Nonmelanoma skin cancers may display an aggressive histologic subtype that is not diagnosed on initial biopsy. In a prospective, cross-sectional study reported by Kyllo et al in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, researchers determined that a significant portion of nomelanoma...
A report published by Liu et al in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found an association between diet quality and microbiome composition in human colonic mucosa. The researchers found that a high-quality diet is linked to more potentially beneficial bacteria, whereas a...
A recent study published by Chan et al in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found a cellular pathway associated with cancer may be beneficial in reducing side effects and extending duration of immunotherapy in some patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. IL-6/JAK1 Pathway Researchers...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Van Tine et al found that infusion-related reactions occurred in 14.4% of patients receiving olaratumab in clinical trials, with grade ≥ 3 events occurring in 2.3%. (Olaratumab was withdrawn from the global market on April 25, 2019, based...
In a nearly 20-year follow-up of a Scandinavian trial reported in The Lancet, Utjés et al found no difference in survival outcomes with 2-cm vs 4-cm surgical excision margins for primary localized cutaneous melanoma with a thickness > 2 mm. The previous report from the trial showed no...
The biliary microbiome was altered in patients who received neoadjuvant therapy prior to undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer, according to a study published by Goel et al in HPB. Additionally, more bacteria in patients who underwent surgery after neoadjuvant therapy were resistant to...
Blood and intratumoral regulatory T-cell activity may one day provide a method for predicting breast cancer relapse, according to findings published by Wang et al in Nature Immunology. “This is the first success linking a solid tumor with blood biomarkers—an indicator of whether a...
In a Chinese study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wei et al found that neoadjuvant three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy improved outcomes vs hepatectomy alone in patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein tumor thrombus. Study Details In the multicenter...
In the phase II/III Act.In.Sarc trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bonvalot et al found that preoperative addition of the radioenhancer hafnium oxide nanoparticle NBTXR3 to radiotherapy may improve outcomes in patients with locally advanced soft-tissue sarcoma. The agent acts to increase...
Researchers have discovered two distinct subtypes of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) associated with different risks of recurrence following surgical treatment. The finding could yield predictive tests while focusing vigilant follow-up monitoring on patients with pNETs that have a higher...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Banerjee et al found that higher cumulative anesthesia exposure and duration of exposure during treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) may be associated with adverse neurocognitive and abnormal neuroimaging outcomes in long-term survivors....
Fertility treatment is not associated with an increased long-term risk of ovarian cancer, according to the results of a large-scale multicenter study presented by Spaan et al at the 35th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Abstract O-183). The findings,...
A new study published by Robinson et al in Nature Communications aimed to learn more about the biologic characteristics of upper tract urothelial carcinoma to help develop more targeted therapies. “We discovered the defining biologic characteristics of [upper tract urothelial tumors] that...
In the phase III AML08 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rubnitz et al found that the use of clofarabine instead of an anthracycline and etoposide in the first course of induction therapy may be a feasible strategy in pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia. The trial,...
Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) is launching the next phase of its Real-World Evidence (RWE) pilot project after a broad stakeholder meeting in February 2019. At the meeting, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and various data partners expressed interest in...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sheetz et al identified the degree of centralization of high-risk cancer surgeries within hospital systems and found improved short-term outcomes with increased centralization among Medicare patients. Study Details The study involved...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hervé Tilly, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of polatuzumab vedotin, an antibody-drug conjugate targeting the CD79b component of the B-cell receptor, with immunochemotherapy showed high response rates in the phase II portion of a phase I/II study in ...
In the phase III OPTIMISMM trial, reported by Paul G. Richardson, MD, and colleagues in The Lancet Oncology, researchers found that the addition of pomalidomide to bortezomib/dexamethasone improved progression-free survival in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma previously treated with...
Lifting himself from the barriers of the segregated South, LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr, MD, would become a nationally regarded oncologic surgeon who opened doors for other in the medical profession. His career was distinguished by “firsts,” such as the first African America President of both the...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, explore the current...
Despite an avalanche of novel therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the past decade in the treatment of multiple myeloma, including proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs, this blood cancer remains largely incurable, and nearly 13,000 people are expected...
I sit paralyzed at my desk. Everyone else has left the clinic. I can hear the sound of the broom in the hall as the after-hours cleaning begins. No phones ring, no patients hurry to appointments, no chatter lingers in the air. The silence is oppressive, the air is heavy, and the distance from my...
On May 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded its approval of ivosidenib (Tibsovo) to include newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible IDH1 mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved test, in patients who are at least 75 years old or who have comorbidities that ...
Findings from a study of patients who received radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism show a modest association between the dose of treatment and long-term risk of death from solid cancers, including breast cancer. The study, led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), was...
A risk-prediction model developed using clinical and radiologic features could stratify individuals presenting with a lung nodule as having a high or low risk for lung cancer, according to a study published by Nemesure et al in Cancer Prevention Research. “While lung nodules are not...
Many elderly and medically complex patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC)—who are often underrepresented in clinical trials—saw overall survival benefits from treatment with targeted therapies, according to a study that analyzed 13 years of data on Medicare patients...
The three-drug combination of encorafenib, binimetinib, and cetuximab significantly improved overall survival in patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results of the phase III BEACON CRC clinical trial. These findings were presented by Kopetz et al at the European...
The incidence of gastric cancer has been increasing in younger individuals, and those under 40 with chronic digestive symptoms should be more actively investigated. These findings follow new data from a retrospective, observational study in Mexico, which showed that 1 in 7 of over 2,000...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Kelly et al identified the frequency of diagnostic and postprogression biopsies, complication rates, and associated costs in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study involved patient data from the...
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the “Tobacco-Free Youth Act,” which will work to protect youth from tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems by raising the national age of sale from 18 to 21. ASCO endorsed the legislation in a...
Unlike non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which has seen a paradigm shift in treatment modalities with the discovery of genetic signatures (including EGFR mutations) that are responsive to targeted drugs, systemic treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has remained largely unchanged for over...
“The jury is still out,” said APACT’s invited discussant, Jiping Wang, MD, PhD, a biostatistician and hepatobiliary pancreas surgical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. “The final overall survival analysis is needed to know the real benefit from...
“Margetuximab pLUS capecitabine may represent a new alternative combination for third-line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer,” said -SOPHIA’s invited discussant Carlos H. Barrios, MD, of the Centro de Pesquisa em Oncologia and Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group in Porto...
A phase II study found that treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin achieved responses in 44% of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer previously treated with platinum chemotherapy and a checkpoint inhibitor. This is a noteworthy study because it...
A novel therapy using two targeted treatments for prostate cancer has been shown to maximize efficacy while reducing side effects, according to research presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) and published by Emmett et al in The Journal ...
The efficacy results of Alliance A021202 suggest that pazopanib is another promising systemic option for carcinoid tumors, according to William P. Harris, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle. “Progression-free...
Pazopanib significantly improved progression-free survival by 47% in patients with progressive carcinoid tumors, in a prospective randomized phase II trial presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “With these results, Alliance A021202 becomes the first randomized study to show that the vascular...
Jordan Berlin, MD, the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, discussed the FOxTROT study at the oral session. “FOxTROT did reach its targeted hazard ratio, but the bottom line is the P value did not quite make it to where...
For patients with operable colon cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy resulted in numerous benefits in the FOxTROT trial but did not reach target significance for the primary endpoint. The study was presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting by Matthew T. Seymour, MD, of the University of Leeds School...
Targeted therapies for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are a hotbed of investigation. Two new targeted therapies are promising for patients with lung tumors that are either EGFR exon 20 insertions or RET-rearranged. At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, attendees heard early data on therapies...
In the phase III ENLIVEN trial reported in The Lancet, Tap et al found that the colony-stimulating factor 1 inhibitor pexidartinib produced responses in patients with advanced tenosynovial giant cell tumors (TGCTs) not amenable to surgical resection. Study Details In the double-blind portion of...
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy is potentially attractive because it addresses micrometastases early in the course of treatment and may improve compliance with systemic therapy, said formal discussant Maximilian Diehn, MD, PhD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo...
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy had encouraging activity and demonstrated favorable safety in patients with resectable early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to two studies presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.1,2 This approach has the potential to boost the survival rate in...
Invited discussant of the NALA trial, Carlos H. Barrios, MD, of the Centro de Pesquisa em Oncologia and Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group in Porto Alegre, Brazil, said the results suggest that neratinib plus capecitabine “may represent an alternative for third-line treatment of...
Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, Thompson Chair in Breast Cancer Research and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Breast Cancer Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commented on Dr. Sparano’s presentation for The ASCO Post. “We already use information in...
Clinical risk factors add prognostic information that complements the 21-gene recurrence score, according to a new analysis from the landmark TAILORx trial.1,2 The integration of clinical risk with the recurrence score provides greater precision in determining recurrence risk and guiding the use of ...
I was born at the beginning of World War II in a country half way around the world from the fighting. As a child, I was immune to the carnage. My father was too old to be included, although his elder brother had been killed in World War I. Thousands of families in many countries lost a father, a...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to provide oncologists with greater help in acquiring expanded access to investigational therapies. Deemed Project Facilitate, the pilot program was announced at a press briefing during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. Project Facilitate is essentially ...
Limiting ovarian cancer surgery to high-volume hospitals could improve survival but may also reduce access for many rural and underserved patients, a study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found. The findings were published by Wright et al...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Phillips et al found that immune-related cutaneous adverse events in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors generally responded to symptom- and phenotype-directed dermatologic therapies, and that biologic therapies were effective in...