This is the first randomized trial that is positive for overall survival in uveal melanoma, and I’m very excited about the results, which I consider seminal and practice-changing,” said formal discussant Caroline Robert, MD, of Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France. “This is such a rare tumor, but it...
Dana-Farber Cancer Instituterecently announced a major expansion with the opening of a hospital facility in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to provide increased cancer care and outpatient services for adult patients in the region. The new 140,000–square foot, state-of-art outpatient facility is...
By way of her family lineage, Aparna Parikh, MD, seemed destined for a career in medicine. “Both of my parents are physicians, as well as my maternal grandfather. I have two other siblings, all of whom are in the medical field. Medicine has always been part of my life since childhood. My parents...
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are using a type of machine learning to put a new twist on an established technique. The researchers created MethylationToActivity (M2A), a framework for using DNA methylation data to reveal promoter activity and gene expression. The results were...
“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” —Bernard Williams To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting...
A team of researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has been awarded two research grants totaling $6 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify new ways to treat pancreatic cancer. “Pancreatic cancer is one of the ...
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has appointed Michael E. Salacz, MD, as Director of its Neuro-Oncology Program. The Associate Professor of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School joins Rutgers Cancer Institute from the University of Kansas Medical Center, where he served as...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is recognizing geneticist Frederick W. Alt, PhD, with the 18th AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research. Dr. Alt is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Director of the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston ...
Treatment with tebentafusp—a novel bispecific fusion protein—reduced the risk of death from metastatic uveal melanoma by half, compared with available treatments, in a phase III study presented at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021.1 This is the first...
Perspectives on ARIEL4 were provided for The ASCO Post by the invited discussant Ursula Matulonis, MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Gynecologic Oncology and the Brock Wilson Family Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and by Konstantin Zakashansky, MD,...
In patients with BRCA-mutated, advanced, relapsed ovarian cancer, treatment with the PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor rucaparib led to a significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with standard-of-care chemotherapy, according to results of the international phase III ...
Maryam Lustberg, MD, MPH, has been appointed Director of The Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Chief of Breast Medical Oncology at Yale Cancer Center. She will also join the faculty at Yale Cancer Center as Associate Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology). Dr. Lustberg joins Yale from...
Formal discussant of the CheckMate 816 trial, Jhanelle E. Gray, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, said that both neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies have been shown to improve overall survival and relapse-free survival in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). “Overall, neoadjuvant outcomes compare...
Although head and neck cancers include multiple histologies and primary sites, squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) originating in the oropharynx, oral cavity, larynx, or hypopharynx are the most common. Today, we recognize several different types of head and neck diseases, primarily those that are human ...
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with nivolumab plus platinum-doublet chemotherapy significantly improved pathologic complete response rates compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with resectable stage IB to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the results of the CheckMate 816 study...
Cardio-oncology represents the intersection of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Cancer therapies can result in cardiovascular complications, and some patients become less attentive to their chronic disease management after a diagnosis of cancer. As cancer patients are living longer, for some,...
In a study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Emily S. Lau, MD, of the Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues found that the presence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors was significantly associated with an increased risk of future...
In 2020, the 8th Annual Beirut Breast Cancer Conference (BBCC) was our last in-person meeting. The first cases of COVID-19 started in Lebanon around the end of February 2020, and the pandemic continues into its second year, with waves of rising cases following superspreader events and other likely...
Yale School of Medicine recently announced a gift to establish the Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Yale Cancer Center. The Center will be a leading institution in worldwide neuro-oncology research, bringing groundbreaking solutions and hope to patients with brain tumors. The gift will...
As reported in The Lancet by Javier Cortes, MD, of the International Breast Cancer Center, Quiron Group, Madrid and Barcelona, and colleagues, the second interim analysis of the phase III -KEYNOTE-355 trial has shown that the addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy improved progression-free...
John Marshall, MD, of the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University, and his wife, Liza Marshall, a breast cancer survivor, talk about the impact of her diagnosis, how it changed their view of cancer care and the way clinicians communicate, and why their memoir has an important message.
This week, The ASCO Post sat down with Dr. John Marshall, of the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University, and his wife, Liza Marshall, a former lawyer, active advocate for patients with cancer, and a breast cancer survivor. The Marshalls are the coauthors of a new book entitled Off Our...
Formal discussant of the FOENIX-CCA2 trial, Ezra E.W. Cohen, MD, of the University of California San Diego and Moores Cancer Center, was encouraged by the findings with highly selective targeted agents such as futibatinib and emphasized the importance of molecular profiling. “The molecular...
Futibatinib—a selective, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor—demonstrated anticancer activity in patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and FGFR2 fusions or rearrangements. These findings are based on the primary results of the phase II FOENIX-CCA2 trial, which were...
Research recently published by Valencia et al in the journal Cancers found that advanced-stage kidney cancer is more common in Hispanic American and Native American patients than in non-Hispanic White patients. Using data from the National Cancer Database and the Arizona Cancer Registry,...
Loneliness and social isolation have been significant problems for the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for patients with cancer, these issues were particularly acute, likely due to isolation and social distancing, according to a recent study published by Miaskowski et al in the ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Turan et al found the presence of germline BRCA pathogenic variants was associated with diminished ovarian reserve in young women, particularly in those diagnosed with breast cancer and those with BRCA1 variants. Study Details The individual...
In a health system retrospective study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Nhean et al found that implementation of an oral chemotherapy management program was associated with reduced rates of any-grade and severe capecitabine toxicity, less frequent toxicity-related emergency department visits and...
A study designed to enroll an equal number of Black and White men with advanced prostate cancer confirmed key findings that have been evident in retrospective analyses and suggest potential new avenues for treating Black patients who disproportionately die of the disease. Researchers at Duke Cancer ...
In 1% to 2% of cancer cases, the primary site of tumor origin cannot be determined. Because many modern cancer therapeutics target primary tumors, the prognosis for a cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is poor, with a median overall survival of 2.7 to 16 months. In order to receive a more specific...
In a National Marrow Donor Program–sponsored phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shaw et al found that a strategy of bone marrow hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) from mismatched unrelated donors using posttransplant cyclophosphamide in patients with hematologic...
Recent clinical trials have been encouraging for the neoadjuvant or adjuvant use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in triple-negative breast cancer, but is this approach ready for the clinic? This question was addressed at PER’s Miami Breast Cancer Conference, held virtually this year, by Adam M....
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kathleen N. Moore, MD, and colleagues, the phase III IMagyn050/GOG 3015/ENGOT-OV39 trial has shown that the addition of atezolizumab to bevacizumab and chemotherapy did not significantly improve progression-free survival in patients with newly...
Karen E. Knudsen, MBA, PhD, of Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health, was recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society—the first female to head the organization in its 107-year history. Dr. Knudsen talks about the opportunities she sees ahead for the Society...
On May 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with trastuzumab plus fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic...
A commonly used risk prediction model does not accurately identify high-risk Black patients with lung cancer who could gain life-saving benefit from early screening—paving the way for improving screenings and guidelines. These findings were published in a research letter by Shusted et al in JAMA...
There is currently no consensus on what quality end-of-life care for children with cancer looks like, or how to measure and deliver it; however, investigators recently assembled an expert panel to help fill this void. In a study published by Emily Johnston, MD, MS, and colleagues in the journal...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Ronald C. Chen, MD, MPH, and colleagues quantified cancer screening deficits in the United States associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and identified differences in deficits according to region and socioeconomic status. Study Details The...
In an interview study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Yael Schenker, MD, MAS, and colleagues identified challenges and measures for improvement cited by oncologists in the safe and effective prescribing of opioids for their patients with cancer-related pain. Study Details The investigators...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stefan Alig, MD, and colleagues found that a short diagnosis-to-treatment interval in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was associated with higher baseline tumor burden, reflected in higher pretreatment circulating tumor DNA ...
“It is possible that within the next several years, perhaps 75% of cancers can be detected by screening,” Bert Vogelstein, MD, PhD, projected at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1 “I anticipate that perhaps 50% of cancers can be detected...
The first study to use x-rays and computed tomography (CT) to detect evidence of cancer among the skeletal remains of a preindustrial population suggests that between 9% to 14% of adults in medieval Britain had the disease at the time of their death. These findings were published by Mitchell et al...
Researchers have demonstrated a possible connection between colorectal polyps in close relatives and the risk of developing colorectal cancer. The study, which was published by Song et al in the British Medical Journal, is of potential consequence for cancer screening procedures. Colorectal cancer...
In an interim analysis of a prospective observational study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Monin et al found that a single dose of the BNT162b2 Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was poorly immunogenic in patients with cancer, with immunogenicity markedly improving at 2 weeks after a second dose...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Lai et al found that although the majority of men who have initiated active surveillance for prostate cancer are followed by urologists, some are managed by physicians in other specialties, and that testing and subsequent treatment patterns vary across...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Eyck et al, 10-year follow-up of the Dutch CROSS trial has shown a continued overall survival benefit with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus surgery vs surgery alone in patients with locally advanced resectable esophageal or gastroesophageal...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review designation to treatments for surgically resected, high-risk, muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma and epidermal growth factor receptor exon 20 insertion mutation–positive metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)....
“This study is important because of the large numbers of genetic samples and the significance of the results,” stated Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, President of the American Association for Cancer Research and Director of Tumor Immunology at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “The study included...
Researchers have made progress in unravelling the genetic underpinnings of pediatric neuroblastoma. Two main inherited pathogenic genetic variants have been identified and appear to be associated with worse outcomes: the ALK gene and loss of function in PHOX2B. The research, conducted with the...
In a pilot study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kumar et al found that the combination of brentuximab vedotin with AVD (doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine) was highly active in patients with newly diagnosed, early-stage, unfavorable-risk Hodgkin lymphoma and may permit the...