It’s a fast-paced world, no two ways about it. People move on from one event to another. We have to move on either for our own sake or the sake of someone near and dear. In the medical field, patients come and go, surgeries are performed, treatments are given, and everybody moves on. Being kind to...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Long et al, 7-year follow-up of the Australian phase II ABC trial showed continued benefit of ipilimumab/nivolumab vs nivolumab alone in patients with asymptomatic melanoma brain metastases. Study Details In the open-label multicenter study, 63...
Testosterone recovery to normal levels after long-term term androgen-deprivation therapy and radiotherapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with high-risk prostate cancer, according to data presented at the 2025 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 Long-term data from the phase...
Researchers may have uncovered insights into the role of bacteria in the development of gastric cancer, according to a novel study published by Giddings et al in Helicobacter. The findings could pave the way for a more effective precancer treatment option. Background Gastric cancer is the fourth...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides guidance on the use of radiation therapy to treat adult patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal and anal margin. The guideline, ASTRO’s first for anal cancer, is published in...
Among the high-quality abstract presentations at the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), a few always stand out as particularly meritorious. Each year, The ASCO Post asks our Deputy Editor, breast cancer specialist Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to give us his picks. Dr. Abraham is Chairman...
Nearly 20% of patients participating in middle-stage cancer drug trials may receive treatments that eventually receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, according to a recent study published by Ouimet et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The findings may have...
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a novel antibody-toxin conjugate (ATC) designed to stimulate immune-mediated eradication of tumors. According to preclinical results published in Nature Cancer, the new approach combined the benefits of antibody-drug...
Investigators have found that nearly 50% of patients with advanced cancer may receive potentially aggressive treatment at the expense of supportive care, despite considerable efforts to improve the quality of end-of-life care in the United States, according to a recent study published by Kwon et al ...
Physical activity may help colorectal cancer survivors achieve long-term survival rates comparable to those of individuals in the general population, according to a recent study published by Brown et al in Cancer. Background Patients with colorectal cancer often face higher rates of premature...
Although the cancer mortality rate among Black patients in the United States has dropped over the past 30 years, this patient population may continue to experience a disproportionately elevated cancer burden compared with other patient populations, according to a recent study published by Saka et...
Remembering Alexi Anatolyevich Navalny: The Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anticorruption activist, and political prisoner, Alexi Navalny died in the Arctic Wolf prison in Siberia approximately 1 year ago on February 16, 2024. He was designated a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty...
Age discrimination, often referred to as ageism, is an increasingly pressing issue within society. Although it can impact individuals across all age groups, older adults are particularly vulnerable. According to the U.S. Census Bureau projections, by 2040, individuals aged 65 and older will...
In a meta-analysis reported in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, Kumar et al found that the use of cryotherapy decreased the incidence of moderate or worse peripheral neuropathy by more than 50% in patients with breast cancer who received paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel. Cryotherapy...
The Annual Meeting of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) was held from October 17–19, 2024, in Montreal. The conference theme was “Promoting Equity and Enhancing Optimal Care Delivery.” The conference chairs were Shabbir Alibhai, MD, MSc, FRCPC, and Martine Puts, RN, PhD, FAAN,...
Offering genetic testing to patients with multiple myeloma may help physicians to determine which patients have the most aggressive types of the disease and how to target their malignancy more effectively, according to a recent study published by Kaiser et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology....
Investigators assessed whether adding tumor deposit status to colorectal cancer staging may enhance prognostication, according to a recent study published by Sassun et al in JAMA Surgery. Background In patients undergoing surgical treatment of colorectal cancer, tumor deposits are defined as...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jennifer Brown, MD, and colleagues, the phase III AMPLIFY trial found that fixed-duration acalabrutinib combined with venetoclax or venetoclax/obinutuzumab improved progression-free survival vs chemoimmunotherapy in fit, previously untreated...
I’ve learned a lot about medicine over the years, but one thing I wasn’t taught was how to guide someone through the existential weight of dying. My education centered on diagnosing, curing, or at least managing disease—not on the delicate art of helping people and their loved ones cope with what...
The interference of gut bacteria could explain the ineffectiveness of immune checkpoint therapy in some patients with ovarian cancer, according to a recent study published by McGinty et al in Cancer Immunology Research. Background There are over 10,000 ovarian cancer–related deaths in the United...
Researchers may have uncovered a major factor contributing to treatment resistance in patients with colorectal cancer, according to a recent study published by Mzoughi et al in Nature Genetics. Background Colorectal cancer is one of the deadliest cancer types across the world, with treatment...
Long-term yogurt intake may protect against the development of colorectal cancer through changes in the gut microbiome, according to a recent study published by Ugai et al in Gut Microbes. Background Yogurt—which contains live strains of bacteria—is thought to protect against many types of...
Treatment with the HER2 × HER3 bispecific antibody zenocutuzumab-zbco appeared to be safe and active in patients with advanced NRG1 gene fusion–positive solid tumors, according to results from the registrational phase II eNRGy study published by Schram et al in The New England Journal of Medicine....
The findings in the American Cancer Society (ACS) annual report, Cancer Statistics, 2025,1 showed a mixed trend in cancer incidence and mortality rates. Although cancer mortality declined by 34% from 1991 to 2022 in the United States—largely because of smoking reductions, earlier detection, and...
Studies show that about one-quarter of advanced prostate cancers have alterations in DNA damage response genes involved directly or indirectly in homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene alterations, including BRCA1/BRCA2 genes, which can sensitize them to treatment with PARP inhibitors. Final...
The BRAF inhibitor encorafenib plus the monoclonal antibody cetuximab combined with mFOLFOX (modified folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin) significantly improved overall response in BRAF V600E–mutant metastatic colorectal cancer, according to data presented at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal ...
Although there’s no history of breast cancer in my family, when I was 10, my pediatrician introduced me to breast self-exams, so I would become familiar with my breasts and learn to spot any unusual changes as I got older. I remember her telling me this was an especially important exercise to do...
Kenneth H. Cowan, MD, PhD, served for 24 years as Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), now called the Nebraska Medicine Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha. Dr. Cowan died on December 15, 2024, at ...
NRG Oncology, the RTOG Foundation, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), announced the death of Felix Feng, MD, from cancer at age 48 on December 10, 2024. Dr. Feng was a George and Judy Marcus Distinguished Professor; Professor of Radiation Oncology, Urology and Medicine; Vice...
In an article in The Lancet Oncology, Oza et al presented the final overall survival analysis of the phase III ARIEL trial of rucaparib vs standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients with relapsed BRCA-mutated ovarian carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label trial, 349 patients from sites in 12...
Although national guidelines, including ASCO’s palliative care guideline,1 call for the early integration of palliative and oncology care for patients with advanced cancer, only 36% of those with a very poor prognosis and 18% of those with a poor prognosis receive palliative care services.2 The...
ZUMA-2 is a single-arm, multicenter, open-label phase II study that investigated leukapheresed adults with mantle cell lymphoma whose disease was refractory to or had relapsed after up to five prior lines of therapy, including anthracycline or bendamustine-containing chemotherapy; anti-CD20...
The World Health Organization (WHO) and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have begun distributing critical cancer drugs to pediatric patients in two of six pilot countries through the new Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines. Background Every year, about 400,000 children...
ASCO has updated its guidelines on the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients newly diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, underscoring key considerations in selecting patients for treatment and where to go from there.1 Since ASCO’s previous guidelines were published in 2016, there has been ...
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. This year, it’s expected that more than 53,000 individuals will die of the disease.1 Although screening for colorectal cancer through colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy is effective in detecting the...
The Lung Cancer Master Protocol (Lung-MAP) is an innovative clinical trial designed to efficiently address the unmet needs of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following front-line therapy. This pioneering effort was the first biomarker-driven umbrella master protocol...
Each year in the United States, approximately 90,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs), defined as those between the ages of 15 and 39, are diagnosed with cancer, and about 9,300 die of the disease.1 Worldwide, the number of new cases of cancer in this age population tops 1,300,200—an increase of ...
The BRAF inhibitor encorafenib plus the monoclonal antibody cetuximab combined with mFOLFOX (modified folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin) significantly improved overall response in BRAF V600E–mutant metastatic colorectal cancer, according to data presented at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal ...
An immunotherapy combination for advanced, highly mutated colorectal cancer has significantly delayed disease progression vs single-agent therapy, according to data presented at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 The phase III CheckMate 8HW trial compared the PD-1 inhibitor...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Geyer et al, interim analysis of overall survival in the phase III KATHERINE trial showed a significant benefit of ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) vs trastuzumab in patients with residual invasive HER2-positive breast cancer after neoadjuvant...
Investigators have found that although fewer patients may be diagnosed with and dying from cancer in Appalachia, cancer incidence and mortality rates remain substantially higher compared with elsewhere in the United States, according to a recent study published by Burus et al in the Journal of the...
A novel artificial intelligence (AI) tool uncovered an effective treatment for a patient with idiopathic multicentric Castleman’s disease, according to a recent study published by Mumau et al in The New England Journal of Medicine. Background Idiopathic multicentric Castleman’s disease is a rare...
Patients with stage III or IV clear cell renal cell carcinoma may have achieved a successful anticancer immune response following initiation of a novel personalized cancer vaccine, according to a recent study published by Braun et al in Nature. Background The standard treatment for stage III or IV...
Researchers have found that inhibiting the S6K2 gene could be an effective strategy for managing treatment-resistant melanoma, according to a recent study published by Lipchick et al in Science Translational Medicine. Background Cases of melanoma—the deadliest type of skin cancer—are currently...
A retrospective study provides new evidence that thyroid cancer continues to be overdiagnosed and that aggressive screening and treatment of thyroid cancer has not led to higher survival rates. The research was published by Chen et al in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. “Many studies have...
In a retrospective cohort study from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which was reported in JAMA Network Open, Ferraro et al found that patients with ERBB2 (formerly HER2 or HER2/neu)-positive breast cancer and central nervous system (CNS) metastases only vs concomitant extracranial...
Researchers have found no evidence that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy caused secondary cancers in the modified T cells, according to a recent study published by Jadlowsky et al in Nature Medicine. Background CAR T-cell therapy is a personalized type of immunotherapy that employs...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Abboud et al found that the incidence of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) has increased in many organ sites during recent years in the United States. Study Details In the study, age-adjusted GEP-NETs incidence rates...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a label expansion for the PATHWAY anti-HER2/neu (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody to identify patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-ultralow metastatic breast cancer who may be eligible for treatment with fam-trastuzumab...
Late relapse of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may represent a new lymphoma arising from a common precursor cell that is essentially chemotherapy-naive. Treatment with curative intent using a second-line regimen like R-CHOP (rituximab cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, prednisone, and...