Academia

With stringent criteria, randomized controlled trials are the cornerstone of cancer intervention research, but the result is they do not represent the majority of patients, which leads to a gap between the efficacy seen in trials and the effectiveness in the real-world setting.

Results of the monarchE study showed patients with hormone receptor–positive (HR+), HER2-negative (HER2–) high-risk, early breast cancer had greater benefit after 5 years when receiving adjuvant abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone.

Pawel Sobczuk, MD, PhD, of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Poland, previews the upcoming ESMO Congress 2023 in Madrid, Spain.

Speakers at an Institute for Value-Based Medicine event with Vanderbilt University Medical Center highlighted the novel therapies and techniques being used to improve outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer.

A recent study suggests that a patient’s immune microenvironment plays a key role in the depth and duration of response to multiple myeloma treatment.

In just the last 2 years there have been updates in classification, risk assessment, and response criteria in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), but additional efforts are needed to improve these, and there remains a need for better therapies.

A PET-based radiomics signature was able to predict the efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and performed better than conventional PET biomarkers in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

Ponatinib also produces an improvement in progression-free survival compared with imatinib among those with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the phase 3 PhALLCON trial.

The review summarized existing evidence around short- and long-term treatment-related toxicities among adolescents and young adults (AYAs), as well as gaps in care guidelines for AYA survivors of lymphoma.

Full team coverage from the European Hematology Association 2023 Hybrid Congress, which took place June 8-11 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is an inflammatory disease often misdiagnosed as certain cancers, among other diseases. Researchers have recently made progress to better diagnose PMR using a standard uptake value index based on fluorodeoxyglucose with positron-emission tomography/computed tomography.

A review identified specificities that suggested that infections of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) evolve chest tomography features.

Presentation of the COMMANDS trial offered practice-changing results for luspatercept.

Results include a landmark study that involved seamless collaboration across adult and pediatric patient groups, leading to a highly diverse study population. Other coverage addresses access to novel therapies and what's coming in the pipeline, including CAR T-cell therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Coverage of addresses by ASCO President Eric P. Winer, MD, and National Cancer Institute Director Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, who is a former ASCO president.

New research suggests that when cancer cells are under stress, cellular chaperone protein GRP78 alters its behavior and migrates to the cell's nucleus, where it modifies gene activities and allows cancer cells to become more mobile and invasive.

Gene therapy is only one exciting area of treatments in the pipeline to potentially treat inherited retinal disease, said Byron L. Lam, MD, professor of ophthalmology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

The most exciting treatment for inherited retinal disease was approved in 2017, but there are many novel treatments in phase 2 or phase 3 trials at this point, said Byron L. Lam, MD, professor of ophthalmology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

The successful collaboration between a primary care–based network of practices and academic researchers demonstrates feasibility and the need for more funding for primary care research.

Insurance is by far the most important factor of whether patients followed up with treatment after getting screened for glaucoma, said Byron L. Lam, MD, professor of ophthalmology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

Natalie S. Callander, MD, director of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center Myeloma Clinical Program, reviewed the treatment landscape at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2023 Annual Conference.

Many people often don’t connect the dots between climate change and its impact on skin health, but these effects have been happening for years, said Eva R. Parker, MD, associate professor of dermatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The findings, published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, add to the evidence that the shift to precision medicine is built on data that have not included sufficient numbers of patients of color.

Seeking to speed up the execution of evidence-based care practices, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) announced the 42 health systems across the country who will join a 5-year program to build capacity and implementation to improve health care outcomes.