Treatment - Cancer Currents Blog
Cancer treatment related news, with context from leading experts. Includes articles on new therapies, treatment side effects, and important trends in treatment-related research.
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Some People with Rectal Cancer Can Skip Radiation before SurgeryRadiation may not be needed for people undergoing surgery for rectal cancer, a large clinical trial has shown. A combination of two chemotherapy drugs before surgery appears to be as effective as chemo and radiation and may spare patients from long-term side effects.
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Three-Drug Regimen Improves Protection against GVHD after Stem Cell TransplantA large clinical trial has shown that in people with blood cancers, a cyclophosphamide-based regimen better protects against graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) after an allogeneic stem cell transplant than the standard regimen.
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Trial Confirms CAR T-Cell Therapy Benefits People with Aggressive LymphomasNew findings show that the CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) improved survival for people with large B-cell lymphoma that was not responding to initial treatment or had quickly relapsed. The new results from the ZUMA-7 trial offer real hope for this group of patients.
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Lung Cancer Trial of Osimertinib Draws Praise—and Some CriticismIn the ADAURA clinical trial, people with early-stage lung cancer treated with osimertinib (Tagrisso) after surgery lived longer than people treated with a placebo after surgery. Despite some criticisms about its design, the trial is expected to change patient care.
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Vorasidenib Treatment Shows Promise for Some Low-Grade GliomasIn a large clinical trial, vorasidenib slowed the growth of low-grade gliomas that had mutations in the IDH1 or IDH2 genes. Vorasidenib is the first targeted drug developed specifically to treat brain tumors.
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Blinatumomab Increases Survival for Infants with an Aggressive Type of ALLGiving the drug blinatumomab (Blincyto) after standard chemotherapy substantially increased survival for infants with an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a recent study showed. If confirmed in larger studies, the treatment may become standard therapy for infants with ALL caused by KMT2A rearrangements.
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Drug Regimen Boosts Survival of People with Advanced Colorectal CancerA new treatment regimen may help improve the survival of some people with advanced colorectal cancer, according to results from an international clinical trial. The new regimen includes bevacizumab (Avastin) and the combination of trifluridine and tipiracil (Lonsurf).
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Motixafortide May Improve Stem Cell Transplants for People with Multiple MyelomaIn a clinical trial of people with multiple myeloma, giving motixafortide with filgrastim markedly increased the number of stem cells that could be collected. The treatment may allow more people with this cancer to get optimal numbers of stem cells for a transplant.
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Rare Melanoma Very Likely to Respond to Treatment with PembrolizumabPeople with desmoplastic melanoma, a rare form of skin cancer, are likely to benefit from treatment with a single immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab (Keytruda), according to new results from a small clinical trial.
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Nirogacestat May Offer Hope to People with Desmoid TumorsIn a clinical trial, the drug nirogacestat shrank tumors in 40% of people with desmoid tumors. Treatment with nirogacestat also substantially improved progression-free survival, pain, and physical functioning, compared with patients treated with a placebo.
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Revumenib Shows Promise in Treating Advanced Acute Myeloid LeukemiaTreatment with revumenib caused complete remission in about one-third of participants in an early-phase clinical trial involving patients who’d had many prior treatments. Revumenib is part of a new class of targeted drugs known as menin inhibitors.
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Immunotherapy’s Role in Treating Endometrial Cancer Expected to GrowIn two clinical trials, combining immune checkpoint inhibitors with standard chemotherapy substantially increased how long people with advanced endometrial cancer lived without their cancer worsening, particularly those with dMMR or MSI-high tumors.
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Cancer and Climate Change: The Health Threats of Unnatural DisastersThe consequences of climate change have already affected cancer care in the United States, particularly in areas hit by hurricanes and wildfires. Researchers are studying how to mitigate that impact and better understand the effect of climate change on the risk of developing cancer.
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Immunotherapy after Surgery Shows Long-Term Benefits for High-Risk Bladder CancerUpdated results from a large clinical trial confirm that, for some people with bladder cancer, receiving immunotherapy after surgery is an effective treatment. In 2021, initial results from the same trial led to FDA approval of nivolumab (Opdivo) for this use.
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Dexrazoxane Protects the Heart Long Term for Kids Being Treated for CancerDoxorubicin is used to treat many types of childhood cancer, but it can damage the heart. Giving dexrazoxane (Zinecard) before each dose substantially decreases a child’s risk of treatment-related heart problems in adulthood, new study results show.
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Lung-Sparing Surgery Is Effective for Some with Early-Stage Lung CancerFor certain people with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, sublobar surgery to remove only a piece of the affected lung lobe is as effective as surgery to remove the whole lobe, new research shows.
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Tucatinib and Trastuzumab Combination Approved for Advanced Colorectal CancerFDA approved tucatinib (Tukysa) with trastuzumab (Herceptin) to treat HER2-positive advanced colorectal cancer. The approval was based on the MOUNTAINEER trial, in which nearly 40% of participants’ tumors shrank after receiving the drug combination.
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Help Desk for Oncologists Treating People with a Rare Leukemia Pays Big DividendsAn NCI-funded clinical trial has shown that treatment-related early deaths in people with a rare leukemia can be dramatically reduced. How did they do it? In part, by establishing a help desk staffed by experts in treating APL.
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Trial Suggests Expanded Role for Blinatumomab in Treating ALLThe immunotherapy drug blinatumomab (Blincyto) extends life for people with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who are in remission, even those with no signs of disease after initial treatment, a trial has found.
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Pausing Long-Term Breast Cancer Therapy to Become Pregnant Appears to Be SafeMany young women who are diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer want to become pregnant in the future. New research suggests that these women may be able to pause their hormone therapy for up to 2 years as they try to get pregnant without raising the risk of a recurrence in the short term.