In a first-in-patients phase Ib study reported in The Lancet Oncology, John M. Pagel, MD, PhD, and colleagues identified the safety profiles of the PI3Kδ inhibitor zandelisib given in intermittent vs continuous dosing schedules with or without rituximab in patients with relapsed of refractory...
In an Italian/French trial (TOTEM) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zola et al found no difference in 5-year overall survival with intensive vs minimalist follow-up regimens in patients in complete clinical remission after surgery for endometrial cancer. Study Details In the...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hedy L. Kindler, MD, FASCO, and colleagues, the final overall survival analysis of the phase III POLO trial showed no significant difference between the maintenance olaparib group vs the placebo group in patients with germline BRCA-mutated...
The invited discussant of the CAIRO5 presentation at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting was Cathy Eng, MD, FACP, FASCO, Professor of Medicine, Hematology, and Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville. Dr. Eng explained the key questions being asked by the investigators. “If you have a...
In the phase III CAIRO5 study, conducted by the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group, triplet vs doublet chemotherapy plus bevacizumab significantly increased progression-free survival, response rate, and the rate of R0/R1 resections, with and without ablation, in patients with initially unresectable...
1,2-Dichloropropane (1,2-DCP) is a synthetic organic solvent used in the printing industry. It was linked to cholangiocarcinoma in 2013, when printing company employees in Osaka, Japan, exposed to 1,2-DCP were diagnosed with the cancer. Thereafter, the International Agency for Research on Cancer...
Daily exposure to a class of chemicals used in the production of many household items may lead to cancer, thyroid disease, and childhood obesity, a new study published by Obsekov et al in the journal Exposure and Health showed. The resulting economic burden is estimated to cost Americans a minimum...
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) who previously developed a blood test for mutations in a gene linked to gliomas have now applied their technology to detect additional mutations—in this case, in the gene that codes for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The advance,...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Matthew H.G. Katz, MD, and colleagues, the National Clinical Trials Network phase II A021501 trial has shown better survival outcomes with neoadjuvant modified FOLFIRINOX (mFOLFIRINOX; oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin, fluorouracil) vs mFOLFIRINOX plus...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Javier Cortés, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III KEYNOTE-355 trial has shown improved overall survival with the addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer with a...
In a Dutch trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Adan et al found that optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided diagnosis and treatment of basal cell carcinoma was noninferior to that with punch biopsy, currently the guideline-recommended standard for diagnosis and treatment. Study Details In the ...
Brentuximab vedotin plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (a regimen known as A+AVD) significantly reduced the risk of mortality vs standard treatment with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) in patients with previously untreated stage III or IV classical Hodgkin...
The invited discussant of PALOMA-2 was Claudine Isaacs, MD, Professor of Medicine and Oncology at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Dr. Isaacs examined the findings in context of the MONALEESA trials, which showed an overall survival benefit with...
The final overall survival analysis of the phase III PALOMA-2 trial has shown no significant benefit for palbociclib given with letrozole, vs letrozole and placebo, as a first-line treatment in hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.1 The results were reported at the 2022 ...
In some patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, downstaging of disease to within criteria that qualify the patient for a liver transplant leads to excellent 10-year posttransplant outcomes, according to new research published by Tabrizian et al in JAMA Surgery. The results validate current national ...
Abstract submission is now open for JADPRO Live 2022, taking place October 20 to 23 in Aurora, Colorado, and includes a new poster track: APSHO Patient/Advocacy Perspective Posters. This track provides patients and patient advocates a platform to share perspectives on their care with over 1,500...
In a phase Ib study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Naval Daver, MD, and colleagues found that the doublet of venetoclax plus gilteritinib produced a high modified composite complete response rate in patients with FLT3-mutated relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Dose...
From June 10 to 15, delegates from the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) participated in the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD). The AMA HOD is the principal policy-making body of AMA and meets twice a year to discuss pressing issues and...
ASCO has issued a new practice guideline update on the use of systemic therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer, just 4 years after the previous practice guideline update was released in 2018.1,2 This latest update reviews results from multiple clinical trials published between 2016 and 2021 that...
For some patients aged 55 or older with early-stage, low-risk breast cancer, endocrine therapy following breast-conserving surgery may be sufficient without the need for postoperative radiation therapy, according to the results of the prospective LUMINA trial, reported at the 2022 ASCO Annual...
Even as soaring medical costs strain public and private budgets around the world, patients yearn for therapeutic breakthroughs. Game-changing cancer treatments, emerging antiviral agents, and mRNA vaccines are powerful reminders of medical technology’s potential. But insurance premiums and...
It has been 14 years since a collaboration between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Pfizer identified a unique role for cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive human cell line models and demonstrated that these agents act...
A multitude of presentations were available to attendees at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, including hundreds in the hematologic malignancies tracks. In addition to coverage in The ASCO Post of the major news stories at the meeting, here we offer summaries of additional studies of special interest...
In this episode, we’re featuring two conversations focusing on gynecologic oncology, both led by Dr. Ursula Matulonis, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Matulonis, along with two colleagues, reviews data presented at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting in ovarian, primary peritoneal, and fallopian tube ...
Time-limited venetoclax-based regimens provide deeper and more durable remissions than chemoimmunotherapy combinations in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), regardless of patients’ fitness, according to late-breaking data presented during the European Hematology...
Researchers have discovered that a protein associated with metabolism—and formerly recognized as a potential therapeutic target for ovarian cancer—may instead be associated with a better prognosis for patients with the malignancy. In a report published by Clemente et al in Cancer Research...
A new Survivor Views survey from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) showed that a majority of respondents (83%) who had applied to a copay assistance program and were accepted said the assistance enables them to get the medication they otherwise couldn’t afford. However,...
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Executive Officer of ASCO, issued the following statement on July 21: ASCO applauds President Biden for his reported decision to appoint ASCO Past President Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, as the new Director of the National Cancer Institute...
In the phase III EVEREST trial, adjuvant everolimus improved median recurrence-free survival in patients with resected renal cell carcinoma (RCC), but this finding failed to be statistically significant in the total study population of 1,499 patients, according to a prespecified boundary. However,...
Telling children about their mother’s risk of hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer does not adversely influence the offspring’s lifestyle or quality of life in the long term, according to a new study published by McDonnell et al in the journal Pediatrics. The study looked at the mutation status...
Assessing the thickness of melanoma is difficult—whether done by an experienced dermatologist or a well-trained machine-learning algorithm. A study published by Polesie et al in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology showed that an algorithm and a group of approximately...
In a single-institution phase Ib/II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Kim A. Reiss, MD, and colleagues found that maintenance treatment with niraparib/ipilimumab produced better 6-month progression-free survival rates than niraparib/nivolumab in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer without ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Dunkel et al, the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) ARET0321 trial has shown high 1-year event-free survival rates with intensive multimodality therapy in patients with stage II, III, and IVa extraocular retinoblastoma. Study Details In the...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Drs. Syed Ali Abutalib and L. Jeffrey Medeiros explore the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissue...
In countries with a high income, research in oncology is sponsored by funding agencies and industry, which has meaningfully improved survival outcomes of patients with cancer. In contrast, the African continent is disadvantaged in all aspects of human development, particularly in the fields of...
In a Canadian single-institution feasibility study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Amy A. Kirkham, PhD, of the University of Toronto, and colleagues found that a time-restricted eating intervention reduced cardiovascular risk among older breast cancer survivors with risk factors for...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, MD, of the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and colleagues, the protocol-specified final overall survival analysis of the phase III MONALEESA-2 trial has shown a significant...
Although aromatase inhibitors are effective in reducing estrogen levels and the risk of cancer recurrence in women diagnosed with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, they can also cause myriad side effects, including genitourinary problems associated with menopause such as vaginal dryness,...
In this installment of Living a Full Life, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Mark A. Lewis, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Intermountain Healthcare, Murray, Utah, and Vice President of American Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Support. Dr. Lewis is also a social media...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mishra et al found that maintenance treatment with the first-in-class small-molecule p53 reactivator eprenetapopt plus azacitidine following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was associated with “encouraging”...
In the French phase III LMS-04 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Pautier et al found that the addition of trabectedin to doxorubicin significantly prolonged progression-free survival as first-line treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic leiomyosarcoma. Study Details In the...
Caregivers for patients with multiple myeloma may suffer from higher rates of anxiety and depression than patients themselves, according to a new study published by O’Donnell in Blood Advances. Although medical professionals have long acknowledged the toll a serious or terminal diagnosis can have...
This is Part 4 of Updates in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer, a four-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Carey K. Anders, Erika Hamilton, and Sara A. Hurvitz discuss the management of HER2-positive residual disease. The patient ...
Guest Editor’s Note: Despite the increasing use of complementary modalities that include mind-body therapies and natural products, significant disparities exist in integrative health care. Contributing factors include access to care and affordability. In this installment of The ASCO Post’s...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, and colleagues, findings in a phase II cohort of the multicohort KRYSTAL-1 phase I/II study indicate that the KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib showed activity in previously treated patients with unresectable or metastatic...
Although there has been a significant increase in the number of U.S. residents insured through Medicaid since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March 2010, the ability of Medicaid-insured patients to access cancer care services has not been well understood. In a...
In an analysis that evaluated the outcomes of anticancer drug studies in the advanced disease setting with regard to patient quality of life (QOL), improved QOL outcomes were associated with improved overall survival but not with improved progression-free survival. Almost half of the studies that...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Constantine S. Tam, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues, an interim analysis in the phase III SEQUOIA trial has shown significantly improved progression-free survival with first-line zanubrutinib vs bendamustine/rituximab in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Sehgal et al, the phase II PILOT trial showed that the autologous, CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product lisocabtagene maraleucel produced a high response rate in the second-line treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory large...
Researchers analyzed data from each of the 5,329 patients across the United States who used medical aid in dying in the 23 years after Oregon became the first state to legalize the practice (in 1997) and found one demographic dominates the group: well-educated, White patients with cancer. These...