GUEST EDITOR Jame Abraham, MD, FACP Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series of articles, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD,...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the...
Although genetic aberrations are considered a major reason for cancer development, the importance of metabolic alterations in cancer development has emerged as a crucial aspect of contemporary cancer research. Better understanding of the metabolic traits in cancer cells could aid researchers in...
Over the past several decades, the field of psychosocial oncology has matured into an invaluable subspecialty that helps patients with cancer and their caregivers deal with the existential issues that arise in cancer, especially in the advanced-disease setting. In an effort to add to this...
On November 16, 2018, brentuximab vedotin was approved for use in combination with chemotherapy for previously untreated systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma or other CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs), including angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and PTCL–not otherwise...
To learn more about the processes that lead to chemotherapy-associated cardiotoxicity, a team of researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) conducted a study to investigate whether early changes in energy-related metabolites in the blood—measured shortly after...
In a report published by Jayadevappa et al in JAMA Network Open, researchers found that among older patients with prostate cancer, treatment with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) was associated with a subsequent diagnosis of Alzheimer disease or dementia over a follow-up period of at least 10...
New research published by Li et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has identified a way to help clinicians caring for patients with multiple myeloma to predict blood clots in order to take preventive action. The researchers established a set of risk factors to...
Nonmelanoma skin cancers may display an aggressive histologic subtype that is not diagnosed on initial biopsy. In a prospective, cross-sectional study reported by Kyllo et al in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, researchers determined that a significant portion of nomelanoma...
Patients who experienced a disaster-level hurricance during radiotherapy for lung cancer had worse overall survival than those who completed treatment in normal circumstances, with longer disaster declarations associated with increasingly worse survival. These findings come from a...
In a nearly 20-year follow-up of a Scandinavian trial reported in The Lancet, Utjés et al found no difference in survival outcomes with 2-cm vs 4-cm surgical excision margins for primary localized cutaneous melanoma with a thickness > 2 mm. The previous report from the trial showed no...
The biliary microbiome was altered in patients who received neoadjuvant therapy prior to undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer, according to a study published by Goel et al in HPB. Additionally, more bacteria in patients who underwent surgery after neoadjuvant therapy were resistant to...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wallner et al found that many patients with differentiated thyroid cancer reported feeling they had no choice in receipt of radioactive iodine treatment. As stated by the investigators, “For many patients with differentiated thyroid...
Researchers have discovered two distinct subtypes of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) associated with different risks of recurrence following surgical treatment. The finding could yield predictive tests while focusing vigilant follow-up monitoring on patients with pNETs that have a higher...
Fertility treatment is not associated with an increased long-term risk of ovarian cancer, according to the results of a large-scale multicenter study presented by Spaan et al at the 35th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Abstract O-183). The findings,...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation to a phospholipid-drug conjugate in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; granted Orphan Drug designation to an immunotherapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC); accepted supplemental biologics license applications (sBLAs) ...
A new study published by Robinson et al in Nature Communications aimed to learn more about the biologic characteristics of upper tract urothelial carcinoma to help develop more targeted therapies. “We discovered the defining biologic characteristics of [upper tract urothelial tumors] that...
In the EMPOWER trial, which took place within the larger Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) and was reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Oeffinger et al found that an intervention consisting of mailed educational materials followed by telephone-delivered counseling led to an increased...
In the phase III AML08 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rubnitz et al found that the use of clofarabine instead of an anthracycline and etoposide in the first course of induction therapy may be a feasible strategy in pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia. The trial,...
Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) is launching the next phase of its Real-World Evidence (RWE) pilot project after a broad stakeholder meeting in February 2019. At the meeting, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and various data partners expressed interest in...
The results of an economic modeling study to estimate the cost-effectiveness of multigene panel sequencing as compared to standard-of-care single-gene tests for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed that multigene panel sequencing tests are moderately...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Simonaggio et al found that rechallenge with an immune checkpoint inhibitor after occurrence of immune-related adverse events was associated with occurrence of an immune-related adverse event in approximately half of patients, with no increase in severity....
In the phase III OPTIMISMM trial, reported by Paul G. Richardson, MD, and colleagues in The Lancet Oncology, researchers found that the addition of pomalidomide to bortezomib/dexamethasone improved progression-free survival in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma previously treated with...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, explore the current...
Despite an avalanche of novel therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the past decade in the treatment of multiple myeloma, including proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs, this blood cancer remains largely incurable, and nearly 13,000 people are expected...
Karen Gelmon, MD, was born and reared in Saskatoon, the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is surrounded by vast prairie and situated along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway and is home to the University of Saskatchewan. “We lived close to the University,” she shared. “My...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel hematology and oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On February 22, trifluridine/tipiracil...
On May 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded its approval of ivosidenib (Tibsovo) to include newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible IDH1 mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved test, in patients who are at least 75 years old or who have comorbidities that ...
The three-drug combination of encorafenib, binimetinib, and cetuximab significantly improved overall survival in patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results of the phase III BEACON CRC clinical trial. These findings were presented by Kopetz et al at the European...
Regorafenib is often administered to patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. However, some of the adverse events related to the use of this drug often limit its use in clinical practice. A study reported by Argilés et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
Welcome, everyone. We are so glad that you are all here today. Those of you attending your first ASCO Annual Meeting: Welcome to this amazing organization. What I’d like to do is to show you some of what ASCO offers, and challenge you all to join in to make a powerful future a reality. We have a...
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the “Tobacco-Free Youth Act,” which will work to protect youth from tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems by raising the national age of sale from 18 to 21. ASCO endorsed the legislation in a...
Unlike non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which has seen a paradigm shift in treatment modalities with the discovery of genetic signatures (including EGFR mutations) that are responsive to targeted drugs, systemic treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has remained largely unchanged for over...
The largest adjuvant trial in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, the global phase III APACT trial, evaluated the combination of adjuvant nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine vs gemcitabine monotherapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer. Results of the study were reported by Margaret A. Tempero, MD, of the...
“Margetuximab pLUS capecitabine may represent a new alternative combination for third-line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer,” said -SOPHIA’s invited discussant Carlos H. Barrios, MD, of the Centro de Pesquisa em Oncologia and Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group in Porto...
Patients with cancer who took cholesterol-lowering statin medication following radiation therapy of the chest, neck, or head had significantly reduced risk of suffering a stroke—and possibly other cardiovascular complications—according to research published by Boulet et al in...
For patients with operable colon cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy resulted in numerous benefits in the FOxTROT trial but did not reach target significance for the primary endpoint. The study was presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting by Matthew T. Seymour, MD, of the University of Leeds School...
In a population of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer deemed to be at high risk by the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), first-line treatment with FOLFOXIRI plus bevacizumab improved progression-free survival by about 3 months, compared with modified FOLFOX plus bevacizumab,...
Targeted therapies for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are a hotbed of investigation. Two new targeted therapies are promising for patients with lung tumors that are either EGFR exon 20 insertions or RET-rearranged. At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, attendees heard early data on therapies...
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy is potentially attractive because it addresses micrometastases early in the course of treatment and may improve compliance with systemic therapy, said formal discussant Maximilian Diehn, MD, PhD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo...
Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, Thompson Chair in Breast Cancer Research and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Breast Cancer Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commented on Dr. Sparano’s presentation for The ASCO Post. “We already use information in...
Clinical risk factors add prognostic information that complements the 21-gene recurrence score, according to a new analysis from the landmark TAILORx trial.1,2 The integration of clinical risk with the recurrence score provides greater precision in determining recurrence risk and guiding the use of ...
I was born at the beginning of World War II in a country half way around the world from the fighting. As a child, I was immune to the carnage. My father was too old to be included, although his elder brother had been killed in World War I. Thousands of families in many countries lost a father, a...
The end-of-study analysis of the landmark CLEOPATRA trial shows that 37% of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer are still alive at 8 years, according to principal investigator Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, FASCO, Associate Dean for Research Development at Georgetown University Medical ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Phillips et al found that immune-related cutaneous adverse events in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors generally responded to symptom- and phenotype-directed dermatologic therapies, and that biologic therapies were effective in...
Early detection and treatment through screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has been investigated as a potential means of reducing lung cancer mortality for more than 2 decades. In 2011, a large U.S. study—the randomized National Lung Screening Trial (NLST)—reported a 20%...
Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after two cycles of lutetium-177 (Lu-177)-PSMA radioligand therapy has shown a significant predictive value for patient survival. The research was...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a new drug application for niraparib in the treatment of certain pretreated gynecologic cancers; granted Fast Track designation to a T-cell product; accepted investigational new drug applications for a myelopreservation agent and an...
On June 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab-bvzr (Zirabev), a biosimilar to bevacizumab (Avastin), for the treatment of five types of cancer: metastatic colorectal cancer; unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell ...
Just as newer drugs have significantly improved outcomes for patients with multiple myeloma in the past decade, newer imaging techniques are upgrading detection of the disease, leading to earlier treatment, but standards to help guide clinicians on the optimal use of advanced imaging have lagged...