In December, over 20 research presentations were delivered by researchers affiliated with the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group and PrECOG, LLC. These presentations occurred at either the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida, or the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). Below, we highlight a selection of these analyses. Click on the links to access more information.

Breast Cancer Research Highlights

• An ECOG-ACRIN imaging study has solved a long-standing gap in metastatic breast cancer research and care: accurately measuring treatment response in patients with bone-only or bone-dominant metastases. Standard imaging methods (CT, MRI, bone scans) can detect metastases but do not accurately assess how well systemic therapies are working. Bone lesions are deemed ‘unmeasurable’ by conventional RECIST 1.1 criteria, preventing these patients from participating in clinical trials. The FEATURE trial (EA1183) demonstrated that metabolic changes measured by FDG-PET/CT can accurately predict progression-free survival as early as 12 weeks after treatment initiation. This marks the first prospective validation of FDG-PET/CT and PERCIST response criteria in this patient group, enhancing treatment decision-making and expanding access to clinical trials for historically excluded patients. Presenter: Jennifer M. Specht, MD (University of Washington/Fred Hutch Cancer Center). Read the press release.
• ECOG-ACRIN and Caris Life Sciences unveiled the first findings from a multi-year public-private partnership to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for assessing the risk of breast cancer recurrence and guiding long-term treatment decisions. Researchers presented new AI models that integrate imaging, clinical, and molecular data from the TAILORx tissue biorepository, developed by pairing ECOG-ACRIN’s extensive clinical trial expertise and biorepository resources with Caris’ comprehensive MI Cancer Seek® whole exome and whole transcriptome profiling, whole slide imaging, and advanced machine learning platforms. The models demonstrate stronger prognostic performance than current methods for predicting recurrence risk. This level of multimodal integration is unprecedented at this scale in early breast cancer prognostication. Presenters: Joseph A. Sparano, MD (Mount Sinai Health System/The Tisch Cancer Institute) and Eleftherios (Terry) Mamounas, MD, MPH(NSABP Foundation, Inc. and AdventHealth Cancer Institute). Read the press release.
• A digital pathology analysis of more than 8,000 H&E whole slide images from TAILORx demonstrates the prognostic importance of the origin of breast cancer: ductal versus lobular. For the first time, TAILORx breast cancer cases are classified as lobular (starting in the glands that produce milk) or ductal (forming in the milk ducts). These two main classifications differ in cell behavior and clinical outcomes. In TAILORx, invasive lobular cancer (ILC) accounted for ~12% of cases. Analyses revealed that ILC was associated with a consistently higher risk of late recurrence and worse survival compared with non-lobular breast cancer, at 15 years after diagnosis. Both central pathology review and an AI-based CDH1 classifier confirmed this finding. Furthermore, manually assessed tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and AI-derived tumor microenvironment measures added independent prognostic value beyond the 21-gene recurrence score. These findings have implications for considering up to a 10-year course of endocrine therapy for women with ILC, even when the genomic risk is low. Presenter: Roberto Salgado, MD, PhD (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre). Link to Presentation RF3-01.

View the complete list of presentations in our Guide to SABCS 2025.

Hematology Research Highlights

• Selected for the ASH official press program – ECOG-ACRIN has completed one of the largest race-based comparisons of genetic abnormalities and clinical outcomes data in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Researchers reviewed medical records of nearly 4,000 patients with newly diagnosed AML who were treated with intensive chemotherapy in 10 ECOG-ACRIN treatment trials across four decades. Black AML patients were younger at diagnosis and experienced poorer survival outcomes than white patients. Inferior survival in black AML patients treated with intensive chemotherapy in ECOG-ACRIN clinical trials is independent of cytogenetic profiles. This analysis confirms years of published reports showing inferior outcomes. Until now, the small number of Black patients with well-annotated genomic profiles has limited the validity of those findings. Presenter: Shella Saint Fleur-Lominy, MD, PhD (University of Maryland). Read the ASH press release (scroll down to Presentation 290).
• Latest Data from the Practice-Changing E1910 Trial – Blinatumomab, a targeted therapy, was evaluated in the E1910 trial for adults with newly diagnosed B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were in remission and had no measurable residual disease after an initial round of chemotherapy. Results showed that at 3 years of follow-up, 85% of patients who received blinatumomab with additional rounds of chemotherapy were alive, compared with 68% of those who received chemotherapy alone. The strong survival benefit found in E1910 contributed to the FDA approval of blinatumomab for these patients. This important trial provides valuable data for further research, with the latest findings presented at ASH.
  • Following FDA approval, blinatumomab is increasingly used alongside the E1910 chemotherapy backbone for these patients. A detailed assessment of the toxicities associated with blinatumomab in combination with chemotherapy in the E1910 trial provides physicians with more detailed insights than were previously available. Presenter: Anjali Advani, MD(The Cleveland Clinic). Link to Presentation 5120.
  • Data demonstrate that long delays between the initiation of consolidation chemotherapy and the start of maintenance therapy are associated with improved overall survival compared to no/short delays. Presenter: Bhavana Bhatnagar, DO(West Virginia University). Link to Presentation 1549.
  • Until now, a comprehensive integration of significantly mutated genes and pathways with molecular subgroups has been lacking in adults with this type of leukemia. This first-of-its-kind genomic analysis identifies a new genomic subset and provides insights into blinatumomab's efficacy across different molecular subgroups. Presenter: Xiaoming Zhong, PhD(St. Jude Children's Research Hospital). Link to Presentation 31.

View the complete list of presentations in our Guide to ASH 2025.

PrECOG Studies

• Previously, the phase 3 PATINA trial (PrE0111) demonstrated that adding palbociclib to current standard-of-care first-line maintenance therapy (following induction chemotherapy) resulted in statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival in patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer. A subset analysis of patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases, a major clinical concern, found that adding palbociclib was associated with a lower incidence of CNS metastases. PrECOG is among the large group of collaborators on this study, which is co-led by Alliance Foundation Trials and Pfizer Inc. Presenter: Otto Metzger, MD (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute). Link to Presentation RF4-01.

• With a median age of 60 to 70 years at diagnosis, many patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) are ineligible for aggressive treatments. Bendamustine and rituximab (BR) is standard therapy for older adults. The PrECOG PrE0405 trial evaluated bendamustine, rituximab, and venetoclax (BR-VEN) as frontline therapy for MCL in patients aged 60+. Researchers previously reported an 85% complete response rate in 33 patients receiving lower-intensity therapy, which was generally well tolerated (Portell, CA et al, ASH 2023). Here, they update survival and include minimal residual disease (MRD) at the end of treatment. Presenter: Craig A. Portell, MD (University of Virginia). Link to Presentation 3574.