Pierfranco Conte, MD, of the University of Padua, discusses phase III findings from the A-BRAVE trial, which was designed to evaluate the efficacy of avelumab, an anti–PD-L1 antibody, as adjuvant treatment for patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer who are at high risk (LBA500).
Sherene Loi, MD, PhD, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses a circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis from a cohort of patients with early-stage breast cancer who were enrolled in the monarchE trial. This large cohort was studied to look at the usefulness of a personalized tumor-informed assay ...
Thierry Facon, MD, of the University of Lille and Lille University Hospital, discusses phase III findings showing for the first time that isatuximab, an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, when given with the standard of care (bortezomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone, or VRd) to patients with newly...
Suzanne Trudel, MD, of Canada’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, discusses phase III findings showing that, in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had one or more prior lines of treatment, belantamab mafodotin-blmf plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone improved progression-free...
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy given for stage III melanoma—followed by adjuvant therapy only if there is not a deep response to treatment—may produce better outcomes for patients than the current standard of care, which is adjuvant immunotherapy alone. These results from the NADINA trial were presented ...
Some people with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer may safely avoid having their lymph nodes removed during surgery without it impacting their survival outcomes, helping to reduce the risk of postoperative complications. This research was presented by Classe et al at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting...
Osimertinib improved progression-free survival in patients with unresectable stage III EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has been treated with chemoradiotherapy—and may be a new standard of care for this population, according to research presented by Suresh Ramalingam, MD, FACP,...
Results from an interim analysis of the phase III ADRIATIC study demonstrated that consolidation therapy after chemoradiotherapy with durvalumab extends survival in patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) compared to the current standard-of-care treatment of chemoradiotherapy...
Fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) delayed cancer growth in patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-low or -ultralow metastatic breast cancer that progressed following endocrine therapy, according to findings from the phase III DESTINY-Breast06 trial. The research was presented by...
For patients with locally advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma that can be treated with surgery, chemotherapy administered before and after surgery improved survival compared to chemoradiotherapy before surgery. The research was presented by Hoeppner et al at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract...
According to results from the phase III DREAMM-8 trial, adding belantamab mafodotin-blmf to pomalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma was more effective at slowing disease progression or death compared to the current standard-of-care triplet,...
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Dejan Juric, MD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, discuss phase III findings on first-line use of inavolisib or placebo plus palbociclib and fulvestrant in...
Anthony M. Joshua, MBBS, PhD, of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, discusses results from the MAST study, which explored the question of whether metformin could reduce disease progression in men with low-risk prostate cancer who are undergoing active surveillance (LBA5002).
Ana C. Garrido-Castro, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, reports the results from the phase II SACI-IO trial in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who received sacituzumab govitecan-hziy with or without pembrolizumab (LBA1004).
In patients with metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer unselected by PD-L1 status, adding the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab to the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy resulted in a 1.9-month improvement in median progression-free survival...
The novel anti-CD19 autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy obecabtagene autoleucel achieved durable remissions in 40% of patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) without a subsequent stem cell transplant, according to results from the phase...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) and ASCO today announced an expanded collaboration to make it simpler for patients to find authoritative cancer information online. The partnership between ASCO, the leading organization for cancer care providers, and ACS, the leading patient education, support,...
On May 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi) for adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least two prior lines of systemic therapy, including a...
The CROWN study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03052608) of lorlatinib, a brain-penetrant, third-generation ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor, vs crizotinib, an inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases (including ALK), in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell...
A novel combination comprising experimental immunotherapy drugs plus chemotherapy may improve survival outcomes in previously treated patients with metastatic colorectal cancer compared to the targeted therapy regorafenib alone. These findings will be presented by Wainberg et al at the 2024 ASCO...
Researchers have uncovered differences in the genomic makeup of metastatic prostate cancer cells among U.S. veterans that may be associated with race and ethnicity. These findings will be presented by Valle et al at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 5017). The research could translate into...
Miriam Mutebi, MD, MSc, FACS, was born and reared in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. “The suburb I grew up in (Langata), has seen a lot of development over the past couple of decades. When I was a child, it was a smaller community, where you would go and play at somebody else’s house and have...
Deputy Editor of The ASCO Post, Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, recently spoke with gynecologic cancer expert Sharmila K. Makhija, MD, MBA, about her journey to her current position as Founding Dean and Chief Executive Officer of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Bentonville, Arkansas. Raised by...
Like many young boys, David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, loved sports and dreamed about playing college football. He attained that dream, but along the way, family tragedy and a personal battle with a life-threatening disease reshaped his worldview and accelerated his ambitions as a...
Genitourinary cancer expert Toni K. Choueiri, MD, FASCO, was born in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon, the year a devastating civil war erupted, lasted for 15 years, and cost the lives of some 150,000 individuals and also led to the exodus of almost 1 million people from Lebanon. “People with the financial...
Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, was born and reared in Kerala, a tropical state in southwestern India. Situated on the Malabar Coast, Kerala was named as one of the ten paradises of the world by National Geographic Traveler. “Along with its natural beauty, Kerala is a true melting pot. Over centuries,...
ASCO President for the 2024–2025 term, Robin Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO, was born and reared in Cheektowaga, a town in the western part of New York. “Cheektowaga is the Native American name for ‘land of the crabapple tree.’ Western New York was first settled by one of seven tribes belonging to the...
Lymphoma expert Jane N. Winter, MD, grew up on the south shore of Long Island in New York. “My dad sold cars in my great uncle’s dealership after a failed foray into business after World War II. My mom graduated high school at 16 to go to work to help support her family. When my younger brother...
Leukemia expert Eunice S. Wang, MD, is the daughter of first-generation immigrants, whose work ethos inspired in her a world without boundaries. “My parents were born in China during the communist era, and they immigrated to Taiwan when the communists took over in the 1940s and then subsequently...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) recently announced a new initiative called “Project 5 in 5.” Project 5 in 5 is a crowdsourcing initiative to ultimately identify five clinically relevant questions that can be answered through use of pragmatic...
ASCO President-Elect Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, developed much of his multicultural world view during his childhood in Mexico City. “My parents were expatriates who moved to Mexico in the 1950s and settled there. I was born in Mexico City and grew up bilingually. I went to an English-Spanish...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lüchtenborg et al found that the incidence of cancer increased in the prison population in England between 1998 and 2017; those with cancer were less likely to receive curative treatment and had poorer overall survival vs patients with cancer in the...
In a phase I/II NRG Oncology Group study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Landen et al found that the addition of ruxolitinib to front-line paclitaxel/carboplatin neoadjuvant chemotherapy and interval debulking surgery improved progression-free survival in patients with stage III to IV ...
On May 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the RET inhibitor selpercatinib (Retevmo) for pediatric patients aged 2 years and older with the following: Advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer with a RET mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved...
Tattoos may be a risk factor in the development of lymphoma, according to a recent study published by Nielsen et al in eClinicalMedicine. Background A majority of individuals receive their first tattoos at a young age, exposing them to tattoo ink for a larger portion of their lives. The long-term...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) outlined recommendations on best practices for treating patients with symptomatic bone metastases and strategies to improve their quality of life, according to updated clinical guidelines published by Alcorn et al in Practical Radiation Oncology....
In an analysis of clinical trials reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Brooks et al found no differences in long-term outcomes with the use of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) vs sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB)—usually paired with adjuvant radiotherapy—among patients with breast...
Investigators found that fragmented care may be more prevalent among patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma who receive single-modality neoadjuvant therapy compared with those who receive total neoadjuvant therapy, according to findings presented by Taylor et al during Digestive Disease Week (DDW) ...
Sessions of moderate-to-vigorous exercise may improve the efficacy of antibody therapies, such as rituximab, used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a recent study published by Collier-Bain et al in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. The findings may demonstrate the potential of...
A ground breaking staging system for de novo metastatic breast cancer has been validated in an international cohort, perhaps paving the way for more personalized care and improved outcomes for patients diagnosed with this challenging disease. The staging system, developed by surgical oncologist...
Investigators have found that patient characteristics such as age and race may influence false-positive results from artificial intelligence (AI)-interpreted screening mammograms, according to a recent study published by Nguyen et al in Radiology. Background Although preliminary data suggested that ...
The Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAE) Consortium has launched ASPIRE and STORIES with the aim of uniting clinicians, researchers, and patients to advance clinical care and advocacy. As the indications for immune checkpoint inhibitors in oncology have rapidly expanded over the past decade, the...
ASCO has issued new evidence-based updates to two living guidelines on the treatment of stage IV NSCLC with and without driver alterations.1,2 Updated Recommendations: Stage IV NSCLC With Driver Alterations The most “extensive work” in the updates occurred in the guideline on stage IV NSCLC with...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN®) has announced the election of Matt Kalaycio, MD, FACP, as Chair of the Board of Directors, with Christopher H. Lieu, MD, elected as Vice-Chair, succeeding Dr. Kalaycio in the position he has held since 2022. “The exemplary leadership from our Board...
The profound progress in cancer care since President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law is evidenced by the soaring number of cancer survivors since the law went into effect. In the 1970s, there were 3 million cancer survivors1; today, there are more than 18 million, and...
Serving as ASCO’s 60th President over the past year has been an honor and a privilege, said Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, who will end her Presidential term during ASCO’s Annual Meeting, being held from May 31 to June 4, 2024, in Chicago, and welcome incoming President Robin Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO,...
An ASCO volunteer for nearly 30 years, Robin T. Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO, is humbled and honored to be elected ASCO’s 61st President, effective during the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, May 31 to June 4, 2024, in Chicago and online. Dr. Zon began her 4-year term in June 2023 as President-Elect and will...
About 3 years ago, I woke up from a sound sleep and was having a hard time breathing. It felt like someone was sitting on my neck, constricting my airways. I could feel prominent swelling in my lymph nodes along my neck and clavicle, and I was scared. A trip to the emergency room proved fruitless, ...
Guest Editor’s Note: Children with cancer and their caregivers face physical and psychosocial challenges during and after treatment. Dance/movement therapy has been used to improve well-being, promote healthy coping, and mitigate the impact of illness, but limited knowledge exists regarding its...
A novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual patient navigator, MyEleanor, improved colonoscopy uptake among U.S. patients who were previously nonadherent to prior colonoscopy appointments. These findings will be presented by Moadel et al at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 100)....