Citations

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) provide recommendations for the treatment of patients with NSCLC, including diagnosis, primary disease management, surveillance, and subsequent treatment. The panel has updated the list of recommended targeted therapies based on recent FDA approvals and clinical data. This selection from the NCCN Guidelines for NSCLC focuses on treatment recommendations for advanced or metastatic NSCLC with actionable biomarkers.

These NCCN Guidelines for Distress Management discuss the identification and treatment of psychosocial problems in patients with cancer. They are intended to assist oncology teams to identify patients who require referral to psychosocial resources and to give oncology teams guidance on interventions for patients with significant distress. These guidelines also provide guidance for social workers, certified chaplains, and mental health professionals by describing treatments and interventions for various psychosocial problems as they relate to patients with cancer. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel’s most recent recommendations regarding standards of care for distress management in patients with cancer and implementation of these standards, including application of evidence-based care delivery models, such as the collaborative care model.

Abstract Background: Adhering to 2018 World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)/American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) Cancer Prevention Recommendations is reportedly associated with better survival among long-term colon cancer survivors (likely affected by immortal time bias). Thus, it is important to validate survival benefits by assessing adherence shortly after diagnosis, and further investigation is needed to examine its association with chemotherapy outcomes. Methods: Using an NCI-sponsored adjuvant chemotherapy trial conducted in patients with stage III colon cancer (CALGB/SWOG 80702; NCT01150045), we included 1,666 patients who returned valid Willett food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) at chemotherapy initiation and derived WCRF/AICR scores accordingly (higher score suggesting higher adherence). The primary outcome was disease-free survival (time from FFQ completion to recurrence or death), and secondary outcomes were reduced relative dose intensity (RDI; <85% suggesting worse completion) and severe toxicities (grade ≥3 for any chemotherapy-related toxicity). To estimate the associations of WCRF/AICR scores (quartiles) with survival and chemotherapy outcomes, we conducted multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression for disease-free survival and multivariable logistic regression for reduced RDI and severe toxicities. Results: Compared to those in the lowest quartile of the WCRF/AICR score, patients in the highest quartile had significantly better disease-free survival (hazard ratio: 0.75 [0.58, 0.98], Ptrend = 0.02) and lower risk of reduced RDI (odds ratio [OR]: 0.74 [0.54, 1.00], Ptrend = 0.03), but not for severe toxicities (OR: 1.24 [0.93, 1.67], Ptrend = 0.11). Conclusions: In patients with stage III colon cancer, higher adherence to WCRF/AICR recommendations was associated with better survival and chemotherapy completion, but not for severe toxicities. Funding: https://acknowledgments.alliancefound.org Citation Format: En Cheng, Chao Ma, Qian Shi, Anthony F. Shields, Peter T. Campbell, Ardaman P. Shergill, Katherine A. Guthrie, Felix Couture, Philip Kuebler, Pankaj Kumar, Benjamin Tan, Smitha S. Krishnamurthi, Kimmie Ng, Eileen M. O'Reilly, Justin C. Brown, Philip A. Philip, Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt. Associations of WCRF/AICR recommendations with survival and chemotherapy outcomes in colon cancer: CALGB/SWOG 80702 (Alliance) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 5038.

Abstract Background: Deletions in MTAP occur in 10-15% of cancers and are associated with poor prognosis. MTAP deletion (MTAPdel) leads to accumulation of MTA which causes partial inhibition of PRMT5, creating a synthetic lethality approach with PRMT5 inhibitors. Multiple investigational MTA-cooperative PRMT5 inhibitors have demonstrated early clinical efficacy in MTAPdel NSCLC and other cancers. MTAPdel, PRMT5 expression, and clinical outcomes to standard of care immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and chemotherapy (chemo) have not been well characterized. Methods: The Tempus Lens Platform (Tempus AI, Inc., Chicago, IL) was used to query the Tempus multimodal de-identified database and establish and subsequently analyze a cohort of patients (pts)with NSCLC and DNA (Tempus xT) and RNA (Tempus xR) testing, treated with front-line (1L) ICI with or without chemo (N=3,676). PRMT5 expression was normalized as transcripts per million (TPM) and reported as log2(TPM + 1). Pts were classified into high vs low groups based on median PRMT5 expression and into MTAPdel vs intact (MTAPwt) based on MTAP biallelic loss. Immune infiltration was estimated using Quantiseq. Real-world overall survival (rwOS) was defined as the time from 1L start to death or last known follow-up. Real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS) was defined as the time from 1L start to death, progression or last known follow-up. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models and adjusted for age, sex, histology, smoking status and PDL1 status. Results: PRMT5 expression was moderately increased in pts with MTAPdel (6.65 v 6.70, p=0.012). Alterations in MYC, SMARCA4 and KEAP1 were enriched in PRMT5-high tumors in both MTAPdel and MTAPwt pts (p<0.03). Pts with PRMT5-high tumors had decreased infiltrate of multiple immune cells, including B cells, macrophages (M1 and M2), NK cells, CD4 and CD8 T cells (p<0.001). Pts with MTAPdel/PRMT5-high expression had shorter rwOS compared to MTAPwt/PRMT5-low when treated with ICI alone (HR 1.58, 95% CI 1.11-2.24, p=0.011) or with ICI + chemo (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.34-2.03, p<0.001). These associations persisted on multivariate analysis. Pts with MTAPdel/PRMT5-high expression were also associated with worse rwPFS when treated with ICI + chemo (HR 1.5, 95% CI 1.22-1.86, p<0.001) on univariate and multivariate analysis, but did not associate with rwPFS in pts treated with ICI alone (HR=0.97, 95% CI 0.66-1.42, p=0.9). Conclusion: PRMT5 expression defines an immune suppressed subpopulation of pts with NSCLC. Pts with elevated PRMT5 expression and MTAPdel have poor outcomes with ICI+/- chemo, indicating PRMT5 RNA expression levels can be used to inform clinical trial designs, particularly those that are testing novel combinatorial strategies. Citation Format: Natalie Vokes, Stamatina Fragkogianni, Pooja A. Shah, Santiago G. Trevino, Konstantinos Leventakos, Lei Deng, Matthew Lee, Tali Azenkot, KAYLA LAYNG, JACOB MERCER, Jyoti Patel, Jordi Rodon Ahnert. High PRMT5 expression is associated with decreased immune infiltrate and worse outcomes to immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 2446.

Abstract Background: Chronic inflammation is implicated in ovarian carcinogenesis, but how different inflammation-related exposures individually or jointly affect histotype-specific associations remains unclear. Materials and Methods: We pooled data from 16 case-control studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to evaluate associations of eight inflammation-related factors (anti-inflammatory: aspirin use, tubal ligation (TL); pro-inflammatory: endometriosis, obesity, lifetime ovulatory cycles (LOC), smoking, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)) with epithelial ovarian cancer (OvC) by histologic subtype. We examined individual associations and clustering of risk factors across histotypes and computed population attributable risk (PAR) for each factor. We assessed additive and multiplicative interactions for exposure combinations. Results: Associations with OvC risk differed by histotype (e.g., high-grade serous: aspirin: OR=0.90; 95%CI 0.82, 0.99; TL: OR=0.80; 95%CI 0.73, 0.88; overall serous: endometriosis: OR=1.17; 95%CI 1.03, 1.31; high LOC: OR=1.42; 95%CI 1.28, 1.58; obesity (low-grade serous): OR=1.50; 95%CI 1.14, 1.98). Clustering analyses showed highly correlated risk profiles in endometrioid and clear cell (r=0.91). High-grade serous and mucinous profiles were moderately correlated with endometrioid and clear cell (r=0.60) tumors. The profile for low-grade serous (r=0.36) tumors was distinct from other histotypes. PAR estimates suggested modifying aspirin use, TL, and LOCs could substantially reduce burdens of endometrioid, clear cell and mucinous tumors. Out of 28 exposure combinations tested in overall OvC and 189 by histotype, we observed 12 interactions. Not using aspirin regularly showed positive additive interactions with obesity and high LOCs, particularly in endometrioid tumors (obesity relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI)=0.74, 95%CI 0.31, 1.18; Pint=0.001 for; LOCs RERI=0.80, 95%CI 0.03, 1.56; Pint=0.04). Not using aspirin regularly also showed a positive additive interaction with endometriosis in clear cell tumors (RERI=1.77, 95%CI 0.03, 3.52; Pint=0.05). Lack of TL showed positive interactions with obesity in endometrioid (RERI=0.86, 95%CI 0.17, 1.53; Pint=0.01) and mucinous (RERI=1.10, 95%CI 0.23, 1.97; Pint=0.01) tumors, while negative additive interactions were observed for smoking and endometriosis in endometrioid tumors (RERI=-1.12, 95%CI -2.19, -0.05; Pint=0.04). A multiplicative interaction was observed between obesity and endometriosis in mucinous tumors (Pint=0.01). Conclusion: The findings suggest ovarian tumorigenesis is strongly shaped by pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways that act largely independently. Further examining these pathways may clarify the origins of histotype heterogeneity and guide prevention strategies. Citation Format: Maxwell Akonde, Britton Trabert, SHELLEY TWOROGER, Allan Jensen, Kathryn L. Terry, Joshua Sampson, Hoda Anton-Culver, David Bowtell, Elisa V. Bandera, Angela Brooks-Wilson, Andrew Berchuck, Daniel William Cramer, Linda S. Cook, Julie M. Cunningham, Jennifer A. Doherty, Ellen L. Goode, Marc T. Goodman, Holly Ruth Harris, Susanne K. Kjaer, Nhu Le, Alice Wen-Ron Lee, Francesmary Modugno, Kirsten B. Moysich, Celeste Pearce, Malcolm C. Pike, Harvey A. Risch, Mary A. Rossing, Joellen M. Schildkrau, Daniel O. Stram, Rebecca Sutphen, David Van Den Berg, Penelope M. Webb, Anna Wu, Argyrios Ziogas, Nicolas A. Wentzensen. Inflammation-related exposures and histotype- specific ovarian cancer risk in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 6261.

Abstract Ovarian endometrioid carcinoma (OEC) is the second most common histotype associated with the most favorable prognosis among ovarian carcinomas. Similar to endometrial carcinoma, OEC exhibit significant molecular diversity. We aimed to develop a practical immunohistochemical (IHC) prognosticator by integrating IHC biomarkers with clinical substage, and surgical outcomes. This multi-institutional study included participants with primary invasive OEC from the Alberta Cancer Registry (AOVT), Mayo Clinic, and Disease of the Ovary and their Evaluation Study (DOVE). Pathology review excluded misclassified high-grade serous and mesonephric carcinomas leaving 422 OEC cases (AOVT N=158; DOVE N=143; Mayo N=121) with available tumor biospecimens who did not receive neoadjuvant treatment. Clinical characteristics included age, stage, grade, residual disease and 5-year survival. Clinical risk group was defined by combining stage and residual disease: Low (FIGO stage IA/IB & no macroscopic disease), Intermediate (stage IC-II& no macroscopic disease), High (stage III/IV or macroscopic disease). Tissue microarrays were stained for TP53, PMS2, MSH6, PGR, and CTNNB1 using IHC and were scored by a single pathologist. Tumors were hierarchically categorized as TP53-abnormal (TP53abn)/PGR-loss, mismatch-repair deficient (MMRd, via PMS2 and MSH6), nuclear-CTNNB1 (nCTNNB1), or no-specific-immunohistochemical-profile (NSIP). Overall survival (OS) at 5 years was compared across clinical risk and biomarker groups using Cox regression, adjusted for age and site to generate hazard ratios (HR), and 5-year survival rates (5-YSR). High clinical risk group was associated with worse 5-year OS compared to low & intermediate risk (p<0.0001). Hierarchical IHC biomarker groups were also associated with 5-year OS, adjusted for age and study site (p<0.0001), with consistently worse survival for combined TP53abn/PGR-loss (n=17, HR=6.07, 95% CI 2.78-13.26), PGR-loss only (n=55, HR=4.17, 95% CI 2.19-7.94), TP53abn only (n=29, HR=2.04, 95% CI 0.85-4.90), and better survival for nuclear-CTNNB1 (n=146, HR=0.22, 95% CI 0.07-0.65) compared to NSIP (n=132). Within the low-risk group, MMRd, nCTNNB1, or NSIP had greater than 97% 5-YSR, while OEC with TP53abn/PGR-loss or PR-loss only had less than 75% 5-YSR. Within the intermediate group, only nCTNNB1 exceeded a 5-YSR of greater than 97%. Within the high-risk group, 5YSR for nCTNNB1 OEC was 90.9%, compared to only 16.7% for TP53abn/PGR-loss. This IHC-based algorithm refines prognosis beyond clinical substage. It identifies low-risk patients with unfavorable prognosis (TP53abn/PGRloss, PGR loss only) who may benefit from adjuvant therapy, and also patients with favorable prognosis within the intermediate group for whom adjuvant therapy could be de-escalated. Further patient selection for chemo vs. hormone therapy in the high-risk group may be improved by biomarkers. Citation Format: Gamaliel Taengwa, Hunter J. Atkinson, Bryan M. McCauley, Sebastian M. Armasu, Chen Wang, Jennifer A. Doherty, Holly R. Harris, Ellen L. Goode, Martin Koebel, Stacey J. Winham. IHC-based prognostic sub-stratification of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 1184.

Abstract Background The clinical use and interpretation of cardiac troponins (cTn) in pediatric patients is heterogeneous. Content This review is based on an appraisal and synthesis of the available literature and discussions between International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine Committee on Clinical Application of Cardiac Biomarkers members and pediatricians, cardiologists, emergency department physicians, and laboratorians. It aims to summarize current knowledge and best practices related to cTn measurements in pediatric patients, including which percentile should be applicable as the upper reference limit, and the influence of age, sex, and physiology on circulating concentrations. Preanalytical and analytical precautions, and a consensus on optimal interpretation of the reported results are discussed. Summary Current studies report high cTn concentrations in healthy infants and newborns. The nadir is reached at 1–3 years at which time concentrations gradually increase, reaching adult levels through puberty. The incidence of myocardial injury is reported to be low and dependent on whether the 97.5th or 99th percentile is chosen as the upper reference limit. The main clinical indication for testing appears to be suspicion of myo/pericarditis or traumatic chest injury. On occasion, cTn is measured in cases of possible heart failure and/or myocardial ischemia. There is heterogeneity among the limited clinical studies published. Most of the data are retrospective, and the current suggestions for clinical practice are thus largely based on expert opinion. More research is needed regarding all aspects of cTn testing in children, and suggestions for future research are included at the end of this review.

Objective Identifying eligible patients for precision oncology clinical trials is challenging, particularly for rare molecular subpopulations. To address this challenge, A2 Biotherapeutics developed BASECAMP-1 ( NCT04981119 ), a non-interventional master screening study to identify patients eligible for interventional studies of logic-gated Tmod chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies. Eligible patients for these interventional trials have an advanced solid malignancy and are germline human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-A*02 heterozygous, with tumour-associated HLA-A loss of heterozygosity (LOH). HLA-A LOH occurs in ~16% of advanced solid malignancies; therefore, an efficient screening strategy is required. This report describes BASECAMP-1; compares the efficiency of two screening methods; and discusses the broader advantages of BASECAMP-1 beyond efficient enrolment. Methods and analysis Patients are identified for BASECAMP-1 using two approaches. In the traditional approach, common for clinical trials, investigators consent and screen all patients who might be good candidates for cell therapy trials, with no prior knowledge of patient HLA-A type or LOH status. To further optimise our approach, we co-developed with Tempus AI (Tempus) the bioinformatic programme Aware, which identifies potentially eligible patients with tumour-associated HLA-A*02 LOH within a clinico-genomic database that includes linked genomic and transcriptomic sequencing and clinical data collected during routine care. Results Over 42 months of using a traditional approach to identify eligible patients, 1918 patients at 13 study sites were consented and screened for BASECAMP-1; of these, 30 patients with tumour-associated HLA-A*02 LOH were enrolled (~0.7 participants per month). Over the last 30 months of that same period, Tempus Aware screening was implemented and 55 patients with tumour-associated HLA-A*02 LOH were enrolled (~1.8 participants per month). The bioinformatic approach identified more patients than the traditional approach and used sequencing results produced as part of the standard clinical tumour sequencing workflow, reducing resource use and study staff burden. Additional advantages of using a screening study, such as BASECAMP-1, include manufacturing efficiencies and collection of a large dataset of molecular and clinical parameters that can be used to supplement trial analyses. Conclusions The BASECAMP-1 study demonstrates a clinico-genomic screening approach can more efficiently identify patients for precision oncology trials. Furthermore, precision oncology can be enhanced through collaborative data-sharing. Trial registration number NCT04981119 .