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Tumor genomic profiling of resected cholangiocarcinomas may reveal mutations targetable with agents currently being used for other cancers, according to the results of a study presented at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1 Among patients...
On May 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to amivantamab-vmjw (Rybrevant), a bispecific antibody directed against epidermal growth factor and MET receptors, for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and...
Data from a study published by Margaret von Mehren, MD, and colleagues in BMC Cancer showed that avapritinib, a platelet-derived growth factor receptor A (PDGFRA) inhibitor, has a “clinically meaningful benefit” for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) with PDGFRA D842V...
Up to 38.6% of people with colon cancer who have a hereditary cancer syndrome—including 6.3% of those with Lynch syndrome—could have their conditions remain undetected with current universal tumor-screening methods, and at least 7.1% of people with colorectal cancer have an identifiable inherited...
The combination of dabrafenib plus trametinib led to encouraging and durable responses in patients with low- and high-grade gliomas harboring BRAF V600E mutations, according to the results of the phase II basket study known as ROAR. Results were presented during the virtual edition of the American...
Melanocytic nevi are nonmalignant growths that arise from pigment-producing cells of the skin. They are mostly found in sun-exposed areas; however, they also can be found in sun-protected areas, such as the palms, soles of the feet, and nail beds, where they are known as acral nevi. While the...
The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) has released a clinical practice resource from a global team of specialists in cancer genetics that will help inform the clinical management of patients who harbor a PALB2 variant and may be at increased risk of developing breast,...
In a single-institution phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kim A. Reiss, MD, and colleagues found that maintenance treatment with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor rucaparib produced responses and was associated with good progression-free survival in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Durno et al in the International Replication Repair Deficiency Consortium (IRRDC), use of an IRRDC surveillance protocol was associated with improved overall survival among patients with constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome (CMMRD)....
ASCO and Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) have jointly published an update1 to the 2017 ASCO guideline2 regarding systemic therapy recommendations for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with driver alterations. Guideline Co-Chair Nasser H. Hanna, MD, of the Indiana University Simon...
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 ...
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...
“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...
“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 study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Sun et al found that first-line immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy was associated with better overall survival among patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with PD-L1 expression ≥ 50% and KRAS variant vs KRAS...
In a recent study published by Uson Junior et al in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, researchers found one in six patients with colorectal cancer had an inherited cancer-related genetic mutation, which may be linked to a predisposition to the disease. In addition, the researchers...
In the ENACT study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Murphy et al found that use of the 12-gene Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) in a predominantly Black patient population with relatively low-risk prostate cancer tended to be associated with reduced selection of active...
As reported in JCO Oncology Practice by Roth et al, many participants in a biomarker-driven master protocol trial (Lung Cancer Master Protocol [Lung-MAP]; SWOG S1400GEN) did not display correct knowledge or expectations about using the results of genomic testing. Study Details Lung-MAP is a...
Death from infection—the leading cause of death for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)—may be linked to specific gene mutations, according to results from a study published by Else et al in the journal Leukemia. Testing for these mutations could be used to identify patients at a...
In a genome-wide association study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bowden et al identified six independent variants among the PAX8, CLPTM1L, and HLA genes that were associated with risk for invasive cervical cancer or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3). As stated by the...
Racial differences in genetic mutations were observed among patients with early-onset colorectal cancer, according to data presented by Andreana N. Holowatyj, PhD, MS, during the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021 (Abstract 101). The incidence of early-onset ...
Vivek Subbiah, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses data on selpercatinib that showed promising activity across a variety of RET fusion–positive cancers, including treatment-refractory gastrointestinal malignancies. This analysis highlights the need for genomic profiling to identify actionable oncogenic drivers.
Gillianne G.Y. Lai, MBBS, of the National Cancer Centre, Singapore, discussed the presentations on novel agents for exon 20 insertion mutations in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which account for about one-third of tyrosine kinase resistance mutations. Although tyrosine kinase mutations are...
Next-generation inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations showed promise in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in early-phase trials presented during the International Association Society for Lung Cancer 2020 World Conference on Lung...
The findings from a recent study of patients with cancer who had an exceptional response to chemotherapy are yielding new clues on the molecular changes in patients’ tumors. These findings may explain the genetic alterations contributing to these patients’ dramatic and long-lasting responses to...
In a letter to the editor published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Benoit Rousseau, MD, and colleagues presented evidence that high tumor mutational burden (TMB) alone is not sufficient to predict improved outcomes with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in patients with solid tumors. As...
A combination of esophageal brushing and extensive genetic sequencing of the sample collected may detect chromosome alterations in people with Barrett’s esophagus, identifying patients at risk for progressing to esophageal cancer. These findings were published by Douville et al in ...
In a German prospective registry study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Peter A. Fasching, MD, and colleagues identified the prevalence of germline mutations in BRCA1/2 and other breast cancer risk genes in patients with metastatic disease and found similar prognosis with presence vs...
The incidence of brain metastasis at diagnosis in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring driver mutations was high, according to findings presented by Rashkit et al at the European Lung Cancer Virtual Congress 2021 (Abstract 38P). However, these patients achieved treatment...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ho et al found that tipifarnib produced a high response rate among patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with HRAS mutations and high variant allele frequency. As stated by the investigators,...
A study published by Oben et al in Nature Communications has shown that whole-genome sequencing can help determine which patients with a multiple myeloma precursor condition known as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) or smoldering myeloma may be at risk for progression to...
Various genetic alterations in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were associated with clinical outcomes and resistance to hormone therapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to research published by Gupta et al in Molecular Cancer Research. Although only a...
A retrospective analysis of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) identified potentially targetable alterations in the PI3K pathway that were not mutually exclusive to mutations in other pathways, according to findings presented by Lage et al during the European Lung Cancer Virtual...
With inhibitors of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusion and other genetic alterations now in clinical trials for cholangiocarcinoma, there is interest in better understanding what FGFR2 genetic alterations mean for patients. In particular, little is known about the effects of FGFR2...
Treatment with the KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib showed clinical activity in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring a KRAS G12C mutation, confirming its role as a therapeutic target. Results from the KRYSTAL-1 trial were reported at the European Lung Cancer Virtual...
With the widespread use of multigene panels for germline genetic testing, understanding the cancer risks associated with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants (ie, mutations) has become increasingly necessary. To identify which genes are breast cancer susceptibility genes, population studies...
In a U.S. population–based, case-control study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chunling Hu, MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues identified the prevalence of and breast cancer risk associated with germline pathogenic variants in established and...
Combined results of two parallel phase II studies reported in JAMA Oncology by Milind Javle, MD, and colleagues indicated that olaparib may have therapeutic value in previously treated patients with platinum-sensitive pancreatic ductal carcinoma with DNA damage repair (DDR) genetic alterations...
Sandro Pignata, MD, PhD, of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, discusses results from the ORZORA trial, which showed the efficacy of olaparib in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer is similar, whether they have a germline or somatic BRCA mutation. This information could prove useful for clinical practice (ID #10226).
KRAS mutational status in patients with unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer predicts a worse response to hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) pump chemotherapy, according to research presented by Kolbeinsson et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference on...
Charles N. Landen, MD, of the University of Virginia, discusses results from the first clinical trial in ovarian cancer to demonstrate that neither a BRCA1/2 mutation nor a homologous recombination deficiency improves sensitivity to a therapeutic PD-L1 blockade in patients receiving atezolizumab vs placebo combined with carboplatin, paclitaxel, and bevacizumab for newly diagnosed disease (ID #10240).
William H. Bradley, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses results from the SOLO-1 trial on maintenance olaparib after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation. Almost half of the patients treated with olaparib in the study were disease-free at 5 years, vs 20% of those treated with placebo (ID# 10224).
Treatment with olaparib is safe and effective for patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer, regardless of the number of prior lines of chemotherapy received and BRCA mutation status, according to data presented from the phase II LIGHT study by Karen A. Cadoo, MD, at the Society of...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Duncavage et al found that whole-genome sequencing in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) provided rapid genomic profiling that improved diagnostic yield vs conventional cytogenetic analysis, as...
High tumor mutational burden (TMB) was useful for predicting clinical responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors only in a subset of cancer types, according to a study published by McGrail et al in Annals of Oncology. The findings suggest that TMB status may not be reliably used as a universal...
If clinicians could stop mutations of the KRAS gene—which are present in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases and drastically reduce the response to immunotherapy—the chances of improving treatment for the disease would be increased. A collaborative study published by Ischenko et al in Nature...
With inhibitors of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusion and other genetic alterations now in clinical trials for cholangiocarcinoma, there is interest in better understanding what FGFR2 genetic alterations mean for patients. In particular, little is known about the effects of FGFR2...