Articles related to Hematology/Oncology

Publication: Blood Key Points: The authors identified the following four prognostic indicators that could help control CNS relapse in children with ALL. 1) Prephase dexamethasone treatment, 2) delayed intrathecal therapy, 3) use of total intravenous anesthesia during intrathecal therapy, and 4) flow cytometry examination of diagnostic CSF Design: 7,640 consecutive patients treated on Chinese Children’s Cancer Group ALL-2015 protocol

Pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is the most common malignancy seen in children and adolescents and young adults (AYAs). This article highlights two recent studies that provide novel evidence of the association between obesity and increased risk of high-risk B-ALL and the effectiveness of a non-pharmacologic intervention for reducing minimal residual disease (MRD) risk.

The investigational new drug (IND) application is for GDX012, which also received an FDA orphan drug designation for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The drug’s manufacturer, GammaDelta Therapeutics, is developing the T-cell platform in partnership with Takeda and will initiate a phase I study in late 2021 that will evaluate the treatment’s safety and activity in patients with measurable residual disease-positive AML.

An update from the original ASCO guideline on this topic published in 2012, 60 studies, primarily retrospective, were included in the review. New to this version of the guideline, the Panel offers recommendations on approved doses of immunotherapy and targeted therapies that can be offered to obese patients with cancer.

In this issue of JAMA Oncology, two groups investigate the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, by proxy of antibody assays, in patients with solid malignant neoplasms who were undergoing active cancer therapy. With the concern that patients with cancer may not mount a robust protective immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination, the studies attempt to discover what seropositivity can tell us.

Despite the pandemic interrupting trials and drug development in 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims it is “full speed ahead” on the approval of novel cancer drug therapies. The authors of this Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study wanted to verify these remarks, reviewing the FDA Hematology/Oncology Approvals website to ascertain all hematology/oncology drugs approved in 2020.