A STUDY finding that pathogenic variants in 5 genes are associated with a high risk of triple-negative breast cancer and a 20% lifetime risk for overall breast cancer1 may increase interest in genetic testing. “This is the first study to establish which genes are associated with high lifetime risks ...
USING MULTIGENE hereditary cancer panels to test for mutations in five genes can identify women at high risk for triple-negative breast cancer who may then benefit from more frequent screening, risk management, and potentially targeted therapies as well. A study that looked at multigene panel...
In the fall of 2009, I suddenly went from being a healthy, physically active 47-year-old to a patient with stage IV non–small lung cancer (NSCLC), with a 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. A never-smoker, I had attributed a persistent cough I’d been having to the change in the season. And why...
Although the basic concept of using the body’s immune defense mechanisms to fight cancer has been around for centuries, the idea of using immunotherapy in cancer, in general, returned to prominence when Dr. Thomas Burnet first proposed the theory of cancer immunosurveillance in 1957. Despite...
AT THE END OF 2017, pertuzumab (Perjeta) was granted regular approval for use in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2- positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data APPROVAL WAS BASED on...
To expose future practitioners to the special challenges of treating cancer in older patients, the Geriatrics Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has developed a clinical education model for nurse practitioner students. Why Geriatric Oncology? GIVEN THE aging population, my...
MAYO CLINIC physicians Matthew Block, MD, PhD, and Tina Hieken, MD, have received a Stand up to Cancer (SU2C) Catalyst Award to fund melanoma research and a neoadjuvant clinical trial. “This study, “Neoactivate,” will test two novel approaches to the treatment of patients with high-risk, stage 3...
THE ALBERT and Mary Lasker Foundation has announced the winners of its 2018 Lasker Awards: C. David Allis, PhD, of Rockefeller University, and Michael Grunstein, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, will receive the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award; John B. Glen, BVMS, PhD,...
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,...
Providing care to patients with cancer can be overwhelming, and caregivers are at risk for physical and psychological distress, which can negatively impact their own health. Over the past decade, supporting caregiver well-being has gained prominence as a national health-care issue. In this...
The estimated cost of cancer care in the United States was $125 billion in 2010 and is expected to rise to $175 billion by 2020.1 In an effort to reign in spiraling costs and deliver better care, the term “value” has become part of the new oncology lexicon, as providers, patients, and payers seek...
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2016, over 42,000 Americans died from opioid overdose, making the epidemic a top public health concern. Although opioids are commonly used for cancer-associated pain, the risks for overdose in patients with cancer were unknown. A...
New research by Wind et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network explores a new approach for benchmarking cancer centers based on how successfully their organizational structures allow them to implement integrated practice units (IPUs). These IPUs are defined ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Carole Fakhry, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and colleagues, ASCO has endorsed the 2018 College of American Pathologists (CAP) guideline on human papillomavirus (HPV) testing in head and neck carcinoma. The endorsement was based on...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Justin E. Bekelman, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and colleagues, ASCO has endorsed the 2017 American Urological Association (AUA), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Urologic...
Scientific journals are a cornerstone of medical knowledge, delivering information about the latest research discoveries to the medical professionals who will put them into practice. Once a manuscript is submitted, a journal editor guides it through peer review, extensive editing, and publication....
On August 8, ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) submitted recommended language to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for five guidance documents on ways to broaden eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials. The recommendations are part of an ASCO and Friends collaboration...
Certain physicians know they want to become doctors from a very young age. Others start on a different path until something happens to alter their plans. This was the case for Jianjun Zhang, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “When I was a kid, I...
Fully updated and now with 8th Edition AJCC staging information, this updated guide is designed for people newly diagnosed with small cell lung cancer to help them get organized and learn more about their diagnosis, treatment options, side effects, support options, follow-up care, and more. It...
In a recent position statement, ASCO warns that Medicaid work requirements may hinder patient access to essential cancer care and reduce the already limited time physicians are able to spend with their patients. ASCO also recommends that federal and state policymakers take specific steps to ensure...
Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, a long-time ASCO member and volunteer, began his role as ASCO President-Elect in June 2018. An ASCO member for nearly 30 years, Dr. Burris’ service to the Society is extensive. His volunteer roles include member of the ASCO Board of Directors and...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. Find him on Twitter @jamecancerdoc. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor, Jame Abraham, MD,...
Investigators have unraveled the origins and identified mutations associated with mixed-phenotype acute leukemia. The study, published by Alexander et al in Nature, potentially lays the foundation for more effective treatment of patients with this high-risk cancer. Mixed-phenotype acute...
The results of the pivotal phase III JAVELIN Renal 101 study—which evaluated avelumab (Bavencio) in combination with axitinib (Inlyta) compared with sunitinib (Sutent) as initial therapy for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma—were recently announced. As part of a planned...
In a single-institution study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Duncavage et al found that mutation clearance after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was associated with better outcomes in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome. Study Details The study...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies focused on gynecologic cancers—cervical, vaginal, uterine, ovarian, and vulvar cancers. These trials are studying chemoradiotherapy combination treatments, cancer vaccines, intraperitoneal ...
Several studies published earlier this year present preliminary but compelling evidence that electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine through aerosols without burning tobacco, may pose serious health consequences to users, including cardiovascular disease and...
Among other policy responses to the growing opioid epidemic, many states have enacted legislation that limits the duration or amount of opioid prescriptions issued by physicians. Although, it is clear we need strong measures to mitigate widespread overuse and misuse of opioids. These...
A pair of new studies from researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania are shedding light on why patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) respond or do not respond to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Although CAR T-cell therapy is...
Although the optimal approach to maintenance is not definitive in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have undergone chemotherapy-based induction with anti–endothelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) agents, the phase II VALENTINO trial showed that anti-EGFR maintenance therapy with...
In June 2018, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was approved for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer with disease progression on or after chemotherapy whose tumors express programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1; combined positive score [CPS] ≥ 1), as determined by a U.S....
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will present the 2018 William Dameshek Prize to Ross L. Levine, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College, for his discoveries in the field of leukemia and myeloproliferative neoplasms during the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting ...
In an analysis from the GeparQuinto trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Peter A. Fasching, MD, of Erlangen University Hospital, Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen-EMN, and colleagues found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy increased the...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies focused on prostate cancer. These trials are studying bone marrow transplant, gene therapy, checkpoint inhibitor treatment, radiation therapy techniques, antibody therapies, and...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On June 13, 2018, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was granted...
In elderly patients with untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML), venetoclax (Venclexta), given at a 400-mg dose, with an azacitidine backbone led to durable responses with a tolerable safety profile, according to data from a phase Ib dose-escalation and -expansion study. Response rates were high...
Long-term follow-up data on axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) in lymphoma, potential partners for nivolumab (Opdivo) in solid tumors, and a targeted agent for RET-altered cancers were featured during the developmental therapeutics program at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting. At the Best of ASCO...
My male colleagues sometimes broach the topic of #MeToo or sexual harassment in medicine by saying how uncomfortable it makes them. Ah, yes. How uncomfortable the sexual harassment I have faced for years makes you. I casually bring up microaggressions—subtle verbal or nonverbal slights against...
The treatment of triple-negative breast cancer remains a clinical challenge with no single validated target, though numerous pathways are druggable and are being investigated. In the subset of BRCA-mutated triple-negative breast cancer, the approval of the first poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a series of critical and historic enforcement actions related to the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to children. In the largest coordinated enforcement effort in the its history, the agency issued more than 1,300 warning...
A high incidence of clinically diagnosed infections in the first year of life among children who later developed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has led researchers to propose that children with ALL are born with a dysregulated immune function, resulting in a more vigorous reaction to infections ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has released its annual Cancer Progress Report highlighting how federally funded research discoveries are fueling the development of new and even more effective ways to prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat cancer. Key advances outlined...
A research team from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has discovered a way to use computed tomography (CT) imaging to assess kidney tumors that test positive for the biomarker CD117 and accurately determine—before surgery—whether the tumor is benign or malignant. Their findings...
In a retrospective single-institution analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Calaway et al found that the addition of bleomycin to etoposide/cisplatin did not appear to increase risk of pulmonary or postoperative morbidity after postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection ...
In a Danish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Beau et al used different models to assess the effects of screening on breast cancer mortality, finding a 20% reduction among patients diagnosed during the recommended screening age range. As noted by the investigators, the study was...
Nearly 350 organizations—including medical societies and oncology treatments centers—are advocating for robust, sustained, and predictable annual funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) during the 6th annual Rally for Medical Research Hill Day, taking place...
Case studies have reported a high prevalence of methotrexate subacute neurotoxicity among Hispanic adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), suggesting sensitivity to methotrexate therapy may differ by race and ethnicity. Now, a prospective study in pediatric patients with ALL has found...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Evens et al found that a regimen of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) given sequentially before and after standard doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (AVD) was associated with good outcomes in untreated older patients with...
The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation today announced the winners of its 2018 Lasker Awards: C. David Allis, PhD, of Rockefeller University and Michael Grunstein, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, will receive the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Randy A. Taplitz, MD, of UC San Diego Health, and colleagues, ASCO and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) have updated their joint guideline on antimicrobial prophylaxis for adult patients with immunosuppression associated with...