Management of cancer-associated anemia with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents: ASCO/ASH clinical practice guideline update.

Purpose: To update the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/American Society of Hematology (ASH) recommendations for use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) in patients with cancer.

Methods: PubMed and the Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses of RCTs in patients with cancer published from January 31, 2010, through May 14, 2018. For biosimilar ESAs, the literature search was expanded to include meta-analyses and RCTs in patients with cancer or chronic kidney disease and cohort studies in patients with cancer due to limited RCT evidence in the cancer setting.

Treatment of Multiple Myeloma: ASCO and CCO Joint Clinical Practice Guideline.

Purpose: To provide evidence-based recommendations on the treatment of multiple myeloma to practicing physicians and others.

Methods: ASCO and Cancer Care Ontario convened an Expert Panel of medical oncology, surgery, radiation oncology, and advocacy experts to conduct a literature search, which included systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, and some phase II studies published from 2005 through 2018. Outcomes of interest included survival, progression-free survival, response rate, and quality of life.

Real-Time Temperature Mapping in Ultra-Low Freezers as a Standard Quality Assessment.

Adequate preservation of biospecimens has been proven to be critical to obtain reliable and reproducible results in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and many other assays. Most biological assays can be performed on specimens preserved in -80°C ultra-low freezers, but their quality can be influenced by temperature variability within storage units. Thus, regulatory standards such as those from the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, and standards from the Food and Drug Administration require temperature mapping, a standard quality assessment for accreditation when using ultra-low freezers for long-term biospecimen storage.

Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities, Version 1.2019.

The aim of the NCCN Guidelines for Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities is to provide guidance on the management of immune-related adverse events resulting from cancer immunotherapy. The NCCN Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities Panel is an interdisciplinary group of representatives from NCCN Member Institutions and ASCO, consisting of medical and hematologic oncologists with expertise in a wide array of disease sites, and experts from the fields of dermatology, gastroenterology, neuro-oncology, nephrology, emergency medicine, cardiology, oncology nursing, and patient advocacy. Several panel representatives are members of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, Version 1.2019.

The NCCN Guidelines for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma discuss the diagnosis and management of adenocarcinomas of the exocrine pancreas and are intended to assist with clinical decision-making. These NCCN Guidelines Insights discuss important updates to the 2019 version of the guidelines, focusing on postoperative adjuvant treatment of patients with pancreatic cancers.

Activity of brentuximab vedotin in AIDS-related primary effusion lymphoma.

Brentuximab vedotin is active in primary effusion lymphoma, a rare CD30-positive lymphoma with an extremely poor prognosis.

On-target Resistance to the Mutant-Selective EGFR Inhibitor Osimertinib Can Develop in an Allele-Specific Manner Dependent on the Original EGFR-Activating Mutation.

Purpose: The third-generation EGFR inhibitor, osimertinib, is the first mutant-selective inhibitor that has received regulatory approval for the treatment of patients with -mutant lung cancer. Despite the development of highly selective third-generation inhibitors, acquired resistance remains a significant clinical challenge. Recently, we and others have identified a novel osimertinib resistance mutation, G724S, which was not predicted in screens.

Applying behavioral theory to understand fertility consultation uptake after cancer.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the association between theoretical constructs from the Health Belief Model and fertility consultation status after cancer.

Methods: Reproductive-aged female cancer survivors self-reported their use of fertility consultation, perceived severity of and susceptibility to infertility, perceived barriers to and effectiveness of fertility consultation, and cues to action from family/peers and doctors, as well as demographics and cancer characteristics. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between theoretical constructs and fertility consultation status.

TP53 mutation status divides myelodysplastic syndromes with complex karyotypes into distinct prognostic subgroups.

Risk stratification is critical in the care of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Approximately 10% have a complex karyotype (CK), defined as more than two cytogenetic abnormalities, which is a highly adverse prognostic marker. However, CK-MDS can carry a wide range of chromosomal abnormalities and somatic mutations.

Metaplastic breast cancers: Genomic profiling, mutational burden and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.

Metaplastic breast cancer (MPBC) is a rare subtype that accounts for <1% of all breast cancers. Although these are typically "triple negative," they are relatively chemotherapy-refractory compared to conventional triple negative invasive breast cancers with more aggressive features and an overall poor prognosis. MPBC is a heterogeneous group of tumors that are enriched for TP53 and PIK3CA mutations, and have been found to have high PD-L1 expression though the mechanisms underlying its immunogenicity remain unclear.

Immunological and classical subtypes of oral premalignant lesions.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a major cause of cancer-associated morbidity and mortality and may develop from oral premalignant lesions (OPL). An improved molecular classification of OPL may help refining prevention strategies. We identified two main OPL gene-expression subtypes, named immunological and classical, in 86 OPL (discovery dataset).

AACR White Paper: Shaping the Future of Cancer Prevention - A Roadmap for Advancing Science and Public Health.

The recent pace, extent, and impact of paradigm-changing cancer prevention science has been remarkable. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) convened a 3-day summit, aligned with five research priorities: (i) Precancer Atlas (PCA). (ii) Cancer interception.

Long-term Follow-up on NRG Oncology RTOG 0915 (NCCTG N0927): A Randomized Phase 2 Study Comparing 2 Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Schedules for Medically Inoperable Patients With Stage I Peripheral Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose: To present long-term results of RTOG 0915/NCCTG N0927, a randomized lung stereotactic body radiation therapy trial of 34 Gy in 1 fraction versus 48 Gy in 4 fractions.

Methods And Materials: This was a phase 2 multicenter study of patients with medically inoperable non-small cell lung cancer with biopsy-proven peripheral T1 or T2 N0M0 tumors, with 1-year toxicity rates as the primary endpoint and selected failure and survival outcomes as secondary endpoints. The study opened in September 2009 and closed in March 2011.

What biologic factors predict for transformation to AML?

Transformation of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) into secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML) is defined by an arbitrary boundary of ≥20% bone marrow blasts but does not necessarily reflect a defined biological transition. The more obvious distinction lies between MDS patients that have an isolated bone marrow failure phenotype and those with excess blasts. Subtyping of MDS might be more accurately stratified into clonal cytopenias and oligoblastic leukemias, using the degree of dysplasia and blast percentage as risk features, respectively, rather than as diagnostic criteria.

STAT3 antisense oligonucleotide AZD9150 in a subset of patients with heavily pretreated lymphoma: results of a phase 1b trial.

Background: The Janus kinase (JAK) and signal transduction and activation of transcription (STAT) signaling pathway is an attractive target in multiple cancers. Activation of the JAK-STAT pathway is important in both tumorigenesis and activation of immune responses. In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the transcription factor STAT3 has been associated with aggressive disease phenotype and worse overall survival.

Radiation Therapy Combined With Checkpoint Blockade Immunotherapy for Metastatic Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma of the Maxillary Sinus With a Complete Response.

Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) of the maxillary sinus is an extremely rare malignancy of the head and neck. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for UPS; however, proximity to vital structures makes it challenging to achieve negative surgical margins. Adjuvant therapy including radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy is generally indicated.

The Marriage Between Genomics and Immunotherapy: Mismatch Meets Its Match.

This commentary evaluates the immune‐genomic connection.

Analysis of Circulating Tumor DNA and Clinical Correlates in Patients with Esophageal, Gastroesophageal Junction, and Gastric Adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: Esophageal, gastroesophageal junction, and gastric adenocarcinoma (herein gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas) are associated with poor prognosis and limited systemic treatment options. To further understand the genomic landscape of gastroesophageal cancers and its clinical correlations, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from patients' plasma was evaluated using next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Experimental Design: We analyzed genomic alterations of 55 patients (mostly advanced disease; 9, surgically resectable) with gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas using clinical-grade NGS performed on plasma-derived ctDNA (54-73 gene panel).

Development of a yeast-based system to identify new hBRAFV600E functional interactors.

BRAFV600E is a mutant Ser-Thr protein kinase that plays a crucial role in many types of cancer, including melanoma. Despite several aspects of BRAFV600E biology have been already elucidated, the proteins that regulate its expression and activity remain largely unknown, hampering our capacity to control its unrestrained effects. Here, we propose yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system that can be used to achieve a better understanding of the regulation of human BRAFV600E.

Advanced basal cell cancer: concise review of molecular characteristics and novel targeted and immune therapeutics.

Metastatic basal cell carcinoma is an ultra-rare manifestation of a common disease, appearing in 0.0028%-0.5% of basal cell carcinomas.