In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, KC et al identified factors involved with primary cancer mortality vs noncancer mortality among long-term survivors of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. Study Details The study included data on 627,702 patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology,...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Katipally et al found that an integrated clinical-molecular classification of colorectal cancer metastases to the liver distinguished risk groups for survival outcomes. Study Details The investigators had previously defined three biologically distinct molecular ...
Barbara Pistilli, MD, Head of the Breast Cancer Unit in the Medical Oncology Department of Gustave Roussy Cancer Center, Villejuif, France, was invited to discuss the TROPiCS-02 updated analysis. She began by pointing out that the target landscape of antibody-drug conjugates is “expanding...
The 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting featured thousands of abstracts. In addition to our in-depth coverage of pivotal research from the meeting, The ASCO Post highlights the following studies of novel therapies for gastrointestinal cancers. Addition of Anti-TIGIT Agent in Unresectable Liver Cancer In the...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on the use of...
New research could warrant reconsideration of current screening guidelines to include a poorly recognized cause of Lynch syndrome, according to a novel study published by Hitchins et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The findings suggest that the guidelines leave a...
In a study of real-world prospective data—GOSAFE—reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Montroni et al found that the majority of patients aged ≥ 70 years undergoing colorectal cancer surgery showed maintained or improved quality of life and achieved functional recovery during follow-up....
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Irajizad et al found that use of a blood-based four-marker protein panel (4MP)—together with the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCOm2012) lung cancer risk model—was capable of identifying patients at high risk of lung cancer...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Seagle et al identified the prevalence of germline colorectal cancer susceptibility gene variants according to race and ethnicity among patients with early-onset colorectal cancer. Study Details The study involved patients aged 15 to 49 years ...
In an analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Caitlin C. Murphy, PhD, MPH, and colleagues found that a substantial proportion of patients diagnosed with an incident cancer in 2019 had a history of prior cancer diagnosis....
Results from a series of randomized, controlled trials have prompted an update to the ASCO guideline on venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis and treatment in patients with cancer. The revised guideline, which had last been updated in 2019, is available from the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, guest editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Isabel T. Rubio, MD, PhD, Head of Breast Surgical Oncology at Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Madrid. Dr. Rubio is active in many societies and is a founding member and...
Fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) may prove to be beneficial in a variety of treatment-refractory solid tumors that express HER2, according to findings from the international phase II DESTINY-PanTumor02 trial presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 For patients with the highest HER2...
Patients with intermediate-risk rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with selective use of pelvic chemoradiation therapy had disease-free survival that was noninferior to the standard approach using pelvic chemoradiation, according to findings from the randomized phase III PROSPECT...
In a Korean study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jin et al found that increased alcohol intake may be associated with an increased risk of early-onset colorectal cancer. Study Details The study involved data from 5,666,576 individuals aged 20 to 49 years from the Korean National...
The expansion of Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act may be associated with the largest increases in critical palliative care services for patients with advanced cancers in the United States, according to a new study published by Han et al in Health Affairs. The findings uncovered how...
In the German phase II FIRE-4.5 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stintzing et al found that the addition of cetuximab vs bevacizumab to FOLFOXIRI (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan) did not improve objective response rate in the first-line treatment of...
In the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group phase III CAIRO5 study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bond et al investigated first-line systemic treatment strategies in patients with initially unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases. The researchers found that FOLFOXIRI (leucovorin, fluorouracil,...
In a prospective study (SYMPLIFY) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Nicholson et al found that a circulating tumor DNA methylation-based multicancer early detection diagnostic test showed promise in predicting a diagnosis of cancer in symptomatic patients referred from primary care for...
Researchers have identified seven potential risk factors for early-onset colorectal cancer in male patients and developed a novel risk evaluation model, according to a recent study published by Imperiale et al in Cancer Prevention Research. The findings may help 45- to 49-year-old patients accept...
In the phase III FRESCO-2 trial reported in The Lancet, Dasari et al found that the VEGFR-1,2,3 inhibitor fruquintinib prolonged survival vs placebo in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Study Details In the double-blind trial, 691 patients from sites in 14 countries were...
A report from the German OCUM study published by Ruppert et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology details long-term locoregional recurrence outcomes with risk-adapted neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus total mesorectal excision and total mesorectal excision alone in patients with rectal cancer....
On June 26, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded $50 million in the launch of the Persistent Poverty Initiative—a program designed to alleviate the cumulative effects of persistent poverty on cancer outcomes by increasing research capacity, fostering cancer prevention research, and...
Delays in cancer screening during the COVID-19 pandemic will likely cause a significant increase in cancer cases that could have been caught earlier with screening. These cases may now be diagnosed at later stages, placing an increased burden on an already-strained health-care system, according to...
Commenting on this study on clinical genomic profiling for colorectal cancer, Lisa Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, FASCO, Chief of the Section of Breast Surgery and leader of the Multidisciplinary Breast Oncology Programs at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, commended the authors for...
Black individuals have a higher incidence of colorectal cancer than White individuals, and their outcomes are worse. Undoubtedly, reasons for this are multifaceted, but the disparity in outcomes may be partly explained by genomic differences, documented in a large retrospective study presented at...
ASCO has issued new clinical guidance for treating patients with gastrointestinal cancers amid a nationwide shortage of carboplatin and cisplatin. The two chemotherapy agents, in extremely short supply, are essential to treating an array of gastrointestinal cancers—such as esophageal, pancreatic,...
A study investigating the effect of Medicaid expansion on racial disparities in mortality among patients with gastrointestinal malignancies has found that the initiative was associated with a greater reduction in 2-year mortality rates among Black patients living in states with Medicaid expansion...
Researchers have revealed that the KDM5D gene on the Y chromosome, which is upregulated in KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer, may be responsible for increasing tumor cell invasiveness and reducing antitumor immunity in male patients, according to a recent study published by Li et al in Nature. The new ...
Investigators have shed light on the disparities that may be contributing to the high cancer burden of Appalachian Kentucky compared with the rest of the state and country, according to a new study published by Hudson et al in The Journal of Rural Health. Kentucky currently ranks first in the...
Targeted therapy with fruquintinib may improve overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, according to a novel study published by Dasari et al in The Lancet. Background According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the...
In an analysis from the PROSPECT trial (Alliance N1048) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, FASCO, and colleagues identified patient-reported outcome patterns among those receiving neoadjuvant FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin) or pelvic chemoradiation...
In a Chinese study reported in JAMA Oncology, Mo et al found that longitudinal measurement of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) methylation permitted early detection of disease recurrence in patients undergoing surgery for stage I to III colorectal cancer. Study Details In the prospective cohort...
Although redlining was outlawed more than 50 years ago, individuals who currently live in historically redlined areas may be less likely to be screened for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer than individuals who live in areas not associated with redlining practices, according to...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Tanios S. Bekaii-Saab, MD, and colleagues, findings in the phase II cohort of the KRYSTAL-1 trial showed activity of adagrasib in patients with KRAS G12C–mutated advanced solid tumors. As noted by the investigators, the KRAS G12C inhibitor...
Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black breast cancer survivors may experience higher rates of mortality after being diagnosed with a second primary cancer than breast cancer survivors of other ethnic and racial groups, according to a new study published by Deng et al in the Journal of the National Cancer...
Investigators have found that federal cancer research funding tends to be allocated more heavily toward cancers that occur more often in non-Hispanic White patients than those that occur more frequently in other racial and ethnic groups, according to a new study published by Haghighat et al in the...
Guest Editor’s Note: Despite its high prevalence, cancer pain remains undertreated. Racial disparities present further challenges to assessing and managing pain. Music therapy, a nonpharmacologic intervention, has been documented to be effective in controlling cancer pain. In this article, Kevin T. ...
Cathy Eng, MD, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and Thejus Jayakrishnan, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, discuss significant differences in the citrate cycle, a core pathway of cellular metabolism associated with colorectal cancer. Metabolomic differences impacted by...
ASCO has issued new clinical guidance for treating patients with gastrointestinal cancers amid a nationwide shortage of carboplatin and cisplatin. The two chemotherapy agents, in extremely short supply, are essential to treating an array of gastrointestinal cancers—such as esophageal cancer,...
Smitha Krishnamurthi, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, and Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss phase III findings from the PROSPECT trial, which showed FOLFOX chemotherapy with selective use of radiation therapy and sensitizing fluoropyrimidine (5FUCRT) is...
Cathy Eng, MD, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and Lars Henrik Jensen, MD, PhD, of the Danish Colorectal Cancer Center South and the University Hospital of Southern Denmark, discuss phase III results from the Scandinavian NeoCol trial, which showed that neoadjuvant chemotherapy is not superior...
According to the findings of the international phase II DESTINY-PanTumor02 study presented by Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, and colleagues at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) is an effective treatment option for people with difficult-to-treat, HER2-expressing solid...
A novel study is shedding light on factors that may affect treatment response in patients with young-onset colorectal cancer. Researchers uncovered differences in transcriptional metabolic profiles and other drivers of disease, as well as immune profiles, between younger and older patients with...
Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer with tumors that respond to chemotherapy may safely forgo radiation therapy before surgery, based on the findings of the PROSPECT trial. These data were presented by Deborah Schrag, MD, FASCO, MPH, at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract LBA2) and...
Thierry Conroy, MD, of the Institut de Cancérologie de Lorraine, discusses phase III findings from the PRODIGE 23 trial, showing that neoadjuvant chemotherapy with mFOLFIRINOX followed by chemoradiotherapy, surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy improved all outcomes, including overall survival, in...
Sebastian Stintzing, MD, of the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, discusses results from the phase III FIRE-4 study, which showed that liquid biopsy is clinically relevant in verifying mutational status in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and is efficacious in first-line treatment of...
Researchers have found that the bacteria, fungi, and viruses within the tumors of patients with colorectal cancer varied significantly depending on whether they were diagnosed with early-onset or late-onset disease, according to new findings presented by Weinberg et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual...
A new global health initiative, the Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition, may be capable of reducing the burden of suffering and death from cancer in low- and middle-income countries by improving patient access to essential cancer medicine. Gilberto Lopes, MD, FASCO, MBA, will highlight...
Delays in cancer screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in lower reported incidences of colorectal, lung, and breast cancers, reflecting potentially high rates of undiagnosed cancer and later-stage diagnoses, according to a new study published by Romatoski et al in the Journal of ...