American Society of Clinical Oncology, June 3-7

The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology was held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago and attracted more than 40,000 participants from around the world, including clinicians, academicians, allied health professionals, and others interested in oncology. The conference featured the latest advances in clinical cancer research, including oral abstract presentations and poster presentations in disease-based and specialty tracks. Presentations focused on novel targeted therapies as well as improvements in chemotherapy and radiation therapy approaches.

In the TROPiCS-02 phase 3 clinical trial, Hope S. Rugo, M.D., of the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues found that the use of sacituzumab govitecan improves median progression-free survival (PFS) compared with standard chemotherapy in patients with heavily pretreated endocrine-resistant hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2−) metastatic breast cancer.

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of sacituzumab govitecan compared to the physician's choice of chemotherapy for advanced HR+/HER2− breast cancer. At 113 international locations, 543 patients with HR+/HER2− metastatic breast cancer who had been treated with endocrine therapy, CDK4/6 inhibitors, and two to four chemotherapy regimens were enrolled. The researchers found that sacituzumab govitecan improved median PFS by 34 percent compared with standard chemotherapy; there was also a nonsignificant trend seen in overall survival. The overall response rate was 21 percent for those who received sacituzumab govitecan compared with 14 percent for those who received standard chemotherapy. Furthermore, the investigators found that the clinical benefit rate and median duration of response both favored sacituzumab govitecan.

"In TROPiCS-02, sacituzumab was studied in patients who had very heavily pretreated hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer, with very limited options, and offers a potential for another effective therapy for these patients," Rugo said. "Overall, it is important to have new treatment options, extend quality of life, and provide disease control for patients with heavily pretreated hormone receptor-positive advanced cancer."

The study was funded by Gilead Sciences, the manufacturer of sacituzumab govitecan.

Press Release

In the single-arm prospective phase 3 LUMINA trial, Timothy Joseph Whelan, M.D., of McMaster University and the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues found that the rate of recurrence is very low among women 55 years or older with luminal A breast cancer not treated with radiation.

The authors enrolled 500 patients from 26 centers in Canada who had node-negative, grade 1 or 2 tumors smaller than 2 cm that had been removed by breast-conserving surgery and were luminal A tumors with a Ki67 tumor cell count of 13.25 percent or less. The patients underwent breast-conserving surgery, followed by endocrine therapy, but did not receive radiation therapy. At five years, the researchers found a 2.3 percent chance of local recurrence and a 1.9 percent chance of a new breast cancer developing in the breast not originally impacted by the cancer. The rate of recurrence-free survival was 97.3 percent and the disease-free survival rate was 89.9 percent. The overall survival rate was 97.2 percent.

"We tested a biomarker, which allows women, 55 years and older, with low-grade luminal type A breast cancer to avoid radiation therapy, which can be costly, time consuming, and associated with significant side effects," Whelan said. "We found that in woman 55 years or older with luminal A breast cancer and treated without radiation, the rate of recurrence remains very low. As such, practicing clinicians may want to omit radiation therapy for this type of patient."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Press Release

Eric Bouffet, M.D., of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues found that the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib significantly increases the overall response rate in pediatric patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive low-grade gliomas compared with the standard chemotherapy combination of carboplatin plus vincristine.

In a double-blind clinical trial, the authors randomly assigned 110 patients (ages 1 to 17 years) who had BRAF V600 mutation-positive low-grade gliomas to either dabrafenib twice daily plus trametinib once daily or to standard-of-care doses of carboplatin plus vincristine. The researchers found that the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib resulted in an overall response rate of 47 percent compared with 11 percent seen for the standard chemotherapy combination of carboplatin plus vincristine. The investigators also observed significant improvements in clinical benefit rate, duration of response, time to response, PFS, and overall survival in those who received dabrafenib and trametinib.

"For pediatric patients with BRAF V600-mutant low-grade glioma, dabrafenib plus trametinib may offer an improved standard of care," Bouffet said in a statement. "This represents an important advance for the youngest patients with brain cancer, as this is the first combination of targeted therapies developed for patients as young as [age 1 year]."

The study was funded by Novartis, the manufacturer of dabrafenib and trametinib.

Press Release

ASCO: Ramucirumab Plus Pembrolizumab Promising in NSCLC

THURSDAY, June 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Early research shows that overall survival is longer with ramucirumab and pembrolizumab compared with an investigator's choice standard-of-care in advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Risk for Suicide Elevated in Cancer Patients in the U.S.

WEDNESDAY, June 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Patients diagnosed with cancer have elevated suicide risk, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Ancestry-Specific Genetic Risk Examined for TNBC

WEDNESDAY, June 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Women of African ancestry more often have a personal history of triple-negative breast cancer, but the magnitudes of gene-specific risks for triple-negative breast cancer are similar across different racial/ethnic groups, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Black Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer Willing to Consider Clinical Trials

TUESDAY, June 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Black patients with metastatic breast cancer are willing to consider participating in clinical trials, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Disparities Seen in Telehealth Use for Cancer Care During Pandemic

TUESDAY, June 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Racial, geographic, and socioeconomic disparities were seen in telehealth use among patients initiating cancer treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Desmoplastic Melanoma Responds to Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab

TUESDAY, June 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with resectable desmoplastic melanoma, pembrolizumab treatment prior to resection results in a high pathological complete response rate, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: ACA Medicaid Expansion Has Increased Access to Cancer Trials

TUESDAY, June 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Implementation of Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion was associated with an increase in the proportion of patients using Medicaid in cancer clinical trials, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Parental Cancer Tied to Risk for Unmet Social Needs in Children

TUESDAY, June 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Parental cancer is associated with a greater likelihood of family-level food insecurity, financial worry about housing costs and other monthly bills, and transportation barriers to medical care for U.S. children, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: ctDNA Analysis Guides Treatment of Stage II Colon Cancer

MONDAY, June 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A circulating tumor DNA-guided approach to treatment of stage II colon cancer reduces adjuvant chemotherapy use without affecting recurrence-free survival, according to a study published online June 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Increase in Cancer-Related Death Seen During Pandemic

MONDAY, June 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- From 2019 to 2020, there was an increase of 3.2 percent in cancer-related deaths, which was higher than the number of projected deaths, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text

ASCO: Add-On Ibrutinib Slows Mantle-Cell Lymphoma in Older Adults

FRIDAY, June 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For older patients with untreated mantle-cell lymphoma, the addition of ibrutinib to standard chemoimmunotherapy significantly prolongs progression-free survival, according to a study published online June 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 3 to 7 in Chicago.

Read Full Text