In the past few months, numerous presentations from this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting have been covered in depth in the pages of The ASCO Post and online at ASCOPost.com. The brief summaries below capture additional important highlights that have not been covered thus far. We hope you will find them...
Federico Cappuzzo, MD, Director of the Medical Oncology Department at Istituto Toscano Tumori, Ospedale Civile, Livorno, Italy, pointed out that the abstracts presented by Spigel et al and Camidge et al at the ASCO Annual Meeting explored the same target but with different results. The first...
Two different abstracts explored the potential for MET as a therapeutic target in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with different results. A phase III study found that onartuzumab, an antibody that targets the MET receptor, combined with erlotinib (Tarceva) was not as...
The potential of individualizing systemic treatment based on BRCA1/2 status has not yet been realized. BRCA1/2 germline status currently does not factor into systemic therapy decisions,” said Melinda L. Telli, MD, of Standard University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, who discussed the...
Many concerns were raised and dire speculations predicted during the further implementation of the Affordable Care Act this year. So far, the trickling news is good: An estimated total of 20 million people gained coverage under the new law as of May 1,1 about 6 million enrolled in the law’s...
Recent approvals announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have led to increased treatment options for managing several difficult-to-treat hematologic B-cell cancers. The newly approved drugs and/or their indications include the oral PI3K delta inhibitor idelalisib (Zydelig) for the...
KRAS and BRAF V600E mutations were nearly mutually exclusive and associated with specific patient and tumor characteristics, such as age and smoking status, according to an analysis of data from the N0147 phase III trial for stage III colon cancer. Primary tumors were assessed for KRAS and BRAF...
“Prolonged TV viewing and time spent in other sedentary pursuits is associated with increased risks of certain types of cancer,” concluded a meta-analysis of data from 43 observational studies including more than 4 million people and 68,936 cancer cases. A positive association with overall...
The information in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with kidney cancer. The list includes a pilot study and observational, randomized, and nonrandomized phase II and phase III studies evaluating new therapies, combination therapies,...
The vast majority of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients present with advanced disease, and many will develop metastases after primary curative therapy. Until recently, despite its low efficacy, chemotherapy remained the only treatment modality in metastatic NSCLC. Within the past decade,...
In the first phase III trial assessing the combination of an insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) inhibitor with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced nonadenocarcinoma non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the addition of the fully human immunoglobulin G2 monoclonal antibody...
ASCO has launched the ASCO in Action Beat, an e-newsletter specifically focused on the latest news and updates related to cancer policy from ASCO in Action. The ASCO in Action Beat provides a snapshot of the most significant news and updates in cancer policy, ASCO’s ongoing advocacy efforts, and...
Protocol modifications to address increased risk of toxicity and excess early mortality among children with Down syndrome being treated for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) proved safe for patients with Down syndrome, and these patients had event-free survival similar to those without Down ...
The Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB)/Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 80405 trial, presented during the Plenary Session at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting, demonstrated that cetuximab (Erbitux) and bevacizumab (Avastin) confer similar benefits as first-line treatment with chemotherapy for KRAS...
The field of multiple myeloma is rapidly changing, and the shifts that are occurring impact the management of these patients, from initial diagnosis through multiple relapses. At the 9th Annual New Orleans Summer Cancer Meeting, Sergio A. Giralt, MD, Chief of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant...
The KRAS mutation has long been considered “undruggable,” but new approaches in drug development may change this. The end result could be effective new treatment options for KRAS-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to David R. Gandara, MD, who described the emerging findings at...
An international multidisciplinary group of experts has updated their recommendations for staging and treatment response assessment in patients with Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Bruce D. Cheson, MD, Professor of Medicine, Deputy Chief of Hematology-Oncology, and Head of Hematology at the...
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is safe and effective in early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as it confers local control in 90% or more patients with T1 disease, according to Roy Decker, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale Cancer...
The combination of bendamustine (Treanda), fludarabine, and rituximab (Rituxan), or BFR, was shown to be safe and effective conditioning for patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia/lymphoma receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation from related or unrelated donors. “Remarkably,...
“To exploit the potential radiosensitizing properties, the direct effect on brain metastases, and systemic activity of erlotinib,” researchers from the United Kingdom tested concurrent erlotinib and whole-brain radiotherapy followed by maintenance erlotinib in patients with of non–small cell lung...
Most patients who choose to have breast reconstruction following mastectomy are satisfied with the decision-making process. Reasons for not choosing reconstruction vary by race and include the desire to avoid additional surgery and fear of implants. These and other conclusions of an analysis of...
The pro-oxidant molecule imexon (Amplimexon/NSC-714597) produced an overall response rate of 30% in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) participating in a phase II study. Noting that “lymphoma cells are subject to higher levels of oxidative stress than their normal...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) presented seven physicians a total of $675,000 in awards and grants to advance radiation oncology research. The awards will fund studies in radiation and cancer biology, radiation physics, translational research, outcomes/health services research, ...
The following essay by James O. Armitage, MD, is excerpted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was co-edited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and at thebigcasino.org. The ...
Massively parallel sequencing analyses have demonstrated that most of the common malignancies display relatively complex repertoires of somatic genetic alterations, that the number of highly recurrent mutations is limited, and that a large number of genes is mutated in a small minority of tumors...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of children and adults with intraocular cancers. The studies include pilot, phase 0, phase I, phase II, and observational trials evaluating new combination therapies, vaccines, optical...
In February 2014, ASCO launched a new member publication, ASCO Connection: Trainee & Early-Career Oncologists. This quarterly magazine-style publication is dedicated to topics of interest to medical students, interns, residents, fellows, and junior faculty. All ASCO Student/Non-Oncology...
Postoperative radiation therapy, given after adjuvant chemotherapy, significantly increased overall survival in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared to chemotherapy alone, according to a study reported at ASCO’s 2014 Annual Meeting.1 That study, an analysis of records in the National Cancer...
Cetuximab (Erbitux) added no survival benefit to chemoradiation in stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results reported in a Plenary Session of the 2013 World Conference on Lung Cancer in Sydney, Australia.1 It was the second surprise result from the Radiation Therapy...
Trebananib inhibits angiogenesis by blocking the binding of angiopoietins 1 and 2 to the Tie2 receptor expressed on endothelial cells, a mechanism that differs from vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors and that involves a different signaling pathway. In the phase III TRINOVA-1 trial ...
Inhibitors of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) look promising for the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and have the advantage of not needing a specific mutation to target, said Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, Professor and Chief of Medical Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of...
For the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), combinations of targeted agents are of great research interest but have not yet been shown to improve outcomes. Single-agent treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, therefore, remains the standard of care for patients with...
On September 11, 2001, the devastating terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center left in its wake a unique toxic site in both mass and quantity of hazardous materials. It took 9 months to remove approximately 2 million tons of wreckage from Ground Zero, during which thousands of...
Don’t expect metastatic lung cancer to be cured any time soon, says Paul A. Bunn, Jr, MD, Professor and James Dudley Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver. “You have to be disease-free for some length of time in order to be cured, which is our goal,” he...
Researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute have been awarded three of four grants by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Oncology Research Program to evaluate and define the clinical effectiveness of the investigational compound nintedanib. Nintedanib is an investigational...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for people with breast cancer. The studies include phase I and II, interventional, and observational trials evaluating new therapies; diagnostic tools; genetic counseling; the association ...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) reported a second list of five radiation oncology treatments that should not be used routinely in clinical practice on day 1 of the Society’s 56th Annual Meeting.1 These five treatments should be discussed in depth with patients prior to being...
Clinical depression is highly prevalent, associated with significant morbidity, often underrecognized, and inadequately treated in cancer patients. Professor Michael Sharpe and Jane Walker, PhD, and their colleagues’ seminal work on enhancing treatment of depression in cancer patients using a...
In the phase III CENTRIC/European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 26071-22072 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Roger Stupp, MD, of University Hospital Zurich, and colleagues found that adding the selective αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrin inhibitor cilengitide to standard...
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has announced that Louis J. DeGennaro, PhD, has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. “Dr. DeGennaro has tirelessly dedicated himself for almost a decade of service to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society mission and to...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently launched “The Exceptional Responders Initiative,” a study to investigate the molecular factors of tumors associated with exceptional treatment responses of patients with cancer to drug therapies. Scientists will attempt to identify the molecular features ...
Each day, millions of patients with cancer around the world suffer unrelieved pain because they are denied morphine, the gold standard of cancer pain control. The World Health Organization has called access to morphine a human rights issue. Not surprisingly, the crisis in unrelieved cancer pain is...
The investigators and sponsors of the phase III REVEL trial should be congratulated and probably commiserated. In this large study, reported by Garon and colleagues in The Lancet and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, 1,253 patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were...
In the phase III REVEL trial reported in Lancet, Edward B. Garon, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA/Translational Research in Oncology–US Network, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that the addition of the antiangiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2...
Two-thirds of patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma who harbored BRCA mutations responded to the combination of veliparib, cisplatin, and gemcitabine in a phase IB trial that is paving the way for future studies of novel poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARP) inhibitors in this challenging...
The bane of treating non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with druggable mutations has been the development of resistance to targeted agents. New compounds are meeting the challenge of treating resistant disease, according to Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, Professor and Chair of Hematology and...
Antibody-drug conjugates are being tested against several types of lymphomas and for some of these agents, “activity is quite impressive,” Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, reported at the recent Best of ASCO meeting in Chicago. Dr. Evens, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, and...
Survivors of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who never smoked or who are former smokers at the time of diagnosis have a lower risk of developing secondary primary lung cancers compared to those who are current smokers, suggesting that increased tobacco exposure is associated with a higher risk...
Benjamin Movsas, MD, Chair of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, served as moderator at a press conference where the two SBRT studies by Timmerman et al and Ashworth et al were reported.1,2 Dr. Movsas said that SBRT is a promising approach, noting that the therapy facilitates...
The door is open for expanded use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in patients with inoperable early-stage lung cancer and for patients with oligometastatic stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results of two studies presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the...