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University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers were in Chicago June 3-7 for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

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In a special press briefing at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2016, Deborah Mayer, PhD, RN, shared her perspective on how the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative is progressing.

A large number of University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers were in Chicago June 3-7 to present scientific findings and share their expertise with the more than 38,000 cancer experts attending the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting.

UNC Lineberger made national headlines when a study led by Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, a UNC Lineberger member and associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology, was chosen as one of the abstracts to be presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting press conference on Monday morning.

Chen led an analysis of national health claims data for advanced cancer patients younger than age 65 to see if patients were receiving aggressive care at the end of life. Chen and his collaborators found that nearly two-thirds of patients were admitted to the hospital or had visited an emergency room in the last 30 days of their lives, and a third of patients died in the hospital.

“Overuse of aggressive care at the very end of life for a cancer patient can translate to increased burden on patients and their families,” said study co-author Aaron Falchook, MD, a resident in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology. “If these treatments are making patients sick, and if patients continue to go to the hospital, this can reduce their ability to really spend time with their loved ones at the end of life, and to get the most time out of the life that they do have left.”

UNC Lineberger researchers presented a range of studies at the meeting. A study led by UNC Lineberger researchers Wendy Brewster, MD, PhD, and Temitope O. Keku, PhD, that found bacteria in the female reproductive tract, a region once thought sterile. They found a distinct bacterial profile in women with ovarian cancer.

In another study, Greg Knight, MD, and colleagues measured financial toxicity among cancer patients. They found that nearly one-in-four patients surveyed said they had to pay more for medical care than they could afford.

In a special press briefing, Deborah Mayer, PhD, RN, shared her perspective on how the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative is progressing. Mayer, together with Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, Alumni Distinguished Professor and dean of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and a Lineberger member, are members of the Moonshot’s Blue Ribbon Panel, which serves as a national advisory board.

UNC Lineberger researchers also led discussion and education sessions on best practices in cancer care and research.

D. Neil Hayes, MD, MPH, chaired a mini-symposium on next-generation sequencing, while Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, presented on “Integrating patient-reported outcomes into cancer clinical trials and regulatory review.” Carey Anders, MD, delivered commentary in a post-plenary session discussion on breast cancer.