“They’re all charlatans,” my professor assured me when, in medical school in the mid-1970s, I expressed an interest in oncology. The treatment of cancer with drugs, despite popular but inaccurate descriptions of its history, began in 1944 when Goodman and Gilman at Yale conducted contract research...
A 5-year follow-up study of more than 2,000 U.S. men who received prostate cancer treatment—radiation, surgery, or active surveillance—in patients of all ages and ethnicities is creating a road map for the future regarding long-term bowel, bladder, and sexual function in order to clarify...
A new study on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that extremely rare, harmful genetic mutations present in healthy donors’ stem cells—though not causing health problems in the donors—may be passed on to patients with cancer...
The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) has joined the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium. The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium was created in 2013 to transform the conduct of cancer research through collaborative, hypothesis-driven, highly...
Michael Jain, MD, PhD, Assistant Member in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, commented on Dr. Kilgore’s findings. Dr. Jain was coauthor of a study by the U.S. Lymphoma CAR T Consortium that presented real-world data...
Once considered highly experimental, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is now an established third-line treatment option for B-cell lymphomas and leukemias. CAR T-cell therapy has saved the lives of people who would otherwise have run out of treatment options. But the question is...
Fox Chase Cancer Center has been recognized under ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) by the QOPI Certification Program LLC as successfully completing a 3-year certification for oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for quality and safety in cancer care. “Fox...
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) recently announced an initiative to increase minority representation in cancer clinical trials. All future SU2C-supported research grant proposals will now be required to include and address crucial issues related to recruitment and retention of patients from ethnic groups ...
University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) cancer epidemiologist, and Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Susan Sturgeon, MPH, DrPH, has received a $462,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand her research ...
In a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Coleman et al released the results from the GOG-0213 trial, a multicenter, randomized prospective trial that compared secondary cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy with chemotherapy alone in women with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian ...
Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Associate Director of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, Boston, commented on KEYNOTE-890. “Previous work has suggested minimal activity of...
The phase II KEYNOTE-890 trial is a small but interesting study in patients with inoperable advanced triple-negative breast cancer. After one injection of intratumoral tavokinogene telseplasmid, a plasmid encoding the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-12 (IL-12), followed by electroporation and...
The addition of pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy achieves higher rates of pathologic complete response compared with placebo in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to results of the phase III KEYNOTE-522 trial presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer...
Women with early-stage breast cancer who test positive for an inherited genetic variant are not always receiving cancer treatment that follows current treatment guidelines, according to findings from a new study published by Allison W. Kurian, MD, MSc, and colleagues in JAMA Oncology. An inherited ...
Survival outcomes for patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck have made significant gains in recent years, but new research published by Pike et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has found some groups have not...
Interim results from the CLASSICAL-Lung phase Ib/II clinical trial of pepinemab, an IgG4 humanized monoclonal antibody targeting semaphorin 4D, in combination with the anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 antibody avelumab for patients with advanced NSCLC showed that the treatment is well tolerated...
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation recently announced that 12 scientists with novel approaches to fighting cancer have been named the 2020 recipients of the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award. Six initial grants of $400,000 over 2 years were awarded to seven early-career scientists...
In October 2014, I noticed a small pea-sized lump on the left side of my cheek. It didn’t hurt, and I didn’t have any physical symptoms that could connect the lump with a rare and serious disease, but I was curious enough about what the lump could be to get it checked out by my primary care...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
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, Gabriel Lopez, MD, emphasizes the importance of effective communication and...
In my 45 years of practicing hematology/oncology at a major urban academic medical center, I have observed a sea change in daily practice that contributes to physician burnout. Although the emotional stresses of caring for seriously ill people play a part in physician burnout, I find the daily...
The history of medicine once was featured in medical school curricula. That is becoming less common due to time restriction and the increased prevalence of more technical topics. However, the importance of the history of medicine cannot be overstated: It shapes every aspect of our cultural,...
The art of oncology practice is tailored to the individual patient with cancer, and with the advent of highly personalized targeted therapies, patient outcomes have improved markedly over the past several decades. Although much of oncology practice is guideline- or protocol-driven, chemotherapy...
A year-by-year age analysis of colorectal cancer rates among adults in the United States has found a 46% increase in new diagnoses from ages 49 to 50, indicating that many latent cases of the disease are likely going undiagnosed until routine screenings begin at 50, according to a new study by...
A study published by Anthony Lucci, MD, and colleagues in Clinical Cancer Research showed that the presence of circulating tumor cells was independently associated with relapse of melanoma, suggesting circulating tumor cell assessment may be a useful tool for identifying patients at risk for...
In the release of its annual report on progress against cancer, Clinical Cancer Advances 2020, ASCO recognized progress in the refinement of the surgical treatment of cancer as the Advance of the Year. In particular, the emergence of novel systemic therapies—combined in new and better ways—has...
ASCO has released a new guideline providing recommendations to practicing clinicians on radiographic imaging and biomarker surveillance strategies after definitive, curative-intent therapy in patients with stage I to III non–small cell lung cancer or small cell lung cancer. These guideline...
A simple test using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may be used to predict how well people with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer will respond to treatment, according to the results of a new study published by Winfield et al in Radiology. In a large clinical trial, scientists have shown a...
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released two coordinated reports in light of World Cancer Day in response to government calls for more research into the scope and potential policies and programs to improve cancer control. WHO Report...
Today’s World Cancer Day, led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), aims to mobilize urgent action from individuals, governments, and the global cancer community to close gaps in cancer risk awareness between higher and lower socioeconomic groups and the subsequent impact on their...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel immunotherapies for patients with different types of non-Hodgkin...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapies for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including the...
This Clinical Trials Resource Guide lists actively recruiting clinical trials that focus on cervical cancer. They are examining the efficacy of adding nelfinavir to treatment regimens, using atezolizumab as an immunotherapy primer, combining metformin and doxycycline, adjuvant chemotherapy in...
The American Medical Association Foundation (AMAF) recently announced a new initiative to create a cadre of LGBTQ health specialists through the AMA Foundation LGBTQ Fellowship Program—a national fellowship program to promote best practices and shared outcomes, while improving the quality of LGBTQ ...
Commenting on Dr. DeMichele’s poster presentation at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, told The ASCO...
Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors are changing the landscape of the treatment of hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer. Three CDK4/6 inhibitors are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—ribociclib, palbociclib, and abemaciclib—as first- or...
Unlike ASCO’s Annual Meeting, symposia, and conferences, which highlight the current scientific advances in specific cancers and how they are improving cancer outcomes for the more than 18.1 million people worldwide diagnosed with cancer each year,1 ASCO Breakthrough: A Global Summit for Oncology...
In the first comparative clinical trial of lung cancer screening decision aid vs standard educational information, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that a decision aid delivered through tobacco quitlines effectively reaches a screening-eligible population...
Although TP53 is the most frequently mutated gene across all cancers and encodes the tumor suppressor p53 protein, TP53-targeted therapies have not demonstrated efficacy beyond in vitro models and immunotherapies targeting mutant TP53 are not currently available. A study by Malekzadeh et al...
In a large Korean single-center study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Choi et al found that eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection was associated with a reduced risk of gastric cancer in individuals with a family history of gastric cancer in first-degree relatives. As stated ...
The Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTK) zanubrutinib continues to achieve high overall response rates for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), even in the presence of high-risk cytogenetics, according to findings from two different trials...
In men, prostate cancer has the highest incidence of any neoplasm and is the second-leading cause of cancer-related mortality. A plethora of tissue-based biomarkers are available to inform the diagnosis and prognosis for men with newly diagnosed, clinically localized prostate cancer. However, to...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to a treatment for lung and thyroid cancers with a RET fusion or mutation; gave Breakthrough Therapy designation to a doublet therapy for TP53-mutated myelodysplastic syndromes; and issued an update to their...
Capecitabine is often used to treat breast cancer, but the best use of capecitabine is open for discussion. According to a large meta-analysis of the effects of capecitabine in early breast cancer, capecitabine improves disease-free and overall survival for patients with triple-negative breast...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Kichenadasse et al found that high body mass index was associated with improved overall survival in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with atezolizumab. As noted by the investigators, there are data showing that high BMI is...
Among men with prostate cancer who received care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health System, an equal-access health-care system, African American men did not have more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis or die earlier than white men, unlike trends seen in the greater...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Kerrigan et al found that patient-reported outcomes (PROs), obtained by using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System–Cancer (PROMIS-Ca) Bank, may be prognostic for outcomes in patients with advanced...
In 2017, breast cancer expert Gabrielle Rocque, MD, MSPH, received an American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant for her work in enhancing shared decision-making for patients with advanced breast cancer. “I come from three generations of physicians,” shared Dr. Rocque. “My father (Dr. ...
Basem M. William, MD, MRCP(UK), FACP, Director of the T-Cell Lymphoma Program and Member of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, Columbus, Ohio, commented on the...
Advanced mantle cell lymphoma appears to be a good target for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Treatment with KTE-X19, an anti-CD19 CAR T-cell product, led to unprecedented outcomes in patients with relapsed or refractory disease in the phase II ZUMA-2 study presented at the 2019 ASH ...