Engineering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells to overcome CD58 loss may be a way to boost responses in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who do not respond to treatment with axicabtagene ciloleucel and other CAR T-cell therapies, according to a study presented at the 2020...
The world of hematologic malignancies continues to move forward at a robust pace despite the challenges of the COVID era. Although some areas of clinical trials and basic research suffered short-term stoppages or delays due to the pandemic, the studies presented at the 2020 American Society of...
A combination of genetic mutations may explain the higher incidence of and poorer outcomes from pediatric leukemia in Hispanic and Latino patients, according to a new study published by Raca et al in the journal Leukemia. Researchers said a novel therapeutic drug combination—as well as testing for...
The Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) and ASCO have approved a joint guideline for the treatment of stage II to IVA nasopharyngeal carcinoma.1 The guideline was drafted by a panel of Chinese and U.S. experts and provides, for the first time, a clear set of recommendations for the use of...
“Knowledge has a beginning but no end.” —Geeta Iyengar To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are three abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapies for...
Reduced levels of screening for prostate cancer using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing correspond with recent increases in the diagnosis of metastatic disease in the United States, according to a study that will be presented by Vidit Sharma, MD, and colleagues at the 2021 Genitourinary...
More than a year since the new coronavirus crisis began, its impact on cancer care has been stark, with “50% of governments (having) cancer services partially or completely disrupted because of the pandemic,” said André Ilbawi, MD, of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Department of...
As reported by Olszewski et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, members of The Burkitt Lymphoma International Prognostic Index Consortium have developed an index—the Burkitt Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (BL-IPI)—that provides “robust discrimination of survival” among adult patients...
Emil J Freireich, MD, an oncologist who developed groundbreaking therapies for childhood leukemia and came to be recognized as a founding father of modern clinical cancer research, passed away on February 1. He was 93. Dr. Freireich was a faculty member at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer ...
At a press briefing held by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), researchers presented new data that revealed factors relating to race, gender, sexual orientation, and income continue to be significant barriers to those living with lung cancer. The press briefing is...
Engineering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells to overcome CD58 loss may be a way to boost responses in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who do not respond to treatment with axicabtagene ciloleucel and other CAR T-cell therapies, according to an experimental study presented...
Researchers have developed the first comprehensive framework to classify small cell lung cancer (SCLC) into four unique subtypes based on gene expression and have identified potential therapeutic targets for each type. These findings were published by Gay et al in Cancer Cell. SCLC is known for...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thierry André, MD, of Sorbonne Université and Hôpital Saint Antoine, Paris, and colleagues, the prospective pooled analysis of six phase III trials in the IDEA collaboration has shown that noninferiority in overall survival for 3 vs 6 months of adjuvant...
The ASCO Post is pleased to introduce this department on Global Health-Care Equity. On an occasional basis, we will publish interviews between Guest Editor, Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, and another oncologist or cancer care specialist spanning regions around the world. Our goal is to...
Commenting on this trial, Marlise Luskin, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, explained that the treatment of AML in older adults remains a particular challenge for leukemia clinicians. “Although many older patients eligible for intensive induction chemotherapy achieve complete remission,...
Positive results have now been reported in phase III trials of two oral taxanes in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. At the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, treatment with tesetaxel and reduced-dose capecitabine resulted in an improvement in progression-free survival of about 3...
In November, ASCO announced that Julie R. Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, will succeed Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Society. Dr. Gralow will begin her new position on February 15, 2021. Dr. Gralow’s long relationship with ASCO dates back to 1995, when...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Burkina Faso. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of...
Laura Goff, MD, Medical Director of the Hematology and Oncology Division at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, was born in Chicago but reared in Lewisville, a suburb of Dallas. “I come from a long line of nurses, which early on influenced my decision to pursue a career in medicine....
ASCO’s Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, issued the following statement on “Cancer Statistics, 2021,” a report published annually by the American Cancer Society. “Fifty years after President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act to make...
Electronic health record–based artificial intelligence may help uncover new risk factors in the development of early-onset colorectal cancer, according to study findings presented by Parker et al at the AACR Virtual Special Conference: Artificial Intelligence, Diagnosis, and Imaging (Abstract...
Overall cancer death rates in the United States dropped continuously from 1991 through 2018, for a total decrease of 31%, including a 2.4% decline from 2017 to 2018. These findings were reported in the American Cancer Society’s “Cancer Statistics, 2021” article, published by Rebecca L. Siegel, MPH, ...
Sean Khozin, MD, MPH, has been named Chief Executive Officer of CancerLinQ LLC, a wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of ASCO. A board-certified oncologist, physician-scientist, and data science expert, Dr. Khozin is a proven leader and visionary in deploying cutting-edge data science and technology...
In a comprehensive molecular characterization of the most common type of head and neck cancer, researchers from the United States and Poland have clarified the contribution of key cancer-associated genes, proteins, and signaling pathways in these cancers, while proposing possible new treatment...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Michael S. Ewer, MD, JD, PhD, and colleagues, an analysis of data from clinical trials of osimertinib suggests the absence of a “causal relationship” between osimertinib and cardiac failure. Study Details The study involved a post hoc assessment of ...
Thierry André, MD, and colleagues reported the prospective pooled analysis of six phase III trials in the IDEA collaboration in The Lancet Oncology. The analysis showed that noninferiority in overall survival for 3 vs 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy was not established in patients with stage III...
The prevention of infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), and its related cancers, has become a focus of the European Cancer Organisation. At the group’s 2020 European Cancer Summit, held virtually, members of the organization’s HPV Action Network convened with other experts to share...
Are we winning the war on cancer? It’s not so clear, especially with COVID-19 poised to erase recent gains, panelists said at a session on global cancer control at the 2020 European Cancer Summit, which was sponsored by the European Cancer Organisation. “We know what we have to do. My question is...
In 2006, President of Uruguay Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, a radiation oncologist by profession, enacted comprehensive antismoking legislation, eventually leading Uruguay to become the first country in Latin America to prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces. His bold action drew the ire of international ...
Stem cell transplants are not frequently offered to older patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). According to a study from the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMTCTN 1102), these patients may indeed achieve a survival benefit from stem cell transplant. As...
Sintilimab provided superior clinical benefit compared to docetaxel in patients with previously treated, advanced and/or metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to phase III study findings presented by Shi et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Goldman et al, updated results from the phase III CASPIAN trial showed maintained improvement in overall survival with first-line durvalumab plus platinum/etoposide vs platinum/etoposide in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). However,...
Hassan Awada, MD, of the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, discusses the use of newer machine-learning techniques to help decipher a set of prognostic subgroups that could predict survival, thus potentially improving on traditional methods and moving acute myeloid leukemia into ...
The more senior of this duo grew up with prognostication by disease stage and was taught that all stage IV cancers behaved the same. In the past 3 decades, we have become much more cognizant of the heterogeneity in outcome within stage. Individual Kaplan-Meier plots by stage separate well but hide...
As part of its ongoing commitment to addressing inequities in cancer care and research, ASCO has launched a new educational series focused on the role of social determinants of health in cancer care and cancer outcomes. The free series, which began October 21, is aimed at educating oncology...
When I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2018, my first thought was, I hope my three young children do not lose two parents to cancer. My husband, Ricky, had survived two bouts of cancer, early-stage colorectal cancer and, most recently, stage I kidney cancer. Like Ricky’s two...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Bhawna Sirohi, FRCP, who is currently the lead medical oncologist at the Apollo Proton Cancer Centre in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Along with her work in the clinic and her research endeavors, Dr....
In October 2020, Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired of Jordan ended her 2-year tenure as President of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), a global organization with more than 1,198 members from 172 countries and territories committed to reducing the cancer burden and...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented Mohandas Narla, DSc, of the New York Blood Center, with the 2020 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology. Dr. Narla is being recognized for his significant contributions to hematology through his groundbreaking research, his ...
A research brief by Carrot-Zhang et al published in Cancer Discovery investigating inherited lung cancer risk—especially in nonsmokers—in Latin America has found that independent of smoking status, variation in EGFR and KRAS mutation frequency in Latin American patients with lung cancer was...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued regulatory decisions for agents to treat diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), small cell lung cancer (SCLC), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), biliary tract cancer, and graft-vs-host disease. Priority Review for Loncastuximab Tesirine...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Guo et al found that the proportion of positive BRCA genetic test results markedly declined between 2008 and 2018 among women aged ≥ 65 years in the United States, with the trend likely reflecting what the investigators call a loosening of testing criteria...
As part of its ongoing commitment to addressing inequities in cancer care and research, ASCO has launched an educational series focused on the role of social determinants of health in cancer care and outcomes. The free series, which kicked off in October, will help educate oncology trainees and...
Although William Dameshek, MD, is renowned for his work in hematology, especially in advancing the understanding of myeloproliferative disorders and their interrelatedness, his early interest in medicine was instead focused on such diverse diseases as hyperthyroidism and typhus fever. Born on May...
OCE Insights is an occasional column developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, Vishal Bhatnagar, MD, Associate Director for Patient Outcomes, Bellinda King-Kallimanis, PhD, Senior Staff...
Breast cancers detected between mammographic screenings carry a worse prognosis than those detected at the time of screening, even when tumor biology is similar, according to research presented at the 12th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC 12), which was held virtually this year.1 The 8-year...
Another novel oral KRAS inhibitor—adagrasib (MRTX849)—has shown promise in early clinical trials, according to investigators of the KRYSTAL-1 study who reported findings at the virtual 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.1,2 The conference is jointly provided...
The ELSA-seq assay was able to detect diverse cancer types at early stages with high specificity and was able to provide information regarding the tissue of origin, according to findings presented by Gao et al at the ESMO Asia Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract LBA3). Qiang Gao, MD, PhD, of the Liver...
A new study published by Stacey A. Fedewa, PhD, and colleagues in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that state-level lung cancer screening rates were not aligned with the national lung cancer burden. The report provides the first population-based state-level screening data for...
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation® announced the 2020 recipients of the Conquer Cancer–Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research Career Pathway Grants in Symptom Management. The Career Pathway Grants in Symptom Management are awarded to recruit and retain young physician-scientists...