The NRG-LU005 trial found that patients receiving twice-daily radiation experienced a more favorable quality-of-life trajectory than those receiving once-daily radiation. This association remained after adjusting for patient characteristics, although the radiation schedule was not randomized.
The NRG-GU005 trial shows that SBRT improves bowel health related quality of life in localized intermediate risk prostate cancer patients, with no significant impact on urinary HRQOL. SBRT is also associated with lower incontinence related quality of life and improved maintenance of erectile dysfunction compared to hypofractionated IMRT.
NRG Oncology receives a perfect grant score of 10 and increased funding from the National Cancer Institute to continue its practice-changing clinical trials. The organization's focus on sex-specific malignancies has led to exceptional progress in cancer research.
NGR Oncology has appointed multiple new leadership members to various subcommittees, including Rebecca Arend as Gynecology Oncologist Vice Chair of the Translational Science Committee and Robin Lockhorst as Chair of the Pharmacy Subcommittee. David Miyamoto was also appointed Radiation Oncology Vice Chair of the Translational Science C...
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that combining atezolizumab with modified FOLFOX6 chemotherapy and bevacizumab improved progression-free survival by 58% for patients with metastatic dMMR colorectal cancer. The combination also showed higher response rates and reduced primary disease progression.
The NRG Oncology trial showed a sustained overall survival benefit for patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer treated with pembrolizumab and chemotherapy, even after post-study immunotherapy. The benefit persisted in both mismatch repair proficient and deficient populations.
The phase III NRG GY019 trial found that paclitaxel/carboplatin followed by letrozole is the standard treatment for patients with stage II-IV low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. The study also showed that letrozole monotherapy did not demonstrate non-inferiority to the combination, but was associated with fewer serious side effects.
NRG Oncology has appointed Dr. John Nakayama as Vice Chair of the NRG Ancillary Projects Committee, Dr. Ibrahim Nassour as Vice Chair of the Surgical Oncology Committee, and Dr. Scott Okuno as Vice Chair of the Sarcoma Subcommittee. Dr. Angeles Alvarez Secord was also appointed Chair of the Investigator & Career Development Committee.
NRG Oncology has added several new leadership members to its Brain Tumor, Breast Cancer, Genitourinary Cancer, Lung Cancer, Medical Oncology, and Translational Science committees. Deborah K. Armstrong will lead the NRG Medical Oncology Committee, while Daniel P. Cahill will serve as Surgical Oncology Vice Chair of the NRG Brain Tumor C...
Andres M. Álvarez-Pinzón joins NRG Developmental Therapeutics Committee, bringing expertise in oncology clinical trials and translational medicine. Ronald Chen becomes Chair of the NRG Patient Centered Outcomes Research Committee, focusing on improving cancer outcomes through clinical trials and patient-reported outcomes.
Dr. Vinai Gondi joins the NRG Brain Tumor Committee, Dr. Bridget Koontz leads the Ancillary Projects Committee, and Dr. Priya Rastogi chairs the Breast Cancer Committee, with new leadership starting March 1, 2026.
The proton therapy cohort of NRG-BN001 demonstrated improved overall survival (OS) for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma, with a 6.8% absolute survival advantage at 2 years. The results support the development of a phase III randomized trial to confirm these findings.
A patient-reported outcomes analysis suggests that twice-daily radiation is associated with better quality of life and longer survival compared to once-daily radiation in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer. The study found less clinically meaningful decline in quality of life among those receiving twice-daily radiation.
The NRG-GU005 clinical study shows that SBRT significantly improves bowel health-related quality of life in patients with localized immediate risk prostate cancer. However, no significant improvement was seen for urinary HRQOL, and SBRT was not superior to IMRT in terms of distant-free survival.
The NRG Oncology PREDICT-RT study has completed patient accrual, evaluating intensified and de-intensified concurrent radiation regimens for high-risk prostate cancer patients. The study aims to improve quality of life and outcomes by tailoring treatments based on genomic risk scores.
The ARCHER study aims to determine whether ultra-hypofractionated stereotactic body radiation therapy is non-inferior to hypofractionated radiotherapy in preserving bladder function. Patients will be randomly assigned to receive either 4 weeks of daily or 5 days of ultra-hypofractionated SBRT.
Julie Bauman, MD, MPH, is appointed Deputy Chair of NRG's NCORP Research Base, while Ryan Burri, MD, becomes the VA-MTF Subcommittee Vice Chair. These appointments aim to enhance cancer research and treatment through multi-center clinical studies.
The NRG-BN007 clinical trial found that combining ipilimumab and nivolumab with radiation therapy did not improve progression-free survival for patients with newly diagnosed MGMT-unmethylated glioblastoma. The treatment combination showed no significant difference in overall survival either.
NRG Oncology has appointed Tambre Leighn as Chair of the Patient Advocate Committee and Chris Holsinger as Surgical Vice Chair of the Head and Neck Cancer Committee. These new leaders will focus on advancing patient advocate engagement and expanding NRG's head and neck cancer portfolio.
A recent NRG-NSABP B-51/RTOG 1304 clinical study found that regional nodal irradiation (RNI) does not decrease the rates of invasive breast cancer recurrence in patients whose positive axillary nodes convert to negative following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The study enrolled 1,641 patients and demonstrated no significant benefit from RNI.
Tracy Crane has been appointed as the new Chair of the NRG CPC Committee, focusing on improving adherence to healthy lifestyle behaviors, while Mylin Torres joins as Vice-Chair, leading research on breast cancer and radiation-induced side effects. Both experts bring extensive experience in clinical trials and mentorship.
Kristin Higgins has been appointed Chair of the NRG Lung Cancer Committee, succeeding Dr. Jeff Bradley, while Karthik Sundaram joins as Chair of the NRG Imaging Committee, succeeding Dr. Daniel Pryma. These appointments aim to advance research and clinical trials in these areas.
NGR Oncology has created a new Sarcoma Subcommittee to improve outcomes for adults with cancer, focusing on building a robust program, collaborating with the Children's Oncology Group, and promoting sarcoma research. The subcommittee is led by Chair Dian Wang, MD, PhD, and Vice-Chairs William Tseng, MD, and Brian A Van Tine, MD, PhD.
The collaboration aims to enhance clinical trial efficiency, reducing data entry time by up to 37 seconds per CRF. This enables researchers to focus more on patient care, improving the overall experience.
The NRG Oncology GOG-0263 phase III clinical trial found that adding cisplatin-based chemotherapy to adjuvant radiotherapy following radical hysterectomy did not improve outcomes and led to increased toxicity. Radiotherapy alone remains the standard of care for early-stage, intermediate-risk cervical cancer.
A phase III trial found that combining radiotherapy with cetuximab improved disease-free survival in patients with HPV-negative head and neck cancer, but not overall survival. The treatment was also associated with higher rates of acute toxicity.
NRG Oncology has established a new Theranostics Subcommittee to develop a more robust theranostics program within its portfolio. The subcommittee will serve as a resource for research investigators and collaborate with other organizations to enhance the effects of treatment on targeted cancer.
A Phase III clinical trial found that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) added to sorafenib improved progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with locally advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, particularly those with macrovascular invasion. The study also showed improvements in quality of life for these patients.
The NRG Oncology trial found that atezolizumab given concurrently with chemoradiation did not improve overall survival for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer. However, the study suggests that LS-SCLC patients benefit from immunotherapy when given after completion of chemoradiation.
A new study from NRG Oncology found that whole-breast irradiation (WBI) was not statistically equivalent to accelerated partial-breast irradiation (APBI) in local tumor control. The QOL sub-study also showed that APBI may be preferred by some patients due to reduced fatigue and extended treatment time.
SourceNRG Oncology·JournalJNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute·TypeRandomized controlled/clinical trial·DateSep 16, 2024
The NRG-RTOG 0848 clinical study found that adding chemoradiation to adjuvant systemic therapy improves overall survival for node-negative pancreatic cancer patients, but not for those with node-positive disease. Disease-free survival was also improved in both groups.
A new acceptable practice standard for hypofractionated post-prostatectomy radiotherapy has been established based on the NRG Oncology trial findings. The study showed that HYPORT was non-inferior to COPORT in terms of late GI or GU toxicity, with greater short-term GI toxicity associated with HYPORT but resolving at 6 months following...
A new machine learning model, COLOXIS, uses data from two NSABP clinical trials to predict which colon cancer patients will benefit from the addition of oxaliplatin. The model shows that patients with a signature-positive prediction can derive benefit from oxaliplatin, while those with a signature-negative prediction do not.
A secondary analysis of NRG Oncology-RTOG 0617 found IMRT reduced CTCAE grade ≥ 3 pneumonitis by 2-fold compared to 3D-CRT. The study suggests IMRT should be the radiation technique of choice for patients with locally advanced NSCLC.
The study found no improvement in freedom from progression rates for patients receiving combined EBRT and brachytherapy (COMBO) compared to those receiving brachytherapy alone (BT). Late adverse events were significantly increased in the COMBO arm, favoring BT as a standard of care for intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients.
The study found that dose-escalated radiotherapy with short-term androgen deprivation therapy improved rates of biochemical failure, distant metastases, and prostate cancer-specific mortality. However, the trial did not meet its primary endpoint of improving overall survival for men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer.
A recent study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology found that dose-escalated radiotherapy with short-term androgen deprivation therapy showed no significant impact on urinary or bowel quality of life for men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. However, the treatment did significantly decrease hormone and sexual quality of lif...
The NRG Oncology study found that stereotactic radiosurgery was not superior to conventional external beam radiotherapy in terms of pain response, and even showed worse pain response at 3 months. Conventional radiotherapy remained effective with a 50-60% pain relief rate, but only lasting four months.
The NRG Oncology combined trial results indicate that pathologic complete response (pCR) is associated with improved survival outcomes for patients with localized soft tissue sarcoma. pCR can be used as a prognostic factor for clinical outcomes in future STS research, with patients achieving higher overall and disease-free survival rates.
The NRG-GY018 trial found that pembrolizumab significantly improved progression-free survival outcomes in women with stage III-IV or recurrent endometrial cancer, particularly those with mismatch repair deficient tumors. The treatment also demonstrated improved overall survival and quality of life outcomes.
Researchers identified ARID1A and PIK3CA as potential targets for drug development in recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer. The study found that these mutations were associated with improved survival rates, suggesting their potential as new treatment options.
The NRG-GY017 trial found that atezolizumab improved 2-year disease-free survival rates (79% vs. 59%) and pathologically complete or partial responses (69% vs. 40%) for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. The study also showed a favorable immune response, including positive PD-L1 scoring and T-cell receptor clonal expansion.
Women with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva who received gemcitabine concurrently with cisplatin and intensity-modulated radiation therapy exhibited increased rates of pathologic complete responses. The study found improved survival and response outcomes for this population, while minimizing toxicity.
The NRG-HN004 trial found that radiotherapy with durvalumab did not improve progression-free survival or overall survival compared to cetuximab in patients with locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who have a contraindication to cisplatin. The study highlighted the need for further research in this population.
A Phase III trial found that hypo-fractionated whole breast irradiation (WBI) with concurrent boost is not inferior to conventional WBI with a sequential boost following lumpectomy in patients with high-risk, early-stage breast cancer. The study showed comparable effectiveness and toxicity outcomes between the two treatment options.
Adding stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to sorafenib significantly improves overall survival, progression-free survival, and time to tumor progression in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. SBRT was shown to be effective without increasing toxicity.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that biochemical failure is not a reliable surrogate endpoint for overall survival in patients with recurrent prostate cancer. The researchers recommend considering metastasis-free survival (MFS) as the best surrogate endpoint for overall survival in this population.
Updated long-term results from Phase III trials demonstrate significant benefits from combining procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine chemotherapy with radiation therapy for patients with anaplastic oligodendrogliomas. Patients with chromosome 1p19q codeleted tumors experienced improved overall survival and progression-free survival.
A phase III clinical trial found that taxane maintenance therapy did not significantly improve overall survival for women with advanced ovarian, peritoneal, and tubal cancers. The treatment resulted in significant gastrointestinal and neurological adverse events.
Researchers found that adding atezolizumab to chemoradiation treatment was safe and demonstrated immune activation in women with node-positive, locally advanced cervical cancer. The study also showed increased peripheral blood T-cell receptor clonal expansion and tumor-associated T-cell clones.