Volume 28, Issue 9, September 2023

Considering presentations at this year’s ASCO annual meeting, this editorial highlights a number of studies of interest, from adjuvant therapy studies to tumor agnostic therapy.

Evidence supporting the relief of suffering and improved end-of-life care provided by hospice is in contrast with recent media reports of cases of poor-quality care driven by profit-motivated hospices. This commentary presents a brief history of hospice and potential solutions to address the current challenges affecting access to high-quality hospice care.

This commentary highlights 2 international studies on real-world treatment trends and patterns among patients with metastatic castration-sensitive and resistant prostate cancer and how interventions targeting physicians and patients can bridge the gap between evidence-based medicine and real-world practice.

This commentary remarks on a recently published study assessing clinic contact days for patients enrolled in the Canadian Cancer Trials Group LY.12 clinical trial.

The gut microbiome has gained attention as a potential biomarker in patients with cancer; however, little is known about the role of gut microbiome in modulating response to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients diagnosed with early stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). This article assesses the feasibility of gut microbiome analysis in patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy for early stage TNBC, evaluates its impact on treatment response and association with clinicopathologic factors, and describes longitudinal changes before and after exposure to chemotherapy.

This article reports oncological and cardiac outcomes of 51 patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who developed mild cardiac dysfunction after trastuzumab administration, and pursued a strategy of permissive cardiotoxicity.

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are difficult to diagnose, monitor, and treat. This article reports evidence that molecular profiling may complement histology to provide better diagnostic definition, therapy choice, and prognostic stratification of NENs.

Using data from 2 cohorts of patients with MSI/dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, this study evaluated the prognostic value of RAS/BRAFV600E mutations and Lynch syndrome.

This study evaluated real-world metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC) treatment trends between 2016 to 2020 across a large, diverse patient population. The study also investigated whether treatment trends vary by ethnicity and insurance status.

The IMPACT UC I study assessed real-world treatment patterns, outcomes, healthcare resource utilization, and costs in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma receiving first-line systemic treatment after the FDA approval of first-line immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy.

This study evaluated whether treatments used in the metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC) setting influence choice of first-line treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) across a diverse, real-world patient population in five European countries and the US.

The long-term effect of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 on patients with genitourinary cancers is currently unknown. This study assessed the long-term effect of commercially available COVID-19 vaccination in patients with renal cell carcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, and prostate cancer.

When cancer treatments have similar oncologic outcomes, the number of days with in-person healthcare contact (“contact days’’) can help contextualize expected time use with each treatment. This secondary analysis of the CCTG LY.12 trial analyzed trial forms to assess days with and without health care contact.

R-CHOP is the standard of care regimen for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), but access to rituximab is limited in developing countries. This article reports a study of patients with DLBCL, who received R-CHOP therapy and assesses factors that influenced survival.

This article assesses risk factors pertinent to the incidence of secondary malignancies among childhood and adolescent lymphoma survivors and reports a clinically practical predictive nomogram.

This review summarizes prior data regarding adjuvant and neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer and elaborates on results from the newer trials incorporating immune checkpoint inhibitors. The pros and cons of each treatment approach are briefly discussed, including areas that need further clarity to inform clinical practice and future directions for research in this disease.

Black patients shoulder a disproportionate share of the lung cancer burden in the US but are underrepresented in landmark immunotherapy trials. This analysis is the first study to evaluate the relationship between race and the clinical use of durvalumab.

Little is known about communication in situations when patients decline recommended cancer treatment and consider using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This article explores patients’ and physicians’ experiences in such situations.

Risk stratification tools for patients with advanced melanoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are lacking. This article reports a new prognostic model associated with overall survival, with a focus on clinically accessible parameters available at the start of ICI therapy.

This article compares the projected healthcare costs associated with using volumetric dosimetry versus broad anatomic irradiated regions screening to determine radiation-related late effects screening recommendations for survivors of childhood cancer.

NUT midline carcinoma is a rare malignancy that can be difficult to diagnose. Survival is usually only a number of months with few long-term survivors. This article reports one of the longest-known survivors of this disease treated with surgery and radiation without additional therapy.

Most patients with pancreatic cancer suffer significant weight loss due to malnutrition, which negatively affects outcomes. This article describes results of a study of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer undergoing first-line chemotherapy with nab-paclitaxel either receiving or not receiving nutritional support and pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT).

Effective treatment options for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer are limited, following progression on first- and second-line chemotherapy-based regimens. The results of this study add to a growing dataset showing that therapeutic blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 interactions is not sufficient to facilitate significant immune-mediated antitumor activity in this population.

This phase I study evaluated the safety and recommended phase II dose of anti-PDL1 Durvalumab combined with hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy in patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

Paclitaxel has been used for second-line treatment of esophageal cancer, with limited efficacy. Considering the preclinical evidence of synergy between paclitaxel and cixutumumab, this randomized phase II trial of paclitaxel (arm A) versus paclitaxel plus cixutumumab (arm B) was conducted.

This phase Ib/II study was conducted to determine the safety and efficacy of AZD8186 and paclitaxel combination in patients with metastatic or recurrent gastric cancer.

Gaps in national healthcare spending and disparities in cancer mortality rates are noted across counties in the US. This study investigated whether differences in local county-level social vulnerability impacts cancer-related mortality.

Given the limited therapeutic options for patients who have disease progression after multiple lines of systemic therapy, there is growing promise in novel combinatorial strategies. This case series suggests that nivolumab and temozolomide may be a promising option in the setting of advanced melanoma refractory to standard treatments and warrants further investigation in larger series.

Thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RA), such as eltrombopag, romiplostim, and avatrombopag, have shown efficacy in treating immune thrombocytopenia; however, their efficacy in improving platelet counts due to HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate therapy remains unknown. This article reports a series of cases in which TPO-RA were successfully utilized to treat such thrombocytopenia associated with ado-trastuzumab emtansine(T-DM1) and fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) therapy.