THYROID CANCERS

General Cancer

An updated systematic review and new meta-analysis of the incidence of subsequent malignant neoplasms following thyroid cancer has found that there was no significant increased relative risk of breast cancer, salivary cancer, or combined hematologic malignancies based on whether or not patients had received radioactive iodine.

Andrew Turk, MD, discusses the importance of discussing thyroid cancer at major meetings, such as the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. It is important for physicians to keep up to date on the latest advancements for treatment options and new understandings of the disease and its subtypes.

In an interview with <em>Targeted Oncology</em>, Andrew Turk, MD, discussed his presentation at the&nbsp;<em>3rd Annual</em> Congress on Oncology and Pathology as well as the current state of molecular testing for thyroid cancer and the future of testing and diagnostics.

The RET inhibitor BLU-667 induced durable responses in patients with advanced, <em>RET-</em>altered medullary thyroid cancer and papillary thyroid cancer, according to updated results of the ARROW trial focused on the patients with thyroid cancer that were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Significant activity was observed when ibrutinib was administered concurrently with CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy compared with separately in patients with&nbsp;high-risk relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia who had progressed on or were intolerant of ibrutinib.&nbsp;Data presented at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma show a high response rate with this concurrent treatment.&nbsp;

The American Cancer Society, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Baptist Cancer Center, and the Mayo Clinic report&nbsp;that treatment patterns varied markedly by cancer type and care facility setting for patients with de novo metastatic disease who died within 1 month after diagnosis, based on an analysis of data from 100,848 patients collected from the National Cancer Database, a hospital-based cancer registry that captures 70% of patients in the United States with a new diagnosis.

The FDA recently released 5 new draft guidance documents that promote broader patient eligibility for cancer clinical trials. The policies encourage inclusion of certain individuals who were previously disqualified due to medical conditions or biological factors, including brain metastases, organ dysfunction, prior or concurrent malignancies, chronic infections, and age.

A cohort of cancer centers was selected to serve as models for identifying key strategies for racial and ethnic minority group engagement in clinical trials. On the basis of several qualifying criteria, such as sustained accrual of minorities into clinical cancer research, an established minority population &ge;10% in the overall catchment, an established clinical trial infrastructure, and a formal community outreach program, the investigators identified 8 cancer centers for participation.

In a case-based-style discussion, Tanios S. Bekaii-Saab, MD, and Wells Messersmith, MD, reviewed the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer whose tumors express rare gene mutations or molecular signatures, such as <em>NTRK</em> fusions.

According to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, cancer death rates have declined in men, women, and children across all cancer types, and have continued to decline between 1999 and 2016. In a special section of this year&rsquo;s report, however, data show that both cancer incidence and death rates were higher in women aged 20 to 49 compared to male counterparts.

Patients with aggressive papillary thyroid cancer may be good candidates for treatment with anti&ndash;PD-(L)1 immunotherapy due to elevated levels of serum PD-L1, according to findings from a new study presented during the 2019 AACR-AHNS Head and Neck Cancer Conference.

Rozita Yarmand, PhD,&nbsp;discusses the take home message from the current research&nbsp;in medullary thyroid cancer.

Rozita Yarmand, PhD, discusses the rationale for investigating ONC201 in patients with medullary thyroid cancer and the toxicity profile that has been seen with this small molecule in mouse models and in other tumor types.

The FDA has granted P-BCMA-101 with an orphan drug designation for the treatment of patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma.

R. Michael Tuttle, MD, discusses the outcomes from a 2-day interactive meeting which brought together thryoid cancer experts across 4 organizations and 8 countries to discuss the use of radioactive iodine therapy, including the development of 9 principles for the optimal management of patients.

David S. Hong, MD, discusses the potential for other TRK inhibitors in the treatment landscape for patients with thyroid cancer after the approval of larotrectinib.

Maria E. Cabanillas, MD, discusses some of the ongoing thyroid cancer clinical trials at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, as well as other promising research on the horizon across all subtypes of the disease.

David Goldenberg, MD, FACS, discusses possible risk factors associated with thyroid cancer, including a retrospective analysis that looked at the effect of radiation exposure.

A discussion between&nbsp;regulators and special interest groups has cooled some of the excitement generated by the emergence of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for treating hematologic cancers.

In the absence of biological or molecular predictive markers, tumor volume doubling time is a good indicator for predicting the growth rate of papillary thyroid carcinomas during active surveillance, according to findings from a single-center cohort study recently published in <em>Thyroid</em>.

Before a community oncology practice considers getting involved in clinical trials research, there are many factorsto consider. Perhaps foremost is the fact that cancer clinical trials provide the evidence base for new advances in oncology.&nbsp;

Artificial intelligence has made inroads in many industries&mdash;banking, finance, security&mdash;but its adoption in healthcare has been lagging and real-world clinical implementation has yet to become a reality. Nonetheless, proponents say it is only a matter of time and pilot programs are starting to yield some practical results.&nbsp;

Frederick L. Locke, MD, discusses how chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies have evolved over the last 30 years of research in the field of hematologic malignancies.

The success of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy observed in hematologic malignancies has not yet translated into the solid tumor setting; however, efforts continue to try to bring this new modality into the treatment paradigm for solid tumors, including pancreatic cancer.&nbsp;

Recently published data from a retrospective study suggest that patients with thyroid cancer who have T-cell lymphopenia are more likely to have aggressive tumors. Investigators believe this information can be used to identify potential therapeutic targets in these patients.