Happy Holidays - Grey Horizon posts will resume week of January 4, 2022

 Dear all Grey Horizon readers, 

Thank you for your support over the past year.  Blog postings will resume the week of January 4, 2022. 

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a healthy New Year! 

Immunogenicity of COVID-19 MRNA-based vaccine in patients with actively treated solid malignancies

 Results from the Vax-On study of mRNA-BNT 162b2 immunogenicity in cancer patients with solid malignancies receiving treatment indicates that "seroconversion response...remains adequate even 5 months after the second COVID-19 vaccine dose."  According to Dr. Fabrizio Nelli of the Department of Oncology and Haematology at the Hospital of Belcolle in Viterbo, Italy, provide evidence in favour of cancer patients receiving a third dose of vaccine.  

To read more about the Vax-On study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Nelli F, Fabbri A, Onorato A, et al. Six-months immunogenicity of COVID-19 mRNA-BNT162b2 vaccine in actively treated cancer patients: Updated results of the Vax-On study. Annals of Oncology; Published online 9 December 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2021.12.001

Two years of adjuvant Palbociclib added to endocrine therapy does not improve outcomes in early breast cancer

 Results of a phase III trial, the Palbociclib CoLlaborative Adjuvant Study (PALLAS), presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), December 7-10, 2021, "does not show significant improvements in survival endpoints for the addition of Palbociclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy over endocrine therapy alone in patients with early hormone receptor-positive, HER-2 negative breast cancer."  Further, the trial unveiled that nearly half (44.9%) of patients were not able to complete the full 2 years of Palbociclib treatment due to neutropenia.  

To read more about the results of this trial, click here. 

Study mentioned: Gnant M, Dueck AC, Frantal S, et al. Adjuvant Palbociclib for Early Breast Cancer: The PALLAS Trial Results (ABCSG-42/AFT-05/BIG-14-03). JCO; Published online 7 December 2021. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02554

Clinical trial alert: Significant interaction between chemotherapy benefit and menopausal status in invasive disease-free survival

 

Findings of the RxPONDER clinical trial, a study led by Dr. Kevin Kalinsky of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, USA were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  RxPONDER (a clinical trial RX for positive node, endocrine responsive breast cancer), "randomly assigned participants [~5000 women] with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, 1 to 3 positive axillary lymph nodes (nodal stage N1), and a recurrence score of 25 or lower to endocrine therapy only or to chemoendocrine therapy."  After a period of 5 years, the study determined that the relative chemotherapy benefit did not increase as the recurrence score increased. 

To read more about this trial, click here. 

Study mentioned: Kalinsky K, Barlow WE, Gralow JR, et al. 21-Gene Assay to Inform Chemotherapy Benefit in Node-Positive Breast Cancer. NEJM; Published online 1 December 2021. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2108873