Emerging Infectious Diseases journal created this spotlight to make it easier for readers to locate articles about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as well as other coronavirus diseases in both humans and animals.

In December 2019 and January 2020, novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) - infected pneumonia (NCIP) occurred in Wuhan, and has already posed a serious threat to public health. ACE2 (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2) has been shown to be one of the major receptors that mediate the entry of 2019-nCoV into human cells, which also happens in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS). Several res...

The World has changed dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Together with our social, occupational, and personal life, the new corona virus poses novel challenges for all physicians, including dermatologists. Despite the virus not being dermatotropic, several skin conditions have emerged, mainly as a result of prolonged contact to personal protective equipment and excessive personal h...

Many patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have underlying cardiovascular (CV) disease or develop acute cardiac injury during the course of the illness. Adequate understanding of the interplay between COVID-19 and CV disease is required for optimum management of these patients.

The European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines Panel for Muscle-invasive and Metastatic Bladder Cancer (MIBC) have prepared these guidelines to help urologists assess the evidence-based management of MIBC and to incorporate guideline recommendations into their clinical practice.

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus (CoV) epidemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus – 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged from China. This virus causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Since then, there have been anecdotal reports of ocular infection. The ocular implications of human CoV infections have not been widely studied. However, CoVs have been known to cause var...

Recent reports suggest an association between COVID-19 and altered olfactory function. Here we analyze bulk and single cell RNA-Seq datasets to identify cell types in the olfactory epithelium that express molecules that mediate infection by SARS-CoV-2 (CoV-2), the causal agent in COVID-19. We find in both mouse and human datasets that olfactory sensory neurons do not express two key genes invol...

Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan in December 2019, by March 10, 2020, a total of 80,932 confirmed cases have been reported in China. Two consecutively negative RTPCR test results in respiratory tract specimens is required for the evaluation of discharge from hospital, and oropharyngeal swabs were the most common sample. However, false negative results occurred in ...

 The Japan Associations of Endocrine Surgeons has developed the revised version of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Thyroid Tumors. This article describes the guidelines translated into English for the 35 clinical questions relevant to the therapeutic management of thyroid cancers. The objective of the guidelines is to improve health-related outcomes in patients with thyroid tumors by en...

Pain is one of the most common symptoms in cancer patients and often has a negative impact on patients’ functional status and quality of life. The goal of the following summary is to provide evidence-based, up-to-date, and practical information on the management of cancer pain.

Triage of Breast Cancer Patients, American College of Surgeons

Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the United States after lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, and lymphoma. It is the third most common cancer in men and the eleventh most common cancer in women. Of the roughly 70,000 new cases annually, about 53,000 are in men and about 18,000 are in women. Of the roughly 15,000 annual deaths, more than 10,000 are in men ...

CDC has developed a laboratory blood test to assist with efforts to determine how much of the U.S. population has been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. CDC is also using its serologic test (antibody) to evaluate the performance of commercial antibody tests.

The June issue of the Journal of Hypertension starts with the hypertension guidelines prepared by the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) and simultaneously published in Hypertension as well. Compared with the guidelines issued by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) the ...

Jul 29th, 2019 - Evaluate prevalence of troublesome dyskinesia and OFF through the day, assessed by 30-minute intervals, as well as the mean number and duration of troublesome dyskinesia and OFF episodes, transitions between PD states, and effects of Gocovri® (amantadine) extended release capsules on these episodes.

Jul 2nd, 2018 - Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease have been controlled with levodopa for many years; however, motor complications consisting of wearing off of medication effect and dyskinesias tend to occur within a few years of starting levodopa. Motor complications can begin a few months after taking levodopa, with the average time to onset estimated to be 6.5 years. Dyskinesias can be troublesome and require ...

Hypertension, particularly midlife high blood pressure, has been related to a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia, including Alzheimer disease. However, these associations are complex and not fully elucidated. Cerebral small vessel disease emerges as one of the most important causes. Several observational studies have shown the potential beneficial role of antihypertensive treatment i...

Sep 9th, 2003 - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with progressive impairment in motor and cognitive functioning. A review of past research shows that individuals experience not only physical discomfort brought on by the illness, but also considerable psychological distress. Increased dependency on a caregiver due to impairments in activities of daily living (e.g., walking, eating, dress...

Dec 14th, 2014 - The dopamine (DA) precursor l-DOPA has been the most effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) for over 40 years. However, the response to this treatment changes with disease progression, and most patients develop dyskinesias (abnormal involuntary movements) and motor fluctuations within a few years of l-DOPA therapy.

High blood pressure is one of the main modifiable risk factors for dementia. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding the best antihypertensive class for optimizing cognition. Our objective was to determine whether any particular antihypertensive class was associated with a reduced risk of cognitive decline or dementia using comprehensive meta-analysis including reanalysis of original p...

Apr 16th, 2017 - Data from two Phase 3 clinical studies investigating the efficacy and safety of ADS-5102 in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) were pooled to summarize results for the shared primary endpoint, Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale (UDysRS) and its sub-components.

May 28th, 2013 - Excessive glutamatergic signalling within the basal ganglia is implicated in the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD) and inthe emergence of dyskinesia associated with long-term treatment with L-DOPA. There is considerable research focus on the discovery and development of compounds that modulate glutamatergic signalling via glutamate receptors, as treatments for PD and L-DOPA-induced dyskin...

Nov 20th, 2008 - We developed and tested a rating scale aimed to capture the essential features of dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease (PD). Although several scales assess selected attributes of PD‐dyskinesias, no comprehensive rating tool exists. Available rating scales were evaluated by the investigators and patient focus groups.

Gocovri Prescribing Information, PI, Parkinson Disease, PD

Jun 4th, 2007 - Levodopa is the most effective drug for treating Parkinson's disease. However, long‐term use of levodopa is often complicated by significantly disabling fluctuations and dyskinesias negating its beneficial effects. Younger age of Parkinson's disease onset, disease severity, and high levodopa dose increase the risk of development of levodopa‐induced dyskinesias (LID). The underlying mechanisms f...

Mar 3rd, 2008 - The crucial role of dopamine (DA) in movement control is illustrated by the spectrum of motor disorders caused by either a deficiency or a hyperactivity of dopaminergic transmission in the basal ganglia. The degeneration of nigrostriatal DA neurons in Parkinson's disease causes poverty and slowness of movement. These symptoms are greatly improved by pharmacological DA replacement with l-3,4-dih...

Jun 28th, 2006 - Levodopa is the most efficacious treatment in the management of Parkinson’s disease. Unfortunately, chronic use of traditional levodopa/dopa decarboxylase inhibitor formulations is associated with the development of complications, such as wearing-off and dyskinesia. In an attempt to avoid these complications, some physicians delay the introduction of levodopa or employ levodopa-sparing strategi...

Feb 7th, 2008 - After 40 years of clinical experience, levodopa remains the gold standard treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) despite the recent emergence of a host of new therapies. Some physicians are cautious when prescribing levodopa because of its association with motor complications. Evidence now suggests that levodopa-associated complications are a result of deep troughs in delivery of levodopa to th...

Subacute thyroiditis (SAT) is a thyroid disease of viral or post-viral origin. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that began in Wuhan, China, has spread rapidly worldwide and Italy has been severely affected by this outbreak.

Subacute thyroiditis (SAT) is a thyroid disease of viral or post-viral origin. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that began in Wuhan, China, has spread rapidly worldwide and Italy has been severely affected by this outbreak.

In 2019, regular surveillance of 110 English-language research journals identified 254 studies that met the criteria to become POEMs (patient-oriented evidence that matters). Physician members of the Canadian Medical Association rated these POEMs for their relevance to patients in their practices. This article summarizes the clinical questions and bottom-line answers from the top 20 POEMs of 20...

By early April 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had infected nearly one million people and had spread to nearly all countries worldwide. It is essential to understand where and how SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted.

Evidence for the potential for airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-19 continues to accumulate, with important implications for healthcare workers, as well as the general public. Three lines of evidence support this conclusion. COVID-19

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which began in December 2019, is still ongoing in Korea, with >9,000 confirmed cases as of March 25, 2020. COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and real-time reverse transcription-PCR is currently the most reliable diagnostic method for COVID-19 around the world. Korean Society for Laborato...

CDC has developed a new laboratory test kit for use in testing patient specimens for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19. The test kit is called the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase (RT)-PCR Diagnostic Panel.” It is intended for use with the Applied Biosys...

May 18th, 2020 - In this meta-analysis that included 12 trials with 92 135 participants for the primary outcome measure, blood pressure lowering with antihypertensive agents, compared with control, was associated with the development of a composite dementia or cognitive impairment outcome in 7.0% vs 7.5% of patients over a mean trial follow-up of 4.1 years, a difference that was statistically significant.

Tobacco use and secondhand tobacco-smoke (SHS) exposure are major national and international health concerns. Pediatricians and other clinicians who care for children are uniquely positioned to assist patients and families with tobacco-use prevention and treatment. Understanding the nature and extent of tobacco use and SHS exposure is an essential first step toward the goal of eliminating toba...

May 29th, 2020 - Michael S. Hofman, MBBS, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses phase II results from the ANZUP 1603 trial, which showed that in men with docetaxel-treated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, LuPSMA was more active than cabazitaxel, with relatively fewer grade 3 and 4 adverse events and a more favorable PSA progression-free-survival (Abstract 5500).

May 29th, 2020 - David R. Wise, MD, PhD, of New York University Perlmutter Cancer Center, summarizes three important studies in prostate cancer: circulating tumor cell count as a prognostic marker of PSA response and progression in metastatic castration-sensitive disease; new phenotypic subtypes; and how circulating tumor DNA dynamics associate with treatment response and radiologic progression-free survival (A...

May 29th, 2020 - In a study of patients with early-stage cervical cancer presented by Balaya et al during the Gynecologic Cancer Oral Abstract Session of the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstract 6006), researchers assessed disease-free and disease-specific survival to determine whether sentinel lymph node biopsy alone was a valid standard of care, or if bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy—the current “gold ...

May 29th, 2020 - Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase III results of the BEACON CRC study, which confirmed that, compared with standard chemotherapy, encorafenib plus cetuximab with or without binimetinib improved overall survival and objective response rate in previously treated patients with BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer (Abstract 4001).

May 30th, 2020 - An extended course of imatinib increased OS among patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GIST, according to long-term study results presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.

Drunkorexia is a trend on the rise within the young adult population with significant physical, psychological, and social health implications. Many studies have investigated the link between Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) and both eating disorders and substance misuse. To date, no studies have specifically focused on EMS amongst those with Drunkorexia behaviours. The main objectives of this st...

Eating disorders (ED) are common, severe and prevalent in young women. They share common clinical, neurobiological and psychopathological processes with other addictive behaviors. Binge drinking is also a growing behavior among young people, creating major risks. In parallel to these existing disorders, we have seen the arrival of new clinical phenomenon called “drunkorexia”, which is of intere...

May 29th, 2020 - In an international trial, treatment with MK-6482, a small-molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2a, was well tolerated and resulted in clinical responses for patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease–associated renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

May 29th, 2020 - Fatima Cardoso, MD, of Lisbon’s Champalimaud Cancer Center, discusses the long-term results of MINDACT, a large prospective trial showing the clinical utility of the 70-gene signature MammaPrint for adjuvant chemotherapy decision-making. The primary distant metastasis–free survival endpoint at 5 years continued to be met in chemotherapy-untreated women with clinical-high/genomic-low risk diseas...

May 29th, 2020 - Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from the CALGB/SWOG 80702 trial of celecoxib plus standard adjuvant therapy with fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX). Adding celecoxib to standard chemotherapy did not significantly improve disease-free or overall survival (Abstract 4003).

May 28th, 2020 - In an analysis of the pivotal phase III HER2CLIMB trial to be reported at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, Nancy U. Lin, MD, and colleagues found that tucatinib, a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is highly selective for HER2, plus trastuzumab/capecitabine significantly improved central nervous system (CNS) progression-free survival, overall survival, and intracranial respons...

May 29th, 2020 - The final results of the randomized phase II ECOG-ACRIN E3311 trial were presented by Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, and colleagues during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstract 6500) and in today's Head and Neck Cancer Oral Abstract Session. The trial, conducted in patients undergoing transoral robotic surgery, tested reduced postoperative radiation therapy in patients with human papillom...

May 29th, 2020 - As reported at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program by Charles M. Rudin, MD, PhD, and colleagues (Abstract 9001), the phase III KEYNOTE-604 trial has shown that first-line pembrolizumab plus etoposide/platinum significantly prolonged progression-free survival and prolonged overall survival at a near significant level vs placebo plus etoposide/platinum in patients with extensive-stage small cel...

May 29th, 2020 - Shaji Kumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses findings from the ENDURANCE trial, which showed bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone should remain the standard of care in patients with newly diagnosed standard- or intermediate-risk multiple myeloma, for whom early autologous stem cell transplant is not intended (Abstract LBA3).

May 29th, 2020 - Nancy U. Lin, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the HER2CLIMB study of patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that had metastasized to the brain. Adding tucatinib to trastuzumab and capecitabine doubled the intracranial response rate and reduced the risk of death by nearly half, compared with trastuzumab plus capecitabine (Abstract 1005).

May 28th, 2020 - Data from the global TERAVOLT Consortium, which is investigating the impact of COVID-19 infection on patients with thoracic cancers, have found that these patients are at high risk for hospitalization and death. Prior use of chemotherapy was associated with an increased risk of mortality, as was the use of steroids or anticoagulants. Prior administration of immunotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy ...

May 27th, 2020 - Adjuvant osimertinib significantly improved disease-free survival compared with placebo in patients with stage IB to IIIA ­EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent complete resection of primary tumor and received chemotherapy if indicated. These results from the first interim analysis of the phase III ADAURA trial were reported at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program and f...

May 27th, 2020 - Maintenance therapy with avelu­mab and best supportive care significantly prolonged overall survival vs best supportive care alone in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma that did not progress on first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, according to an interim analysis of the phase III JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial. The survival benefit was observed among all patients enrolled in the trial, i...

May 29th, 2020 - Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of Yale Cancer Center, discusses data from the ADAURA study, which showed that compared with placebo, osimertinib as adjuvant therapy after complete tumor resection reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 79% in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (Abstract LBA5).

May 27th, 2020 - For the first time, upfront treatment with immunotherapy has improved—in fact, doubled—median progression-free survival in a subset of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The findings are from the interim analysis of the randomized open-label phase III KEYNOTE-177 trial comparing the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody pembrolizumab with standard-of-care chemotherapy.

May 28th, 2020 - DESKTOP III became the first phase III, prospective, randomized trial to show an association between improved overall survival (OS) and secondary cytoreductive surgery in women with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer (PSROC), offering hope for people with a condition that results in nearly 14,000 deaths annually. Data were presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstrac...

May 28th, 2020 - Participants in phase I oncology trials represent a patient population new to palliative care. These patients typically have remarkable symptoms, with a symptom burden comparable to other patients with cancer.1 Thomas J. Smith, MD, FASCO, of Johns Hopkins University, presented the results of a randomized trial evaluating a palliative care intervention (PCI) compared with usual care (UC) for pat...

May 28th, 2020 - The Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 1416 phase II trial was designed to compare the efficacy of the PARP inhibitor veliparib plus cisplatin versus cisplatin alone in patients with metastatic and/or locally recurrent triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) or BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutation–associated HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Priyanka Sharma, MD, of the University of Kansas Medical ...

May 28th, 2020 - Pembrolizumab monotherapy demonstrated a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit over brentuximab vedotin (BV) in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma, according to the results from the phase III international KEYNOTE-204 trial (Abstract 8005). Clinically meaningful improvement in PFS was observed in all subgroups tested, including patients who did not receive a...

May 28th, 2020 - In a randomized multicenter study, a strategy based on sentinel node biopsy (SNB) was equivalent to elective neck dissection (END) in the management of T1-T2N0 oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas, with comparable 2-year neck recurrence-free survival (RFS) and lower morbidity in year 1 after surgery (Abstract 6501). Renaud Garrel, MD, of CHU Montpellier, France, presented the results...

May 28th, 2020 - Once-weekly selinexor, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (SVd) for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM) significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall response rate (ORR) when compared with twice-weekly bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd), according to initial results from the phase III BOSTON trial (Abstract 8501).

May 28th, 2020 - CAR T-cell therapy with BCMA-targeting idecabtagene-vicleucel (ide-cel) resulted in deep and durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, according to phase II data from the KarMMa trial (Abstract 8503).

May 28th, 2020 - Teclistamab, a IgG-4 bispecific antibody targeting BCMA and CD3, appears to be safe in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to phase I data presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstract 100).

May 28th, 2020 - Donafenib significantly improved overall survival (OS) rates compared with sorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and did so with favorable safety and tolerability, according to a new study (Abstract 4506).

May 28th, 2020 - During the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, investigators of the ADJUVANT-CTONG 1104 trial first reported that postsurgical treatment with gefitinib conferred a significant 10.7-month improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) compared with standard doublet chemotherapy in patients with stage II-IIIA EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), thus meeting the primary study endpoint (HR 0.60, 95...

May 28th, 2020 - Although HER-targeted therapy represents a standard of care for many HER2-positive malignancies, data supporting its benefit for patients with early-stage HER2-overexpressing esophageal adenocarcinoma are lacking. Results of the RTOG 1010 trial demonstrated that adding trastuzumab both before and after chemoradiotherapy and surgery did not significantly improve disease-free survival (DFS) beyon...

May 28th, 2020 - Prospective evaluation of nearly 13,000 individuals with stage III colon cancer found minimal difference in 5-year overall survival (OS) with 3 versus 6 months of adjuvant CAPOX or FOLFOX for the majority of patients, according to the final results of the International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy (IDEA) collaboration (Abstract 4004). In contrast, the shorter treatment course pr...

May 28th, 2020 - A new merit award memorializing a remarkable man’s lifetime mission of mentorship is honoring a particularly appropriate inaugural recipient—Sondos Zayed, MD, an early-career resident clinical investigator at Western University, Canada.

May 28th, 2020 - Approximately half of deaths can be avoided with the use of 3 years of adjuvant imatinib in the first decade after surgery for high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), according to long-term data from the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group XVIII/German trial (Abstract 11503).

May 28th, 2020 - Exploratory analyses conducted in a subset of heavily pretreated patients with brain metastases enrolled on the HER2CLIMB trial found that tucatinib in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine reduces the risk of intracranial (IC) progression and death in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC; Abstract 1005). Nancy U. Lin, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, presented ...

May 28th, 2020 - The addition of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy yielded longer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) than TKI therapy alone in patients with EGFR-mutant oligometastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to an interim analysis of an open-label phase III trial presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Progr...

May 28th, 2020 - When patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) undergo intensive chemotherapy treatment, their quality of life (QoL) and mood are negatively affected. Areej El-Jawahri, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, presented the results of a multicenter study conducted in patients with AML to determine if integrated palliative and oncology care could improve QoL and other important aspects of patient...

May 28th, 2020 - Findings from the primary analysis of the KAITLIN trial suggest that replacement of adjuvant taxane with trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) does not improve survival or safety for patients with HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer (Abstract 500). However, both treatments demonstrated outstanding long-term invasive disease–free survival (iDFS) in a high-risk population. Study author Nadia Harbeck,...

May 28th, 2020 - Imaging with 18F-DCFPyL–PET/CT was found to be diagnostically effective, often guiding a change in treatment plan, in men with biochemically relapsed prostate cancer, according to the results of the phase III CONDOR study presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstract 5501).

May 28th, 2020 - Final survival results from three randomized, placebo-controlled trials, along with a safety analysis across all three, are helping to clarify the treatment landscape for nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC). The results will be presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.

May 28th, 2020 - Two studies presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program show the potential to de-escalate chemotherapy in the setting of dual HER2 blockade for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

May 19th, 2020 - In the phase III PROfound trial (NCT02987543), men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who had disease progression while receiving enzalutamide or abiraterone and who had homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene alterations demonstrated longer progression-free survival and better measures of response when treated with olaparib than enzalutamide or abiraterone.1 Now, t...

May 28th, 2020 - Immunoglobulin (Ig) gene rearrangements, expressed tumor mutation burden (TMB), tumor aneuploidy, and pre-existing T- and B-cell immunity may predict response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and subsequent prognosis in patients with advanced melanoma, according to a study (Abstract 10009) presented by Valsamo Anagnostou, MD, PhD, of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at...

May 19th, 2020 - Alice Yu, MD, PhD, of the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, will receive the 2020 Pediatric Oncology Award. The award, first presented in 2002, recognizes a pediatric oncologist who has demonstrated outstanding leadership or achievement in the field.

May 28th, 2020 - An interim analysis of the GAIN-2 study in patients with high-risk early-stage breast cancer indicated that the use of neoadjuvant/adjuvant intense, dose-dense epirubicin, nab-paclitaxel, and cyclophosphamide (iddEnPC) and dose-dense, dose-tailored epirubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by dose-dense, dose-tailored docetaxel (dtEC-dtD) were equivalent (Abstract 516).

May 12th, 2020 - Although chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has a relatively high 5-year survival rate (85% for people age 20 and older), effective treatments for advanced disease are still needed. Use of combination or monotherapy Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors has shown promise for people with CLL, with the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib now considered a standard of care for patients of any age. However,...

May 12th, 2020 - Higher prechemotherapy lymphocytes and lower neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were found to correlate with an increased risk of functional decline and reduced ability to regain baseline physical function in women with breast cancer in a recent study from the University of Rochester National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (Abstract 549). The study, which will be presented ...

May 12th, 2020 - A retrospective study examining the time since a patient quit smoking before a lung cancer diagnosis and the subsequent survival outcomes after the lung cancer diagnosis indicated that it is never too late to stop smoking (Abstract 1512). Among patients diagnosed with lung cancer who had quit smoking within 2 years of lung cancer diagnosis, risk of death from any cause was reduced by 12% when c...

May 12th, 2020 - Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive disease that is resistant to endocrine therapy and anti-HER2 molecular targeted treatments. However, results from a new study suggest that natural killer (NK) cells may be an effective alternative focus for future immune-based treatments to improve survival in patients with TNBC (Abstract 510).

May 12th, 2020 - Betty Ferrell, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN, calls it her “lightning bolt moment” when a gravely ill patient with cancer beseeched her for relief from his terrible pain—and set her on a lifetime of groundbreaking work in palliative care.

May 12th, 2020 - Results from the Dutch Pharmacology Oncology Group (DPOG) therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) study of pazopanib in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and soft tissue sarcoma (STS) demonstrated that pharmacokinetically guided dose optimization using cost-neutral interventions can be achieved in daily practice (Abstract 3598).

May 12th, 2020 - Despite robust efforts, no adjuvant systemic therapy has succeeded in prolonging overall survival beyond that achieved with surgery alone in patients with nonmetastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The phase III PROSPER RCC trial, along with similar studies, may well break that trend, ousting postsurgical surveillance as the current standard of care (Abstract TPS5101)

May 12th, 2020 - In pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who received prior blinatumomab exposure or inotuzumab ozogamicin as bridging therapy, treatment with tisagenlecleucel is associated with consistent adverse event and efficacy outcomes previously reported in the ELIANA trial, according to the results of the B2001X study (Abstract 10518).

May 12th, 2020 - A substantial proportion of Medicare patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) do not undergo a complete diagnostic evaluation (CDE), including a bone marrow biopsy, to confirm their disease (Abstract 7555).

May 12th, 2020 - Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, director of the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR-Mutant Lung Cancers, and director of the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Sciences at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has been named the 2020 Science of Oncology Award recipient for his career-long contributions to advancing therapies for lung cancer.

May 12th, 2020 - Combination pembrolizumab plus intermittent dabrafenib and trametinib was found to be more tolerable than continuous triple therapy in patients with melanoma harboring the BRAFV600 mutation, according to the latest results from the IMPemBra trial (Abstract 10021).

May 12th, 2020 - Augmented intelligence (AI) could help in the timely integration of palliative care into the treatment plan of patients with advanced cancer, according to a large community practice study (Abstract 12015).

May 30th, 2020 - Early initiation of locoregional treatment (LRT) of an intact primary tumor (IPT) in women with de novo stage IV metastatic breast cancer does not appear to prolong survival or improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) compared with systemic therapy alone, according to a new study (Abstract LBA2). Seema A. Khan, MD, of the Northwestern Memorial Hospital, presented these findings during the...

May 31st, 2020 - An allogeneic chimeric antigen T-cell therapy plus an anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody appeared safe for certain patients with large B-cell or follicular lymphoma, according to study data presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.

May 30th, 2020 - Axicabtagene ciloleucel induced a 93% response rate among patients with relapsed or refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to interim results of the phase 2 ZUMA-5 trial presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.

May 30th, 2020 - Axitinib significantly extended PFS among patients with recurred or metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma, according to results of a randomized phase 2 study presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.