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...
James R. Doty, MD, Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford University and a pioneer in both neurosurgical innovation and the scientific study of compassion, died on July 16, 2025. He was 69. Dr. Doty’s death occurred after prolonged hospitalization for medical complications from surgery in...
Gerrina Ruiter, MD, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, discusses data from the Beamion LUNG-1 trial, which is evaluating zongertinib—an irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor that selectively inhibits HER2 while sparing EGFR—in patients with HER2-mutant advanced or metastatic non–small cell...
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...
ASCO extends its thanks and appreciation to Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, for his decade of leadership and dedication as the inaugural Principal Investigator of the groundbreaking Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study. The ASCO-sponsored TAPUR study is a...
ASCO is deeply saddened by the loss of past president Harvey M. Golomb, MD, FASCO, a pioneer in the study of interferon as cancer treatment. Dr. Golomb passed away on August 20, 2025; he was 82. From the beginning of his medical career, Dr. Golomb was a committed member of ASCO. He joined the...
The 15th edition of the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR’s) annual Cancer Progress Report presents a mixed picture of the major advances in cancer care over the past year, including the approval of 20 new anticancer drugs, juxtaposed against the continuing rise in early-onset...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph (Keytruda Qlex) for subcutaneous injection for adult and pediatric (12 years and older) solid tumor indications approved for the intravenous formulation of pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Efficacy and...
In the preplanned final analysis of the phase III CheckMate 816 trial, an overall survival benefit has been shown for neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).1 Patients treated with the combination experienced an approximate 10%...
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 phase II trial (Alliance A021202) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bergsland et al found that pazopanib prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with advanced extrapancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (epNETs). However, as stated by the investigators, pazopanib will...
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 ...
BTK Inhibitor for Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia: On September 2, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor rilzabrutinib (Wayrilz) tablets to treat adults with persistent or chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) who have had an...
In an interim analysis of a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Yang et al found that proton craniospinal irradiation (pCSI) improved central nervous system (CNS) progression-free survival vs photon involved-field radiotherapy (IFRT) in patients who have breast cancer or non–small cell lung...
In a U.S. cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Suzuki et al assessed long-term survival among premenopausal women with clinical stage I endometrioid endometrial cancer treated with fertility-preserving hormonal therapy vs hysterectomy. Study Details The study focused on National Cancer Database...
In a preplanned 10-year analysis from the phase III PORTEC-3 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Post et al found that adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was associated with improved overall survival and recurrence-free survival vs radiotherapy in women with high-risk endometrial cancer. Study Details...
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...
A new policy review published by Tannock et al in The Lancet Oncology emphasizes the critical role of health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) data in the evaluation of treatments for people with advanced cancer. The publication highlights the importance of having standardized responder criteria when ...
In a U.S. two-center phase III trial (MC1675) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ma et al found that de-escalated adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with a reduced cumulative, chronic grade ≥ 3 toxicity rate at 3 to 24 months after radiotherapy compared with standard adjuvant treatment in patients...
In a Canadian phase II trial (GROUQ-PCS 9) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Niazi et al found that the addition of metastasis-directed stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) to standard systemic therapy improved radiographic progression-free survival in patients with oligometastatic...
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...
Research published by Zheng et al in Health Affairs Scholar found that the passage of the government price-setting provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was associated with a broad decline in industry-funded oncology trials after first U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, with...
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...
In an interim analysis of a Chinese phase III trial (ETER100) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhou et al found that the combination of the PD-L1 inhibitor benmelstobart and anlotinib improved progression-free survival vs sunitinib in the first-line treatment of advanced clear cell renal cell...
Naval G. Daver, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Uma Borate, MBBS, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, give highlights of a lively debate they engaged in at the SOHO meeting. They discuss concomitant vs sequential use of lower-intensity regimens in ...
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 a meta-analysis reported in JAMA Network Open, Lei et al found a small nonsignificant increase in off-target mortality from noncancer causes or cancers that were not the target of screening in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with screened and unscreened populations. As stated by the...
In a Chinese phase II trial (ZSAB-TransGOLP) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Shi et al found promising results with tislelizumab plus lenvatinib and GEMOX (gemcitabine plus oxaliplatin) chemotherapy (GOLP) in converting unresectable locally advanced biliary tract cancer to resectable disease....
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...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has released Prostate Cancer Statistics, 2025, a report on current prostate cancer occurrence and outcomes in the United States. According to the study, prostate cancer incidence rates have reversed from a decline of 6.4% per year during 2007 through 2014 to an...
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...
Many patients from Europe and the United States have experienced the benefits of anthracyclines in the treatment of an array of cancers, including solid tumors such as breast and ovarian cancers as well as lymphoma. However, a number of these cancer survivors will experience severe chronic cardiac...
Kelly G. Paulson, MD, PhD, of Providence Swedish Cancer Institute (Seattle, WA) and lead of the Center for Immuno-Oncology at Paul G. Allen Research Center, reviews findings from the safety and efficacy data from the phase Ib DeLLphi-303 trial. The study examined tarlatamab, a bispecific T-cell...
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...
Michael J. Mauro, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, reviews findings from the phase Ia/Ib ENABLE study, which evaluated ELVN-001, a highly selective, active-site inhibitor designed to target BCR-ABL1, in heavily pretreated patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
Alexander Drilon, MD, presents findings from the phase I/II ARROS-1 trial, which investigated the safety and efficacy of zidesamtinib—an investigational next-generation ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) designed to be highly selective, brain-penetrant, and TRK-sparing—in patients with ROS1...