Researchers have developed a novel combination therapy approach to help patients with KMT2A-mutated acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) overcome resistance to bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) inhibitors without adding toxicity, according to a novel study...
Pancreatic cancer is a rare disease, accounting for about 3% of all cancers in the United States. It is the deadliest of all solid malignancies, accounting for about 7% of all cancer deaths each year, and carries a 5-year survival rate of just 11.5%. According to the American Cancer Society, in...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Squifflet et al found that pathologic complete response (pCR) was a weak surrogate for event-free and overall survival in neoadjuvant trials of anti-HER2 therapy in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer. Study Details In the study,...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Kahi et al found no differences in all-cause or cancer-specific mortality among veterans in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care system with colonoscopy-detected colorectal cancer vs those with postcolonoscopy-diagnosed colorectal cancer. Study Details...
In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Asif et al found that endoscopic surveillance may be an alternative to prophylactic total gastrectomy in patients at risk for hereditary diffuse gastric cancer due to germline CDH1 pathogenic variants. Study Details In the study, 270...
In an Indian single-center study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sandhya et al found that olanzapine was associated with weight gain and improved appetite vs placebo in patients receiving chemotherapy for newly diagnosed locally advanced or metastatic gastric,...
In a Japanese phase II trial (STATICE) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nishikawa et al found that fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) showed activity in patients with HER2-expressing advanced or recurrent uterine carcinosarcoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 32 evaluable ...
In a Japanese study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Usui et al found that Helicobacter pylori infection affected the risk of gastric cancer in patients with predisposing germline pathogenic variants, including variants in homologous recombination genes. As stated by the...
Researchers have provided strong evidence that a healthy lifestyle may significantly reduce mortality in adults who have survived pediatric cancer, according to a new study published by Dixon et al in The Lancet. The findings are among the first to reveal that the specific primary causes of...
Researchers have revealed that the number of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, the state of necrosis, and mutations to the tumor-suppressor gene PBRM1 form a biomarker signature that may predict how patients with renal cell carcinoma will respond to immunotherapy, according to a novel study published ...
City of Hope in Duarte, California, recently announced that its subsidiary, Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), will fully transition its clinical locations to City of Hope’s brand. CTCA locations in different cities will now be called City of Hope Atlanta, City of Hope Chicago, and City of ...
In this installment of our Global Oncology series, Guest Editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Kelly M. McMasters, MD, PhD, who, for the past 27 years, has directed a basic and translational science lab studying adenovirus-mediated cancer gene therapy and melanoma biomarkers....
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will honor Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, FAACR, AACR Past President, with the 2023 AACR–Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research during the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting, to be held on April 14–19 in Orlando,...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will honor Nobel Laureate Carolyn R. Bertozzi, PhD, with the 2023 AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research during the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting on April 14–19 in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Bertozzi’s award lecture will be...
The questions I am challenged to answer are twofold: (1) Should you attend the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting? (2) If you attend, how is your time best spent? Most people agree scientific conferences are important venues for cancer researchers and clinicians to share and discuss research findings,...
When I was diagnosed with lung cancer, in 2007, I asked the physician not to tell me the type, stage, or prognosis. I was about to start nursing school and was aware enough about the disease to know that not many people survived. I’ve since discovered that I had stage 3B small cell lung cancer,...
On March 3, 2023, abemaciclib was approved for use with endocrine therapy (tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) for adjuvant treatment of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.1 Abemaciclib was previously approved...
In a Russian single-institution prospective cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sheikh et al found that quitting smoking after a diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) was associated with improved disease progression and survival outcomes among patients. Study Details The...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has announced the appointment of Kerin Adelson, MD, as the institution’s Chief Quality and Value Officer. An accomplished clinician and researcher with extensive leadership experience in cancer care, Dr. Adelson will also hold a faculty appointment...
The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) has announced the creation of the Kanti R. Rai, MD, Clinical Scholar Program to fund the ongoing study of lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Established in recognition of the global leadership of Kanti R. Rai, MD, in the field of lymphoma and CLL ...
Although advances in radiation therapy have rendered this treatment modality more tolerable, they have not completely eliminated the burden of radiation-related toxicity. In an ideal setting, clinicians would be able to identify patients whose risk of recurrence is sufficiently low that they can...
The management of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer has been evolving at a fast pace, thanks largely to the discovery that immune checkpoint blockade can be effective in this subtype. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Priyanka Sharma, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of...
Moderator of the press conference at the 2023 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care, Callisia N. Clarke, MD, MS, FACS, FSSO, Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, highlighted the significance of the 80% response rates to neoadjuvant immunotherapy in primary...
Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab may significantly improve the management of desmoplastic melanoma, increasing the likelihood of successful resection and reducing the need for further surgery or radiation therapy, according to the response data presented at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, with the surgical...
Here are some brief reports from the 2023 ASCO Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium that we hope are of interest. They include real-world evidence about the use of avelumab maintenance in metastatic urothelial carcinoma, data on the feasibility of sequencing radium-223 and Lu-177–PSMA-617 in...
A new study suggests that the answers generated by the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT may provide correct breast cancer screening advice the vast majority of the time; however, the information is sometimes inaccurate or even fictitious, according to the report published by Haver et al ...
Researchers have demonstrated that patients with low-grade lymphomatoid granulomatosis who were treated with the immunotherapy interferon alfa-2b may survive for a median of 20 years after diagnosis, according to a novel study published by Melani et al in The Lancet Haematology. The findings...
Specially trained oncology infusion room nurses may be capable of improving advance care planning for patients with advanced cancer at the end of life, according to a new study published by Cohen et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Background “Advance care planning...
A health disparity is typically defined as involving a differential in health outcomes between some groups of patients and other groups, for example, between White and Black patients, in which some groups fare better than others. Health inequities are commonly defined as health differences that...
The results of recent trials of PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor plus second-generation androgen receptor inhibitor combinations have had varying results in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Some trials suggest the benefit is confined to those with BRCA mutations and/or...
The addition of the PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor olaparib to standard-of-care abiraterone in the first-line setting of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer achieved longer progression-free survival vs abiraterone alone, as demonstrated in the final results of the phase...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Christopher J. Sweeney, MBBS, and colleagues, the primary overall survival analysis of the phase III ENZAMET trial showed a significant benefit with enzalutamide plus testosterone suppression vs standard nonsteroidal antiandrogen treatment plus testosterone...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announced that the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC) has been named its newest member institution. With the addition, there are now 33 academic centers across the United States that have multidisciplinary subject...
Researchers found that 20% of patients attending breast cancer screening appointments were likely to skip additional testing after abnormal findings on their mammograms if there was a deductible or copayment involved, according to a new study published by Ngo et al in Radiology. Background...
In a Chinese single-center phase II trial (EC-CRT-001) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhu et al found that the addition of the PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab to definitive chemoradiotherapy resulted in “encouraging activity and acceptable toxicity” in patients with locally advanced esophageal...
In a phase II trial (ACOSOG Z11102/Alliance) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Judy C. Boughey, MD, and colleagues found that breast-conserving therapy was associated with a low rate of local recurrence in women with multiple ipsilateral breast cancer sites. Study Details A total of 204 ...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Julie E. Bauman, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that the combination of the antihepatocyte growth factor antibody ficlatuzumab and cetuximab was active in patients with cetuximab-resistant, recurrent or metastatic head and neck...
On April 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev) in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who are...
Researchers have discovered that pathologic complete responses may be associated with improved survival outcomes for patients with localized soft-tissue sarcoma who received preoperative chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy, according to a novel study published by Wang et al in JAMA Oncology. The new...
Investigators revealed that the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT may help improve health outcomes for patients with cirrhosis and hepatic cancer by providing easy-to-understand information about basic knowledge, lifestyle modifications, and treatment options for these conditions,...
Commenting on these studies of menin inhibitors, Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Hematology at the Sylvester Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, was enthusiastic about the promise of these agents because they are targeted to...
Menin inhibitors are making inroads in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These drugs selectively target KMT2A-rearranged or NPM1-mutant AML, and early studies suggest they will be a welcome addition for patients with these aberrations. KMT2A rearrangements occur in about 5% of patients ...
The inaugural MD Anderson Clinical Education Symposium on Immunotherapy Toxicity Management (IOTOX) welcomed more than 250 international attendees, both virtually and in person at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston on December 3, 2022. The symposium focused on bringing the ...
“Providing hope when there is little to hope for is hard,” noted Hyman B. Muss, MD, Professor of Medicine and the Mary Jones Hudson Distinguished Professor of Geriatric Oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the 2023 Miami...
New long-term data from the CHRYSALIS study evaluating amivantamab-vmjw in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations whose disease progressed on prior platinum-based chemotherapy were presented by Lopez et al at the 2023 European Lung Cancer...
Investigators have revealed the findings from an examination of the prevalence, severity, and co-occurrence of sleep disturbance, pain, physical function impairment, anxiety, depression, and low energy/fatigue (SPPADE) symptoms, as well as their association with different cancer types and patient...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kim N. Chi, MD, and colleagues, the phase III MAGNITUDE trial showed that the addition of niraparib to abiraterone acetate and prednisone improved radiographic progression–free survival as first-line treatment in patients with metastatic...
In a 5-year analysis of the UK/Swiss phase III REMoDL-B trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Davies et al found that the addition of bortezomib to R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone; RB-CHOP) as initial treatment was associated with...
In a European study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sauta et al found that the recently devised Molecular International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-M) had improved prognostic ability vs the standard Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R) in patients with...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Konstantinidou et al found that the prevalence of hypercalcemia increased over time in patients with cholangiocarcinoma and was significantly more common in those with IDH1-mutant intrahepatic disease. Study Details The study involved...