Posted: October 2018 With complete remissions seen in up to 90% of patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a breakthrough therapy designation in multiple myeloma, and a first-of-its-kind approval for children and young adults with ALL, CAR-T cells have transformed the treatment landscape for hematologic malignancies. Progress in solid tumors, however, has been considerably…

By Caroline Dive, CBE, PhD, FMedSci, and Kris Frese, PhD Posted: August 2018 Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is aggressive, disseminates early, and has a dismal prognosis.1 Its genomic landscape which reveals little in the way of obvious druggable targets, presents a significant challenge. One obstacle to a more comprehensive understanding of the biology and…

By Joy Curzio Posted: August 2018 Liquid biopsy is a powerful tool that can determine a patient’s molecular tumor profile and aid diagnosis, as well as therapeutic choices. Liquid biopsy can be applied as an alternative to tissue testing in cases where tumor testing is not possible or tissue is not adequate for multiple cancer…

By Hedy L. Kindler, MD Posted: August 2018 The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has issued its first-ever clinical practice guidelines on the management of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), based on a systematic review of the medical literature.1 This comprehensive guideline consists of 63 recommendations on the diagnosis, staging, chemotherapy treatment, surgical…

By Rachel Rosenthal, PhD, MSc, andCharles Swanton, FRCP, BSc, PhD Posted: June 2018 An evolving tumor and the immune system continuously adapt to each other. As a tumor develops increasing numbers of somatic alterations and disregulated genes, it must also find ways to avoid immune detection and elimination by activated immune cells.1 One route to…

By Gregory J. Riely, MD Posted: June 2018 The changes seen in the 2018 update of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) for the treatment of patients with NSCLC reflect the rapid and significant progress we have observed in the treatment of lung cancer over the past 12…

Editor’s Note: The following was written on behalf of the IASLC Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee. The IASLC Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee (SPFC) proposed revisions to the lung cancer staging system for the 8th edition of the TNM Classification of Malignant Tumors. The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the American Joint Committee…

By Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD Posted: June 2018 The Lung Master Protocol Trial (Lung-MAP) was designed in 2014 as a phase II/III trial overseen by a private–public collaboration among institutions participating in the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) National Clinical Trials Network, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), patient advocacy organizations, and numerous pharmaceutical…

By Anna Farago, MD, PhD Posted: June 2018 Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for approximately 15% of all new lung cancer diagnoses in the United States. Approximately 30% of patients with newly diagnosed SCLC have limited-stage (LS) disease based on the Veterans’ Administration Lung Study Group staging system; this means that the radiographically evident…

Biosimilars have proven themselves to the U.S. FDA, but clinicians are still wary. By Leah K. Lawrence Posted: June 2018 Healthcare providers are more than familiar with the use of brand name and generic drugs, but the passage of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation (BPCI) Act of 2009 introduced a new player in the…