Stereotactic radiation therapy (SABR) was found to be noninferior to surgical resection in terms of overall survival for patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to 10-year results from the STARS trial presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)...
A new clinical trial found that people with a limited number of metastases from recurrent prostate cancer lived significantly longer without disease progression when they received a radiopharmaceutical drug before targeted radiation compared with radiation alone. The phase II LUNAR trial is the...
In a study (BMT CTN 1702) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lee et al found little difference in 2-year survival outcomes between patients considered “very likely” vs “very unlikely” to find an HLA-matched unrelated donor (MUD) for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation as...
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and UC Davis will co-lead a newly funded, multi-institutional clinical trial to evaluate whether artificial intelligence (AI) can help support radiologists in interpreting mammograms more accurately, with the goal of improving breast cancer screening ...
Zidesamtinib, an investigational oral, highly selective ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor designed to overcome common resistance mechanisms and improve brain penetration, has demonstrated activity in both pretreated and tyrosine kinase inhibitor–naive patients with ROS1-positive non–small cell lung...
In a Dutch phase III trial (PREOPANC-2) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Janssen et al found no difference in overall survival between patients receiving neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX vs neoadjuvant gemcitabine-based chemoradiotherapy for resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic ductal...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Syed Ali Abutalib, MD, and L. Jeffrey Medeiros, MD, focuses on clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (also referred to as CHIP) as well as...
People with more than one tattoo session may have a decreased risk of developing melanoma—with one key caveat, according to research published by McCarty et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. A team led by Jennifer Doherty, PhD, Huntsman Cancer Institute investigator, Co-Leader of ...
Studies have shown that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection—especially with high-risk variants such as HPV16 and HPV18—is the primary cause of cervical cancer, accounting for about 95% of all cases. Although cervical cancer screening through Pap smear tests can detect the presence of precancerous...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Yang et al, the final overall survival analysis in the phase III MARIPOSA trial has shown significant benefit with amivantamab plus lazertinib vs osimertinib in patients with previously untreated EGFR-mutated advanced non–small cell lung cancer...
Curative-intent surgery for patients with early-stage cancer led to new, persistent, long-term opioid use in more than 1 in 10 opioid-naive veterans, according to the results of an observational study published in Cancer. The results of the study highlighted how necessary it is to develop new pain...
Perioperative use of nivolumab with or without ipilimumab may prove to be of benefit for patients with resectable diffuse pleural mesothelioma, according to the findings of a phase II study published in Nature Medicine. Findings from the study were also presented during the International...
New study findings show that children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were exposed to pesticides during their mother's pregnancy may have a higher risk of death, according to findings published in Cancers. “This study highlights that exposures in the home environment, even before a...
Researchers have developed a novel method to test for prostate cancer using biomarkers present in urine. This approach may significantly reduce the need for invasive, often painful biopsies, the researchers said in a statement. The study, which was funded in part by the National Institutes of...
The combination of the EGFR-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitor osimertinib with platinum-based chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival as a first-line treatment for patients with EGFR-mutated, advanced, non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with osimertinib monotherapy,...
Acute cystitis signaled the presence of urogenital cancers in middle-aged men and women, according to the results of a Swedish cohort study published in BMJ Public Health. Based on these findings, the researchers suggested that acute cystitis could be used as a clinical marker for urogenital...
In a single-center phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tang et al found that metastasis-directed radiotherapy without systemic therapy was associated with good outcomes in patients with oligometastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Study Details In the trial, 121 patients...
City of Hope® has been awarded an up to $23.7 million contract from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant will help City of Hope to create a biomap of tumor changes that cause immunotherapy resistance in advanced ...
Investigators have found several oral bacteria and fungi associated with an increased risk for pancreatic cancer, according to findings published in JAMA Oncology. This cohort study seems to confirm a long-standing suspicion of the relationship between poor oral health and pancreatic cancer and...
David Gerber, MD, of UT Southwestern Medical Center, reviews findings from the phase III E4512 trial, which evaluated the hypothesis that postoperative crizotinib may improve disease-free survival in patients with surgically resected ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the...
In a phase I, first-in-human trial of nearly 50 patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies, the orally administered, small molecule degrader bexobrutideg (NX-5948) was reported to be well tolerated, including in those with a longer duration of treatment and higher doses. Clinical...
Three leading national cancer organizations have issued an updated guideline on postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) for physicians treating patients with breast cancer. The recommendations outline when PMRT is appropriate based on new evidence and evolving clinical practice, and they highlight...
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently recommends average-risk screening for four cancer types, including colorectal, cervical, breast, and lung cancer (for those with a sufficient smoking history). Despite this, approximately 70% of cancer-related deaths in the United States are due to...
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is one of the success stories among the hematologic malignancies. Now, with decades of data informing its management, it is time to change some of the practices to which clinicians have become accustomed, said leukemia expert Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, FASCO, Professor...
Nicholas J. Short, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses TP53 abnormalities in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which are uncommon in pediatric patients but may occur in 10% to 15% of adult patients with ALL. Dr. Short reviews recent research into their impact on...
In a recent study published in JCO Oncology Practice, Steffensen et al examined the process of shared decision-making (SDM) in which clinicians and patients collaborate to make health-care decisions according to the patients’ values, preferences, and medical needs. Although many seriously ill...
A retrospective cohort study conducted by Dessinioti et al and published in JAMA Dermatology found that, in cases of melanoma in situ, diagnostic excisional biopsy achieving clear margins may be sufficient for treatment. “No local recurrences, metastasis, or melanoma-specific death were observed...
The results of a retrospective cohort study published in JAMA Network Open revealed an association between having a history of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the risk of developing malignant brain tumors in adult civilians from the United States. Marini et al confirmed the...
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is the most common type of HPV-related malignancy in the United States. In 2025, ACS estimates there will be 59,660 diagnoses of mouth and throat cancers, and about...
On April 22, 2025, an ASCO Expert Panel voted to approve ASCO’s global guideline on geriatric assessment of patients with cancer older than age 65 who are being treated in resource-limited settings or countries.1 Guideline recommendations were informed by the ADAPTE methodology and formal consensus ...
The aging population, now the largest group of patients with cancer and cancer survivors, requires a rigorous and focused approach to clinical trial reporting, a need highlighted by the recent author guidelines from the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO; Table 1).1 The guidelines are an important...
Using the Geriatric Oncology Potentially Inappropriate Medications scale (GO-PIMs), researchers found that older adults are likely to be taking a number of potentially inappropriate or high-risk medications that are associated with increased frailty at the time of their cancer diagnosis, according...
In an interim analysis of a phase II trial (SunRISe-4) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Necchi et al found that the addition of neoadjuvant TAR-200—a targeted releasing system that provides sustained delivery of gemcitabine within the bladder—to the PD-1 inhibitor cetrelimab resulted in a higher...
Each year, nearly 90,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs; aged 15–39) are diagnosed with cancer, and approximately 9,300 die of the disease.1 And although the 5-year survival rate among these young patients is approaching 80%, it lags behind that of the pediatric population, whose 5-year...
Treatment with the viral immunotherapy CAN-2409 helped patients with unresectable, stage III/IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) continue on immune checkpoint inhibition longer and experience extended survival, despite initial inadequate responses to anti–PD-(L)1 therapy, according to extended...
Resection of the primary thoracic tumor after EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibition demonstrated the ability to prolong disease control in patients with EGFR-mutant metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to findings from a randomized phase II trial presented at the International...
A new study presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer (Abstract MA11.09) demonstrated that monitoring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may aid in refining and personalizing the use of consolidation immunotherapy in patients with...
New research has identified interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) as a critical regulator of immunotherapy sensitivity in small cell lung cancer (SCLC), offering a promising new avenue for overcoming resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint blockade. These findings were presented at the...
Older individuals up to the age of 80 who are eligible for lung surgery may achieve a survival benefit from lung cancer screening comparable to that for younger patients, according to the results of a multicenter cohort study from the United Kingdom presented at the International Association for...
Interim results from the phase III NADIM ADJUVANT trial, led by the Spanish Lung Cancer Group, suggest that adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy may reduce the risk of recurrence in patients with completely resected stage IB–IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) while maintaining an acceptable safety...
As the global population ages, oncology faces an urgent challenge: ensuring that health-care professionals are adequately trained to address the unique complexities of cancer care for older adults. Despite the increasing prevalence of cancer in this demographic, geriatric oncology education remains ...
Research has shown that pain is among the most commonly experienced and feared aspects of a cancer diagnosis.1 It’s easy to understand why. In fact, cancer-related pain is so ubiquitous, between 20% and 50% of patients with early-stage cancer will experience pain,2 and up to 90% of patients with...
Patients diagnosed with recurrent or progressive extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) may benefit from treatment with ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd), a B7-H3–directed antibody-drug conjugate, according to data presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer...
ASCO has issued a new update to its living guideline regarding therapy for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without driver alterations, based on results of three studies published recently.1 The update (the first since a previous version in February 2025) includes discussion of...
The results from the CARTITUDE-1 study showed the remarkable efficacy of ciltacabtagene autoleucel, a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, when used in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of...
The results of the CARTITUDE-1 clinical trial demonstrate outstanding and unprecedented long-term efficacy with ciltacabtagene autoleucel, a B-cell maturation antigen–directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.1 (See the July 2025 issue of The ...
New results from the phase III ACROSS 2 trial demonstrated that aumolertinib, an oral third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), combined with platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with aumolertinib monotherapy in patients with...
After decades of incremental progress in the treatment of multiple myeloma, survival has increased from 3 years in the late 1990s to between 8 and 10 years today.1 Could cure for a disease that kills more than 12,000 individuals each year in the United States2 finally be within reach? The long-term ...
Constipation, a frequent and distressing side effect of cancer treatment, remains underdiagnosed and undertreated—particularly when driven by opioids. Opioid-induced constipation is distinct from functional constipation and requires tailored approaches to assessment and management. During a...
The outlook for adequate funding for federal health agencies has become more dire. In July, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced it is reducing the number of grant applications it will award for the remaining 2 months of fiscal year 2025 (FY2025), from 9% down to 4%.1 The result is that...