As reported in JAMA Oncology by Yang et al, the 3-year follow-up of the predominantly Chinese phase III RATIONALE-309 trial showed a maintained progression-free survival benefit with the addition of first-line tislelizumab to chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal...
On March 10, 2000, it was a cold Friday morning in Washington, DC. As usual, we the oncology fellows and faculty crowded into a conference room at the NIH Clinical Center in Building 10 for our weekly conference. Before the session formally began, a senior faculty member walked in holding the New...
Women are more likely to survive cancer than men, but face a higher risk of serious and adverse side effects from treatment, according to a landmark international study. Published by Chhetri et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the research identified consistent differences...
Romiplostim was beneficial in treating chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia, according to findings from the global phase III RECITE trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine. “This work has been nearly a decade in the making, and it is so important because there are no available...
New research assessing the efficacy of optical genome mapping (OGM) in a group of patients with acute leukemia has demonstrated that the method provided reliable and robust analytical performance with high sensitivity and specificity in detecting genetic alterations. In nearly 20% of cases,...
Recurrence-free survival was similar between adjuvant therapy with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab and placebo in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who achieved a complete radiologic response after surgical resection or local ablation, based on the phase III KEYNOTE-937 trial.1 Presented at...
In a phase I trial (PYNNACLE) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dumbrava et al described the toxicity and preliminary activity of rezatapopt in TP53 Y220C–mutated solid tumors. The agent is an investigational, first-in-class, oral, selective p53 reactivator that specifically binds to ...
Significant differences were found in advanced-stage diagnoses of breast cancer in rural populations according to geographic location in the United States, which were further influenced by demographic factors of race and insurance status, according to findings from an analysis of the National...
Severe COVID-19 and influenza infections may prime the lungs for cancer and can accelerate the disease’s development—but vaccination heads off those harmful effects, according to new research published by Qian et al in Cell. University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine researcher Jie Sun, PhD,...
A population-level cohort study of 264.4 million deaths across 20 countries found that females born since the 1930s had higher cancer mortality than males between the ages of 35 and 60 years, largely due to breast and gynecologic cancers. Although females live longer than males on average, these...
T-cell lymphomas are notoriously difficult to treat because immunotherapy, despite being one of the most effective therapies for treating cancer, can’t easily distinguish cancerous T cells from healthy ones. Now, scientists at The Wistar Institute have designed a two-vaccine approach that not only...
A structured exercise program in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy led to a reduction in self-reported cognitive impairment vs those receiving chemotherapy who were not on an exercise plan, according to findings from a nationwide, randomized phase III trial published in JNCCN—Journal of...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, investigators from the Hereditary Breast Cancer Clinical Study Group found that women with ovarian cancer with pathogenic/likely pathogenic BRCA1/2 variants had low risk for subsequent breast cancer. Study Details The study involved an...
Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into screening workflows increased the detection of breast cancer by 10.4% in the United Kingdom, according to the results of the GEMINI study published in Nature Cancer. Additionally, use of AI in different workflows led to reductions in workload by up...
A new study has found that patients with prostate cancer and low testosterone levels may have a higher risk of their cancer progressing to a more aggressive form while under active surveillance. The findings, published by Lawen et al in the The Journal of Urology, suggest that baseline testosterone ...
Vivek Subbiah, MD, has been appointed as the inaugural associate director for drug development and precision oncology at the Stanford Cancer Institute, with a planned start date in spring 2026. In this role, he will lead the Early Drug Development Program to expand access to innovative treatments...
The 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS 2025) featured some exciting presentations. The early breast cancer highlights at SABCS 2025 included the landmark lidERA trial, which explored the efficacy of the oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) giredestrant in the adjuvant...
In a European phase II/III trial (AXINET) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Garcia-Carbonero et al found that the addition of axitinib to long-acting octreotide appeared to show activity in patients with advanced extrapancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (epNETs). Study Details The...
Peter WT Pisters, MD, President of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, was honored with the Charles M. Balch, MD, Distinguished Service Award at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2026 Annual Meeting in recognition of his substantial contributions and leadership in the field...
Researchers have identified that the reporting of venous and arterial thrombotic events in cancer clinical trials is inconsistent and potentially inaccurate, according to a comments article published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 “Mandatory and uniform reporting of all [venous and arterial...
Quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination led to a significantly reduced risk of invasive cervical cancer that was sustained through long-term follow-up, according to the results of a Swedish nationwide, register-based cohort study published in The BMJ. “This study provides evidence of...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Scherpereel et al, 5-year findings from the phase III CheckMate 743 trial showed continued overall survival benefit of first-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab vs chemotherapy in patients with unresectable pleural mesothelioma. Study Details In the...
A novel KRAS G12D inhibitor produced disease control in almost 80% of patients with heavily pretreated advanced or metastatic KRAS G12D–mutated pancreatic cancer in an early-phase study reported at the 2026 ASCO Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers Symposium.1 Of 41 evaluable patients treated with...
Short-term exposure to low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy may relieve some symptoms of menopause for younger survivors of endometrial cancer without increasing the risk of endometrial cancer recurrence, according to findings from a study published in Menopause. “Early detection and improved,...
A large national study in Denmark following nearly 1,900 patients over almost a decade found that minimally invasive ablation is as effective as surgery for treating small kidney cancers, with faster recovery and fewer complications. Results of the study were published by Ahrenfeldt et al in...
Findings from the American Cancer Society's triennial report, Colorectal Cancer Statistics, 2026, show that rates of colorectal cancer are decreasing in older adults; however, rates of colorectal cancer incidence in younger adults continue to increase, with a greater proportion of these cancers...
Combining a visual inspection of the bladder—systematic endoscopic evaluation—with a blood test to check for the presence of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may accurately predict which patients with bladder cancer still have cancer in their bladder after treatment and which do not. These findings,...
Advanced-stage follicular lymphoma is currently considered incurable. But a new analysis of long-term data from patients treated for the disease years ago with standard regimens of immunotherapy and a chemotherapy combination known as CHOP suggests that many of those patients can now be considered...
In a new study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Johnson et al reported that an automated artificial intelligence (AI) pipeline using large language models (LLMs) can accurately stratify future risk of advanced neoplasia in patients with colitis-associated low-grade dysplasia....
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be used to predict metastatic risk and identify which patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer are more likely to benefit from a bladder-sparing treatment approach, according to findings from the RETAIN trials presented at the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers...
At the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, Robert J. Motzer, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, presented results from the second interim analysis of the phase III LITESPARK-011 trial showing improved progression-free survival, higher objective response rate, and a trend toward...
Researchers have found that using a form of radiation therapy that targets individual tumors rather than whole-brain radiation is more optimal for patients with brain metastases, even if a larger number of tumors are present. These findings could help improve quality of life and cognitive function...
Skin fluorescent imaging showed high sensitivity and specificity for the discrimination of low- and high-risk lesions, demonstrating an alternative, noninvasive approach to melanoma biopsies, according to findings from a phase II trial published in JAAD International. “By identifying the molecular ...
On February 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to zongertinib (Hernexeos), a kinase inhibitor, for an expanded indication for adults with unresectable or metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have HER2 tyrosine kinase domain ...
Prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening remains one of the most controversial of “standard” medical practices. As recently as the 2026 Super Bowl, one of the more unusual TV advertisements, sponsored by a pharmaceutical company with an interest in prostate cancer treatments, extolled the virtues ...
Among the high-quality abstract presentations at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), a few always stand out as particularly meritorious. Each year, The ASCO Post asks its Senior Deputy Editor, breast cancer specialist Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to offer his top picks for most...
In a European retrospective study (PORTAL) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Soeterik et al developed a nomogram for predicting androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT)–free survival with metastasis-directed stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in patients with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zhao et al found that patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Medicaid expansion states have had improvements in earlier diagnosis, early initiation of treatment, and survival. Study Details In the study, patients newly diagnosed...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Burus et al found that patients diagnosed with invasive cancer during 2020 and 2021—the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic—had poorer 1-year cause-specific survival (CSS) rates vs patients diagnosed in the prepandemic years of 2015 to 2019. Study Details...
Long-term effects on renal function, cardiovascular risk, and overall health burden in survivors of testicular cancer differed according to the chemotherapy regimen each patient received, according to the results of a large real-world study published in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive...
Intravesical treatment with the investigational immunotherapy cretostimogene grenadenorepvec (CG0070) demonstrated “strong” high-grade recurrence-free survival rates in patients with high-risk, papillary-only, bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer, according ...
A year ago, I was confronting a series of symptoms—including rapid weight loss, abdominal distress, fatigue, and heart issues—that I couldn’t explain. I was just 60 years old and had been in good health, but now I sensed that something was seriously wrong. I made appointments with my primary care...
In a Dutch phase II study (TRAIN-3) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Louis et al found that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided optimization of duration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with favorable event-free survival in patients with stage II to III HER2-positive breast cancer....
ASCO has published an updated guideline on systemic therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), representing ASCO’s first Living Guideline in the area of prostate cancer and the first in any genitourinary (GU) cancer.1 “Guidelines will become less useful if...
In an interim analysis of a phase III trial (KEYVIBE-010) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Dummer et al found that adjuvant therapy with a coformulation of the anti-TIGIT antibody vibostolimab with pembrolizumab did not improve outcomes vs pembrolizumab alone in patients with resected high-risk...
A computational histology–based artificial intelligence (AI) platform was able to identify a biomarker that could predict treatment benefit between two chemotherapy options for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, according to the results of a study presented in a poster at the 2026 ASCO...
Microplastics and nanoplastics were identified in samples from 9 out of 10 patients with prostate cancer, with greater levels of these small plastic fragments inside tumors than in nearby normal tissue, according to findings from a small pilot study that will be presented at the upcoming 2026 ASCO...
The bispecific antibody odronextamab plus standard CHOP (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, prednisone) chemotherapy yielded robust and durable responses in treatment-naive patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), based on the first results of the phase III OLYMPIA-3 study...
A genetic study of Mexican patients with acral melanoma revealed that the cancer subtype encompasses three groups that may each have distinct gene expressions associated with different survival outcomes, according to findings published in Nature. “We found that acral melanoma is not a single...
In an English population–based study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Maringe et al found that inequalities in provision of minimally invasive surgical resection of colon cancer may be associated with poorer patient outcomes. Study Details The study involved data from patients diagnosed with stage...