Guide to ASH 2025: ECOG-ACRIN and PrECOG are set to reveal multiple blood cancer research discoveries

Researchers affiliated with the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) and PrECOG, LLC, will be active at the 67th American Society for Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition. This prestigious event is scheduled to take place December 6-9, 2025, in Orlando, Florida. Presentations include results from primary and secondary study analyses, as well as from correlative studies. One researcher will participate in the ASH Official Press Program. Together, this research aims to enhance the precision and safety of treatments for hematologic malignancies.

Listed below are the presentations. Follow the links to the ASH meeting website to view the abstract titles, contents, and logistical information.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

• Selected for the ASH Official Press Program -- Shella Saint Fleur-Lominy, MD, PhD (University of Maryland), will present one of the largest race-based comparisons of genetic abnormalities and clinical outcomes data in AML. Drawing from 10 prospective ECOG-ACRIN trials that evaluated intensive chemotherapy for nearly 4000 patients with newly diagnosed AML across nearly four decades, it confirms previously documented racial disparities in Black AML patients. Until now, the small number of Black patients with well-annotated genomic profiles has limited the validity of those findings. Link to Presentation 290.
• James M. Foran, MD (Mayo Clinic Cancer Center), will present a prospective study evaluating a baseline geriatric assessment and clinical outcomes in fit patients 60 years of age and older who received intensive chemotherapy for treatment of AML in a previous trial (E2906). This analysis suggests that functional and cognitive impairments are prevalent and can significantly impact outcomes even in fit older adults. Link to Presentation 882.
• Douglas Tremblay, MD (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), will present a study of the role of bone marrow biopsy characteristics in predicting outcomes in patients with AML. Typically, patients undergo a bone marrow biopsy around day 14 of treatment to assess whether the leukemia is clearing. If the disease remains, they often receive another round of intensive chemotherapy. However, it is not clear whether features seen in the 14-day biopsy can predict who will benefit from this second round of treatment, prompting this analysis. Link to Presentation 871.
• Yanming Zhang, MD (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), will demonstrate how a cost-effective whole genome sequencing method was combined with machine learning and applied to over 600 AML patient samples (E1910 and E3999 trials), leading to clinically relevant insights about the genetics of this disease, as well as the development of a new prognostic model to support its diagnosis and treatment. Link to Presentation 5263.

Latest Data from the Practice-Changing E1910 Trial

Blinatumomab, a targeted therapy, was evaluated in 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, in the E1910 trial. The goal of the trial was to further improve overall survival in these patients by adding blinatumomab to additional rounds of chemotherapy. The trial met its goal. At 3 years of follow-up, 85% of patients who received chemotherapy plus blinatumomab 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 additional research, with the latest discoveries scheduled to be revealed at ASH.

• Anjali Advani, MD (The Cleveland Clinic), will present a detailed assessment of the toxicities associated with the use of blinatumomab in combination with chemotherapy in the E1910 trial. With the recent FDA approval, blinatumomab is increasingly used alongside the E1910 chemotherapy backbone for these patients. This analysis offers physicians more detailed insights from the trial than what was previously available. Link to Presentation 5120.
• Bhavana Bhatnagar, DO (West Virginia University), will present data demonstrating that long delays between the initiation of consolidation chemotherapy and the start of maintenance therapy were associated with improved overall survival compared to no/short delays. Link to Presentation 1549.
• Xiaoming Zhong, PhD (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital), will present a first-of-its-kind genomic analysis. 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 analysis also identifies a new genomic subset and provides insights into blinatumomab's efficacy across different molecular subgroups. Link to Presentation 31.

Other Lymphoid Neoplasms

• Neil Palmisiano, MD, MS (Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey), will present the results from the second part of the EA9152 trial, in which researchers evaluated the efficacy of venetoclax and vincristine in treating patients with relapsed or refractory ALL and lymphoblastic lymphoma. The results of the first part of the trial, which demonstrated the treatment's safety, were previously published. Link to Presentation 1577.
• Craig A. Portell, MD (University of Virginia), will present updated survival and minimal residual disease data from the PrECOG PrE0405 trial of bendamustine, rituximab, and venetoclax (BR-VEN) for the front-line treatment of mantle cell lymphoma MCL in patients 60 years of age and older. With a median age of 60 to 70 years at diagnosis, many patients with MCL are ineligible for aggressive treatments. Primary results from this trial showed an 85% complete response rate in 33 patients, from a lower-intensity therapy that was generally well-tolerated. Link to Presentation 3574.
• Christine Ryan, MD (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), will present the prognostic utility of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan and bone marrow biopsy in assessing how well MCL responds to initial treatment. This area has been under-explored until now. Link to Presentation 3581.
• Truc N. Huynh, MS (Mayo Clinic Cancer Center), will present on the impact of ibrutinib, a Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, on CART19 (a type of immune cell therapy) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This analysis utilized patient samples from the E1912 trial. Link to Presentation 2101.

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The PrE0405 study was sponsored by PrECOG, LLC. All of the other research listed above was supported by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.