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Showing 9301 - 9350Expert Point of View: Vincent J. Picozzi, MD
Vincent J. Picozzi, MD, a pancreatic cancer specialist at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, commented on the findings by Chan et al presented at the 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Dr. Picozzi first acknowledged that there is a strong biologic rationale for evaluating cabozantinib...
Cabozantinib Elicits Responses in Neuroendocrine and Carcinoid Tumors
In a phase II study reported at the 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib (Cometriq) was evaluated in advanced carcinoid and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Radiographic responses to therapy were observed in both tumor subtypes, and compared to other ...
Expert Point of View: Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD
Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, a liver and biliary cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the study for The ASCO Post. While acknowledging that a single-institution study of 30 patients is naturally “limited in scope,” he said the outcome of the study of...
Novel Bridge to Liver Transplant May Improve Upon Standard of Care
For hepatocellular carcinoma patients awaiting a liver transplant, locoregional treatment as a “bridge” is a standard strategy for reducing tumor progression. The most common approach is transarterial chemoembolization, but a study from a large-volume liver transplant center questions whether it...
Palliative Radiation Therapy for Bone Metastases: Update of an ASTRO Evidence-Based Guideline
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently published an updated clinical guideline that underscores the safety and effectiveness of palliative radiation therapy for treating painful bone metastases. Based on recent clinical trial data, the guideline recommends optimal radiotherapy ...
Durvalumab Shows Activity in Heavily Pretreated Patients With Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The immune checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab (also known as MEDI4736) is active and achieves durable responses in patients with heavily pretreated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that does not have any epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)...
Expert Point of View: Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD
“This was a very nice analysis using a well-validated group of instruments with high compliance. And this is something that is one of the bugbears of quality-of-life analyses—compliance to completion of the instruments,” commented invited discussant, Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD, Chief Clinical Officer ...
Expert Point of View: Edward B. Garon, MD
“There are several possible ways to move first-line immunotherapy for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) forward, according to invited discussant Edward B. Garon, MD, Director of Thoracic Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We could expand...
‘Watch-and-Wait’ Strategy Does Not Compromise Survival in Selected Patients With Rectal Cancer
A “watch-and-wait” approach to treating rectal cancer patients with complete responses to chemoradiotherapy resulted in a 3-year survival rate of 91%, which is similar to historic survival rates after surgical resection, according to an analysis of the International Watch & Wait Database.1 For ...
Clinical Trials Study the Role of Immunotherapy in the First-Line Setting of Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
In 2016, the KEYNOTE-024 trial set the bar for first-line immunotherapy in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Trial results showed that pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an antibody to programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50% and the risk of death by...
Timing Is Everything
In 1959, my 5-year-old cousin, Kim, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). As an 8-year-old, I didn’t really understand what was happening to him, except that he had to go to the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana, for treatment. The haunting vision of his looking...
Understanding the Role of Immunotherapy for Lung Cancer: A Paradigm Shift for the Better
“Immunotherapy for lung cancer is a paradigm shift. I would never have thought when I started my career taking care of lung cancer patients in the mid 1990s that we’d now be substituting chemotherapy with an antibody immunotherapy in 2017. It’s incredible,” commented Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Chief...
Introduction: Immunotherapy for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer: Advances and Challenges
Lung cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States, with an estimated 224,390 new cases and 158,080 deaths from the disease in 2016.1 Despite improving survival rates in recent decades, only about 18% of patients are...
Combating Untreated Cancer-Related Pain
The problem of pain management facing clinicians today is twofold: how to ensure safe and effective treatment for patients with cancer in chronic pain, while avoiding the overuse of opioid medications and the potential for substance use disorder and diversion. According to the American Cancer...
CheckMate 142 Update: Prolonged Disease Control With Nivolumab in Deficient Mismatch Repair Colorectal Cancer
With 6 additional months of follow-up since the initial presentation of results, in the phase II CheckMate 142 trial, 74% of heavily pretreated patients with metastatic colorectal microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) cancers are alive after single-agent treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo).1...
Protein Component of the Epstein-Barr Virus May Promote the Development of Cancer
After an infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the virus persists in the body throughout a person's lifetime, usually without causing any symptoms. About one-third of infected teenagers and young adults nevertheless develop infectious mononucleosis, which usually wears off after a few weeks. ...
Early Biomarker Algorithm May Predict Graft-vs-Host Disease Occurrence
Researchers at Mount Sinai Health System have discovered a way to predict whether patients with blood cancer who received a bone marrow transplant will develop graft-vs-host disease, according to a study published by Hartwell et al in JCI (The Journal of Clinical...
Combination of Alisertib and HSV1716 Shows Antitumor Activity in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor and Neuroblastoma Models
Two investigational agents, the aurora A kinase inhibitor alisertib and a virus derived from HSV-1 (HSV1716), have shown antitumor efficacy in early clinical trials as monotherapies. A new study published by Currier et al in Oncotarget, however, demonstrates that the combined usage...
Disease Symptoms Are the Most Frequent Indicators of Recurrence in Patients With Stage II Melanoma
Recurrences of early-stage (stage II) melanoma are more often detected by patients and their physicians than by routine imaging tests, according to study results published by Berger et al in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. “We are most concerned about patients who have stage ...
Adding Bevacizumab to Perioperative Chemotherapy in Esophagogastric Adenocarcinoma
In the UK Medical Research Council ST03 phase II/III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cunningham et al found that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to perioperative chemotherapy did not improve survival in patients with operable esophagogastric cancer and may have been associated with impaired...
Genetic Testing and Counseling Among Women With Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer
In a population-based study reported in a research letter in JAMA, Kurian et al found that genetic testing and genetic counseling are suboptimal among women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. Study Details The study involved 2,451 women aged 20 through 79 years diagnosed with stage 0 to II...
2017 GU Cancers Symposium: In Advanced Kidney Cancer, Antibiotic Use Lowers Efficacy of Immunotherapy
A new retrospective analysis suggests that immunotherapy may be less effective in patients who receive antibiotics less than a month before starting treatment. In the study, cancer worsened more quickly in such patients than in those who did not receive antibiotics (with median progression-free...
2017 GU Cancers Symposium: Some Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma Experience Long-Term Tumor Control Even After Stopping Immunotherapy Early
Early findings from a new study appear to challenge the current standard practice for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy—continuing treatment until cancer worsens. Among patients with advanced kidney cancer who stopped programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell death ligand 1...
2017 GU Cancers Symposium: Blood Test Uncovers Potential New Treatment Targets in Advanced Prostate Cancer
Analysis of free-floating cancer DNA from blood samples has yielded leads for new prostate cancer treatment targets. Using a commercially available “liquid biopsy” test in patients with advanced prostate cancer, researchers found a number of genetic changes in cell-free, circulating...
Clinical Trial Explores Ability of Genetic Test to Guide Surgical Management of Thyroid Cancer
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists and doctors are embarking on the first clinical trial to determine if a genetic test they pioneered could successfully spare patients with nonaggressive thyroid cancer from complete removal of their thyroid. Thyroid-preserving surgery minimizes ...
Patients With Breast Cancer With Dense Breast Tissue More Likely to Develop Contralateral Disease
Patients with breast cancer with dense breast tissue have almost a twofold increased risk of developing disease in the contralateral breast, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study, published by Brewster et al in the journal Cancer, is among the...
Researchers Identify ‘Synthetic Essentiality’ as Novel Approach for Locating Cancer Therapy Targets
A new method has been found for identifying therapeutic targets in cancers lacking specific key tumor suppressor genes. The process, which located a genetic site for the most common form of prostate cancer, has potential for developing precision therapy for other cancers, such as breast, brain, and ...
Cancer Survivors Find Online and Telephone Communication With Health-Care Professionals Beneficial
Researchers from the School of Health Sciences at the University of Surrey have completed the first-ever systematic review of cancer survivors’ experience of online and telephone telehealth interventions in cancer care, a new study by Cox et al in the Journal of Medical Internet...
ASCP/CAP/AMP/ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline Focuses on Molecular Biomarker Testing for Patients With Colorectal Cancer
A new, evidenced-based clinical practice guideline on molecular biomarker testing for patients with colorectal cancer identifies opportunities for improving patient outcomes. The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the Association for...
Albert H. Owens, Jr, MD, Pioneering Johns Hopkins Oncologist, Dies
Albert H. Owens, Jr, MD, a Johns Hopkins oncologist who played a leadership role in developing oncology as a scientific discipline and clinical specialty—and who also served as President of The Johns Hopkins Hospital—died January 13 at the age of 90. In the 1960s, oncology was not a word that...
Co-Discoverer of the Philadelphia Chromosome, Peter Nowell, MD, Dies
Peter Nowell, MD, was a pathologist at the University of Pennsylvania studying leukemia cells under a microscope when he happened to wash his slides with tap water instead of laboratory solution. Viewing the newly cleaned slides under a microscope, he saw that the water had caused the cell’s...
Oliver Smithies, PhD, Nobel Laureate Who Discovered Gene Targeting, Dies
The ability to artificially alter DNA opens the door to new scientific understanding and treatments for various diseases. Oliver Smithies, PhD, made the crucial discovery that a disease-causing gene could be modified. For that and other groundbreaking work, he, along with two other scientists, was ...
I Plan to Live Long Enough to Be Cured of Multiple Myeloma
Like many other patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma, I didn’t know I had the cancer until I broke a bone. I had felt a twinge of pain on my left side when I hoisted a bucket of baseballs over my left shoulder after participating in a baseball tournament in the spring of 2011, but there was...
‘Collateral Lethality’ May Offer New Therapeutic Approach to Cancers of the Pancreas, Stomach, and Colon
Cancer cells often delete genes that normally suppress tumor formation. These deletions also may extend to neighboring genes, an event known as “collateral lethality,” which may create new options for the development of therapies for several cancers. Scientists at The University of Texas MD...
NCCN Working Group on Value Tools Presents Preliminary Findings and Recommendations
Over the past several years, the introduction of decision-making tools for patients from major cancer organizations, including ASCO and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), has been news, applauded as a step toward more patient-centered care and featured at many meetings. Next steps, ...
Telotristat Ethyl: A Novel Therapy for Carcinoid Syndrome—Not a Panacea but a Step in the Right Direction
The multihumoral manifestations of neuroendocrine tumors include diarrhea, cutaneous flushing, wheezing, and right-sided valvular heart disease.1 Serotonin, a biogenic amine and product of tryptophan metabolism,2 mediates several of these symptoms.3,4 Diarrhea is a cardinal and often disabling...
Liquid Biopsies Show Promise in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma
Technologic advances for detecting and analyzing cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from peripheral blood offer a precision method for monitoring diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Although most patients with DLBCL are cured with initial therapy, those who are not cured have a poor...
Circulating Tumor DNA Profiling Identifies Clonal Evolution Patterns and Permits Classification of Tumor Subtypes in DLBCL
In a study reported in Science Translational Medicine, Florian Scherer, MD, David M. Kurtz, MD (Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator), Aaron M. Newman, PhD, and colleagues from Stanford University found that analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) permits identification of patterns of...
On the Horizon: New Tools for Prostate Cancer
The field of prostate cancer is being energized by discoveries in genetics, novel imaging techniques, and the potential of checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of prostate cancer. Not all of these advances are currently clinically actionable, but all have the potential to change clinical...
Expert Point of View: Fiona Blackhall, PhD, FRCP
“There has undoubtedly been extremely rapid progress made in establishing effective therapies for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in less than a decade,” said Fiona Blackhall, PhD, FRCP, Chair of Thoracic Oncology and medical oncologist at the...
Women of Indigenous Communities Prefer Self-Screening for Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer is a preventable disease if detected on time, but it remains one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in Latin America, particularly women of poor and indigenous communities. A new study by the University of Michigan published by Gottschlich et al in the Journal of...
Patient Coaching and End-of-Life Discussions in Advanced Cancer
As reported by Rodenbach et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a patient coaching session for patients with advanced cancer prior to an oncologist visit made it more likely that patients would discuss their prognosis during the visit. However, prognosis was still infrequently discussed. Study ...
Nearly Half of Patients Treated for Early-Stage Breast Cancer Report at Least One Severe Side Effect
Nearly half of women treated for early-stage breast cancer reported at least one side effect from their treatment that was severe or very severe, according to a new study published by Friese et al in Cancer. Although it might be expected for women undergoing chemotherapy, researchers found...
FDA Accepts Two sBLAs for Pembrolizumab in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Cancer
On February 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted for review two supplemental Biologics License Applications (sBLAs) for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer. Specifically, the application for first-line use was accepted and...
Expert Point of View: Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD
“This drug [durvalumab] clearly shows activity in the third-line and beyond setting, and the higher the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, the higher the response rate,” noted Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD, Chief Clinical Officer and Conjoint Chair of Medical Oncology (Thoracic...
Study Finds Durvalumab of Benefit in Advanced and Metastatic Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Durvalumab was active and led to long-lasting response in a cohort of heavily pretreated patients with epidermal growth factor receptor/anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EGFR/ALK) wild-type locally advanced and metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), particularly among patients whose tumors...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Hosts Successful Scientific and Career Development Retreat
In October 2016, the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) hosted its Second Scientific and Career Development Retreat at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Attendees included Career Development Award (CDA) and Young Investigator Award (YIA) recipients awarded between 2010 and 2016; ASCO ...
From Azerbaijan to America: An IDEA Recipient’s Experience
Cancer takes away millions of lives every year, and in low- and middle-income countries, the high cancer mortality rate can often be attributed to scarce means and a shortage of trained professionals. Hoping to contribute my best in the fight against this disease, I chose to become an oncologist in ...
Growing Leadership Development Program Tasks Participants With Increasing Society Engagement
The 2016–2017 ASCO Leadership Development Program recently welcomed 16 new participants to its ranks. The Leadership Development Program is a yearlong program designed to shape future leaders by teaching them valuable leadership skills and providing them with networking and mentorship opportunities ...
Early Success Reported With Two New Agents for High-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes
At the 2016 American Society for Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, researchers reported early success with two new experimental agents for high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes—enasidenib (also known as AG-221), a potent oral inhibitor of the isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) enzyme,...
