Academia

Editor’s Note: After this issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™ went to press, Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation announced the $100 million, 5-year initiative will now be called the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program. The program will also receive a $14 million donation from Gilead Sciences, Inc., over the next 4 years.

Researchers presented results for ZB131, a monoclonal antibody that would target cancer-specific plectin (CSP); experiments with mice showed this may be present in more than 80% of the most common types of cholangiocarcinoma.

Traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk prediction models may not apply accurately to patients with HIV who may develop the cardiovascular disease younger than usual, said Jorge Plutzky, MD, director of the Vascular Disease Prevention Program and director of Preventive Cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The study by the Veneto Institute of Oncology (IOV) in Padua, Italy, examined 286 patients for genomic mutations in cholangiocarcinoma as well as survival status.

Teprotumumab has shown great efficacy in treating thyroid eye disease in both clinical trials and real-world settings, but more data are needed on adverse events, said Shoaib Ugradar, MD, UCLA Stein Eye Center Santa Monica.

A study from Japan identifies markers for a presurgical staging system in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, with results on par with an existing postsurgical staging system.

As more data are gathered on teprotumumab for use in thyroid eye disease (TED), we’ll have a better understanding of which subgroups respond better or worse to the treatment, explained Robert G. Fante, MD, FACS, president of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery and facial plastic surgeon and cosmetic surgeon, Fante Eye & Face Centre in Denver, Colorado.

Not all Guillain-Barré cases are associated with infection, and studies have suggested a link between the rare disorder and certain cancers, including lymphomas.

Research has shown that adoptive immunotherapy using natural killer cells may be beneficial in leukemia treatment. The follow-up to a recent study found that the dose of alloreactive natural killer cells matters for treatment response.

A recent review examined natural killer–based therapies, a type of immunotherapy that holds promise for treating leukemia with less toxicity than currently available therapies.

The president’s aim is a 50% reduction in age-adjusted cancer deaths by 2047. This goal seems audacious, but it is likely achievable.

A statement from NCCN’s Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis said that the panel “endorses vaccination for all eligible persons based on FDA-approved indications or emergency use authorization” and emphasized the need for everyone to be fully vaccinated—including third doses.

While the number of trials for cancer immunotherapies grew significantly, combination therapies being studied increased while monotherapies decreased.

Researchers, as well as a patient who had chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), hailed the findings as a cure, although more work needs to be done to see if the results persist in a larger group of patients.

The most-read AJAC papers of 2021 analyze real-world programs to transform health care and provide insight into physician perspectives of health care and insurance.

In an interview conducted before the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant began driving another wave of infections, Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, FASTMH, discussed the struggle public health officials and scientists have in fighting false beliefs about vaccinations.

The editors of The American Journal of Managed Care® and The American Journal of Accountable Care® reflect on the past year and discuss the themes and topics they expect to see in 2022.

Bruce A. Feinberg, DO, of Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions, leads a panel discussion on how far randomized clinical trials have come, how they could be better, and how using real-world evidence could make research more representative of the population.

The preliminary analysis, appearing in a preprint journal, looked at lifestyle habits of those with Parkinson disease.

Researchers at the University of Rochester are analyzing facial muscle movements through videos taken over webcams or smartphones to train a machine learning algorithm with the hope that it can predict Parkinson disease at an earlier stage.

Although advancements in cancer have been many, disease relapse is still a hurdle for many types of tumors and malignancies, and there is an urgent need to overcome tumor resistance.

The meta-analysis sought to clarify previous research, which has explored the idea that Parkinson disease (PD) is tied to inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, noting that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been implicated in neuroinflammation.

A safety analysis of 6 trials found zanubrutinib has a toxicity profile consistent wth other Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors.

The American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery 2021 Fall Scientific Symposium will feature presentations on oculofacial surgery innovations, social justice and diversity, and more.

While low- and middle-income countries remain desperate for a COVID-19 vaccine, the United States has entered a dangerous new phase of the pandemic, where antivaccine forces are exporting their antiscience beliefs to other countries, according to a keynote speaker at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.