The addition of the PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor olaparib to standard-of-care abiraterone in the first-line setting of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer achieved longer progression-free survival vs abiraterone alone, as demonstrated in the final results of the phase...
At extended follow-up, lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab showed sustained superiority over sunitinib for overall and progression-free survival as first-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma.1 The majority of the benefit was observed in intermediate- and poor-risk subgroups, according to the...
It is an exciting time in the development of new treatments for urologic cancers. There have been a number of major changes both in advanced disease and in the perioperative setting over the past year. Urothelial and Bladder Cancers In urothelial cancer, at last, we have randomized data supporting...
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...
Alexey Danilov, MD, PhD, Co-Director, Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center and Professor, Division of Lymphoma, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, California, commented on the phase III ALPINE trial comparing ibrutinib and zanubrutinib in patients...
In the phase III EVEREST trial reported in The Lancet, Christopher W. Ryan, MD, and colleagues found that adjuvant everolimus was not associated with a significant improvement in event-free survival vs placebo in patients at high risk of disease recurrence following surgery for renal cell...
In the phase II RAGNAR study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Shubham Pant, MBBS, and colleagues found that the pan-FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erdafitinib showed activity in patients with advanced solid tumors with FGFR alterations. Study Details In the ongoing study, 217 patients aged ≥ 12...
Two studies presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting challenge the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors as part of upfront treatment of advanced hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The first, the SONIA trial, found that first-line treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors led to greater toxicity...
As we detailed in our Special Report “Surviving, but Not Always Thriving, After Cancer,” in the May 25, 2023, issue of The ASCO Post, the combination of advances in more effective therapies to treat cancer, gains in early detection, and sharp declines in tobacco use have led to a staggering 33%...
Researchers have compared the efficacy of surgical and nonsurgical interventions for patients with malignant bowel obstructions, according to a recent study published by Krouse et al in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. The new findings may help to inform clinical decision-making in the ...
Patients who reside in lower-income communities may be less likely to undergo colorectal cancer screenings with computed tomography (CT) colonography than those who reside in higher-income communities, according to a new study published by Christensen et al in the American Journal of ...
As a first-line treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab plus weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel provided clinically significant efficacy in the phase II FRAIL-IMMUNE (GORTEC 2018-03) trial.1 This regimen may prove to be an effective...
Investigators have proposed that cancer centers may be uniquely positioned to protect communities and patients with cancer from climate-driven disasters by bolstering climate change–associated emergency preparedness, according to a recent study published by Espinel et al in the Journal of the...
Investigators have found that overall survival rates may not vary significantly among patients with gallbladder cancer who have had different volumes of their livers resected, as long as the cancer is completely removed, according to a study published by Vega et al in the Annals of Surgical...
“Clinically, the implications [of the THOR trial] are clear in that all metastatic urothelial cancers should be tested for FGFR mutations,” stated invited discussant Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, of Yale School of Medicine. “This should be done at the beginning of treatment for metastatic disease, as it...
Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, Professor and Vice Chair of Hematology and Medical Oncology, the Lynne and Howard Halpern Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Research, and Director of the HNCA Medical Oncology Program at the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, was invited to discuss the...
Some patients who have received treatment for breast cancer may experience increased biological aging compared with those who have never been diagnosed with breast cancer, according to a new study published by Kresovich et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The findings showed that ...
In a French phase II basket trial (AcSé Pembrolizumab) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Jean-Yves Blay, MD, and colleagues investigated the activity and safety of pembrolizumab in patients with rare sarcomas. AcSé Pembrolizumab is an ongoing phase II multitumor study investigating the activity of...
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...
Recent improvements in overall and progression-free survival for patients with HER2-positive and estrogen receptor–positive breast cancers have not come at the expense of quality of life or symptom management, according to a pair of studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology...
In the phase II KEYNOTE-B61 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that first-line pembrolizumab plus lenvatinib produced durable responses in patients with advanced non–clear cell renal cell carcinoma. As stated by the investigators,...
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 revealed that combining pembrolizumab with other treatments may reduce the size of target tumors, resulting in a higher response rate for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a recent study published by Gutierrez et al in Nature Medicine. “We are...
In a study of real-world prospective data—GOSAFE—reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Montroni et al found that the majority of patients aged ≥ 70 years undergoing colorectal cancer surgery showed maintained or improved quality of life and achieved functional recovery during follow-up....
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Irajizad et al found that use of a blood-based four-marker protein panel (4MP)—together with the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCOm2012) lung cancer risk model—was capable of identifying patients at high risk of lung cancer...
The phase II PHERGain trial, which employed a response-adapted strategy in the treatment of early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer, has shown promising results for the selective use of HER2 blockade and de-escalation of chemotherapy.1 Nearly all patients assigned to skip chemotherapy prior to...
Researchers have found that fecal microbiota transplants from healthy donors may be safe and show potential in improving response rates to immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma, according to a phase I study published by Routy et al in Nature Medicine. Background While immunotherapy...
In a Korean phase Ib/II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kim et al found that trastuzumab combined with ramucirumab and paclitaxel showed activity in the second-line treatment of patients with HER2-positive advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer whose disease...
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. ...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Antiseptic Era 1876–1900 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
On December 23, 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law, establishing a national cancer program that included the National Cancer Institute (NCI), other research institutes, and federal and nonfederal programs; funding for 15 new cancer research centers and...
At extended follow-up, lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab showed sustained superiority over sunitinib for overall and progression-free survival as first-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma.1 The majority of the benefit was observed in intermediate- and poor-risk subgroups, according to the...
Fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) may prove to be beneficial in a variety of treatment-refractory solid tumors that express HER2, according to findings from the international phase II DESTINY-PanTumor02 trial presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 For patients with the highest HER2...
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...
“Outcomes for patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer [NSCLC] remain poor despite potentially curative surgery and adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy,” said formal abstract discussant Benjamin J. Solomon, MBBS, PhD, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of Melbourne....
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Negrao et al identified outcomes in the KRYSTAL-1 trial among patients with advanced KRAS G12C–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had untreated central nervous system (CNS) metastases at baseline and were treated with...
In a Korean study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jin et al found that increased alcohol intake may be associated with an increased risk of early-onset colorectal cancer. Study Details The study involved data from 5,666,576 individuals aged 20 to 49 years from the Korean National...
Investigators have found that patients with head and neck cancer who had an overweight body mass index (BMI) may have had better outcomes, longer overall and progression-free survival, and lower rates of locoregional failure than those with a normal or obese BMI, according to a new study published...
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...
Physicians may be able to personalize dosing intervals and consequently improve patient outcomes by monitoring early-response biomarkers in patients with prostate cancer who are undergoing treatment with lutetium (Lu)-177–PSMA, according to new findings presented by Emmett et al at the Society of...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by O’Donnell et al, findings in a cohort of the phase Ib/II EV-103/KEYNOTE-869 study showed durable responses with first-line enfortumab vedotin-ejfv plus pembrolizumab in cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial...
The positron-emission tomography (PET) tracer zirconium (Zr)-89–DFO-girentuximab may accurately identify patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma and differentiate the disease from other types of renal tumors, according to findings presented by Calais et al at the Society of Nuclear Medicine...
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...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the 7-year follow-up of the phase III KEYNOTE-006 trial has shown a continued overall survival benefit with pembrolizumab vs ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma. The primary analysis of the trial...
On June 26, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded $50 million in the launch of the Persistent Poverty Initiative—a program designed to alleviate the cumulative effects of persistent poverty on cancer outcomes by increasing research capacity, fostering cancer prevention research, and...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Emmanuel S. Antonarakis, MD, and colleagues, the phase III KEYLYNK-010 trial has shown no improvement in survival outcomes with pembrolizumab/olaparib vs a next-generation hormonal agent (abiraterone or enzalutamide) in previously treated patients...
The immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab achieved high response rates in patients with unresectable metastatic desmoplastic melanoma, a rare invasive tumor type, according to the results of the phase II SWOG S1512 trial presented at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...
Presented here are some highlights of preliminary studies presented at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. These presentations provide signals for the utility of an off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product in renal cell carcinoma, an...
In the ever-evolving landscape of oncology care, embracing innovation and creative problem-solving have become crucial factors for success. At the 2023 Community Oncology Alliance Annual Meeting, a panel discussion tackled the complexities and opportunities associated with implementing value-based...
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 ...