ASCO has issued new evidence-based updates to two living guidelines on the treatment of stage IV NSCLC with and without driver alterations.1,2 Updated Recommendations: Stage IV NSCLC With Driver Alterations The most “extensive work” in the updates occurred in the guideline on stage IV NSCLC with...
The profound progress in cancer care since President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law is evidenced by the soaring number of cancer survivors since the law went into effect. In the 1970s, there were 3 million cancer survivors1; today, there are more than 18 million, and...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, FASCO, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, the third prespecified interim analysis of overall survival in the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial has shown significant benefit with adjuvant...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Yi‑Long Wu, MD, of Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, and colleagues, the phase III ALINA trial has shown significantly improved disease-free survival with adjuvant alectinib vs platinum-based chemotherapy...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Joel Neal, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III CONTACT-01 trial has shown no significant improvement in overall survival with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor atezolizumab (multiple targets, including MET, AXL, VEGFR2, RET, and FLT) plus the...
On April 30, 2024, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published a final recommendation statement on screening for breast cancer.1 The USPSTF now recommends that all women undergo screening for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40 and continuing through age 74. More...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was introduced in the United States in 2006, HPV infections that cause most HPV-related cancers and genital warts have decreased by 88% among teenage girls and 81% among young adult women. Now, ...
Research examining fertility preservation and pregnancy attempts among young women following a breast cancer diagnosis has been hampered by short-term follow-up and a lack of prospective assessment of pregnancy attempts. A new long-term study investigating fertility outcomes among young women who...
Evidence from a small early trial called COBALT-RCC provides proof of concept for use of an allogeneic off-the-shelf CD70-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called CTX130 in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CTX130 is engineered using gene-editing...
When combined with high out-of-pocket costs for cancer care, nearly 60% of working-age cancer survivors report experiencing at least one type of financial hardship, including being unable to afford medical bills, distress and worry, or delaying or forgoing needed care because of cost, according to...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Andrea Necchi, MD, and colleagues, findings in cohort B of the phase II KEYNOTE-057 study indicated that pembrolizumab was active in patients with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive, high-risk non–muscle invasive bladder cancer. As noted by the...
Treatment with metformin may be associated with a lower risk of developing myeloproliferative neoplasms over time, according to a recent study published by Kristensen et al in Blood Advances. Background Myeloproliferative neoplasms are a group of diseases that develop over long periods of time and...
In the fall of 2023, Justin Baker, MD, took on the role of Chief of the Division of Quality of Life and Pediatric Palliative Care and Director of the Quality of Life for All Program, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, Stanford, California. He formerly worked at St. Jude Children’s Research...
On December 1, 2023, pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca), a selective, noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor that inhibits both wild-type and C481-mutant BTK with equal low nanomolar potency and is designed to address several of the limitations of covalent BTK inhibitors, was granted...
On October 31, 2023, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was approved for use with gemcitabine/cisplatin in first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic biliary tract cancer.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the double-blind KEYNOTE-966 trial...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Thomas Powles, MD, Barts Cancer Institute Biomedical Research Centre, Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues, the phase III EV-302 trial has shown that the combination of the antibody–drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv, which is...
Exposure to certain chemicals while on the job may increase the risk of prostate cancer among firefighters, according to a recent study published by Quaid et al in Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis. Background Prostate cancer has the highest incidence of any cancer type among U.S. male...
A recent survey by ASCO measuring postpandemic burnout among oncologists in the United States shows that professional satisfaction and work-life balance have significantly deteriorated over the past decade, with 59% of respondents reporting one or more symptoms of burnout, compared with 34% in...
Two studies presented at the 2024 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium added support for the deintensification of radiotherapy in early-stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancers associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV), a subtype typically more responsive to therapy compared to...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Montagna et al found that patients with breast cancer with nodal downstaging after neoadjuvant chemotherapy had a low rate of axillary recurrence, with no difference observed for staging with targeted axillary dissection vs sentinel lymph...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ann H. Klopp, MD, PhD, and colleagues, results from an NRG Oncology/GOG trial showed “excellent” progression-free survival outcomes with radiation therapy alone for local recurrences of endometrial cancer, with the addition of cisplatin in...
In the phase I TROPION-PanTumor01 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Aditya Bardia, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the antibody-drug conjugate datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) was active in patients with locally advanced or metastatic hormone receptor...
Testing for measurable residual disease (MRD) prior to bone marrow transplant may be effective and practical in patients in remission after receiving treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a recent study published by Dillon et al in JAMA Oncology. Study Methods and Results In the...
In a Chinese study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hu et al found that sequential CD7 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) without graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was effective in patients with...
Glecirasib monotherapy demonstrated efficacy in previously treated patients with KRAS G12C–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: April 2024 Session (Abstract 468214). Results of the pivotal Chinese phase II study of glecirasib...
In an interim analysis of the Australian phase II ENZA-p trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Emmett et al found that the addition of lutetium-177–labeled PSMA-617 (LuPSMA) to enzalutamide improved prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression-free survival in the first-line treatment of patients...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication,1 which was updated2 on March 22, 2023, informing the public that there have been reports of squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and various lymphomas of the breast in the capsule or scar of breast implants. These lymphomas are ...
Today, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published a final recommendation statement on screening for breast cancer. The USPSTF now recommends that all women get screened for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40 and continuing through age 74 (B grade recommendation). More ...
On April 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted traditional approval to tisotumab vedotin-tftv (Tivdak) for patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer whose disease progressed on or after chemotherapy. Tisotumab vedotin-tftv previously received accelerated approval for...
The addition of a component of the ketogenic diet—a preketone dietary supplement—to immunotherapy showed efficacy in potentially treating prostate cancer in a laboratory setting, according to a recent study published by Murphy et al in Cancer Research. Background Although immune checkpoint blockade ...
Research shows that the average cost of medical care and drugs can top $42,000 in the first year following a cancer diagnosis, with the cost of some treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, exceeding $1 million. For many cancer survivors, these costs can have a lingering...
In a study reported in JACC:CardioOncology, Rankin et al analyzed the degree to which published phase II to IV trials of combination immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) and VEGF inhibitor treatment for cancer reported cardiovascular eligibility criteria and adverse events. As stated by the...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Storgard et al identified the risk of T-cell malignant neoplasms and any second primary malignant neoplasms in patients receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for hematologic malignancies. Study Details The study used...
Patients with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer now have a new medication option that extends survival, according to an ASCO rapid guideline update.1 The update was designed to orient clinicians to outcomes from the CAPItello-291 trial, which led to the U.S. Food...
The recent approval of mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx is a testament to the emerging benefit of antibody-drug conjugates in recurrent ovarian cancer. Other agents of this class are now eliciting excitement as they demonstrate high response rates in a population with unmet clinical needs, according...
On March 7, 2024, the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor zanubrutinib (Brukinsa) was granted accelerated approval in combination with the monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab for patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy.1 Supporting Efficacy...
In a UK-based prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Turtle et al found that among patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection, those receiving cancer treatment had a higher rate of in-hospital mortality vs those without a cancer diagnosis. Study Details The study included...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pegulicianine (Lumisight) for adult patients with breast cancer to assist in the intraoperative detection of cancerous tissue within the resection cavity following removal of the primary specimen during lumpectomy. Pegulicianine is a...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Barker et al found that induction treatment with vismodegib followed by concurrent treatment with vismodegib and curative-intent radiation therapy showed efficacy in patients with locally advanced unresectable basal cell carcinoma. ...
On April 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln (Anktiva) with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for adults with BCG-unresponsive non–muscle invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ with or without papillary tumors. QUILT-3.032 Trial Efficacy...
Deeper sedation with the anesthetic drug propofol may improve detection of serrated polyps in patients undergoing colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer, according to a recent study published by Quaye et al in Anesthesiology. Background Nearly all colorectal cancers start as polyps....
A novel MDM2 inhibitor has demonstrated antitumor activity in progressive salivary cancer, particularly adenoid cystic carcinoma, according to data presented at the 2024 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium. Results of the phase I/II trial showed an overall response rate of 13% and a...
Investigators have found a higher rate of mortality among patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities diagnosed with breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or lung cancer, according to a recent study published by Hansford et al in the Canadian Journal of Public Health. Study Methods and...
Researchers may have uncovered the mechanisms behind conventional immunotherapy resistance as well as the efficacy of adoptive therapy in metastatic uveal melanoma, according to a recent study published by Leonard-Murali et al in Nature Communications. The findings demonstrated the potential to...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Yi-Long Wu, MD, and colleagues, the phase III ALINA trial has shown significantly improved disease-free survival with adjuvant alectinib vs platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with resected ALK-positive NSCLC. Study Details In the...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Joel Neal, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III CONTACT-01 trial has shown no significant improvement in overall survival with atezolizumab plus cabozantinib vs docetaxel after checkpoint inhibitor treatment and chemotherapy in patients with...
Researchers have found that a novel urine biomarker test may effectively halve the number of cystoscopies necessary in high-risk patients with bladder cancer, according to recent findings presented by Dreyer et al at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress 2024. The research also...
Undergoing a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test every 5 years may be adequate for screening low-risk men for prostate cancer, according to recent findings presented by Albers et al at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress 2024 and simultaneously published in European Urology....
The novel poly-ADP ribose polymerase-1 (PARP1)-selective inhibitor saruparib demonstrated early efficacy and a favorable safety profile in patients with homologous recombination repair (HRR)-deficient breast cancer, according to new findings presented by Yap et al at the American Association for...
TG4050, a personalized neoantigen vaccine, induced tumor-specific immune responses and led to low rates of disease relapse in patients with surgically resected human papillomavirus (HPV)-negative head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), according to results reported at the American Association...