Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of City of Hope, discusses findings of the TIVO-3 study, which showed that the tyrosine kinase inhibitor tivozanib improved progression-free survival vs sorafenib in patients whose advanced renal cell carcinoma progressed after multiple lines of therapy (Abstract 278).
Men who have had treatment for early-stage testicular cancer may benefit from fewer monitoring scans, freeing them from some of the harmful radiation that comes from computerized tomography (CT) imaging, according to results from the phase III TRISST clinical trial presented by Joffe et al at the...
Following disease progression on docetaxel, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radionuclide therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 37% vs cabazitaxel in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in the phase II TheraP trial reported by Michael S....
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by McDermott et al, findings in a cohort of the phase II KEYNOTE-427 study showed that pembrolizumab monotherapy produced durable responses as first-line treatment for advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma. In a separate cohort of the study,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues, an interim analysis in the phase III KEYNOTE-598 trial showed no improvement in overall or progression-free survival with the addition of ipilimumab to pembrolizumab in previously untreated patients with...
In a Japanese phase III trial (JCOG1007; iPACS) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kanemitsu et al found that the addition of primary tumor resection to chemotherapy did not improve overall survival vs chemotherapy alone in patients with asymptomatic primary colorectal cancer tumors and...
Breast cancer death rates have stopped declining for women in the United States younger than age 40, ending a trend that existed from 1987 to 2010, according to a report published by Hendrick et al in Radiology. Breast cancer is the most common nonskin cancer and the second most common cause of...
The combination of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab showed superiority over sunitinib in terms of overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rate in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results of the phase III CLEAR trial. The CLEAR study ...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, and colleagues identified activity of the oral selective estrogen receptor (ER) degrader (SERD) elacestrant in postmenopausal women with heavily pretreated ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, including...
A dose-intensified approach to salvage radiotherapy failed to show superiority to a conventional dose strategy in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy, according to a study presented by Pirus Ghadjar, MD, and colleagues at the 2021...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Peter Hoskin, MD, and colleagues, 5-year follow-up of the phase III noninferiority FoRT trial showed that radiotherapy at 24 vs 4 Gy continued to be associated with superior freedom from local disease progression in patients with follicular or marginal zone...
Treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv has been found to significantly increase survival of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma, according to results from the phase III EV-301 clinical trial. These findings were presented by Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, and...
The phase III ACIS trial met its primary endpoint at 6 months, showing that apalutamide plus abiraterone acetate/prednisone extended radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone acetate/prednisone alone in patients with chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. An ...
As reported in Blood Advances by Gary H. Lyman, MD, MPH, FASCO, FRCP, and colleagues, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) has issued evidence-based guidelines intended to assist patients, clinicians, and other health-care professionals in decisions regarding the prevention and treatment of...
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, several elective surgeries for renal cell carcinoma were delayed, with an unknown impact on outcomes for patients. In a retrospective study, researchers from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey explored the impact of surgical delays for these patients...
In an analysis of the phase III POLLUX and CASTOR trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Avet-Loiseau et al found that the addition of daratumumab to standard therapy was associated with higher rates of—and more prolonged—measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity in patients with...
Lucia Masarova, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, said the updated long-term data for momelotinib show “durable efficacy and exciting outcomes” in patients with myelofibrosis, regardless of prior exposure to...
Treatment with the novel JAK inhibitor momelotinib led to long-term overall survival and sustained transfusion independence in patients with intermediate- or high-risk myelofibrosis, according to updates from the SIMPLIFY-1 and SIMPLIFY-2 trials presented at the 2020 American Society of Hematology...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sherif S. Farag, MD, PhD, of Indiana University School of Medicine, and colleagues, found that the addition of the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4; CD26) inhibitor sitagliptin to tacrolimus and sirolimus prophylaxis resulted in a...
As reported in The Lancet by Paul Baas, MD, and colleagues, a prespecified interim analysis in the phase III CheckMate 743 trial has shown improved overall survival with first-line nivolumab/ipilimumab vs platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma. The...
In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Davendra P.S. Sohal, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that neither of two perioperative chemotherapy regimens was associated with improved overall survival in patients with resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma compared with historical rates in...
On February 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo) for patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) previously treated with a hedgehog pathway inhibitor (HHI) or for whom an HHI is not appropriate. The FDA also granted...
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common type of skin cancer, with more than 1 million cases diagnosed in the United States annually.1 Historically, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is grouped together with basal cell carcinoma and collectively referred to as nonmelanoma skin...
A diagnosis of breast cancer and subsequent treatment may increase the risk of depression, especially among younger women with breast cancer. A new study showed that behavioral interventions—specifically mindfulness meditation and survivorship education classes—may reduce depressive symptoms, as...
William Gradishar, MD, the Betsy Bramsen Professor of Breast Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Deputy Director for the Clinical Network of the Lurie Cancer Center, commented on the findings of the ASCENT biomarker analysis in the closing panel discussion. The...
The antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (sacituzumab govitecan) is beneficial in previously treated patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, irrespective of Trop-2 expression, according to a biomarker analysis of the phase III ASCENT trial.1 Although greater efficacy...
“Knowledge has a beginning but no end.” —Geeta Iyengar To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are three abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapies for...
It may be possible to exploit T cells from healthy volunteers who have recovered from COVID-19 as a treatment for this viral infection. Researchers at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine have designed an off-the-shelf COVID virus–specific T-cell product (called...
In a large retrospective analysis of allogeneic transplant for relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), more than half the patients studied were alive at 5 years, investigators reported at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 “In the...
Neil M. Iyengar, MD, Assistant Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, has researched the links between breast cancer and lifestyle. He provided comments on these two abstracts from the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) for The ASCO Post. “These two...
A growing body of evidence is showing a strong association between diet and breast cancer risk and survival, particularly high glycemic load and sugar intake. Two large population studies at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium supported these observations.1,2 Findings from the Nurses’...
In the phase II ZUMA-5 trial, the cellular immunotherapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to responses in 92% of patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), researchers reported at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 Axicabtagene ciloleucel has improved ...
Dostarlimab, a monoclonal antibody targeting PD-1, showed antitumor activity in patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) gastrointestinal tumors in the phase I GARNET study, reported at the 2021 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium by Thierry André, MD, of Sorbonne University and Saint-Antoine...
Patients with stage I to III colorectal cancer who have a high risk for recurrence may be identified by serial testing of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after resection, according to a study in which ctDNA proved more reliable than carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) surveillance or standard radiologic...
Ivosidenib, an inhibitor of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), improved overall survival by almost 3 months in previously treated patients with advanced IDH1-mutated cholangiocarcinoma, compared with placebo, researchers of the global phase III ClarIDHy trial reported at the 2021 Gastrointestinal...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sherif S. Farag, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4; CD26) inhibitor sitagliptin to tacrolimus and sirolimus prophylaxis resulted in a low rate of acute graft-vs-host disease...
In a registry-based observational study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Anastasia Chalkidou, PhD, and colleagues found that stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) was associated with high overall survival and low rates of toxicity in patients with extracranial oligometastatic cancers. The...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS, and colleagues, the NCI-MATCH trial’s phase II subprotocol EAY131-Y has shown activity of the pan-AKT inhibitor capivasertib in a range of metastatic tumors with an AKT1 E17K mutation. The phase II trial enrolled 35 evaluable adult patients...
The Lustgarten Foundation and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have announced two new career development awards for early-career female and underrepresented pancreatic cancer researchers, representing a commitment of the Lustgarten Foundation of up to $1.8 million. The awards...
In the prospective LAST study reported in JAMA Oncology, Ehab Atallah, MD, and Kathryn Flynn, PhD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and colleagues, found that stopping tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) was associated with the...
Treatment with the immunotherapy nivolumab with or without cisplatin-based chemotherapy following radical surgery significantly improved disease-free survival in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma, irrespective of their PD-L1 status, according to a study that will be presented by...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, Global Head of Translational Clinical Oncology at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research,* and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III CROWN trial has shown that first-line lorlatinib significantly improved...
In the phase II NRG Oncology HN002 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sue S. Yom, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that a reduced-dose intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) regimen for human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma satisfied...
Patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treated with the combination of fixed-duration venetoclax/rituximab had a longer overall survival and progression-free survival at 5 years compared with those treated with bendamustine/rituximab, according to a 5-year analysis...
In the Neurofibromatosis Clinical Trials Consortium phase II NF106 trial, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Weiss et al found evidence of activity of the oral MAPK/ERK kinase inhibitor mirdametinib in adolescents and adult patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)-related plexiform...
Gene therapy pioneer Arthur W. Nienhuis, MD, the fourth Director of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, died on February 3 at age 79. Under his leadership, the hospital grew exponentially in both size and scientific stature. “At St. Jude, the nature of our work requires a bold, ambitious...
In an analysis of the phase III CheckMate 017 and 057 trials in previously treated patients with advanced squamous (017) and nonsquamous (057) non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hossein Borghaei, DO, MS, and colleagues found pooled 5-year overall...
Information shared by women with metastatic breast cancer on social media platforms like Twitter may be a timely source of data for policymakers hoping to improve care and outcomes for these patients, according to a study published by Shimkhada et al in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. Role of...
In an analysis from the COVID-19 Impact Survey reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Islam et al found that U.S. adult cancer survivors were more likely to report mental health–related symptoms vs adults without cancer during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Details Data for the analysis ...
At-home tests, which measure blood in stool as a potential marker for colon cancer, are often used for colorectal cancer screening. Usage of these tests has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as patients try to avoid clinical visits. However, effectiveness of these screening tools, along with...