MAGNITUDE is challenging from a statistical point of view,” said formal discussant Celestia S. Higano, MD, currently Adjunct Professor, Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and formerly of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle....
Findings from the international phase II KEYNOTE-158 trial of pembrolizumab among women with previously treated microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) endometrial tumors “suggest a long-term benefit to patients,” stated the trial’s lead author David M. O’Malley, ...
Benoit Rousseau, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, called the findings of the phase II GERCOR NIPICOL trial “interesting and convincing.” Long-term follow-up showed the 3-year progression-free survival rate to be 70% after just 1 total year of treatment with nivolumab...
The phase II GERCOR NIPICOL study evaluated 1 year of treatment with nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with chemotherapy-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer whose tumors were microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR). With this shortened treatment duration,...
“Robust and clinically meaningfulantitumor activity,” with durable responses and “encouraging survival outcomes,” were reported among patients with previously treated microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) endometrial tumors who received pembrolizumab in the...
Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, of the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses results from Cohort 3 of the TROPHY-U-01 study, which assessed sacituzumab govitecan-hziy in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer who experienced...
Alicia K. Morgans, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses findings from the largest digital survey conducted in patients with prostate cancer, allowing identification of unmet needs in the patient journey. Preliminary data suggest that lower rates of screening may correlate with higher ...
Mihir Gupta, MD, a neurosurgery resident at the University of California San Diego and postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Neurosurgery, and Ganesh M. Shankar, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School,...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is readily detectable in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma and is a strong prognostic biomarker for outcomes, a team of researchers from Germany and Stanford University reported at the 2021 American Society of...
Survivors of childhood cancer who become pregnant in adulthood are as likely to have healthy babies as those without a history of cancer, according to a new study published by Zgardau et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Their children also don’t have higher risks of birth defects ...
Scientists have determined that first responders to the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have increased levels of mutations that may escalate their risk for blood cancers or cardiovascular disease, according to a study published by Jasra et al in Nature Medicine....
In a Chinese single-institution phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhu et al found that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) followed by pembrolizumab plus trametinib improved overall survival vs SBRT followed by gemcitabine in patients with postresection, KRAS-mutant, PD-L1–positive...
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” —Plutarch About 30% to 40% of patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) experience relapse, and 10% are refractory to the...
Much progress has been made in the past 50 years since the signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971, which included the establishment of the President’s Cancer Panel. Nevertheless, there remain significant opportunities to make improvements across the cancer spectrum, perhaps none more pressing...
Michelle Mollica, PhD, MPH, RN, OCN, has joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Cancer Survivorship as Senior Advisor. In this role, she is responsible for developing, supporting, and promoting research efforts focused on cancer survivorship. Dr. Mollica also holds a secondary...
Medical oncologist Philip A. Philip, MD, PhD, has joined Henry Ford Cancer Institute (HFCI) as Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology and Neuroendocrine Oncology, Medical Director of Research and Clinical Care Integration, and co-leader of the Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center (HFPCC). Dr. Philip...
Linda Fleisher, PhD, MPH, Associate Research Professor in the Cancer Prevention and Control research program at Fox Chase Cancer Center, was recently appointed Co-Chair of the American Cancer Society’s National Navigation Roundtable. Patient navigators act as intermediaries between patients and...
Monica Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, was recently elected to the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Board of Directors.Dr. Bertagnolli is the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the Field of Surgical Oncology at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer and Sarcoma Disease...
OneOncology, the national platform for independent community oncology practices, announced that Davey Daniel, MD, has been appointed Chief Medical Officer succeeding Lee Schwartzberg, MD. Dr. Schwartzberg served as the founding member of the platform’s clinical office and will remain a senior...
On December 17, 2021, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s nomination of Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, as Assistant Administrator of Global Health Development at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Dr. Gawande assumed the new role in January 2022. Dr. Gawande’s role at USAID ...
"One of the great advocates for the poorest and sickest of our planet.” —Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu “Our mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. By establishing long-term relationships with sister organizations ...
In a Canadian population-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gupta et al found that survivors of childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancers were not at a greater risk of COVID-19 infection or severe complications of infection compared with matched controls without cancer....
In the prospective paired-cohort CADMUS study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Grey et al found that patients at risk of prostate cancer had a similar likelihood of being diagnosed with clinically significant cancer with the use of multiparametric ultrasound vs multiparametric magnetic resonance...
Massimo Di Maio, MD, of the University of Turin, discusses the Meet-URO12 study, which showed that maintenance niraparib plus best supportive care (BSC) did not prolong progression-free survival, compared with BSC alone, among patients with urothelial cancer that did not progress after first-line...
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a 30-month follow-up of results from the KEYNOTE-564 trial, which further support the use of adjuvant pembrolizumab when treating patients with renal cell carcinoma at intermediate-high or high risk of recurrence, or with an M1 NED...
Updates of phase II studies evaluating fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in gastrointestinal cancers were presented at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, continuing to offer support for the antibody-drug conjugate in these malignancies. In HER2-expressing gastric cancer, T-DXd...
In a single-institution study reported in JAMA Oncology, Nipp et al found that a symptom monitoring intervention for patients hospitalized with advanced cancer did not increase proportions of days with improved symptoms, nor reduce length of hospital stay or unplanned readmission rates. Study...
Researchers at City of Hope published data pointing to the limitations of a popular liquid biopsy that is used to detect the recurrence of colorectal cancer in patients who who have undergone surgical resection. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open by Marwan Fakih, MD, and colleagues....
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Brian I. Rini, MD, and colleagues, prospective cardiovascular monitoring in the phase III JAVELIN Renal 101 trial in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) showed that patients with higher baseline troponin T levels receiving the combination of the...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tang et al found that elective upper-neck irradiation sparing the uninvolved neck was noninferior in regional relapse–free survival vs standard whole-neck irradiation in previously untreated patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study...
In a Dutch study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Janna A. Hol, MD, and colleagues found that (epi)genetic predisposing factors could be identified in one-third of children diagnosed with Wilms tumor. As stated by the investigators, “Wilms tumor is associated with (epi)genetic...
According to the United Nations (UN), more than 1.7 million Ukrainians have already fled to Central Europe due to the Russian invasion, which the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Many of those fleeing Ukraine and those...
Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses phase II findings from the BAYOU trial, which studied durvalumab in combination with olaparib for first-line treatment of platinum-ineligible patients with unresectable, stage IV urothelial carcinoma. Because secondary...
Kim Nguyen Chi, MD, of the University of British Columbia, BC Cancer-Vancouver Center, discusses first phase III results from the MAGNITUDE study, which explored the use of the PARP inhibitor niraparib with abiraterone acetate and prednisone as first-line therapy in patients with metastatic...
Advanced radiotherapy techniques can reduce the risk of severe and debilitating toxicity associated with radiation, but not all patients have equal access to these modalities, according to data presented by Neal S. McCall, MD, at the 2022 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium (Abstract...
Researchers have discovered that treatment resistance in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) may be caused by two distinct classes of stem cells and identified possible therapeutic approaches that target these cells. Their findings, which could have significant benefits for patients with...
In a retrospective analysis reported in JAMA Surgery, Reijers et al found that pathologic response in largest lymph node metastasis (index lymph node [ILN]) was highly concordant with response in the total lymph node bed in patients with stage III melanoma receiving neoadjuvant...
In a prospective cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Erin L. Van Blarigan, ScD, and colleagues found that higher intake of unprocessed red meat or processed meat was not associated with poorer recurrence-free or overall survival in patients with stage III colon cancer. As stated by the...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Wang et al identified mutations that conferred resistance to noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and found that some also conferred resistance to covalent BTK...
On March 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with platinum-doublet chemotherapy for adult patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the neoadjuvant setting. This represents the first FDA approval for neoadjuvant therapy for...
The 2022 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium took place from February 24 to 26 in Phoenix, Arizona. The meeting provided the most up-to-date information on multidisciplinary therapies, clinical research, treatment strategies, supportive care, and scientific breakthroughs in head and...
Karim Fizazi, PhD, MD, of Gustave Roussy and University of Paris-Saclay, discusses results from a first-in-human phase I/II trial, which showed that administering ODM-208—an oral, nonsteroidal inhibitor of the enzyme CYP11A1—to men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who were...
Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society, discusses ways to address the inequities in genitourinary screening, treatment, and outcomes. Her suggestions focus on increasing awareness of screening, identifying risk factors, the dramatic rise in incidence...
A new meta-analysis adds to evidence that taller adults may be more likely than shorter ones to develop colorectal cancer or colon polyps that can later become malignant. While the association between taller height and colorectal cancer has been previously investigated, researchers from Johns...
Patients treated for Merkel cell carcinoma face a 5-year recurrence rate of 40%—markedly higher than the recurrence rates for melanoma and other skin cancers, according to research published by McEvoy et al in JAMA Dermatology. Additionally, in the study cohort of more than 600 patients, 95% of...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ho et al, the phase III ASTRA trial showed no improvement in complete remission rate with the addition of selumetinib to adjuvant radioactive iodine (RAI) in patients with high-risk differentiated thyroid cancer. As stated by the investigators,...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Harrison et al found that the BCL-XL/BCL-2 inhibitor navitoclax showed activity in patients with myelofibrosis with disease progression or suboptimal response during ongoing ruxolitinib treatment. As stated by the investigators,...
In a meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Baek et al found that increased rates of complete and optimal cytoreduction with secondary cytoreductive surgery were associated with improved overall survival in patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer. Study...
In a single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Ruppert et al found that nonmalignant etiologies contribute to back pain in many men with metastatic prostate cancer who experience pain in areas where spinal metastases are known to occur. Study Details The study consisted of...