Robust PSA Drops With Radionuclide Therapy in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
ORLANDO — An investigational radionuclide therapy targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) achieved biochemical responses in 70% of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) reductions in all but one patient, enrolled in a small preliminary clinical trial. Overall, 22 of 23 patients had some degree of PSA decline in response to fractionated […]
MRI-Targeted Biopsy for Prostate Cancer Reduces Risk of Overdiagnosis
Excluding systematic biopsy in favor of MRI-targeted biopsy in men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels reduced the probability of detecting clinically insignificant cancers, but at the risk of missing some clinically significant cancers and delaying their diagnosis, the randomized GÖTEBORG-2 trial from Sweden showed. Among nearly 18,000 participants, 0.6% of men who underwent MRI-targeted […]
At-Home Test Performance Declined During Omicron
The performance of certain at-home rapid antigen tests declined during Omicron, Dutch researchers found. From December 2021 to February 2022, sensitivities for three commonly used tests in the Netherlands dropped, though only the decline with Clinitest was statistically significant: Flowflex: 87% to 80.9% MPBio: 80% to 73% Clinitest: 83.1% to 70.3% Adding an oropharyngeal swab […]
New Insights Into Better Immunotherapy; Diabetes and Cancer; Skin Cancer Advice
In preclinical studies, a small-molecule activator of lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 showed potential for transforming “cold” tumors into “hot” ones that are more responsive to immunotherapy. (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Journal of Clinical Investigation) Helper T cells (CD4+) may have a bigger role in immune-system activity against cancer than previously recognized. (Washington […]
Just How Effective Is PSA Screening?
NEW ORLEANS — Prostate cancer screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood testing appears to have a more favorable benefit-to-harm trade-off than originally estimated, particularly among Black men, according to research presented here. Using the most conservative assumptions about the benefits of screening, investigators found that among men of all races, one death was prevented for […]
Genetic Score Shows Promise for Honing PSA Precision
NEW ORLEANS — Adjusting prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels for normal genetic variations showed potential for making PSA testing more useful, including reducing unnecessary prostate biopsies, a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) suggested. A “polygenic score” (PGS) that accounted for noncancerous variations in PSA values explained 7.3%-8.8% of the variation in baseline PSA values in two […]
How CAR T-Cell Therapy Measures Up in Follicular Lymphoma
In relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, treatment with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel, Yescarta) was associated with better outcomes compared with currently available therapies, a comparative analysis of the ZUMA-5 and SCHOLAR-5 trials suggested. Overall response rate (ORR) was higher, and both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were […]
Are the Right Men Getting Screened for Prostate Cancer?
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostate cancer increased after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended individual decision-making for men ages 55 to 69 in 2017, reversing its 2012 guidance that advised against PSA screening in all men. Now, a retrospective cohort study found that from 2016 to 2019 the overall mean rate of PSA […]
PSMA PET Plus MRI Better Detects Clinically Significant Prostate Cancers
MRI combined with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET improved the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer compared with MRI alone, and can potentially allow for a reduction in the number of biopsies needed for diagnosis, according to results from the PRIMARY trial. The combined approach demonstrated an increase in negative predictive value for detecting prostate […]
Bispecific Antibody Shows Promise in R/R Multiple Myeloma
Teclistamab, a bispecific antibody that binds B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and CD3 to redirect T cells to multiple myeloma cells, showed promising efficacy in patients with relapsed or refractory disease, according to results from a phase I study. Forty patients received the recommended phase II dose of subcutaneous teclistamab, which led to an overall response […]