Two recent studies correct a long-standing misconception about the origins of Barrett’s esophagus and, in doing so, may point to new avenues of treatment or prevention to lower the risk of esophageal cancer. The first study, published by Singh et al in the journal Gastroenterology, demonstrated...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, McClelland et al found that among academic radiation oncologists at National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCCs), less than 5% were from underrepresented minority groups, senior faculty included more men than women, and women ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Powell et al, the phase III NRG Oncology GOG-0261 trial has shown that paclitaxel/carboplatin is noninferior to paclitaxel/ifosfamide in terms of overall survival among chemotherapy-naive patients with uterine carcinosarcoma. Study Details The...
A molecular feature in prostate cancer called endogenous retroviral (ERV) RNA has been found to have prognostic value and also distinguish differences between prostate tumors in men of African and European or Middle Eastern ancestry, according to a study published by Kumar et al in the journal...
Proteasome inhibitors, the therapeutic backbone of current treatments for multiple myeloma, are effective in treating newly diagnosed disease, but resistance or intolerance to these molecules often develops, leading to relapse. While studying a neglected tropical disease, Buruli ulcer, researchers...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have become the standard of care for many patients with advanced cancers; however, these medications cause cutaneous adverse events in 20% to 40% of all patients who receive them. A study by Tang et al published in JAMA Dermatology indicated that these side effects may...
A clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides guidance on the use of radiation therapy to treat adult patients with primary liver cancers using external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT). Evidence-based recommendations outline indications and optimal EBRT...
Invited discussant Ciara O’Sullivan, MB, BCh, BAO, of Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, commented on the DESTINY-Breast03 trial at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. “The treatment of HER2-positive disease is an evolving landscape, with eight approved agents. Despite this rapid...
The antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) lengthened progression-free survival and improved objective response rate compared to the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) after trastuzumab and taxane therapy in women with HER2-positive metastatic breast...
Research published by Manjappachar et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network examined the impact of septic shock on people with hematologic malignancies. They found that the mortality rate was 67.8% at 28 days, and only 19.4% of patients remained alive after 90 days. The...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Robert J. Motzer, MD, and colleagues, the final overall survival analysis of the phase III IMmotion151 trial has shown no significant difference for atezolizumab plus bevacizumab vs sunitinib in previously untreated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma...
In a Danish nationwide cohort study reported in JAMA, Hargreave et al found no association between maternal hormonal contraception use and risk of central nervous system (CNS) tumors in children. As stated by the investigators, “The incidence of CNS tumors in children appears to be increasing, yet...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Ferrario et al found that while use of palliative care among commercially insured patients aged 25 to 64 years in the United States with metastatic cancer has increased since 2001, use remained at 40% among patients with very poor–prognosis cancers in...
Less experienced radiologists are more likely to recommend additional imaging for women undergoing breast cancer screening when they read digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) images later in the day, according to a new study published by Bernstein et al in the journal Radiology. The results highlight ...
In a study published in the journal Gastroenterology, Trivedi et al described an increase in early-onset colorectal cancer and precancerous polyps, based on a large, nationally representative study of patients younger than 50 who underwent colonoscopy. It was the first large-scale study to look at...
Although allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation can result in a cure for patients with advanced hematologic malignancies, studies show chronic graft-vs-host disease occurs in 30% to 60% of patients receiving unmanipulated grafts, often requires prolonged immunosuppression, and may cause...
In a meta-analysis of two STAMPEDE platform phase III trials reported in The Lancet, Gerhardt Attard, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of abiraterone acetate and prednisolone with or without enzalutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) was associated with improved metastasis-free...
By 2040, the number of cancer survivors in the United States is expected to climb from 17 million today to 26.1 million, with most living 5 years or more after their diagnosis. However, many of these survivors will need ongoing monitoring for treatment-related side effects and cancer recurrence...
Use of the first investigational oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) elacestrant significantly reduced the risk of death or disease progression and lengthened progression-free survival compared with standard-of-care endocrine therapy with fulvestrant or an aromatase inhibitor in...
In an Israeli single-institution study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ligumsky et al found that a booster dose of the SARS–CoV-2 Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine given in August or September 2021 was immunogenic in patients receiving active cancer treatment. Antibody levels prior to and...
In a pooled analysis of individual patient data from trials in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration database reported in JAMA Oncology, Anscher et al found that patients with cancer receiving radiotherapy within 90 days prior to the start of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment were not at...
In analyses from the European EuroNet-PHL-C1 study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Mauz-Körholz et al found that radiotherapy could be omitted in pediatric patients with intermediate- or advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma who had adequate response to induction with OEPA (vincristine,...
A team of researchers has revealed some of the mechanisms by which polyps develop into colorectal cancer, setting the framework for improved surveillance for the disease. Their study, published by Chen et al in the journal Cell, describes findings using a single-cell transcriptomic and imaging...
Although the incidence and mortality rates in colorectal cancer have dropped by 3.6% each year from 2007 to 2016 for people aged 55 and older—mainly because of increased colorectal cancer screening, advances in therapy, and reductions in smoking—these rates have increased by 2% each year during the ...
In the phase II/III RELATIVITY-047 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hussein A. Tawbi, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of relatlimab, a lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3)-blocking antibody, to nivolumab, a PD-1 inhibitor, significantly prolonged...
Research published by Hahn et al in JAMA showed depression screening for patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer was highly effective at identifying patients in need of behavioral health care. The new screening initiative was subsequently and successfully built into the patient care and daily...
On January 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to shorten the time between the completion of a primary series of the vaccine and a booster dose to at least 5 months for individuals aged 18 years and older....
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Raja Flores, MD, and colleagues found that a population-level shift to earlier-stage diagnosis has been accompanied by a reduction in population-level mortality during recent years in U.S. patients with non–small cell lung cancer...
A team of scientists has used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify which patients with certain head and neck cancers may benefit from reducing the intensity of treatments such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Their findings were published by Corredor et al in the Journal of the National...
A portable, rapid prostate cancer screening kit could provide early warning to populations with a higher incidence of prostate cancer and may particularly aid those with limited access to health care. The proof-of-concept test, described by Srinivasan et al in Current Research in Biotechnology, is...
More than 1 in 10 patients with localized prostate cancer experienced treatment-related regret, a study published in JAMA Oncology suggests. And the major driver of that regret seems to be a disconnect between patient expectations and outcomes.1 In an interview with The ASCO Post, the study’s lead...
“A disconnect between patient expectations and outcomes” is a major contributor to treatment-related regret among patients with localized prostate cancer, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology.1 The disconnect, “both as it relates to treatment efficacy and adverse effects, appears to...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Stockler et al, enzalutamide was associated with worsening in several quality-of-life domains—but not in overall health and quality of life—vs standard of care in the phase III ENZAMET trial evaluating the efficacy of the agent for patients with...
In a phase III trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Porter et al found that armodafinil, a psychostimulant, did not improve cancer-related fatigue vs placebo in adult patients with high-grade glioma. As stated by the investigators, “Nearly 96% of patients with high-grade glioma report...
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, L. Elizabeth Budde, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the CD20-CD3 bispecific antibody mosunetuzumab produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive and indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas....
A new study published by Hannan et al in European Urology Oncology showed that highly focused radiation to isolated metastases that progress despite drug therapy may prolong drug efficacy in patients with kidney cancer. Together with a Canadian report recently published by Cheung et al in European...
Patients with lung cancer who quit smoking after their diagnosis experienced improvement in their overall survival compared to patients who continued smoking after diagnosis, according to results from a meta-analysis published by Caini et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Researchers led by...
In the phase II ADAPT-IT trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Michael A. Postow, MD, and colleagues showed that findings on interim computed tomography (CT) allowed patients to avoid the third and fourth doses of combination nivolumab/ipilimumab for the treatment of advanced...
In an interim analysis of the Chinese phase III REALITY trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Lin et al found that apatinib, a highly selective VEGFR2 inhibitor, significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with progressive, locally advanced or metastatic, radioactive...
In an interim analysis of a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tammemägi et al found that the Prostate Lung Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial 2012 risk prediction model (PLCOm2012) may be more efficient than U.S. Preventive Services Task Force 2013 (USPSTF2013)...
In an analysis from the Pediatric Real-World Chimeric Antigen Receptor Consortium reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Schultz et al found that pretreatment high disease burden was associated with poorer outcomes in pediatric and young adult patients who received commercial...
Joe Schroers-Martin, MD, of Stanford University, discusses his latest study findings, which show that follicular lymphoma driver mutations are detectable in blood and saliva years prior to a clinical diagnosis. These data build on previous work and suggest that researchers may be able to stratify...
Today, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) published significant updates to the expert consensus recommendations on vaccination and preexposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 for people with cancer. The NCCN Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination and Preexposure Prophylaxis meets...
Cancer deaths rose to 10 million and new cases jumped to over 23 million globally in 2019, according to a new study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine published in JAMA Oncology. At the start of the decade in 2010, total...
A study evaluating the clinical characteristics and outcomes of fully vaccinated patients with cancer who had breakthrough COVID-19 infections indicated they remained at high risk for hospitalization and death. The report, published by Schmidt et al in Annals of Oncology, showed that fully...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Naranbhai et al found that the presence of HLA-A*03 was associated with poorer outcomes in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors for advanced cancers. As stated by the investigators, “Predictive biomarkers could allow more precise use of immune...
In an analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Yau et al found that increasing residual cancer burden (RCB) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with poorer event-free survival across breast cancer subtypes. Study Details The study included patient-level data on RCB and other clinical and ...
Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses what she considers to be the most notable presentations at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. They include the focus on early-stage disease, especially in the TEXT/SOFT, RxPonder, and KEYNOTE-522 trials, as well as...
Nearly 100% of patients with solid tumors have antibodies effective against the SARS–CoV-2 delta variant after a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to results published as a correspondence by Fendler et al in Cancer Cell. The new findings also highlight a proportion of patients with blood...
Patients with melanoma who reported eating more fiber-rich foods when they began treatment with immunotherapy survived longer without cancer growth than patients with insufficient dietary fiber intake, according to new research published by Spencer et al in Science. The benefit was most noticeable...