Commenting on the ADMIRAL trial, Tapan Kadia, MD, Associate Professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, reminded the audience that the most important discovery with genetic sequencing is that acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a group of heterogeneous diseases. “The FLT3-ITD mutation is one...
A new study reports that a type of cervical cancer that is less amenable to detection by Papanicolaou (Pap) testing is increasing in several subpopulations of women, pointing to the growing importance of human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and vaccination. The study was published by Islami ...
A study by Xu et al in Clinical Cancer Research evaluating deep-learning networks that analyze time-series computed tomography (CT) images of patients with locally advanced NSCLC has found these networks can integrate imaging scans at multiple time points to improve clinical outcome...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Bartlett et al, the phase III intergroup Alliance/CALGB 50303 trial showed front-line DA-EPOCH-R (dose-adjusted etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and rituximab) did not improve outcomes vs standard R-CHOP...
A consortium of researchers have completed an analysis of a new gene fusion they believe is responsible for the development of a wide spectrum of cancer types. According to the investigators, their studies show that errant gene fusions in neuregulin-1, or NRG1, which are present in about...
In a Canadian phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Kennedy et al found a low rate of positive circumferential resection margins after primary surgery in patients with rectal cancer considered to have a ‘good prognosis’ based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) criteria. As...
In a long-term follow-up of the Swedish Breast Cancer Group 91 Radiotherapy trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kovács et al found that higher levels of stromal tumor–infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and receipt of radiotherapy were independently associated with reduced...
ASCO and the American Society of Hematology (ASH) have released an update to existing guidelines for the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents to manage anemia in patients with cancer. The update was simultaneously published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Blood Advances. “The...
A study by Bauman et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network found that patients who kept ice chips in their mouths—what the study authors called “oral cryotherapy”—during oxaliplatin infusions reported less trouble with eating and...
Results of a study published by Stearns et al in JAMA Network Open demonstrated a reduction in health-care utilization and cost for patients cancer-related pain using targeted drug delivery and conventional medical management vs conventional medical management alone. The study found...
Some patients who died within 1 month of being newly diagnosed with metastatic cancer in the United States received ineffective surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormonal therapy, according to a new study published by Sineshaw et al in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. The study authors said the...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Dimitrakopoulos et al found two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in noncoding, functional regions of genes that regulate cancer progression. They were associated with survival after resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The study involved...
Recent research suggests that remotely delivering rehabilitation services to patients with advanced cancer may improve their physical function, pain, and quality of life, while allowing them to spend less time in hospitals and nursing homes. These findings were published by Cheville et al in JAMA...
The newest study of America’s radiation oncologist workforce finds that gender and racial gaps have narrowed slightly, although persistent and growing geographic disparities point to a need for more equity in access to radiation therapy care. The survey found that fewer radiation oncologists...
A newly published Mayo Clinic study has found that a presurgery treatment plan for patients with borderline/locally advanced pancreatic cancer undergoing total neoadjuvant therapy may improve outcomes. The findings were published by Truty et al in Annals of Surgery. The study followed 194...
Yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, ASCO announced a new task force aimed at reducing disparities and improving outcomes for patients and survivors of cancer who live in rural communities. The new Rural Cancer Care Task Force will identify opportunities to close the care gap and ...
Two studies reported at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2019 provided new insights on the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although around half of all people newly diagnosed with NSCLC are elderly (Pallis ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Kim and colleagues found that higher levels of stromal tumor–infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were associated with better outcomes in patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy or trastuzumab plus chemotherapy for early-stage...
ASCO recently announced that it is seeking applications for research grants for projects that use data from CancerLinQ Discovery®—an offering of ASCO’s CancerLinQ® initiative—as a source. CancerLinQ Discovery provides curated sets of deidentified data from patients with cancer to academic...
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION for Cancer Research (AACR) recently recognized Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD, FAACR, with the 13th Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research during the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Dr. DuBois is Dean of the College of...
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION for Cancer Research (AACR) recently honored Charles L. Sawyers, MD, FAACR, with the AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship at the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting in Atlanta. The AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship, now in its 13th year, is awarded to a scientist...
BREAST CANCER SCREENING is no longer “just mammography” but involves a growing list of ever more sophisticated techniques that are improving detection, according to Elizabeth Morris, MD, Professor of Radiology, the Larry Norton Chair, and Chief of the Breast Imaging Service at Memorial Sloan...
THE DISCUSSANT of the abstract was Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, Cancer Center Deputy Director, Chair of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology, and Executive Director of the Center for Immunotherapy, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York. He emphasized the large number of...
Biologic age—a DNA-based estimate of a person’s age—may be associated with the development of breast cancer, according a report published by Jacob K. Kresovich, PhD, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and colleagues in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.1...
In 1996, an excruciating sore throat sent me first to my primary care physician and then to an ear, nose, and throat specialist, after a suspicious mass was found on the right side of my throat. A biopsy determined that the tumor was squamous cell neck cancer, and additional tests of my neck,...
IN HIGH-RISK patients with breast cancer and low expression of HER2 (HER2 low), a peptide vaccine targeting HER2, combined with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and given concurrently with trastuzumab, may help to prevent recurrence. Final analysis of a randomized phase...
FORMAL DISCUSSANT of the abstract presented by Harding et al, Michael Morse, MD, Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North Carolina, noted that the authors should be commended on a complex dose-escalation strategy that surely required a lot of collaboration among...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to...
THE EMERGENCE of anticancer agents that block immune checkpoints has transformed the field of oncology, leading to durable responses and improvements in overall survival in melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, head/neck squamous cell carcinoma, urothelial bladder cancer, and non–small cell lung cancer....
INITIAL DATA from the ongoing, multicenter, first-in-human, phase Ia/Ib dose-escalation and -expansion study suggest that an anti–T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain–containing molecule 3 (anti–TIM-3) antibody alone or in combination with immune checkpoint blockade could counter intrinsic ...
NEW AGENTS for the treatment of advanced HER2-positive breast cancer should be coming soon to your clinic, according to Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, Director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of...
HIS HEAD WAS DIFFERENT from those of the other people in line. He bore a matrix of white rows of circular patches on his shaved scalp like a wig. The patches were electrodes, connected by cords to a power supply in a satchel around his shoulder. I was able to make an instant and unfortunate...
Informed consent is an important part of delivering quality cancer care. Traditional ethical and legal rules require clinicians to disclose three types of information: (1) the patient’s diagnosis; (2) the nature of the proposed intervention and its intended benefits, risks, and adverse effects;...
THE FORMAL DISCUSSANT of the KEYNOTE-427 trial, Tracy Rose, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, told listeners: “I think pembrolizumab should now be considered an option for non–clear cell kidney cancer. Response rates, however, remain inferior to those seen in clear cell...
In patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, the delivery of all radiotherapy and chemotherapy neoadjuvantly—with a shorter course of radiation—may improve the chance of complete response and downstaging over conventional treatment, according to investigators from Washington University, St....
IMMUNOTHERAPY WITH the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab may prove to be an effective option for patients with advanced non–clear cell renal cell carcinoma, according to results in cohort B of the KEYNOTE-427 trial, presented at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 Response rates were...
In contrast with melanoma, lung cancer, and kidney cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has been disappointing in prostate cancer thus far. Because of success in treating other tumor types, interest remains high in exploring the effect of immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibition in prostate...
Although ARCHES was a positive trial, the results may not signal a practice change at this time, according to formal discussant Ian Davis, MBBS, PhD, FRACP, FAChPM, of Monash University Eastern Health Clinical School, Melbourne. “We should probably not change practice yet on the basis of these...
Adding enzalutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly prolonged radiographic progression-free survival in men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 61% compared with ADT plus placebo, according to the results of the ...
ASCO, the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) are pleased to acknowledge receipt of a key clarification from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on prescribing opioids to manage pain from certain conditions. ...
The increasing incidence and prevalence of nonmelanoma skin cancers has led to the search for new and more efficient diagnostic imaging and therapy guidance approaches. However, proper selection of therapy requires the precise delineation of skin cancer margins. To address this need, researchers...
Watch John Marshall, MD, and BILCAP first author John Neil Primrose, PhD, MBBS, discuss the trial at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting. In the phase III BILCAP trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Primrose and colleagues found evidence that adjuvant capecitabine may improve overall...
SEVERAL STUDIES at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium evaluated the benefits of neoadjuvant treatment in patients with pancreatic cancer—and in patients deemed fully resectable, not just “borderline” resectable.1-3 Although the standard of care for resectable pancreatic ductal...
FORMAL STUDY discussant Matthew J. Milosky, MD, of the University of North Carolina, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, said there had been few drug approvals in advanced bladder cancer until 5 new checkpoint inhibitors were approved over the past 2 years. “Although these agents...
SOME PATIENTS with metastatic prostate cancer may respond to a combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors after treatment with hormonal therapy and chemotherapy is not successful, according to early results from the phase II CheckMate 650 trial. Principal Investigator Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD,...
ALTHOUGH ARCHES was a positive trial, results may not signal a practice change at this time, according to formal discussant Ian Davis, MBBS (Hons), PhD, FRACP, FAChPM, Monash University Eastern Health Clinical School, Melbourne. “We should proceed with caution and probably not change practice yet,” ...
ADDING ENZALUTAMIDE to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly prolonged radiographic progression-free survival in men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, reducing the risk of progression or death by 61% compared with ADT plus placebo, according to results of the phase III...
THE PROGRAMMED cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor, avelumab, was combined with the multitargeted vascular growth endothelial factor (VEGF) agent, axitinib, and compared to monotherapy with sunitinib in the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Toni K. Choueiri,...
THIS YEAR saw a huge turnout and a large number of scientific abstracts presented at both the 2019 Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers Symposium, held on January 17–19, and the 2019 Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium, held on February 14–16, both in San Francisco. The GU Cancers Symposium attracted...
A new study reveals that preventive medications—such as those to lower blood pressure or cholesterol, or to protect bone health, among others—are commonly prescribed during the last year of life of older adults with cancer, even though they are unlikely to provide meaningful benefits....