Maria Elena Martinez, PhD, MPH, on Colorectal Cancer Screening in Underserved Populations: COVID, Silver Linings, and Challenges Ahead
AACR Annual Meeting 2022
Maria Elena Martinez, PhD, MPH, of the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, provides an overview of the key components of the Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening and Follow-up through Implementation Science program, challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and opportunities for overcoming these challenges. Although screening and follow-up may reduce the incidence of and mortality from colorectal cancer, these disparities persist in medically underserved populations (Abstract SY30).
The ASCO Post Staff
Gautam Mehta, MD, of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, discusses how accelerated approval of potentially life-saving cancer therapies has been applied in precision oncology. Although “fast-tracking” drugs presents opportunities and challenges, one possible measure of the program’s success is the fact that, to date, no solid tumor accelerated-approval indications have been withdrawn (Abstract DC06).
The ASCO Post Staff
Silvia C. Formenti, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses research on the best way to integrate radiotherapy with immune modifiers, which might require changes in standard radiation oncology practices. Variables such as the type of treatment fields, the inclusion of draining nodal stations, the degree of exposure of circulating immune cells, the type of dose fractionation, and the timing of radiotherapy during immune checkpoint blockade all can affect the success of immunoradiotherapy combinations (Abstract SY43).
The ASCO Post Staff
Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, of the Yale University School of Medicine, discusses how patients may benefit in the coming decade from discoveries about agents that target KRAS, and how important the approval of sotorasib turned out to be, as well as other agents in the research pipeline. Dr. LoRusso also talks about the scientific advances in tackling inhibition (Abstract SY20).
The ASCO Post Staff
Electra D. Paskett, PhD, of The Ohio State University, discusses various factors that may contribute to cancer such as socioeconomic status, discrimination, violence, and access to health care. When clinicians identify these factors and intervene with access to services, it may be possible to improve outcomes for their patients (Abstract SY33).
The ASCO Post Staff
Benoit You, MD, PhD, of the Lyon University Hospital (France), discusses phase I/II safety and efficacy results from the ENDOLA trial that combined olaparib with metronomic cyclophosphamide and metformin in patients with advanced pretreated endometrial cancer. At 10 weeks, the non–disease progression rate was 61.5%, reaching the primary endpoint of the study. Median progression-free survival was 5.1 months. Research on biomarkers of efficacy is ongoing (Abstract CT005).
