Each year, The ASCO Post asks Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Taussig Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, to offer his picks for the most important research presented at 2019 San...
Physician-scientist, Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, was encouraged by her parents to become a politically active, socially conscious citizen of the world. “As a young woman, my mother traveled from Africa on a scholarship to the United States, where she attended the University of Wisconsin. It was in the ...
A novel class of inhibitors may hold some promise for boosting responses to checkpoint inhibitors and for sensitizing poorly immunogenic tumors, such as pancreatic cancer, to immunotherapy. The drug targets semaphorin 4D (SEMA4D), a glycoprotein expressed on the cell membranes of many tumor types....
The combination of the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab and definitive radiation therapy appears to be a safe and feasible option for patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer who are not eligible for cisplatin, according to data presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck...
Although patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer typically have limited responses to immunotherapy, a subset of patients with pretreatment evidence of active T-cell responses in their tumors experienced prolonged survival following treatment with ipilimumab in a phase II...
A new prognostic tool may help to predict time to first treatment for patients with early-stage, asymptomatic chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Researchers described what they hope will become a point-of-care resource to help improve clinical decision-making in a study published by Rossi et al in ...
In an analysis from the NRG/RTOG 9601 trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Daniel E. Spratt, MD, and colleagues found that higher prostate-specific antigen (PSA) pre–salvage radiotherapy (SRT) levels after prostatectomy were associated with better overall survival vs lower levels in men with prostate...
On April 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved encorafenib (Braftovi) in combination with cetuximab (Erbitux) for the treatment of pretreated adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with a BRAF V600E mutation detected by an FDA-approved test. BEACON CRC Efficacy was...
Attendees gathered at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco to hear the latest news about treating patients with cancers of the prostate, bladder, kidneys, and testicles. In addition to the comprehensive coverage of the meeting in The ASCO Post, here are some brief highlights...
Improving care for children with cancer worldwide could bring a triple return on investment and prevent millions of deaths, according to a new Commission report published by Atun et al in The Lancet Oncology. Without additional investment in childhood cancer care, new estimates produced for the...
A case study of one patient with multiple myeloma diagnosed with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, published by Zhang et al in Blood Advances examined the efficacy of the immunosuppressant tocilizumab as a treatment for this particular patient. The report also suggested that patients with hematologic...
The partners in the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator—a large-scale initiative launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard—awarded $20 million in initial grants to three institutions. The University of Washington, the University of Oxford, and La Jolla Institute...
Findings from the phase III COLUMBA trial have shown that subcutaneous daratumumab is not inferior to intravenous daratumumab in terms of efficacy and pharmacokinetics and had an improved safety profile in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. These results were published by...
Researchers have developed the first blood test that can accurately detect more than 50 types of cancer and identify in which tissue the cancer originated—often before there are any clinical signs or symptoms of the disease. These findings were published by Liu et al in Annals of Oncology. In their ...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Michael Wang, MD, and colleagues found that the anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy KTE-X19 produced a high response rate in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma who had received previous...
In an effort to expedite research for agents with potential activity against symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is evaluating and/or has approved a number of randomized clinical trials seeking to determine whether a drug has...
Today, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Board of Directors issued the following announcement: The AACR has been closely monitoring the rapid escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health and safety of all Annual Meeting attendees and the patients and communities they serve are...
On April 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved luspatercept-aamt (Reblozyl) for the treatment of anemia that fails to respond to an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent and requires two or more red blood cell units over 8 weeks in adult patients with very low- to intermediate-risk...
In 2014, three undergrads at Columbia University had a crazy idea for a hackathon challenge: colorize bleach so health-care workers could spot missed areas on the surfaces and personal protective equipment they are trying to disinfect. Five years later, the result is a product called Highlight®,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a new dose for a biosimilar referencing trastuzumab and granted Fast Track designations to agents for patients with urothelial cancer and follicular lymphoma. Approval of Multidose Vial of Trastuzumab Biosimilar The FDA approved a...
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, The ASCO Post will be interviewing oncologists on how they and their centers are dealing with the crisis. Here, we speak with Miriam A. Knoll, MD, a radiation oncologist at the John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, ...
As reported in the British Journal of Cancer by Namrata Vijayvergia, MD, and colleagues, a pooled analysis of two phase II studies found that pembrolizumab monotherapy showed little activity in patients with previously treated metastatic high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms. Study Details In the...
In a Chinese phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Qin et al found that the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor camrelizumab showed activity in patients with previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label multicenter trial, 217 evaluable ...
In patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) where the cancer has spread to one or more lymph nodes close to the lungs—a condition known as pathologic N1 (pN1) disease—current guidelines recommend a two-part protocol: surgical resection, followed by chemotherapy. However, a retrospective...
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, William D. Tap, MD, and colleagues found that the selective mutant-IDH1 inhibitor ivosidenib produced no objective responses but resulted in durable disease control in a cohort of patients with advanced chondrosarcoma. As noted by...
Bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) antibodies, such blinatumomab, may be the most appealing type of bispecific antibodies, a class of manufactured constructs that is expected to expand into the solid tumor space, according to Hermann Einsele, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Würzburg,...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Daniel V.T. Catenacci, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the first-in-class anti–fibroblast growth factor receptor 2b (FGFR2b) antibody bemarituzumab showed activity in patients with high FGFR2b-overexpressing, advanced-stage...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gross et al found that the oral MEK inhibitor selumetinib produced a high response rate and durable responses in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 and symptomatic inoperable plexiform neurofibromas. Study Details The study,...
In a first-in-human phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Desai et al found that the RAF family kinase inhibitor lifirafenib produced responses in several solid tumor types in patients with BRAF or KRAS/NRAS mutations. Study Details The study, conducted in Australia and New...
In some patients with advanced ovarian cancer, the combination of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors can produce responses, but up until now, investigators have been unable to predict which patients would not benefit from the treatment and...
Cancer care for patients in rural areas is challenging—for example, in the United States, only 3% of medical oncologists practice in rural areas, and patients must travel long distances to see specialists. Patients may also have trouble managing complications from care or follow-up from treatment....
An analysis of breast imaging center websites and a literature search for research articles on transgender breast health found that “issues related to transgender breast imaging are not well addressed in the radiology literature or in the radiology community, even though more transgender patients...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays, historical...
ABSTRACT 355: MURANO study: Four-year analysis confirms sustained benefit (compared to bendamustine and rituximab; n = 195) of time-limited venetoclax/rituximab (n = 194) in relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02005471)1...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapies for newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) recently appointed Sergio Giralt, MD, and Miguel-Angel Perales, MD, as Deputy Division Head of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Chief of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service, respectively. Dr. Giralt: New Roles and Old Former Chief of...
Despite recent enthusiasm for combining stereotactic body radiation therapy with immunotherapy in renal cell carcinoma, two preliminary studies presented at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium suggest that it may not be the best path forward. In one study, the combination of nivolumab plus...
On February 25, 2020, neratinib (Nerlynx) was approved for use in combination with capecitabine for treatment of adult patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti–HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting.1,2 Supporting Efficacy ...
The results of a phase II study suggest that a short course of immunotherapy prior to surgery for oral cavity cancer may trigger tumor regression, possibly providing long-term benefits for patients. According to data presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium,1 a 3-week ...
Immune modulation with checkpoint inhibitors has shown beneficial effects in advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but responses have been limited to a small number of patients. According to data presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium, however, an...
As has often been written, “Cancer is the greatest equalizer.” It tends to strike its victims regardless of their financial status. In low- and middle-income countries, however, the impact of poverty on the treatment of cancer is strikingly conspicuous. It is the major catalyst for delay in seeking ...
Researchers from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recently reviewed hundreds of epidemiologic studies on the link between physical activity and both cancer risk and cancer mortality. A subsequent analysis of the findings by a panel of experts representing 17 partner organizations,...
Philip J. Saylor, MD, Attending Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston, commented on this study. “The results that were presented are clearly exciting and cause us to look forward to a likely phase III study of this strategy. The high...
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is dramatically affecting health-care systems. This is the first in a series of interviews The ASCO Post will conduct with oncologists, to learn what they and their cancer centers are doing to deal with the crisis. In this article, we talk with John Cole, MD, a...
In a literature review published by Pampena et al in JAMA Dermatology, researchers provided detailed and extensive information about the features of several different kinds of rare cutaneous melanomas. According to the researchers, the analysis was performed to “…provide a comprehensive overview of ...
People with a history of cancer have an over twofold risk of developing atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder, compared to the general population, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (Abstract 1216-235). In...
The analysis by Chao et al “highlights how well patients with MSI-H tumors do, compared to microsatellite-stable patients, and how much better they do in a randomized setting, being exposed to immunotherapy as compared to standard-of-care chemotherapy…The data also show that this is a...
The survival benefit of pembrolizumab in advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer with microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) tumors or a combined positive score (CPS) ≥ 10 was established in post hoc subanalysis of three KEYNOTE trials. Findings were presented at the 2020...
In patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and a germline BRCA/PALB2 mutation, first-line therapy with cisplatin plus gemcitabine yielded high response rates and encouraging survival, according to Eileen M. O’Reilly, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who presented the findings...
Health-related quality of life was preserved during maintenance olaparib in patients with BRCA 1/2-positive pancreatic cancer, as evidenced by a low symptom burden over time.1 POLO investigators reported their findings in posters presented at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Other...