JAMA Oncology

05/30/2026

Sequential radiotherapy and immunotherapy ( ) provided longer overall survival than concurrent iRT for newly diagnosed advanced non–small cell lung cancer, with additional benefit from chemotherapy.

https://ja.ma/43Jk1Rz

05/30/2026

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as a noninvasive biomarker with the potential to detect minimal residual disease (MRD), monitor treatment response, and identify recurrence (eg, molecular relapse) earlier than conventional clinical or imaging approaches.

Although ctDNA-based MRD assays have demonstrated prognostic value in early breast cancer, their optimal clinical utility remains uncertain.

This Review examines the clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA assays for detecting minimal residual disease in patients with early-stage breast cancer.

https://ja.ma/3PAJIRb

05/29/2026

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as a noninvasive biomarker with the potential to detect minimal residual disease (MRD), monitor treatment response, and identify recurrence (eg, molecular relapse) earlier than conventional clinical or imaging approaches. Although ctDNA-based MRD assays have demonstrated prognostic value in early breast cancer, their optimal clinical utility remains uncertain. This review examines the clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA assays for detecting minimal residual disease in patients with early-stage breast cancer.

This review examines the clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA assays for detecting minimal residual disease in patients with early-stage breast

05/29/2026

In a cohort study including more than 11 million adults across 54 US health systems and the UK Biobank, a transparent pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Risk Model for Earlier Detection (PRIME) was developed and externally validated for predicting incident pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma ( ). PRIME uses 19 routinely available demographic, clinical, and laboratory predictors to identify individuals at elevated risk, achieving strong discrimination and calibration both in US and international populations. Patients in the top 1% of predicted risk were more than seven times more likely to develop than average-risk individuals. This model enables population-level stratification and provides a foundation for targeted biomarker testing and multistage early detection strategies in routine care.

This cohort study validates a novel parsimonious, interpretable, and generalizable model for predicting incident pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

05/28/2026

In a national cohort study of 292 271 veterans with cancer, rates of suicidal self-directed violence (SSDV) were elevated compared with the general population.

SSDV rates were highest among younger veterans (≤45 years), female and American Indian or Alaska Native veterans, and those with central nervous system, thyroid, pancreas, head and neck, and liver or biliary system cancer types.

Risk persisted for several years after diagnosis, especially among younger, unmarried veterans and those with advanced or poor-prognosis cancers. Poisoning (including opioid use) was the most common method for SSDV overall and among high-risk subgroups, whereas fi****ms predominated in fatal attempts.

These findings indicate the need for systematic tracking of all suicidal behaviors, not just fatalities, to inform tailored screening and prevention strategies in cancer care for veterans.

https://ja.ma/3PN7GbJ

05/28/2026

JAMA Oncology reported the publication of short- and long-term results from several randomized clinical trials in 2025, including sustained benefits of CDK4/6 inhibitors with endocrine therapy for hormone receptor–positive, ERBB2-negative early stage .

Other notable findings included optimization of drug dosing to reduce adverse events, evidence-based regimens for managing delirium at end of life, and secondary analyses covering cognitive changes after chemotherapy, circulating tumor DNA predictors, and low-dose aspirin use for cancer prevention in older adults. The journal received 3738 manuscripts from 74 countries, achieved an acceptance rate of 4% for research articles, and more than 8.3 million article views.

Read the full Year in Review by JAMA Oncology Editor in Chief Mary L. (Nora) Disis, MD. https://ja.ma/4nE0bk9

05/27/2026

In the BRIGHT-2 phase 3 randomized clinical trial, bireociclib plus fulvestrant significantly prolonged median progression-free survival for patients with hormone receptor–positive, ERBB2-negative advanced after prior endocrine therapy progression, compared to placebo plus fulvestrant.

Improvements in objective response rate and disease control rate were observed for bireociclib-treated patients. Safety outcomes were consistent with other cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors, including manageable rates of diarrhea and neutropenia.

These findings support bireociclib plus fulvestrant as a treatment option for advanced breast cancer after endocrine progression. https://ja.ma/4nCFR2o

05/26/2026

In a multicenter prospective cohort study of 3777 participants with suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), anti–Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) BNLF2b total antibody (P85-Ab) demonstrated superior diagnostic performance compared to EBV viral capsid antigen (VCA)-immunoglobulin A, EBV early antigen-IgA, and EBV nuclear antigen 1-IgA. P85-Ab showed high sensitivity and specificity across outpatient populations, particularly among asymptomatic individuals and those with NPC-nonspecific symptoms.

For patients with NPC-specific symptoms, a triplet-antibody strategy combining P85-Ab, VCA-IgA, and EBNA1-IgA further improved sensitivity, supporting distinct diagnostic approaches based on clinical presentation. https://ja.ma/4nCQJxb

05/25/2026

Local salvage therapies alone for recurrence after radiotherapy maintained >75% androgen deprivation therapy–free survival at 2 years with manageable rates of severe adverse events, supporting their use in selected patients.

https://ja.ma/3PJCvy1

05/25/2026

💬 Editorial: Stereotactic radiation offered modest symptom relief and better long-term neurocognitive outcomes than hippocampal-avoidance whole brain radiation, but was associated with higher rates of new brain metastases and salvage whole brain radiotherapy. https://ja.ma/4unSAZt