Every week, the editors of Cancer Today magazine bring you the top news for cancer patients from around the internet. Stay up to date with the latest in cancer research and care by subscribing to our e-newsletter.

Report Lauds Cancer Progress and Identifies Work To Be Done

In many ways, the news is good: Between 1991 and 2021, cancer-related deaths in the U.S. decreased by 33%. New treatments, including immunotherapy and targeted treatments, are helping to extend the lives of many people with cancer. And public health campaigns and cancer screening initiatives have reduced the incidence of many types of cancer. But the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024, released by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) on Sept. 18, also noted ongoing challenges, including the delivery of equitable care to all communities and the difficulty of treating some childhood and young adult cancers. (The AACR also publishes Cancer Today.) According to the report, approximately 40% of cancers are caused by modifiable risk factors, such as inactivity and poor eating habits. The New York Times highlighted data from the report that revealed an increased risk of alcohol-related cancers among young adults. “Fifty-one percent of people—or more than half—do not know that alcohol increases your risk of cancer. That’s concerning,” said Jane Figueiredo, an epidemiologist at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, in the Times. Figueiredo was a member of the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024 steering committee. In another article covering the AACR report, the Times related how 13% of cancer cases around the globe are linked to bacterial or viral infections. Yet prevention, including efforts such as increasing adoption of the HPV vaccine, remains a challenge even in wealthy countries like the United States. “The human papillomavirus vaccine is really underutilized, and we’re seeing rates of cervical cancer and oral cancer related to HPV go up. We, as the U.S., do a really bad job of vaccinating against HPV compared to other high-income countries,” said Céline Gounder, an editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News and CBS medical contributor, in a CBS article.

Kisqali Fends Off Recurrence in Early-stage Breast Cancer

After completing treatment for early-stage breast cancer, people often take hormone therapy, such as an aromatase inhibitor, to reduce the chance of their cancer returning. But those who want to reduce their recurrence risk further may have an additional option. On Sept. 17, the Food and Drug Administration approved Kisqali (ribociclib) in combination with an aromatase inhibitor for stage II and III hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The new approval was based on data from the NATALEE trial, which included more than 5,000 patients with early-stage HR-positive HER2-negative disease. The patients were equally divided into two groups that took hormone therapy either with or without Kisqali. At four years, 88.5% of those taking Kisqali with hormone therapy were alive without a cancer recurrence versus 83.6% who took hormone therapy alone, according to an updated analysis presented this week at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Barcelona. Kisqali, first approved by the FDA in 2017 to treat metastatic breast cancer, is the second CDK 4/6 inhibitor to be approved to reduce recurrence after treatment for earlier-stage breast cancer. Verzenio (abemaciclib) received FDA approval on March 3, 2023, for patients with early-stage hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, but only in cases where cancer is found in the lymph nodes.

Immunotherapy Extends Remissions After Bladder Cancer Surgery

New findings, published Sept. 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the immunotherapy drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) can extend the time that people who have surgery for bladder cancer live without their disease progressing. The study included 702 patients with high-risk bladder cancer who had surgery to remove their bladders, a standard-of-care treatment for people whose cancer has invaded nearby muscle. About half of the patients on the trial received Keytruda for a year after surgery, while the other half were monitored without further treatment. Patients who received Keytruda remained cancer-free for a median of about 30 months versus 14 months for those who were monitored after surgery, according to a Sept. 18 HealthDay article. Responses were more likely in those whose cancer tested positive for PD-L1, a protein found on cancer cells that is known to thwart the immune system. Keytruda blocks this interaction, allowing the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. In the study, patients with tumors that tested positive for the PD-L1 protein remained cancer-free for a median of 36.9 months with Keytruda, compared with 21 months for those with PD-L1-positive tumors who were not given the drug. For those with PD-L1-negative tumors, cancer was kept at bay for a median of 17.3 months in patients given Keytruda and just 9 months in those who weren’t. “Extending the time that these patients are cancer-free makes a big difference in their quality of life,” Andrea Apolo, an author on the trial and a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, said in the HealthDay article.