ON APRIL 28, 2017, midostaurin (Rydapt) was approved for treatment of adults with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have FLT3 mutation–positive disease, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test, in combination with standard cytarabine and daunorubicin...
On March 14, 2017, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma or those who have relapsed after three or more prior lines of therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data APPROVAL WAS BASED on...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On April 17, 2017, the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)...
Staying up-to-date in the fast-paced world of oncology literature is a daunting task at best. To assist with that task, The ASCO Post has assembled an assortment of studies recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The topics range from therapy for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer...
After 19.5 years of follow-up in the PIVOT trial, radical prostatectomy was not associated with significantly improved all-cause or prostate cancer mortality vs observation among men with localized prostate cancer.1 The long-term follow-up was reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by...
In a study reported by Walling et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice, the embedding of a palliative care nurse practitioner in an oncology clinic resulted in improved hospice referral, advance care planning documentation, and referral for psychosocial support. Study Details The study compared ...
As reported by Dimopoulos et al in The Lancet Oncology, a prespecified interim analysis of the phase III ENDEAVOR trial has shown a significant overall survival benefit for carfilzomib (Kyprolis) vs bortezomib (Velcade) in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Carfilzomib was...
As reported by Dotan et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the antibody-drug conjugate labetuzumab govitecan showed antitumor activity in a phase I/II trial in patients with heavily pretreated metastatic colorectal cancer who had received prior irinotecan therapy. The agent comprises...
The German phase III CONKO-005 trial has shown no significant benefit of adding adjuvant erlotinib (Tarceva) to gemcitabine after R0 resection in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The findings were reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sinn et al. Study Details In the...
Updated results of a phase I/II study of durvalumab (Imfinzi) in locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma were reported by Powles et al in JAMA Oncology. Data from the ongoing study supported the recent approval of durvalumab as second-line treatment in this setting on the basis of...
As reported by Larsen et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a Danish retrospective study has shown reduced cancer-specific and all-cause mortality with postdiagnosis statin use in patients with prostate cancer. Study Details The study involved nationwide Danish registry data from 31,790...
The final overall survival analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-006 trial showed maintained superiority of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) vs ipilimumab (Yervoy) in advanced melanoma. The results were reported by Schachter et al in The Lancet. An interim analysis showed improved progression-free and overall...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Riedel et al found that integration of oncology and palliative care in a solid tumor inpatient service resulted in improvements in quality-of-care metrics during the first year of implementation. Study Details The study...
In a single-center phase II study reported in JAMA Oncology, Feng et al found that individualized adaptive stereotactic body radiotherapy achieved high rates of local tumor control with low complication rates in patients with liver tumors and preexisting liver dysfunction. Study Details The study ...
Results from the C SCANS (Colorectal Cancer: Sarcopenia, Cancer, and Near-Term Survival) study indicate that prediagnosis systemic inflammation and at-diagnosis sarcopenia are associated with an increased mortality risk in patients with nonmetastatic colorectal cancer. The findings were reported in ...
In a meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Xie et al found that metastasis-free survival was a strong surrogate for overall survival in patients with localized prostate cancer, potentially providing a metric that could accelerate assessment of new adjuvant therapy approaches. ...
The phase III GOYA trial has shown no progression-free survival advantage with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) vs rituximab (Rituxan) plus CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) in previously untreated patients with advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The results were...
As reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice by Chang et al, for the first time for any type of malignancy, the American Urological Association (AUA), ASCO, American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) have formulated an evidence-based guideline on...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lu et al found that autologous CD4-positive T cells engineered to express a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II–restricted T-cell receptor (TCR) targeting the cancer germline antigen MAGE-A3 (melanoma-associated antigen-A3)...
In the phase III PROSELICA trial reported by Eisenberger et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a cabazitaxel (Jevtana) dose of 20 mg/m2 (C20) was noninferior for overall survival vs the currently recommended dose of 25 mg/m2 (C25) after docetaxel treatment in metastatic castration-resistant...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sekhar et al found that the increasing proportion of lymph node–positive disease associated with enhanced detection techniques has led to nodal stage migration in anal cancer, which may reduce prognostic discrimination on the basis of lymph node...
In a study in the Swedish population reported by Beernaert et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, distrust in the end-of-life care provided to a parent with cancer was associated with long-term adverse emotional/psychological effects among bereaved adolescents. Study Details The study...
A UK phase III trial (UK MRC OE05) has shown no significant survival benefit of extended and intensified neoadjuvant chemotherapy with epirubicin, cisplatin, and capecitabine vs standard cisplatin/fluorouracil followed by resection in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma. The findings were...
AS REPORTED in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, the anti–Trop-2 antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan has been found to produce durable responses in patients with heavily...
The randomized phase II LOTUS trial has shown improved progression-free survival with the addition of the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to paclitaxel in the first-line treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. These results were reported by Kim et al in The Lancet Oncology. The PI3K/AKT...
Interim results of the phase III CATNON trial (EORTC study 26053-22054) indicate a survival benefit of adjuvant temozolomide in 1p/19q non-codeleted anaplastic glioma. These findings were reported in The Lancet by van den Bent et al. Study Details In the open-label 2 x 2 factorial trial, 745...
A meta-analysis of three randomized trials (FOXFIRE, SIRFLOX, and FOXFIRE-Global) indicates no overall survival benefit of adding first-line selective internal radiotherapy to chemotherapy in patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer. The findings were reported by Wasan et al in The...
In the phase III historically controlled Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AAML0631 trial, arsenic trioxide consolidation permitted the use of lower-dose anthracycline without appearing to compromise outcomes in pediatric patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The results were...
In a Children’s Oncology Group study, high response rates were achieved with crizotinib (Xalkori) treatment in pediatric ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphomas (ALCL) and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors. These results were reported by Mossé et al in the Journal of Clinical...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tzannou et al found that use of off-the-shelf, broad-coverage, adoptively transferred, virus-specific T cells was feasible and effective in treating viral infections in patients who had undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell...
AS REPORTED by Joseph Chin, MD, of London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO and Clinical Care Ontario (CCO) have issued a joint update to the prior CCO guideline on use of brachytherapy in patients with prostate cancer.1,2 The update ...
NIVOLUMAB (OPDIVO) has been found to produce durable responses in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in the phase I/II CheckMate 040 trial. These findings were reported in The Lancet by Anthony B. El-Khoueiry, MD, of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues.1 Currently,...
A phase II trial has shown that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinst) produces responses in brain metastases in patients with BRAF V600–mutant melanoma. These findings were reported by Michael A. Davies, MD, of The University of...
According to a study by Heath D. Skinner, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues, the primary cause of death in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is local treatment failure. Although human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck squamous ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Wang et al, many older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) do not receive hospice care at the end of life, with those who do tending to enroll in hospice within days of death. Study Details The population-based retrospective cohort study...
A German retrospective study has found that pretransplantation vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of relapse in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) for myeloid malignancies. These findings were reported by Radujkovic et al in the Journal of Clinical ...
In a Hong Kong study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chan et al found that screening for circulating cell-free Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA is useful in detecting nasopharyngeal carcinoma in asymptomatic individuals. Study Details In the study, 20,174 participants underwent...
As reported by Shindo et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, deleterious germline mutations in known pancreatic cancer susceptibility genes were frequently found in patients with pancreatic cancer who do not have a reported family history of cancer. Study Details The study involved sequencing ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Freedman et al found that many older breast cancer survivors with a limited life expectancy still undergo annual surveillance mammography despite the absence of known benefits. Study Details The study involved analysis of National Health...
The French phase III ALLOZITHRO trial, stopped early due to excessive hematologic relapse in the azithromycin group, showed worse airflow decline–free survival with azithromycin vs placebo after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for hematologic malignancy. The study findings were ...
In a research letter to JAMA, Siegel et al reported that overall colorectal cancer mortality rates have declined in the United States between 1970 and 2014 in patients aged 20 to 54 years but increased in white persons in this age group between 2004 and 2014. Study Details In the study,...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Bruckel et al found that among patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest, those with advanced cancer had lower survival rates and were more frequently designated Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) within 48 hours after return of spontaneous...
The UK IMPORT LOW phase III trial has shown noninferiority in local relapse for partial-breast and reduced-dose vs standard whole-breast radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery in early breast cancer. These study results were reported by Coles et al in The Lancet. Study Details In the...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Karn et al found that triple-negative breast cancers with high immune gene expression levels were characterized by lower clonal heterogeneity, reduced copy number alterations, and lower somatic mutation and neoantigen loads. Study Details In the study, DNA...
The phase III FIRSTANA trial has shown no difference in overall survival with two dose regimens of cabazitaxel (Jevtana) vs docetaxel in the first-line treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Results were reported by Oudard et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology....
In an analysis of the Swedish Breast Cancer Group 91 Radiotherapy trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sjöström et al found that adjuvant radiotherapy vs no radiotherapy had an increased benefit in triple-negative disease and little effect on HER2-positive disease in a...
As reported in The Lancet by Tewari et al, the final overall survival results of the phase III Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) 240 trial show continued benefit of the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy in patients with metastatic, persistent, or recurrent cervical carcinoma. Study...
In a study reported by Puckett et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice, factors associated with premature discontinuation of palliative radiotherapy in cancer patients included poorer performance status, higher number of prescribed radiotherapy fractions, and treatment site other than bone...
A cohort study in Ashkenazi Jewish women with breast cancer identified mutations other than BRCA1 and BRCA2 founder alleles that were associated with cancer risk. These study results were reported by Walsh et al in JAMA Oncology. Among Ashkenazi Jewish women, three mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2...
In a health-related quality-of-life study among patients in the phase III TOAD trial, immediate vs delayed androgen-deprivation therapy was associated with early worsening of androgen-deprivation therapy–related symptoms but few other comparative adverse effects on functioning or quality of...