo brain,” cognitive aging, and dementia in patients with thoracic cancer who are in treatment; how to test for impairment; and the interventions that can improve cognitive changes in survivors.
Black women with breast cancer had significantly higher rates of lymphedema after axillary lymph node dissection compared with Hispanic, White, and Asian women in a prospective study of breast cancer–related lymphedema presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). In fact,...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Vicky Makker, MD, and colleagues, the phase III Study 309-KEYNOTE-775 trial has shown prolonged progression-free and overall survival with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab vs physician’s choice of chemotherapy among previously treated patients with ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) issued the following statement regarding the passing of Beatrice Mintz, PhD, FAACR, a trailblazing pioneer in multiple fields of cancer biology, who died January 3, 2022, at the age of 100. Born on January 24, 1921, in New York, New York, Dr....
In 2017, I was caring for my brother, who was suffering from respiratory failure due to complications from cerebral palsy, and working full-time as a registered nurse. I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted all the time. I was also losing weight at an alarming rate—more than 70 pounds in just a...
Writing a comprehensive book about breast cancer that is also concise and highly readable is no easy task. However, the authors of The Breast Cancer Book: A Trusted Guide for You and Your Loved Ones have done that and more by deftly communicating science and medical content for the lay public....
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Burundi. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
Geraldine Jacobson, MD, MPH, MBA, FACR, FASTRO, founding Chair of the West Virginia University (WVU) Department of Radiation Oncology, was born in Fort Dix, New Jersey. Her father was a military officer, and his various duty posts offered an adventurous childhood for Dr. Jacobson. “One of my...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor, Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Quynh-Thu Le, MD, Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Co-Director of the Radiation Biology Program of the Stanford Cancer Institute, and one of the Group Chairs of the NRG Oncology...
OCE Insights is written by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) and the Office of Oncology Diseases (OOD) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In this installment, Jeff Summers, MD, OOD Acting Associate Director for Translational Sciences, and Marc R. Theoret, MD, OCE Deputy...