This Week in Oncology: Gastric Cancer, DLBCL, and Colorectal Cancer

This week's research highlights emerging strategies for advanced gastric cancer and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. From the Journal of gastrointestinal cancer, a network meta-analysis evaluated immune checkpoint inhibitor regimens versus chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric cancer. The analysis indicated that dual-target inhibitor combinations may offer survival benefits, though the authors note these findings await head-to-head trial confirmation ^[1].

Meanwhile, attention turned to high-risk double-expressor diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. A phase 3 trial reported in JAMA found that adding oral tucidinostat to R-CHOP significantly improved event-free survival and complete response rates in this specific patient population ^[2].

Elsewhere this week, the focus shifted to metastatic colorectal cancer. In BMC cancer, researchers described a meta-analysis involving 1460 patients with dMMR/MSI-H metastatic colorectal cancer. The study found that PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy significantly improved objective response rates compared to chemotherapy, although the authors suggest that survival benefits may vary and toxicity increases with dual immunotherapy ^[3].

These findings suggest clinicians might consider PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy for improved responses in this setting.

We also saw research in the Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology regarding risk factors for bladder cancer. A meta-analysis of 30 international cohort studies with 2,533,008 participants found that higher BMI and waist circumference are associated with an increased risk of incident bladder cancer in males ^[4].

The authors describe this as a modestly increased risk in males with higher BMI or waist circumference, but noted no such association in females. Finally, a separate study in Current oncology reports evaluated mind-body therapies versus usual care for depression and anxiety in 16,835 people with cancer. Several interventions showed statistically significant large effects, leading the authors to suggest these therapies as adjunctive options for managing depression and anxiety in cancer care ^[5].