Dave Levitan

Clinicians and patients now have several options for frontline management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia; exactly which option is preferred remains up for debate.

Helping patients through toxicities and discomfort from multiple myeloma and its therapies remains a challenge and must be addressed with supportive care practices.

The 5-year survival rate for relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia has been below 10%. Immunotherapies, however, are starting to challenge that paradigm.

Because of the high cure rate in early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma, reducing toxicity is a primary concern. One idea for doing so is a subject of ongoing research: is elimination of all radiotherapy in many of these patients a possibility?

As more and more new options come on the market, integrating them into proper management of multiple myeloma has become an important challenge.

The idea of determining the “cell of origin” in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and using it as a prognostic indicator or to guide treatment, remains somewhat controversial, but is there now a way that the cell of origin can be used?

Breast cancer tumors that are HER2-negative can spontaneously flip, with populations of circulating HER2-positive cells, suggesting treatment strategy.

Pneumonitis occurs in approximately 5% of cancer patients treated with anti–PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy agents.

A study found that the protein EZH2 is required for chronic myeloid leukemia initiating cells to survive. Inhibiting EZH2 could improve outcomes in TKI-resistant disease.

The gene known as β-Klotho (KLβ) appears to play an important role in tumor invasion and progression in patients with bladder cancer, and urine KLβ levels may act as a useful biomarker, according to a new study.

The addition of palifosfamide to doxorubicin failed to improve survival in a phase III trial of patients with metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma.

A set of genes that are more likely to be mutated in African-Americans vs Caucasians with colorectal cancer appears to increase the risk of metastases and relapse in mutant versions.

Patients with non-urothelial bladder cancer are more commonly upstaged during surgery compared with urothelial cancers.

The FDA issued a recommendation against the use of any currently available screening tests for ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer mortality rates declined significantly in several parts of the world from 2002 to 2012, according to a new study. Among the main reasons for the decline is the use of oral contraceptives, particular in the United States and European Union.

Over a 10-year period, the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy increased significantly in women with advanced ovarian cancer, according to a new observational study.

Survivors of childhood cancers are at significantly increased risk of cardiotoxicity if treated with anthracyclines, according to a new review of the literature.

PSA failure in men with localized, intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer was associated with increased all-cause mortality in only those patients with no or minimal comorbidity.

A model based on a series of PSA tests can predict the time to relapse in prostate cancer patients who underwent radical prostatectomy, according to a new study.

Data from the large, population-based EUTOS registry showed strong survival outcomes in patients with CML, and validated risk scores as prognostic of outcome.

HIV infection significantly decreases survival among women with invasive cervical cancer, according to a study conducted in Botswana. This was the case even though most women with HIV received antiretroviral therapy.

Functional imaging using FDG-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) was able to predict response to treatment in Ewing sarcoma patients, and was superior to other anatomic imaging criteria.

Using updated FISH guidelines yields more women with breast cancer who may be eligible for HER2-directed therapy.

Using a 70-gene signature test could identify many women with early-stage breast cancer considered to be at high clinical risk who do not actually need chemotherapy.

The incidence of early-stage prostate cancer in men 50 years and older continued a decline reported earlier, with lower rates in 2013 compared to 2012. This is a likely result of the October 2011 recommendation from the USPSTF against routine PSA testing in all men.

A study found that fusobacteria, commonly found in the mouth, can enrich colorectal cancer cells, in a process mediated by the Fap2 protein.

A largely self-administered comprehensive geriatric assessment can be used to create a deficit-accumulation frailty index in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Alisertib yielded promising progression-free survival in advanced/metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma patients, though it did not meet its primary response rate endpoint.

A propensity score–matched comparison of two phase II trials found that dasatinib and nilotinib offer similar responses and outcomes as first-line therapy for patients with chronic-phase CML.

Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) is associated with shortened survival in African American men with favorable-risk prostate cancer, according to a new study. The results suggest ADT should be reserved for men with higher risk disease.