Treatment of patients with cholangiocarcinoma could be improved by tailoring medication to the levels of a key protein in people with the disease, according to new research published by Kitchen et al in Cancer Research. Researchers have discovered that the proline-rich homeodomain...
A new study found a wide state-by-state variation in rates of melanoma caused by ultraviolet (UV) exposure, with highest rates in several states on the east and west coasts (including Hawaii), but also a few landlocked states (including Utah, Vermont, and Minnesota). The report, published by Islami ...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to agents in lymphoma, lung cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and breast cancer, and granted Fast Track designation to a first-in-class radioenhancer hafnium oxide nanoparticle in head and neck cancer. Priority...
According to results from a phase II trial presented by Johann S. de Bono, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the 2020 Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium (Abstract 119), treatment with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib showed antitumor activity in patients with metastatic...
In patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma, platinum chemotherapy is the standard of care in the first-line setting; however, for patients who are ineligible for platinum treatment, the alternative standard—gemcitabine plus carboplatin—can be poorly tolerated and have limited durability and...
Ivana Sestak, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London and the Centre for Cancer Prevention, discusses study findings that confirm the prognostic ability of the Clinical Treatment Score at 5 years (CTS5) for late distant recurrence, specifically for patients older than 50 years and/or for those...
Hongchao Pan, PhD, of the University of Oxford, discusses an analysis of 86,000 women in the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group database, which showed that the risk of distant recurrence 20 years after a diagnosis of node-negative, estrogen receptor–negative early-stage breast...
A novel, first-in-class, small molecule, hypoxia-inducible factor 2 alpha (HIF2A) inhibitor showed single-agent activity in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. These results from a phase I/II study will be presented by Toni Choueiri, MD, and colleagues at...
A report published by Biller et al in Cancer Prevention Research provides new details about a recently discovered condition in which childhood cancer survivors develop numerous colorectal polyps, despite not having a hereditary susceptibility to the condition. The condition—known as...
In the largest study to date of skin cancer rates among individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital reported important differences in skin cancer prevalence among sexual minorities. Rates of skin cancer were higher among gay and bisexual...
Compared to individuals without a history of dengue virus infection, those previously infected with the virus had over twice the risk of developing leukemia, with the highest risk occurring between 3 and 6 years after infection. The results of a study conducted in Taiwan were published by Chien et...
A 5-year follow-up study of more than 2,000 U.S. men who received prostate cancer treatment—radiation, surgery, or active surveillance—in patients of all ages and ethnicities is creating a road map for the future regarding long-term bowel, bladder, and sexual function in order to clarify...
A new study on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that extremely rare, harmful genetic mutations present in healthy donors’ stem cells—though not causing health problems in the donors—may be passed on to patients with cancer...
The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) has joined the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium. The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium was created in 2013 to transform the conduct of cancer research through collaborative, hypothesis-driven, highly...
Fox Chase Cancer Center has been recognized under ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) by the QOPI Certification Program LLC as successfully completing a 3-year certification for oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for quality and safety in cancer care. “Fox...
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) recently announced an initiative to increase minority representation in cancer clinical trials. All future SU2C-supported research grant proposals will now be required to include and address crucial issues related to recruitment and retention of patients from ethnic groups ...
Nicholas J. Short, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, received the 2019 Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando. This annual award (which includes a...
Urology of Virginia has announced the transition of Joshua Langston, MD, to the role of Chief Medical Officer for the organization. He assumed this new position on January 1 and will continue the legacy of patient care, organizational guidance, innovation, and service of his predecessor, Dr. Edwin...
University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) cancer epidemiologist, and Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Susan Sturgeon, MPH, DrPH, has received a $462,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand her research ...
Fox Chase Cancer Center has announced the hiring of Claudia J. Kasales, MD, MHA, FACR, who will join the Department of Diagnostic Imaging as Professor on the academic clinician track. Dr. Kasales began work at Fox Chase on February 1, 2020. Dr. Kasales comes to Fox Chase from Penn State Health...
Women with early-stage breast cancer who test positive for an inherited genetic variant are not always receiving cancer treatment that follows current treatment guidelines, according to findings from a new study published by Allison W. Kurian, MD, MSc, and colleagues in JAMA Oncology. An inherited ...
Survival outcomes for patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck have made significant gains in recent years, but new research published by Pike et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has found some groups have not...
Lung cancer expert Karen L. Reckamp, MD, MS, has been selected to be Director of the Division of Medical Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer. Dr. Reckamp also will serve as Medical Oncology Director of the Women’s Guild Lung Institute in Cedars-Sinai’s Department of Medicine and Associate Director for ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
A year-by-year age analysis of colorectal cancer rates among adults in the United States has found a 46% increase in new diagnoses from ages 49 to 50, indicating that many latent cases of the disease are likely going undiagnosed until routine screenings begin at 50, according to a new study by...
A study published by Longacre et al in The Journal of Rural Health found that patients with breast cancer in the rural United States typically travel three times farther than those who live in urban areas for radiation therapy. Researchers examined data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End ...
A study published by Anthony Lucci, MD, and colleagues in Clinical Cancer Research showed that the presence of circulating tumor cells was independently associated with relapse of melanoma, suggesting circulating tumor cell assessment may be a useful tool for identifying patients at risk for...
A simple test using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may be used to predict how well people with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer will respond to treatment, according to the results of a new study published by Winfield et al in Radiology. In a large clinical trial, scientists have shown a...
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released two coordinated reports in light of World Cancer Day in response to government calls for more research into the scope and potential policies and programs to improve cancer control. WHO Report...
Today’s World Cancer Day, led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), aims to mobilize urgent action from individuals, governments, and the global cancer community to close gaps in cancer risk awareness between higher and lower socioeconomic groups and the subsequent impact on their...
In the first comparative clinical trial of lung cancer screening decision aid vs standard educational information, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that a decision aid delivered through tobacco quitlines effectively reaches a screening-eligible population...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to a treatment for lung and thyroid cancers with a RET fusion or mutation; gave Breakthrough Therapy designation to a doublet therapy for TP53-mutated myelodysplastic syndromes; and issued an update to their...
Among men with prostate cancer who received care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health System, an equal-access health-care system, African American men did not have more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis or die earlier than white men, unlike trends seen in the greater...
With nearly all patients who undergo treatment for cancer of the head and neck experiencing oral mucositis, effective pain control is one of the main goals of physicians and care teams. Looking to provide more effective relief for patients—while also reducing the need for opioid painkillers—a team...
In 2017, breast cancer expert Gabrielle Rocque, MD, MSPH, received an American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant for her work in enhancing shared decision-making for patients with advanced breast cancer. “I come from three generations of physicians,” shared Dr. Rocque. “My father (Dr. ...
A tumor-highlighting technology—OTL38—enhances the visualization of lung cancer tissue, providing surgeons with a significantly better chance of finding and removing more cancer than previously possible, according to a scientific presentation by Gangadharan et al at the Plenary Session of the 56th...
Advanced-stage cancer diagnoses declined following health insurance expansion in Massachusetts, likely due to increased access to screening and diagnostic services that identified cancers earlier, according to new research published by Sabik et al in the journal Medical Care. The analysis...
Some patients with cancer celebrate the end of a course of radiation or chemotherapy by ringing a bell. Indeed, many patients say they love the graduation-like ceremony and the sense of closure it gives them. However, a study published by Williams et al in the International Journal of Radiation...
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses how treating microsatellite instability–high/DNA mismatch repair–deficient metastatic colorectal cancer with nivolumab once every 2 weeks plus low-dose ipilimumab every 6 weeks may represent a new option for patients...
Patient enrollment in clinical trials as the first course of treatment after cancer diagnosis is low, despite the fact that enrollment may increase life expectancy, according to research published by Zaorsky et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Researchers also found ...
Residents of rural, sparsely populated “frontier counties” in the western United States have a higher incidence of skin cancer and related mortality rates. New research published by Jensen et al in Psychology, Health & Medicine indicated that the biggest obstacle to early detection and...
On January 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took action to cover U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved or –cleared laboratory diagnostic tests using next-generation sequencing (NGS) for patients with germline ovarian or breast cancer. Over the last several years, CMS ...
Over the past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to treatments for multiple myeloma and prostate cancer; gave Fast Track designation to a targeted gene therapy for lung cancer; granted Orphan Drug designation to a combination therapy for hepatocellular...
In a study presented by Picozzi et al at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, researchers found that even as drug costs increased over the past decade, total inflation-adjusted pancreatic cancer care expenses declined, as did costs related to quality of life (Abstract 773). Health...
Three decades after the first Surgeon General's report on smoking cessation, the Surgeon General has released a new report that reviews and updates evidence on the importance of quitting smoking. The report finds that more than two-thirds of U.S. adult cigarette smokers report an interest in...
On January 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to tazemetostat (Tazverik) for adults and pediatric patients aged 16 years and older with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma not eligible for complete resection. “Epithelioid sarcoma accounts...
Yale Cancer Center has announced the launch of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity (CEHE). Building on the commitment of the Yale Cancer Center to patient-centered cancer care, screening, and prevention across the state of Connecticut, the new center is dedicated to ensuring...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced recently that Elizabeth Fox, MD, has been named Senior Vice President of Clinical Trials Research. In this role, Dr. Fox will oversee clinical trials research administration and strategy at St. Jude. She will also serve as Associate Director for...
Dolores Hambardzumyan, PhD, MBA, has been appointed Senior Faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery and a member of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research focuses on developing novel therapeutic pathways for the treatment of glioblastoma. She is...
Chosen for his passion and leadership in immunotherapy research, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Deputy Director Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG, was elected as the Cancer Immunology Working Group (CIMM) Chairperson-Elect for 2020–2021. CIMM is a scientific working group within the...