Deputy Editor of The ASCO Post, Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, recently spoke with gynecologic cancer expert Sharmila K. Makhija, MD, MBA, about her journey to her current position as Founding Dean and Chief Executive Officer of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Bentonville, Arkansas. Raised by...
Like many young boys, David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, loved sports and dreamed about playing college football. He attained that dream, but along the way, family tragedy and a personal battle with a life-threatening disease reshaped his worldview and accelerated his ambitions as a...
Genitourinary cancer expert Toni K. Choueiri, MD, FASCO, was born in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon, the year a devastating civil war erupted, lasted for 15 years, and cost the lives of some 150,000 individuals and also led to the exodus of almost 1 million people from Lebanon. “People with the financial...
Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, was born and reared in Kerala, a tropical state in southwestern India. Situated on the Malabar Coast, Kerala was named as one of the ten paradises of the world by National Geographic Traveler. “Along with its natural beauty, Kerala is a true melting pot. Over centuries,...
Lymphoma expert Jane N. Winter, MD, grew up on the south shore of Long Island in New York. “My dad sold cars in my great uncle’s dealership after a failed foray into business after World War II. My mom graduated high school at 16 to go to work to help support her family. When my younger brother...
Leukemia expert Eunice S. Wang, MD, is the daughter of first-generation immigrants, whose work ethos inspired in her a world without boundaries. “My parents were born in China during the communist era, and they immigrated to Taiwan when the communists took over in the 1940s and then subsequently...
ASCO President-Elect Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, developed much of his multicultural world view during his childhood in Mexico City. “My parents were expatriates who moved to Mexico in the 1950s and settled there. I was born in Mexico City and grew up bilingually. I went to an English-Spanish...
In a phase I/II NRG Oncology Group study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Landen et al found that the addition of ruxolitinib to front-line paclitaxel/carboplatin neoadjuvant chemotherapy and interval debulking surgery improved progression-free survival in patients with stage III to IV ...
I’m not prepared. It could be a few months, a few years, maybe longer. I don’t know how bad the verdict will be, but whatever it is, I’m not prepared. They always told us to be prepared. That was our motto. At age 7, I joined the Brownies, the beginning of 12 years of being molded by Girl Scout...
In a Swedish cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Liang et al found that among individuals with no family history of colorectal cancer and a negative first screening colonoscopy, the interval to repeat colonoscopy could be extended beyond the currently recommended 10 years. Study Details The...
The Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAE) Consortium has launched ASPIRE and STORIES with the aim of uniting clinicians, researchers, and patients to advance clinical care and advocacy. As the indications for immune checkpoint inhibitors in oncology have rapidly expanded over the past decade, the...
ASCO has issued new evidence-based updates to two living guidelines on the treatment of stage IV NSCLC with and without driver alterations.1,2 Updated Recommendations: Stage IV NSCLC With Driver Alterations The most “extensive work” in the updates occurred in the guideline on stage IV NSCLC with...
The profound progress in cancer care since President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law is evidenced by the soaring number of cancer survivors since the law went into effect. In the 1970s, there were 3 million cancer survivors1; today, there are more than 18 million, and...
An investigational noninvasive exosome-based liquid biopsy shows potential for early detection of pancreatic cancer, an important unmet need, according to research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024.1 When combined with the biomarker CA 19-9, the...
Serving as ASCO’s 60th President over the past year has been an honor and a privilege, said Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, who will end her Presidential term during ASCO’s Annual Meeting, being held from May 31 to June 4, 2024, in Chicago, and welcome incoming President Robin Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO,...
An ASCO volunteer for nearly 30 years, Robin T. Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO, is humbled and honored to be elected ASCO’s 61st President, effective during the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, May 31 to June 4, 2024, in Chicago and online. Dr. Zon began her 4-year term in June 2023 as President-Elect and will...
About 3 years ago, I woke up from a sound sleep and was having a hard time breathing. It felt like someone was sitting on my neck, constricting my airways. I could feel prominent swelling in my lymph nodes along my neck and clavicle, and I was scared. A trip to the emergency room proved fruitless, ...
Guest Editor’s Note: Children with cancer and their caregivers face physical and psychosocial challenges during and after treatment. Dance/movement therapy has been used to improve well-being, promote healthy coping, and mitigate the impact of illness, but limited knowledge exists regarding its...
A novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual patient navigator, MyEleanor, improved colonoscopy uptake among U.S. patients who were previously nonadherent to prior colonoscopy appointments. These findings will be presented by Moadel et al at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 100)....
Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer place significant stress on survivors, their partners, and their relationships. A recent study from researchers at the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University (IU)’s Schools of Nursing, Science, and Medicine is one of the first to examine the impact of...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Yi‑Long Wu, MD, of Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, and colleagues, the phase III ALINA trial has shown significantly improved disease-free survival with adjuvant alectinib vs platinum-based chemotherapy...
For breast cancer that is estrogen receptor–positive, CDK4/6 inhibitors, given with endocrine therapy, have become the standard of care, especially in metastatic disease. However, resistance to both endocrine therapies and CDK4/6 inhibitors is common, and new approaches are needed to counteract...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was introduced in the United States in 2006, HPV infections that cause most HPV-related cancers and genital warts have decreased by 88% among teenage girls and 81% among young adult women. Now, ...
Evidence from a small early trial called COBALT-RCC provides proof of concept for use of an allogeneic off-the-shelf CD70-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called CTX130 in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CTX130 is engineered using gene-editing...
A longitudinal cohort study published by Gottschlich et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention investigated the optimal interval between screening tests and the long-term risk of cervical precancer or worse (CIN2+). Researchers found that the risk of cervical precancer 8 years after ...
Gallbladder cancer rates have been stable or declining for most Americans over the past two decades, but cases have steadily risen among Black Americans, with growing numbers of cases not being diagnosed until later disease stages, according to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week 2024...
The investigational bispecific antibody linvoseltamab (targeting B-cell maturation antigen [BCMA] and CD3) achieved high response rates with acceptable safety in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to results of the phase I/II LINKER-MM1 study...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Tina Cascone, MD, PhD, and colleagues, interim analysis in the phase III CheckMate 77T trial has shown that the addition of perioperative nivolumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy improved event-free survival in patients with resectable non–small...
In a German-Austrian phase II study (TITAN-TCC) reported in JAMA Oncology, Grimm et al described outcomes with the use of nivolumab plus ipilimumab as an immunotherapeutic boost in metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 169 patients were enrolled into two cohorts...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) in 1996, covering eight tumor types. Currently, guidelines are available for more than 60 tumor types, subtypes, and related topics. The NCCN’s 29th Annual Conference...
In a Chinese phase III trial (CRTCOESC) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jia et al found that neither capecitabine nor XELOX (capecitabine, oxaliplatin) improved 2-year overall survival vs cisplatin/fluorouracil as part of definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with...
On May 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi) for adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have received two or more prior lines of systemic...
A plant-based diet may help reduce the risk of disease progression in patients with prostate cancer, according to a recent study published by Liu et al in JAMA Network Open. Background Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among men. Plant-based diets—which are becoming increasingly...
This is Part 2 of Treatment Strategies for Transplant-Ineligible Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Jason Westin, Dai Chihara, and Caron A. Jacobson discuss the treatment of late...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Xu et al found that higher levels of preoperative plasma kidney injury molecule-1 (pKIM-1) distinguished renal cell carcinoma from benign renal masses. As stated by the investigators, “Both clear cell and papillary renal cell carcinoma...
Investigators have found that female patients aged 65 years or older with high-risk breast cancer who are treated with chemotherapy may be more likely to experience a substantial decline in physical function, according to a recent study published by Sedrak et al in the Journal of Cancer...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Bob T. Li, MD, PhD, MPH, and colleagues, the phase II DESTINY-PanTumor01 trial showed activity of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in patients with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors that have specific activating HER2 mutations. The antibody-drug...
Appendectomy may be associated with a reduced risk of a colorectal cancer subtype positive for the tumor-promoting Fusobacterium nucleatum bacteria, according to a recent study published by Kawamura et al in the Annals of Surgery. Background Despite being historically dismissed as an unnecessary...
In a phase Ib study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Van Tine et al established the recommended phase II dose of oral unesbulin in combination with dacarbazine for patients with locally recurrent, unresectable or metastatic, relapsed or refractory leiomyosarcoma. Unesbulin is a small...
On December 1, 2023, pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca), a selective, noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor that inhibits both wild-type and C481-mutant BTK with equal low nanomolar potency and is designed to address several of the limitations of covalent BTK inhibitors, was granted...
On October 31, 2023, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was approved for use with gemcitabine/cisplatin in first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic biliary tract cancer.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the double-blind KEYNOTE-966 trial...
On December 14, 2023, the hypoxia-inducible factor inhibitor belzutifan (Welireg) was approved for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma with disease progression on previous treatment with a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor and a vascular endothelial...
In two studies reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, investigators found that a cell-free DNA (cfDNA) blood-based test (ECLIPSE study)1 and a next-generation multitarget stool DNA test (BLUE-C study)2 both showed high sensitivity for colorectal cancer and high specificity for advanced...
The novel investigational positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging agent gallium (Ga)-68–DPI-4452 may offer rapid and accurate visualization of lesions in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, according to a recent study published by Hofman et al in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The...
Cancer doctors from across the United States are lending their voices to a new advocacy campaign to end drug shortages. Led by the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), nearly 500 oncology professionals have signed an open letter to Congress and the administration highlighting the severe impact ...
Treatment with the first-in-class PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody cadonilimab plus XELOX (capecitabine, oxaliplatin) chemotherapy demonstrated a survival advantage for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma as first-line treatment, regardless of PD-L1...
A recent survey by ASCO measuring postpandemic burnout among oncologists in the United States shows that professional satisfaction and work-life balance have significantly deteriorated over the past decade, with 59% of respondents reporting one or more symptoms of burnout, compared with 34% in...
Two studies presented at the 2024 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium added support for the deintensification of radiotherapy in early-stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancers associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV), a subtype typically more responsive to therapy compared to...
In patients with ovarian cancer, second-look surgery may find a role again. The evaluation of measurable residual disease (MRD) using second-look laparoscopy identified more women who had detectable MRD after front-line treatment than did circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), according to a study...
Adding the phosphatidylserine-targeting antibody bavituximab to the immunotherapy agent pembrolizumab may improve response rates without compromising safety in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a recent study published by Hsieh et al in Nature Communications. The findings...