A meta-analysis of randomized trials has revealed a benefit to ovarian ablation or suppression in preventing breast cancer recurrence in premenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive tumors.1 The findings, based on almost 15,000 women in studies spanning several decades, were presented at the ...
On July 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved quizartinib (Vanflyta) with standard cytarabine and anthracycline induction and cytarabine consolidation, and as maintenance monotherapy following consolidation chemotherapy, for the treatment of adults with newly diagnosed acute...
De-escalation of chemoradiotherapy after induction chemotherapy yields excellent oncologic outcomes in patients with high-risk oropharyngeal cancer associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Results of the nonrandomized phase II Quarterback trial suggest that this subset of patients may be...
The first sign that pancreatic cancer was stalking my family was in 1982, when my mother was diagnosed with stage IV disease. She was just 54 years old and died several months later. After two more family members in their early 50s were also diagnosed with the cancer, I began to worry that I would...
ASCO is deeply saddened by the death of A. William Blackstock, Jr, MD, FASCO, who served on the Society’s Board of Directors from 2018 to 2022. Dr. Blackstock passed away on June 18, 2023, from complications of prostate cancer. He was 60 years old. “We mourn the passing of a friend and colleague...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with neurosurgeon Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD, FAANS, FACS, the James C. and Sarah K. Kennedy Dean of Research, Monica Flynn Jacoby Chair of Neurologic Surgery, and William J. and Charles...
Researchers have uncovered how non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors may develop drug resistance over time and identified the APOBEC3A protein as a potential target for novel cancer therapeutics, according to a study published by Isozaki et al in Nature. The findings point to potential...
Researchers have uncovered a potential link between chemotherapy-induced changes to gut bacteria and weight gain seen in patients with breast cancer, according to a recent study published by Walker et al in BMC Medicine. The findings may help to identify approaches to avoid obesity-related diseases ...
The invited discussant of the VERSATILE-002 and CUE-101-01 trials, Erminia Massarelli, MD, PhD, MS, said both are examples of a growing interest in evaluating immunotherapeutic strategies and treatment sequences in early-stage head and neck squamous cell cancer as well as in metastatic disease. Dr. ...
Guest Editor’s Note: Psychological distress is highly prevalent in women diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer and has a significant negative impact on their quality of life. Thus, effective strategies are urgently needed to reduce the symptom burden. In this installment of The ASCO Post’s...
The global population is aging rapidly. Currently, there are more than 703 million people worldwide aged 65 and older, representing 9.1% of the global population. It is estimated that this percentage will grow to 15.9%—1.5 billion people—by 2050.1 And with that growing aging population will come...
On August 1, 2023, Sara Hurvitz, MD, will assume the role of Senior Vice President of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch and as Head of the newly united Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Washington Department of Medicine in Seattle. Dr. Hurvitz will report directly...
Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, FASCO, Director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues conducted a randomized study to evaluate the impact of a telephone-based ...
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...
As a relatively rare subtype, lobular breast cancer is not well understood by many oncologists. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Tari A. King, MD, FASCO, described how it differs from its more common counterpart, ductal breast cancer, in terms of characteristics, prognosis, and optimal...
Ciara L. Freeman, MD, PhD, Assistant Member, Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, was impressed with the CARTITUDE-4 findings. She said “treaters and patients” will be “watching this space” to see how the results change the...
The phase III ADAURA trial previously found that adjuvant use of osimertinib improved disease-free survival for completely resected EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients with stage IB, II, or IIIA disease.1 The final analysis of ADAURA, which was presented at the 2023 ASCO...
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...
Performing a minimally invasive staging laparoscopy on patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer may help determine the stage and identify cancer metastases early, according to a novel study published by Gudmundsdottir et al in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The new findings ...
Researchers have identified a new potential therapeutic target—the cell-surface tumor antigen CUB domain–containing protein 1 (CDCP1)—for patients with all subtypes of metastatic bladder cancer, according to findings presented by Chopra et al at the Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular...
Researchers have created the world’s largest and most comprehensive atlas of normal breast tissue—the Human Breast Cell Atlas—which may provide an unprecedented understanding of mammary biology and help identify therapeutic targets for diseases such as breast cancer, according to a recent study...
Female survivors treated for Hodgkin lymphoma may face declining fertility at a younger age, according to recent findings presented by Drechsel et al at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) 2023 Annual Meeting (Abstract O-083). The new research also suggested that the...
Investigators have found that artificial intelligence (AI) language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT may accurately identify appropriate imaging tests for breast cancer screenings and breast pain, according to a recent study published by Rao et al in the Journal of the American College of Radiology....
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...
Christina Fotopoulou, MD, PhD, of Imperial College London, called DUO-O “a big, celebrated study” that breaks new ground, at least for a subset of patients. “We are beginning to see some encouraging data for immunotherapy in ovarian cancer,” she said as the invited discussant of the study. A chief ...
Researchers have found that the loss of the Y chromosome, a common impact of the aging process in men, may help cancer cells evade the body’s immune system and result in aggressive bladder cancer—but it may also render the disease more vulnerable and responsive to immune checkpoint...
Mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx, a novel antibody-drug conjugate, significantly improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with platinum-resistant, recurrent ovarian cancers that express high levels of folate receptor–alpha (FR-alpha), according to the results of the phase III...
The addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib to endocrine therapy significantly improved invasive disease–free survival in women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, early-stage breast cancer. These results of the phase III NATALEE trial were reported by lead author Dennis J. Slamon,...
A novel, automated liquid biopsy test—the Liquid Biopsy for Breast Cancer Methylation assay—may be effective at predicting early disease progression and potential survival outcomes in patients with metastatic breast cancer after as little as 1 month of treatment, according to a study published by...
Researchers have found that preoperative stereotactic radiosurgery is associated with low rates of tumor recurrence, adverse radiation effects, and meningeal disease in patients with metastatic brain tumors, according to a novel study published by Prabhu et al in JAMA Oncology. Background As...
The rates of survival and disease recurrence improved significantly when a personalized mRNA vaccine tailored to the patients’ tumor genetics was coupled with immunotherapy in those who had undergone surgery for high-risk melanoma, according to novel findings presented by Khattak et al at the 2023...
For some precancerous cells, traveling from the bone marrow to the skin can trigger genetic transformations that can result in leukemia, according to a novel study published by Griffin et al in Nature. The new findings may have shed light on what researchers have termed the “genetic travelogue” of...
When my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer 25 years ago, her medical team suggested we undergo genetic testing for the BRCA gene mutation. I knew that being a BRCA carrier put me at greater risk for breast and ovarian cancers, but I had no idea it also increased my risk for pancreatic cancer....
The addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab led to improved overall survival and progression-free survival in women with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer in the final protocol-specified overall survival analysis of the KEYNOTE-826 trial presented at ...
This has been a year of firsts and seconds for Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO. This past October, Dr. Bertagnolli became the 16th Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the first woman and the first clinical trials cooperative group chair to hold that position. Then, 2 months...
In the global phase III COMMANDS trial of patients with low-risk transfusion-dependent myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), with or without ring sideroblasts, treatment with luspatercept essentially doubled the likelihood of achieving transfusion independence and an increase in hemoglobin level,...
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...
Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who receive fewer than three cycles of chemotherapy prior to cystectomy may have an increased risk of cancer recurrence and worse survival outcomes, according to the findings of a retrospective study presented by Chakraborty et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual ...
Patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer without a BRCA mutation who received durvalumab and olaparib in addition to the standard of care had improved progression-free survival compared with those who received the standard of care alone, according to the interim analysis of DUO-O, an...
Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, Deputy Director of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in a place and time she found exhilarating during her early years. “We didn’t have a lot of money—actually, we were poor. But I had a lot of freedom walking around...
According to Sunil R. Hingorani, MD, PhD, his parents figured heavily on who he became as a person and on his career choices, which ultimately led to his current position as Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha. “My father...
Jonathan W. Friedberg, MD, MMSc, Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Institute, grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee. While his school friends were attending camp, he spent his summers working on the family farm. “Perhaps the hardest work I’ve ever done was haying on a hot, humid night in July,...
Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO, Director of Pelvic Malignancies Program at Lifespan Cancer Institute and Director of Medical Oncology at Rhode Island Hospital was born and reared in Guam. He also is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Surgery at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. “I am...
George D. Demetri, MD, FASCO, Director of the Sarcoma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard, was born in Hyde Park, a town along the Hudson River in New York. When Dr. Demetri was growing up there, it was known for three...
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) has called for greater action for World No Tobacco Day on May 31, 2023 in light of a new study published by Safiri et al in Cancer Medicine, which found that 2.5 million tobacco-related cancer deaths were reported in 2019. The UICC is a global...
Early-phase data from the SOLTI TOT-HER3 and ICARUS-BREAST01 trials suggest that the novel HER3-directed antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan may have beneficial activity in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative and triple-negative breast cancer subtypes, according to...
Beginning in 2012, The ASCO Post introduced Narratives in Oncology, a special commemorative issue profiling several of the many leaders in the oncology community. Over the past years, many in the oncology community have been profiled in this commemorative issue. A complete list of individuals...
In December 2019, Robert A. Winn, MD, became the second Black physician to lead a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center when he took the helm of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center. Dr. Winn’s basic science research, which has been...
Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, Head of the Dermatology Unit at Gustave Roussy and Co-Director of the Melanoma Research Unit at INSERM 981 Paris-Sud University, was born and reared in Paris. “I didn’t have a vocation for medicine when I was a kid; I wanted to be an archeologist. I’m not from a medical...
Today is the era of the multidisciplinary oncology care approach, cancer staging facilitates precision in documenting disease extent, all of which improved the quality of patient care. However, in the United States, the Rai staging system is still the most commonly used clinical staging system for...