For the first-line treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the percentage of patients achieving measurable residual disease (MRD, previously called minimal residual disease) negativity was significantly greater when the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab was added to a standard...
Press conference moderator, Laurie H. Sehn, MD, MPH, of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, noted, that her center participated in the single-arm trial of mosunetuzumab. “We witnessed first-hand the tremendous capacity bispecific antibodies have to make a real difference in...
The bispecific antibody mosunetuzumab achieved deep and durable remissions as monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, according to the results of a pivotal phase II trial presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 In ...
Jane N. Winter, MD, Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the 2022 President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and Christopher R. Flowers, MD, MS, Chair of the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer...
As a first-line treatment of inter-mediate- or high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the addition of the antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin-piiq to standard-of-care therapy resulted in a 27% reduction in the relative risk of disease progression, relapse, or death, with a similar safety...
The moderator of the session, Laurie H. Sehn, MD, MPH, Clinical Professor at the BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, called the results of TRANSFORM trial “quite remarkable” and said chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has the...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with lisocabtagene maraleucel could prove to be the new standard-of-care treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma in the second-line setting, according to data presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH)...
The Board of Directors of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Karen L. Kelly, MD to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective Spring 2022. Dr. Kelly, a renowned medical oncologist, is an active, long-standing...
Amy Tiersten, MD, Professor of Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, Director of the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Dean of Oncology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas,...
Switching from an aromatase inhibitor to fulvestrant upon early identification of the ESR1 mutation in plasma—before disease progression—doubled progression-free survival in the phase III PADA-1 trial, presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “PADA-1 is the first trial to...
President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law on December 23, 1971. The unprecedented legislation granted sweeping authority to the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop a national cancer program that included the NCI, other research institutes, and federal ...
Laurie H. Sehn, MD, MPH, Clinical Professor with the BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and Alex Herrera, MD, Associate Professor in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope,...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, examining second-line therapy for relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, the CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care. These findings were presented at the...
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses phase II results from the CheckMate 9X8 study, which compared nivolumab plus fluorouracil/leucovorin/oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) and bevacizumab vs mFOLFOX6 and bevacizumab in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal...
The ASCO Post invited myeloma expert Philip L. McCarthy, MD, Director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, to comment on the trials evaluating early detection of myeloma at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual ...
Precursors to multiple myeloma were identified by population screening in two studies reported at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. The prevalence of monoclonal gammopathies was determined in the PROMISE trial using cutting-edge technology in a high-risk ...
In the phase II DESTINY-Lung01 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Bob T. Li, MD, PhD, MPH, and colleagues found that fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) showed durable activity in patients with metastatic HER2-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) refractory to standard...
In a single-institution phase II trial reported in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Marron et al found that neoadjuvant treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab-rwlc in patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma produced a high level of pathologic tumor necrosis at resection ...
In an analysis from the phase II CALGB 40603/Alliance trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shepherd et al found that the addition of carboplatin or bevacizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was not associated with improved long-term outcomes in patients with stage II or III...
Thousands of schools transitioned to online learning in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time many children with cancer faced significant challenges with their schooling. An opinion paper by Johns Hopkins experts, published by Thornton et al in JAMA Pediatrics, highlights some of the ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by David M. O’Malley, MD, and colleagues, pembrolizumab showed durable activity in a cohort of patients with microsatellite instability–high or mismatch repair–deficient (MSI-H/dMMR) advanced endometrial cancer enrolled in the multicohort KEYNOTE-158...
Kohei Shitara, MD, of Japan’s National Cancer Center Hospital East, discusses a long-term data follow-up from CheckMate 649, which support the continued use of nivolumab plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric, gastroesophageal junction, and esophageal...
In a Danish single-institution study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Søndergaard et al found a high rate of undetected or inadequately treated preexisting cardiovascular disease prior to the receipt of chemoradiation and a high rate of cardiovascular events during follow-up in patients undergoing ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, and colleagues, the final analysis of the phase II BLC2001 trial has shown maintained activity of the pan-fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor erdafitinib in patients with locally advanced unresectable ...
In a long-term longitudinal analysis of the phase II ORATOR trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Anthony Nichols, MD, and colleagues found that a statistically significant improvement in swallowing quality of life persisted through 3 years after treatment with radiotherapy vs...
The phase III PANTHER trial, which evaluated pevonedistat plus azacitidine vs azacitidine alone in higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and low–blast count acute myeloid leukemia (AML), failed to meet its primary endpoint of event-free survival, though lessons...
In the phase III ECOG-ACRIN E2108 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Seema A. Khan, MD, MPH, and colleagues found no difference in overall survival with early locoregional therapy vs continued systemic therapy among women with newly diagnosed stage IV breast cancer and an intact...
Invited discussant Anne Blaes, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, commented on Dr. Braybrooke’s study. “In 18,000 patients in randomized trials initiated before 2012, there was a 15% improvement in recurrence with the use of anthracyclines plus taxanes...
In a large patient-level meta-analysis of 16 trials, presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS),1 the combination of an anthracycline plus a taxane achieved a substantial 15% reduction in breast cancer recurrence at 10 years vs taxane chemotherapy alone, representing an...
Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with lutetium-177 (Lu-177) dotatate is a treatment for well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in 2018, but clinicians have lacked a metric for predicting its benefit on an individual patient basis....
Independent drug action—not synergy nor additivity—accounted for the clinical efficacy of nearly all examined combination therapies involving immune checkpoint inhibitors in clinical trials, according to results from a retrospective analysis published by Palmer et al in Clinical Cancer Research....
In a study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Cao et al found that fulfillment of more components of a healthy lifestyle was associated with a reduced risk of developing cancer in a baseline cancer-free cohort, and a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in both the...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cheng et al found that the addition of patient-reported diet and lifestyle factors to prediction models based on clinical and pathologic characteristics improved predictions of disease recurrence and mortality among patients with stage III...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Pilonis et al found that nonendoscopic cell collection device (marked as the Cytosponge)–detected atypia and p53 overexpression could be used in combination with clinical risk factors to triage patients with Barrett’s esophagus for endoscopic...
Results from the randomized international phase III HIMALAYA trial showed that a combination of the anti–PD-L1 immunotherapy durvalumab plus the anti–CTLA-4 immunotherapy tremelimumab reduced the risk of death by 22% in patients with stage III or IV unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma compared to ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fahrmann et al found that a four-component blood-based biomarker panel showed predictive ability for the development of lung cancer. Prediction was improved when the panel was used in conjunction with the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and...
Direct oral anticoagulants should be considered the standard of care to treat adult patients with cancer-associated thrombosis, according to a new, ongoing study by Mayo Clinic researchers published by Riaz et al in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The report examined the results of four randomized...
In a phase II trial (Children’s Oncology Group AALL1621) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Brien et al found that inotuzumab ozogamicin produced a high response rate in children and adolescents with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study Details In the ...
In an Asian phase II/III trial (ATTRACTION-4) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Yoon-Koo Kang, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of nivolumab to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy improved progression-free survival—but not overall survival—as first-line treatment of HER2-negative, unresectable, ...
Despite growing national awareness of health-care inequities, cancer care for many rural Americans remains inadequate. To shed some light on the challenges faced by patients with cancer in rural areas, The ASCO Post spoke with Mary Charlton, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the...
Yevgeniy R. Semenov, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, discusses new findings suggesting cutaneous adverse events such as vitiligo, lichenoid dermatitis, and psoriasis—which often occur in patients with cancer who receive immune checkpoint inhibitors—may be strongly...
Biliary tract cancer is a rare and often fatal disease comprised primarily of bile duct and gallbladder cancers; it is diagnosed in about 12,000 individuals each year in the United States. The cancer has a 5-year relative survival rate of 25% for localized intrahepatic bile duct cancers and just...
Steven J. Isakoff, MD, PhD, Director of Breast Cancer Clinical Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, found the TAMARISK study “interesting.” “Looking at genomic profiles of uterine cancer in both tamoxifen-associated uterine cancer, the researchers found a lower frequency of PIK3...
Even though it is infrequent, uterine cancer can develop in patients treated with tamoxifen. A study presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) suggests that the mechanism by which uterine cancers develop is tamoxifen-induced PI3K pathway activation.1 Patients treated with...
Rates of cervical cancer screening have dropped recently in the United States, with screening rates lowest among Asian and Hispanic women, as well as women who live in rural areas, are uninsured, or are sexual minorities, according to findings published by Ryan Suk, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA...
On February 4, 2022, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) will launch a new 3-year campaign for World Cancer Day that brings together individuals, organizations, and governments around the world in an effort to create awareness and help close the gap in cancer care. The campaign...
In a phase III trial (MPD-RC 112) reported in the journal Blood, John Mascarenhas, MD, and colleagues found no difference in 12-month complete response rates between treatment with pegylated interferon-alfa vs hydroxyurea in previously untreated patients with high-risk polycythemia vera or...
In a study reported in JAMA, Hahn et al found that a depression screening and intervention program resulted in a higher rate of referral to behavioral health services vs education alone among patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer at community oncology centers located in Southern California....
Tycel Phillips, MD, of the Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, discusses phase II findings from the CITADEL-204 study of parsaclisib, a next-generation inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. The agent, used as a monotherapy, appeared to benefit patients with relapsed or refractory...
Although radiation can be an effective therapy for prostate cancer, about one in six men will experience more frequent or painful urination as a lingering side effect. These disruptive genitourinary toxicities can occur whether the patient receives conventionally fractionated radiotherapy or...