Hematologic Oncology

Here we review monoclonal antibodies that have received FDA approval for the treatment of NHL and CLL in the last 5 years, as well as promising agents in development.

In a phase I trial, DT2219, the novel bispecific ligand-directed toxin, has shown activity against relapsed and refractory B-cell lymphoma and leukemia.

A 32-year-old man presents with malaise and fatigue. A bone marrow biopsy is performed. What is your diagnosis?

Treatment with carfilzomib and dexamethasone doubled the PFS in relapsed multiple myeloma patients compared with treatment with bortezomib and dexamethasone.

In patients with AML, post-therapy parameters including minimal residual disease and remission were found to be independent prognostic factors for outcomes.

Induction treatment for acute myeloid leukemia with amonafide L-malate/cytarabine failed to improve the rate of complete response over daunorubicin/cytarabine.

Multiple myeloma patients had better overall survival if they had prior knowledge of having monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.

Researchers have identified patient factors linked with the discontinuation of ibrutinib therapy for reasons other than disease progression.

The FDA has approved panobinostat (Farydak), in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone, for treating patients with multiple myeloma.

New data indicates that the order in which people acquired certain somatic mutations influenced several clinical features of myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The FDA has expanded the use of oral lenalidomide in multiple myeloma to include its use in combination with dexamethasone for newly diagnosed patients.

A new study suggests that cancer patients do not often request unnecessary and sometimes costly tests or treatments.

A new study finds that childhood cancer survivors are at risk for pituitary hormone deficiencies after radiotherapy treatment to the head.

Despite an association with improved survival, elderly DLBCL patients are less likely to receive standard-of-care chemotherapy with R-CHOP.

In two phase II trials, the protein synthesis inhibitor omacetaxine offered long-term efficacy in some patients with chronic-phase and accelerated-phase CML.

Researchers have shown that axitinib could be repurposed as a treatment for CML patients resistant to standard TKIs through a certain molecular mechanism.

A scoring system that measured frailty in elderly patients with multiple myeloma was able to accurately predict mortality and risk of toxicity.

The FDA has expanded the approved use of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) to include patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Using genome-wide association studies, researchers have identified a germline variant that is associated with intolerance to mercaptopurine in pediatric ALL.

In a recent study of pediatric ALL, minimal residual disease was able to predict patients who were at increased risk for relapse post-allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

The International Myeloma Working Group recently published a series of consensus statements discussing the use of MRI in the treatment of multiple myeloma.

Socioeconomic factors are reducing the use of combined-modality treatment for early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma, despite its association with increased survival.

In its Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer, ASCO has declared that the transformation in the treatment of patients with CLL is the “advance of the year.”

Long-term follow-up confirmed the previously reported result that intermittent administration of imatinib is safe and effective in CML patients.

A new trial reported improved overall survival in myeloma patients who received a higher bortezomib dose as part of a bortezomib/melphalan/prednisone regimen.

Despite the early trial termination due to safety concerns, an analysis suggests that ponatinib offers improved efficacy over imatinib in newly diagnosed CML.

Cigarette smoking is not a risk factor for multiple myeloma, according to the results of a pooled analysis of nine case-control studies.

Clonal hematopoiesis with somatic mutations is strongly associated with the risk of developing blood cancers, according to a new study.

According to a report, two courses of the newly approved agent blinatumomab, for relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor ALL, will cost a staggering $178,000.

The addition of daratumumab to traditional therapies used in the treatment of multiple myeloma was well tolerated and associated with high rates of responses.