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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Responding to Coronavirus, Cancer Researchers Reimagine Clinical TrialsIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer researchers are making changes to clinical trials to ensure patient safety and protect the integrity of their work. Some changes, such as greater use of telemedicine, will likely continue into the future.
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Study Clarifies Timing of Immunotherapy for Advanced Bladder CancerResults from a large study show that, for most people with advanced bladder cancer, starting immunotherapy with avelumab (Bavencio) shortly after initial treatment with chemotherapy is better than delaying treatment.
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Selpercatinib Approved for Thyroid and Lung Cancers with RET Gene AlterationsFDA has granted accelerated approval for selpercatinib (Retevmo) to treat certain patients with thyroid cancer or non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have RET gene alterations. The drug, which works by blocking the activity of RET proteins, was approved based on the results of the LIBRETTO-001 trial.
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With Two FDA Approvals, Prostate Cancer Treatment Enters the PARP EraFDA has approved olaparib (Lynparza) and rucaparib (Rubraca) to treat some men with metastatic prostate cancer. The PARP inhibitors are approved for men whose cancers have stopped responding to hormone treatment and have specific genetic alterations.
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More Evidence that Ruxolitinib Benefits Some Patients with Graft-Versus-Host DiseasePatients with acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) that does not respond to steroid therapy are more likely to respond to the drug ruxolitinib (Jakafi) than other available treatments, results from a large clinical trial show.
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Encorafenib, Cetuximab Combination Approved for Metastatic Colorectal CancerThe Food and Drug Administration has approved encorafenib (Braftovi) in combination with cetuximab (Erbitux) to treat adults with metastatic colorectal cancer whose tumors have a specific mutation in the BRAF gene, called V600E.
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Boosting Dendritic Cells Helps the Immune System Find Pancreatic CancerThe number of dendritic cells in a tumor may explain why immunotherapies work for some cancers but not others, a new study suggests. In mice, boosting dendritic cells triggered an immune response that slowed pancreatic tumor growth.
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Deaths from Metastatic Melanoma Drop Substantially in the United StatesAfter rising steadily for decades, the number of people in the United States who die each year from the skin cancer melanoma has dramatically dropped in recent years, results from a new study show. Learn what has contributed to the dramatic decline.
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Health of Gut Microbes May Affect Survival after Stem Cell TransplantIn people with blood cancers, the health of their gut microbiome appears to affect the risk of dying after receiving an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, according to an NCI-funded study conducted at four hospitals across the globe.
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Remodeled CAR T-Cell Therapy Reduces Side Effects in First Clinical TrialA remodeled CAR T-cell therapy causes fewer neurologic side effects and is equally effective as the original form of the treatment, according to results from the first clinical trial testing the approach in patients with B-cell lymphomas.
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Is Proton Therapy Safer than Traditional Radiation?Some experts believe that proton therapy is safer than traditional radiation, but research has been limited. A new observational study compared the safety and effectiveness of proton therapy and traditional radiation in adults with advanced cancer.
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Avapritinib Approved to Treat GIST with a Rare Gene AlterationAvapritinib (Ayvakit) has been approved for adults with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) whose tumors have an alteration in a portion of the PDGFRA gene called exon 18. The approval applies to those whose tumors cannot be removed with surgery or have spread.
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Off Target: Investigating the Abscopal Effect as a Treatment for CancerIn people with cancer, the abscopal effect occurs when radiation—or another type of localized therapy—shrinks a targeted tumor but also causes untreated tumors in the body to shrink. Researchers are trying to better understand this phenomenon and take advantage of it to improve cancer therapy.
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Maintenance Therapy with CC-486 Extends Survival of Adults with AMLMaintenance therapy with CC-486 extended overall survival of adults with the blood cancer acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a large clinical trial. CC-486 is a pill form of another cancer therapy called azacitidine (Vidaza).
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Osimertinib Improves Survival in Advanced Lung Cancer with EGFR MutationsOsimertinib (Tagrisso) improves survival in people with non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations, updated clinical trial results show. People treated with osimertinib lived longer than those treated with earlier-generation EGFR-targeted drugs.
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Surgery for Recurrent Ovarian Cancer Does Not Improve SurvivalSecondary surgery for women with recurrent ovarian cancer does not improve how long those women live, findings from a large trial show. The results call into question the current standard of practice for these patients.
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Gilteritinib Improves Survival in AML with FLT3 MutationsPeople with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with FLT3 gene mutations treated with gilteritinib had improved survival, higher rates of remission, and fewer side effects than those treated with chemotherapy, a recent trial found.
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Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Can Skip Radiation to the BrainOnly 1.5% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who skipped radiation had a recurrence in the central nervous system, according to a recent trial. The therapy, which is intended to prevent such a recurrence, can have devastating side effects.
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Targeted Drug Trio Improves Survival in Colorectal Cancer with BRAF MutationsFor people with colorectal cancer with a specific mutation in the BRAF gene, a treatment regimen of three targeted drugs can improve how long they live without increasing their risk of serious side effects, results from a new clinical trial show.
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Durvalumab Plus Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Small Cell Lung CancerA large clinical trial showed that adding the immunotherapy drug durvalumab (Imfinzi) to standard chemotherapy can prolong survival in some people with previously untreated advanced small cell lung cancer.