Opinion

Chris Poulios: Key Takeaways and Personal Thoughts from ASCO 2025 on Including Pathology in Clinical Trials

Chris Poulios/LinkedIn

Jun 10, 2025, 16:47

Chris Poulios: Key Takeaways and Personal Thoughts from ASCO 2025 on Including Pathology in Clinical Trials

Chris Poulios, Steering Committee Member of Young Cancer Professionals at the European Cancer Organisation, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“ASCO 2025: key takeaways and personal thoughts for including pathology in clinical trials!

A tremendous and breakthrough congress took place last week in Chicago, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)!

My take-aways are:

AI is here to stay. A tool that can potentially be much useful for screening, diagnosis, patient management, administration, research, and education!

ADCs or Antibody-drug conjugates are gaining momentum, contributing to targeted therapy!

ctDNA/liquid biopsy is getting more attention, though applicability is still facing issues.

Collaboration and communication is key to success! Colleagues like Elisa Agostinetto, Paolo Tarantino, and Matthew Kurian are not only rising stars in oncology, but also great communicators to both doctors and general public!

All the above are part of clinical trials, some of which dropped jaws when presented at ASCO 2025!

All is not rosy, with toxicity, treatment resistance, quality control, patient population selection for clinical trials, and patient drop-out of clinical trials been issues to be addressed.

How to improve? It is my strong view that clinical trials will be immensely more effective if pathologists were included in their design and planning!

What makes pathology a cornerstone for research and clinical practice?

1. Pathology is the bridge between science and medicine! Pathologists study not only the tissue and cellular biology, but also can understand a bit of chemistry and physics on material-tissue interaction.

I am proud to have completed Master and Doctoral studies on Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, working on studies for nanoparticles used as drug carriers and even assessing their potential toxicity. The concept is very close to ADCs!

2. Pathologists manage pre-analytical and analytical quality control! Both AI and ctDNA testing require great quality management. Otherwise, the aphorism ‘garbage in, garbage out’ will be haunting us…

3. While usually being sidelined by molecular testing, tissue morphology and immunohistochemistry may be equally, if not more important, for targeted therapy! Remember, the drug targets the protein and not the gene!

4. We are great educators and teachers! As the number of pathologists is too low to cover everything, we are always happy to share our experience with clinical colleagues! Our goal is common: optimal patient care and victory in the war against cancer!

This is no blank cheque. Pathology organisations, like the European Society of Pathology, should ensure that pathology training curricula are up to date with the latest scientific developments.

Last but not least, we must hear the view of patients and patient advocacy groups, especially when addressing the issue of drop-outs from clinical trials!”

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Opinion

OncoDaily

Opinion

Chris Poulios: Key Takeaways and Personal Thoughts from ASCO 2025 on Including Pathology in Clinical Trials

“ASCO 2025: key takeaways and personal thoughts for including pathology in clinical trials!

A tremendous and breakthrough congress took place last week in Chicago, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)!

My take-aways are:

AI is here to stay. A tool that can potentially be much useful for screening, diagnosis, patient management, administration, research, and education!

ADCs or Antibody-drug conjugates are gaining momentum, contributing to targeted therapy!

ctDNA/liquid biopsy is getting more attention, though applicability is still facing issues.

Collaboration and communication is key to success! Colleagues like Elisa Agostinetto, Paolo Tarantino, and Matthew Kurian are not only rising stars in oncology, but also great communicators to both doctors and general public!

All the above are part of clinical trials, some of which dropped jaws when presented at ASCO 2025!

All is not rosy, with toxicity, treatment resistance, quality control, patient population selection for clinical trials, and patient drop-out of clinical trials been issues to be addressed.

How to improve? It is my strong view that clinical trials will be immensely more effective if pathologists were included in their design and planning!

What makes pathology a cornerstone for research and clinical practice?

1. Pathology is the bridge between science and medicine! Pathologists study not only the tissue and cellular biology, but also can understand a bit of chemistry and physics on material-tissue interaction.

I am proud to have completed Master and Doctoral studies on Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, working on studies for nanoparticles used as drug carriers and even assessing their potential toxicity. The concept is very close to ADCs!

2. Pathologists manage pre-analytical and analytical quality control! Both AI and ctDNA testing require great quality management. Otherwise, the aphorism ‘garbage in, garbage out’ will be haunting us…

3. While usually being sidelined by molecular testing, tissue morphology and immunohistochemistry may be equally, if not more important, for targeted therapy! Remember, the drug targets the protein and not the gene!

4. We are great educators and teachers! As the number of pathologists is too low to cover everything, we are always happy to share our experience with clinical colleagues! Our goal is common: optimal patient care and victory in the war against cancer!

This is no blank cheque. Pathology organisations, like the European Society of Pathology, should ensure that pathology training curricula are up to date with the latest scientific developments.

Last but not least, we must hear the view of patients and patient advocacy groups, especially when addressing the issue of drop-outs from clinical trials!”