Oncology Times - OncTimes Talk
129 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★ - 2 ratingsOncology Times reports essential clinical news for oncologists, hematologists and other cancer care professionals. Learn more about our award-winning journal!
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Artificial Intelligence Tool Predicts Postoperative Radiotherapy Lymphedema
April 15, 2024 21:22 - 34 minutes - 12.7 KBArtificial intelligence is being harnessed by a team of researchers at Leicester University in the United Kingdom to predict the risk of lymphedema (and potentially other toxicities) from the use of postoperative radiation therapy for breast cancer. The 2024 European Breast Cancer Conference heard the latest news on an artificial intelligence tool that promises to help cancer clinicians individualize radiotherapy regimens after surgery to minimize toxicity. Tim Rattay, MBChB, PhD, Associat...
Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Improves High-Risk Early Breast Cancer Outcomes
April 15, 2024 21:21 - 8 minutes - 78.7 KBNew data from the Phase III KEYNOTE-756 clinical trial show that adding pembrolizumab immunotherapy to chemotherapy before and after surgery for high-risk breast cancer (which was estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative) resulted in better outcomes for patients regardless of their age or menopausal status. The findings were presented at the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference by KEYNOTE-756 study co-author Heather McArthur, MD, MPH, Cli...
Preoperative Partial Breast Irradiation: Marked Benefit in Low-Risk Breast Cancer
April 12, 2024 19:52 - 9 minutes - 8.06 KBOffering MRI-guided partial breast irradiation before surgery to patients with low-risk breast cancer could become the norm, according to Yasmin Civil, MD, in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands, who reported 5-year results from the ABLATIVE trial to the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference. The researchers found that single-dose, MRI-guided, partial breast irradiation given before breast-conserving surgery achieved durable pathologic complete remi...
Adjuvant Atezolizumab: No Survival Benefit in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
April 11, 2024 20:00 - 9 minutes - 85.7 KBAdding checkpoint inhibition immunotherapy to adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve survival among patients with triple-negative breast cancers. These findings from a study reported at the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference were presented by Heather McArthur, MD, MPH, Clinical Director of Breast Cancer and Komen Distinguished Chair in Clinical Breast Research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. After McArthur’s talk in Italy, she shared the details with Peter ...
Gene Test Shows Which Triple-Negative Breast Cancers Do Not Need Pre-Op Pembrolizumab
March 27, 2024 19:47 - 15 minutes - 14.1 KBAbout a quarter of all patients with newly diagnosed triple-negative breast cancer will not benefit from neoadjuvant checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy with an agent such as pembrolizumab—even though it improves outcomes among the remaining majority. At the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference, held in Milan, Italy, Laura van ’t Veer, PhD, Program Leader of the Breast Oncology Program at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, reported findings from the I-SPY2 TRIAL s...
Triple Therapy for Patients With Mutated FLT3 Gene in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
March 22, 2024 17:43 - 20 minutes - 18.1 KBAn early study of patients (Phase I/II) with acute myeloid leukemia found that a new three-drug combination therapy greatly improved outcomes—both in patients with relapsed or refractory disease and as initial therapy. The new research involved adding quizartinib that targets fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) oncogene. Mutations of FLT3 are present in nearly a third of all AML tumors. The internal tandem duplication mutation of FLT3, in particular, is associated with poor prognosis in A...
Important Mantle Cell Lymphoma Findings From the Sympatico Study
March 12, 2024 22:15 - 13 minutes - 11.8 KBHow best to treat patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma has been made clearer by a report from the multinational Phase III Sympatico Study, presented at the 65th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition held in San Diego. Lead author Michael Wang, MD, Professor in the Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told the conference how a combination of two targeted drugs—ibrutinib and venetoclax—improved outcomes.
World’s Largest Prostate Cancer Trial, STAMPEDE, Celebrates 20 Years of Progress
March 06, 2024 19:25 - 17 minutes - 15.8 KB2024 is the 20th year of clinical studies conducted as part of the STAMPEDE (Systemic Therapy in Advancing or Metastatic Prostate Cancer: Evaluation of Drug Efficacy) trial, a series of investigational approaches to initial therapy for patients with high-risk prostate cancer. Patient accrual has now ended, but practice-changing data continue to emerge from STAMPEDE. New agents, regimens, and optimized treatment combinations have been assessed in patients whose tumors already metastasized or ...
Doublet Inhibitor Therapy Restrains Metastatic EGFR-Mutated NSCLC Progression
March 04, 2024 21:04 - 16 minutes - 14.3 KBThe multicenter RAMOSE randomized clinical trial has found that doublet growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy, when compared with standard osimertinib monotherapy, achieved a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients whose advanced non-small cell lung cancers were driven by mutated epidermal growth factor receptor. First author Xiuning Le, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at the Universi...
Gene-Targeted Agent Brings Clinical Benefit in R/R Acute Leukemias
February 29, 2024 15:37 - 24 minutes - 21.8 KBA new targeted drug, revumenib, was found to increase response rates and survival in patients whose previously treated acute leukemias relapsed or were refractory to treatment. A Phase II clinical study found revumenib met its primary endpoint and was stopped early because of a high patient response rate and clinical efficacy. Revumenib acts on the hitherto untargeted histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 2A (KMT2A)-rearranged gene, which is present in around 1 in 10 acute leukemias among pati...
INTERLACE Study Boosts Cervical Cancer Survival
February 28, 2024 20:11 - 18 minutes - 16.2 KBA marked improvement in the outlook for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer has been achieved thanks to a neoadjuvant regimen using standard anti-cancer drugs added to usual therapy. At the ESMO Congress 2023 held in Madrid, Spain, Mary McCormack, PhD, MBBS, FRCR, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at University College London Hospitals, reported findings from the GCIG INTERLACE randomized Phase III trial of induction chemotherapy. This involved the use of carboplatin with paclitaxe...
RET Fusion-Targeted Drug Doubles Progression-Free Survival in NSCLC Patients
February 16, 2024 19:20 - 18 minutes - 16.7 KBPatients whose advanced non-small cell lung cancers harbor the RET gene fusion should receive initial treatment with the RET-targeted agent selpercatinib rather than chemotherapy or chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy. This clear message comes from the randomized Phase III LIBRETTO-431 study reported at ESMO Congress 2023 by Herbert Ho Fung Loong, MBBS, FRCP, Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Oncology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in China. After his talk in...
Afatinib Recommended for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer With Uncommon EGFR Mutations
February 16, 2024 19:18 - 8 minutes - 7.64 KBThe preferred first-line treatment for patients with uncommon sensitizing mutations in tumor epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) should now be the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) afatinib, rather than osimertinib, according to Japanese researchers reporting the ACHILLES trial results at the ESMO Congress 2023 held in Madrid. OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin talked with Satoru Miura, MD, from the Niigata Cancer Center Hospital in Japan, after he reported his findings at the ESMO ...
Adjuvant Radiotherapy No Benefit After Radical Prostatectomy
February 14, 2024 21:05 - 15 minutes - 13.7 KBPatients with high-risk prostate cancer who have been treated with radical prostatectomy gain no additional advantage and face extra toxicity if they choose to have adjuvant radiotherapy. That’s according to the findings of the randomized RADICALS study, reported at the ESMO Congress 2023. These results support the use of early salvage radiotherapy for PSA failure after radical prostatectomy rather than early adjuvant intervention. After the conference, OncTimesTalk’s Peter M. Goodwin trave...
Collagen-Bound Interleukin 12 Converts “Cold” Tumors Into “Hot” Ones
February 14, 2024 21:00 - 14 minutes - 13.2 KBAlthough immunotherapies for patients with solid tumors such as melanoma can be dramatically successful, the majority of patients are resistant and require alternative treatments. While the cytokine interleukin-12 is well known for potentiating the effect of immunotherapies, such as checkpoint blockade, it couldn’t be used because of toxicity. At the 2023 AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, Jun Ishihara, PhD, a lecturer at London’s Imperial ...
Allogeneic Transplant for AML: Only in Patients Negative for Molecular Minimum Residual Disease
February 07, 2024 17:41 - 15 minutes - 14 KBThe process of identifying which patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can benefit from allogeneic stem cell transplantation in first complete remission (CR1) has taken a step forward thanks to analysis of the UK NCRI AML17 and AML19 studies, reported at the 65th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. Patients who achieved molecular residual disease (MRD) negativity in their peripheral blood were at low risk of relapse, and had no benefit from allogeneic transplant in CR1, including those ...
Antibody-Drug Conjugate Brings Success in High-Risk R/R Follicular Lymphoma
February 06, 2024 04:34 - 22 minutes - 19.8 KBWith no standard-of-care treatment for patients with high-risk relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma, promising remissions have been observed in a Phase II study reported at the 65th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. The antibody-drug conjugate loncastuximab tesirine in combination with rituximab brought a very high complete metabolic response rate among patients satisfying the criteria for high risk, including relapse within 24 months. After talking at the ASH meeting, first author Ju...
Pirtobrutinib After Covalent BTK Inhibitor - Double Refractory CLL
January 18, 2024 03:21 - 12 minutes - 27.7 KBPatients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) have poor outcomes after the failure of covalent Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor treatment, and new therapeutic options are needed. Pirtobrutinib, a highly selective, noncovalent (reversible) BTK inhibitor, was designed to re-establish BTK inhibition.
Relapsed or Refractory CLL - With Sameer A. Parikh, MBBS, and Alessandra Ferrajoli, MD
January 17, 2024 20:40 - 12 minutes - 28 KBIn a multinational, Phase III, head-to-head trial, ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, was compared with zanubrutinib, a BTK inhibitor with greater specificity, as treatment for relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). In prespecified interim analyses, zanubrutinib was superior to ibrutinib with respect to overall response (the primary endpoint).
CLL Frontline Treatment - With Sameer A. Parikh, MBBS, & Alessandra Ferrajoli, MD
January 16, 2024 18:31 - 14 minutes - 32.7 KBRandomized trials of venetoclax plus anti-CD20 antibodies as first-line treatment in fit patients (i.e., those with a low burden of coexisting conditions) with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have been lacking.
Sabestomig in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Bi-Specific Antibody Safe and Active
November 30, 2023 17:09 - 11 minutes - 9.99 KBPatients with non-small cell lung cancer who have failed initial immunotherapy therapy with anti-programmed cell death ligand-1 (PDL-1) checkpoint inhibitors, have responded to a new “bispecific” antibody that targets both the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antibody and also the T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3) molecule. Benjamin Besse, MD, PhD, Director of Clinical Research at the Department of Cancer Medicine in the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, Paris, reported a Pha...
Radicals Study Finds Adjuvant Radiotherapy No Benefit After Radical Prostatectomy
November 22, 2023 15:33 - 15 minutes - 13.8 KBPatients with high-risk prostate cancer who have been treated with radical prostatectomy gain no additional advantage and face extra toxicity if they choose to have adjuvant radiotherapy. That’s according to the findings of the randomized RADICALS study, reported at the 2023 annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) held in Madrid, Spain. These results support the use of early salvage radiotherapy for PSA failure after radical prostatectomy rather than early adjuvan...
Two Drug Combination Benefits Patients with nRAS-Mutated Melanoma Refractory to Checkpoint Inhibition
November 16, 2023 22:38 - 13 minutes - 12.2 KBResearch presented at the 2023 AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics found that a combination of two drugs targeting the nRAS mutation had clinical activity in patients with checkpoint-inhibitor refractory melanoma and had potential for treating other solid tumors with mutated nRAS as their oncogenic driver. Rodabe N. Amaria, MD, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, talks with OncTimes Talk’s Peter Goodwin about her group’s Nautilus pha...
Collagen-Bound Interleukin 12 Converts “Cold” Tumors into “Hot” Ones
November 16, 2023 22:36 - 14 minutes - 13.3 KBAlthough immunotherapies for patients with solid tumors such as melanoma can be dramatically successful, the majority of patients are resistant and require alternative treatments. While the cytokine interleukin 12 is well known for potentiating the effect of immunotherapies, such as checkpoint blockade, it could not be used because of toxicity. At the 2023 AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, Jun Ishihara, PhD, from London’s Imperial College,...
Double TKI Therapy Improves Responses in MET Amplification-Driven EGFR-Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
November 16, 2023 22:35 - 15 minutes - 14.6 KBAmong patients with non-small cell lung cancers driven by mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), those with MET-amplification can now be selected for therapy with two tyrosine kinase inhibitor drugs, not just standard osimertinib. That’s according to conclusions from the INSIGHT 2 study reported at the AACR-NCI-EORTC international conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. Presenting author Xiuning Le, MD, PhD, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, ...
CLIC Protein Inhibition Key to Metformin’s Anti-Neoplastic Properties
November 15, 2023 22:10 - 24 minutes - 56.9 KBThe Chloride Intracellular Channel 1 (CLIC1) protein appears to hold the key to understanding the anti-proliferative action of metformin, according to laboratory evidence discussed at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics held in October 2023, in Boston. At the conference, Michele M. Mazzanti, PhD, from the Department of Bioscience, at Milan University, Italy, reported his group’s recent findings about the possibility of using metformin to r...
Adjuvant ATR Inhibition Prolonged Life in Patients with Relapsed Small Cell Lung Cancer
November 14, 2023 15:59 - 18 minutes - 17.8 KBDr. Takahashi talks with OncTimes Talk’s Peter Goodwin about the Phase 2 study he presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, October 11 - 15, 2023. Dr. Takahashi reported an improvement in median overall survival among patients with relapsed small cell lung cancer who had the ATR inhibitor berzosertib added to standard topotecan.
Mitophagy Discovered as Potential Reason for AML’s Resistance to Venetoclax
November 13, 2023 18:24 - 15 minutes - 16.1 KBAcute myeloid leukemia (AML) is notoriously difficult to treat. Only 28 percent of patients survive beyond 5 years after diagnosis. Mitophagy, a process in which damaged mitochondria are eliminated to prevent the transmission of death signals, has been identified as a key mechanism that allows leukemia cells to resist the effects of the widely prescribed drug venetoclax, according to a recent study published in Cancer Discovery and led by scientists from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Lango...
Unintentional Bias of Breast Cancer Randomized Clinical Trial Interpretations Through Discontinuation Imbalance
August 31, 2023 17:26 - 11 minutes - 10.5 KBSome of the big randomized clinical trials could lead to unintentional bias because of an imbalance of assigned treatment discontinuations between experimental and control arms, according to ASCO poster author Faris Tamimi, MD, at the University Health Network Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin talked with Tamimi at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.
Trastuzumab Deruxtecan Benefits Patients with HER2-Low Metastatic Breast Cancer Irrespective of ER Expression
August 22, 2023 18:59 - 11 minutes - 11 KBAlthough T-DXd had already been licensed for use in all categories of HER2 positivity, including patients with so-called HER2-low tumors (defined as having immunohistochemical score of 1+ or 2+ with non-amplified in-situ hybridization), doubts have remained about the effectiveness of this antibody drug conjugate in the subset of such patients who also have low expression of the estrogen receptor, ER (having ER expression from 1-10%). At the ESMO Breast Cancer 2023 conference a sub-study anal...
Artificial Intelligence Model Predicts Overall Survival in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer
August 18, 2023 17:14 - 9 minutes - 28.5 KBA mathematical study of real-world data from 27,855 women whose breast cancer was diagnosed between 2008 and 2020 has shown that a machine-learning artificial intelligence algorithm was able to predict mortality and could become a key weapon in the clinician’s armory when selecting therapies on the basis of predicted survival. Initial findings and conclusions from the study were reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Breast Cancer Congress 2023. First author of the stu...
Axillary Dissection in Older Women With Clinically Node-Negative Breast Cancer
August 11, 2023 00:31 - 9 minutes - 8.3 KBCaution was expressed at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting about potential adverse effects from one form of breast cancer treatment de-escalation. A poster warns about risks from omitting axillary sentinel node surgery in older women. In this edition of OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin hears about axillary dissection in older women with clinically node-negative breast cancer from Mariam Rana, MD, FRCSC, Oncology Surgeon with the University of Sa...
Variability of Biological Parameters Between Tumor Biopsy & Surgical Samples in Breast Cancer Patients
August 07, 2023 15:45 - 8 minutes - 20.3 KBA real-world study reported at the ESMO Breast Cancer 2023 Annual Congress identified a risk for inappropriate therapeutic decision-making resulting from an alarmingly high rate of false-negative tests coming from biopsy specimens looking for biological parameters such as PR and HER2. Study researchers at the University of Catania suggested tumor heterogeneity was a big reason why markers like PR and HER2 were being missed that subsequently turned up in surgical specimens. But biopsy techn...
Full Compliance With Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy Brings 15 Percent Superior Survival in Patients With Breast Cancer
July 25, 2023 18:11 - 3 minutes - 47 BytesPatients with breast cancer who complied fully with their adjuvant endocrine medication lived 15 percent longer than those who skipped doses, according to a huge real-world study coordinated from Tübingen University, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, reported at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting. OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin discusses the findings with senior author of the study, Dominik Dannehl, MD, a physician at the Department of Women's Health, Tübingen University Hospital, in Tübi...
Being Obese & Overweight Reduces Efficacy of Extended Endocrine Therapy in HR+ Breast Cancer
July 17, 2023 18:53 - 14 minutes - 12.7 KBBeing overweight or obese can reduce the benefit of extending adjuvant breast cancer hormone therapy in women younger than 60 years, according to research from the DATA trial discussed at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Breast Cancer 2023 Congress. Senna W.M. Lammers, MD, from Maastricht University Medical Centre in The Netherlands, reported her findings from the DATA trial looking at the benefit of extending adjuvant hormonal therapy by treating women with hormone receptor...
ASCO 2023: Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Brought Big Benefit in Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with Heather A. Wakelee, MD, FASCO
June 30, 2023 20:04 - 11 minutes - 10.1 KBNon-small cell lung cancer was one of the big topics at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting where Heather Wakelee, MD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Oncology at Stanford University in California, was overheard reminding a junior cancer doctor that the only adjuvant therapy for lung cancer had been chemotherapy just a couple of decades previously. Now, a plethora of targeted therapies are available, and Wakelee reported a big improvement in outcome from one of them—pembr...
ASCO 2023: How AI Can Help Physicians Communicate with Dying Patients Better & Also Reduce Costs
June 28, 2023 17:22 - 7 minutes - 6.84 KBEnd-of-life care for patients with cancer could be significantly improved while simultaneously reducing cost according to the findings of a study from the University of Pennsylvania. Ravi Parikh, MD, MPH, talks with OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin about his findings on the value of harnessing AI to help doctors have serious illness conversations with patients during end-of-life care.
Targeted Adjuvant Therapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with Roy Herbst, MD PhD
June 27, 2023 00:20 - 5 minutes - 4.88 KBRoy Herbst, MD PhD, Deputy Director of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale School of Medicine, talks with OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin about his group’s findings from the international Phase III ADAURA clinical trial looking at adjuvant therapy with the anti EGFR-mutant drug osimertinib in patients with completely resected stage one B to three A non-small cell lung cancer. In a late-breaking abstract reported at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting Plenary Session, ...
Targeted Adjuvant Therapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with Roy Herbst, MD PhD
June 22, 2023 16:38 - 11 minutes - 10.4 KBRoy Herbst, MD PhD, Deputy Director of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale School of Medicine, talks with OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin about his group’s findings from the international Phase III ADAURA clinical trial looking at adjuvant therapy with the anti EGFR-mutant drug osimertinib in patients with completely resected stage one B to three A non-small cell lung cancer. In a late-breaking abstract reported at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting Plenary Session, ...
Emerging Cancer Treatments for Esophageal Cancer with Brian Henick, MD
May 12, 2023 19:24 - 24 minutes - 22.7 KBProgress in esophageal cancer is forging ahead at Columbia University in New York. Brian Henick, MD, is a medical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with malignancies of the aerodigestive tract. As Associate Director of Experimental Therapeutics and Director of Translational Research in Aerodigestive Cancers in Medical Oncology, Henick is involved in a wide range of studies at Columbia. Oncology Times correspondent Peter Goodwin recently had the opportunity to ask Henick about ne...
Meet the New Oncology Times Editorial Board Chair: Stephanie L. Graff, MD, FACP
April 12, 2023 18:52 - 15 minutes - 5.84 KBToday we are introducing the new Oncology Times Editorial Board Chair: Stephanie L. Graff, MD, FACP. In her new role, Graff will help Oncology Times continue to provide essential clinical news and analysis for the cancer care community. Graff is Director of Breast Oncology at Lifespan Cancer Institute and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brown University. Oncology Times contributor Catlin Nalley sat down with Graff to discuss her career path and oncology care philosophy.
Ravi B. Parikh, MD, on How Machine Learning-Triggered Reminders Can Improve End-of-Life Care for Cancer Patients
March 15, 2023 18:06 - 21 minutes - 18.7 KBWhen cancer advances to an incurable stage, some patients may prioritize treatment that will extend their life as long as possible, and others may prefer a care plan that’s designed to minimize pain. Talking to patients about their prognosis and values can help clinicians develop care plans that are better aligned to each patient’s goals. However, it’s essential that the discussions happen before patients become too ill. The results of a long-term clinical trial showed electronic nudges de...
Deanna Gerber, MD, on Navigating Cervical Cancer Screening
February 22, 2023 22:00 - 13 minutes - 12.6 KBDespite increased screening and HPV vaccines, cervical cancer remains the fourth-leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Screening guidelines are constantly scrutinized and reassessed. The most current U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines recommend screening for cervical cancer every 3 years with cervical cytology alone in women aged 21 to 29 years. For women aged 30 to 65 years, the USPSTF recommends screening every 3 years with cervical cytology alone, eve...
January Research Review: Promising Results in HemOnc Clinical Trials
January 27, 2023 22:52 - 43 minutes - 38.6 KBThis episode is Research Review, a quarterly review of the research you may have missed. Today, we are covering the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting highlights. First Up, results from the ECOG-ACRIN E1910 Randomized Phase III clinical trial showed that blinatumomab improved overall survival in newly diagnosed adult patients with b-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. First author of this new research, Mark Litzow, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, talked with journali...
Unraveling a Complex Disease: Gary K. Schwartz, MD, on Sarcoma Research Highlights, Targeted Agents & Future Directions
December 22, 2022 21:14 - 30 minutes - 24.1 KBSarcoma represents an incredibly rare group of cancers comprised of 50 histologic subtypes, with approximately 13,000 new diagnoses per year. Each histologic type exhibits a unique biologic behavior, and, as such, prognosis and optimal treatment strategies vary. Sarcoma can appear anywhere in the body, and local invasion of nearby organs may make surgical resection difficult or impossible. This makes sarcoma exceedingly complex to diagnose and treat. Today on OncTimes Talk, we interview Gary...
ASH 2022: David Sallman, MD, Discusses Positive Phase I Dose Escalation Data for PRGN-3006 UltraCAR-T in AML Patients
December 20, 2022 19:56 - 17 minutes - 12.6 KBA study using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells has proven to be safe for treating patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The agent known as PRGN-3006 also brought remissions among patients who had chemotherapy for lymphodepletion prior to their CAR-T cell procedure (Abstract 4633). After the lead author of the new study, David Sallman, MD, from the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, had reported the new findings at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Ameri...
Anil K. Rustgi, MD, on the Current State of Colorectal Cancer Screening
November 23, 2022 18:47 - 24 minutes - 23.2 KBColorectal cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The current gold standard for screening, the colonoscopy, reduces cancer deaths by 67 percent, according to a 2018 study from Kaiser Permanente. So, we know screening is effective. However, obstacles remain. Colonoscopies are invasive and costs can be prohibitive. An alarming trend has also emerged, with incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer increasing over the last few decades....
Small Bytes: Phase I Study Finds Pan-AKT Inhibitor Ipatasertib Safe & Effective, Featuring Carolyn McCourt, MD
November 15, 2022 18:11 - 10 minutes - 8.3 KBBARCELONA, Spain—Patients with solid tumors expressing mutated AKT oncogenes responded to therapy with a pan-AKT inhibitor—the investigational drug ipatasertib—in a Phase I study reported at the 2022 EORTC—NCI—AACR symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. Nearly a quarter of the patients treated with the AKT blocker had their tumors shrink. These included patients with breast, endometrial, and salivary gland cancers. Tumors remained stable in just over half of the remaining p...
Small Bytes: How ctDNA Liquid Biopsies Can Detect Myeloid Malignancies & Occult Tumors
November 15, 2022 18:08 - 11 minutes - 8.6 KBBARCELONA, Spain—Liquid biopsies are increasingly used to identify cancer progression and could also provide molecular evidence of higher risk for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, according to findings from a study of circulating tumor DNA reported at the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer—National Cancer Institute—American Association for Cancer Research (EORTC-NCI-AACR) 2022 Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. Marco Tagliamento, PhD st...
Dr. Lisa Newman on Eliminating Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer
October 28, 2022 19:44 - 25 minutes - 22.4 KBIn oncology today, there is an urgent need to better understand the implications of racial bias and disparities on the health outcomes of patients. Although breast cancer mortality rates decreased by 43 percent from 1989 to 2020, Black women remain more likely to die from breast cancer compared with White women, according to the 2022 American Cancer Society’s update on breast cancer statistics in the United States. What is the underlying cause of disparities in breast cancer? It comes down...