Scholars@Duke
Laura Ruth Alder

Laura Ruth Alder

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Medical Oncology
laura.alder@duke.edu
Box 90827, Durham, NC 27708-0827
20 Duke Medicine Circle, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

A multi-institutional perspective on tarlatamab administration and management of CRS/ICANS.

Journal Article Lung Cancer · January 2026 BACKGROUND: Tarlatamab, a bispecific T-cell engager, is the first treatment in many years to significantly improve overall survival in relapsed extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). However, implementation of this therapy has been challenging d ... Full text Link to item Cite

Neoadjuvant, Perioperative, and Adjuvant Immunotherapy in Early-Stage Surgically Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Updates and Future Perspectives.

Journal Article Cancers (Basel) · June 21, 2025 Historically, systemic therapy for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been associated with a modest impact on overall survival. The current treatment options for early-stage resectable NSCLC include neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and perioperative i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Acute Anemia

Journal Article · 2025 Anemia is characterized by a deficiency in the number of circulating red blood cells (RBCs), the amount of hemoglobin, or the percentage of packed RBCs in the blood, known as hematocrit. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines anemia as a hemoglobin le ... Cite

Impact of systemic therapy after stereotactic radiosurgery in patients with limited brain-only metastasis.

Journal Article Neurooncol Adv · 2025 BACKGROUND: The impact of systemic therapy (ST) on outcomes for patients with brain-only metastases (BrM) in the absence of extracranial disease (ECD) is not well established. We compared outcomes between patients with BrM treated with stereotactic radiosu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Unique genomic alterations in the circulating tumor DNA of patients with solid tumors brain metastases.

Journal Article Neurooncol Adv · 2024 BACKGROUND: Although serum circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is routine, data from patients with brain metastases (BrMs) is limited. We assessed genomic alterations in ctDNA from patients with solid tumor BrMs in 3 groups: Isolated BrMs with stable extracrania ... Full text Link to item Cite

Current drug development and trial designs in neuro-oncology: report from the first American Society of Clinical Oncology and Society for Neuro-Oncology Clinical Trials Conference.

Journal Article Lancet Oncol · April 2023 Successful drug development for people with cancers of the CNS has been challenging. There are multiple barriers to successful drug development including biological factors, rarity of the disease, and ineffective use of clinical trials. Based upon a series ... Full text Link to item Cite

Durable responses in patients with HER2+ breast cancer and leptomeningeal metastases treated with trastuzumab deruxtecan.

Journal Article NPJ Breast Cancer · March 30, 2023 Leptomeningeal metastases (LM) are a devastating complication of HER2 + metastatic breast cancer (MBC), with no effective treatments. In a case series of 8 patients with heavily pretreated HER2 + MBC and progressing LM, all 8 patients (100%) derived clinic ... Full text Link to item Cite

Brain metastasis as the first and only metastatic relapse site portends worse survival in patients with advanced HER2 + breast cancer.

Conference Breast Cancer Res Treat · January 2023 PURPOSE: Current systemic therapy guidelines for patients with HER2 + breast cancer brain metastases (BCBrM) diverge based on the status of extracranial disease (ECD). An in-depth understanding of the impact of ECD on outcomes in HER2 + BCBrM has never bee ... Full text Link to item Cite

APOBEC Mutational Signatures in Hormone Receptor-Positive Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Negative Breast Cancers Are Associated With Poor Outcomes on CDK4/6 Inhibitors and Endocrine Therapy.

Journal Article JCO Precis Oncol · October 2022 PURPOSE: APOBEC mutagenesis underlies somatic evolution and accounts for tumor heterogeneity in several cancers, including breast cancer (BC). In this study, we evaluated the characteristics of a real-world cohort for time-to-treatment discontinuation (TTD ... Full text Link to item Cite

How to Manage and Monitor Cardiac Dysfunction in Patients With Metastatic HER2-Positive Breast Cancer.

Journal Article JACC CardioOncol · September 2022 • Targeted therapies improve clinical outcomes in HER2+ metastatic breast cancer. • There is thus far minimal signal of increased risk of cardiotoxicity from novel HER2 targeted therapies. • Cancer therapy benefit drives clinical decision-making with LV dy ... Full text Link to item Cite

Systemic management of brain metastases in HER2+ breast cancer in 2022.

Journal Article Clin Adv Hematol Oncol · May 2022 Up to half of all patients with metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer will eventually acquire brain metastases (BrMs), which are associated with reduced overall survival and decreased quality of life. Although t ... Link to item Cite

Testicular Swelling as an Initial Presentation of a Patient With Metastatic Gastric Cancer.

Journal Article Fed Pract · May 2019 While signet-ring cell morphology in the testes might represent metastatic spread from an extragonadal adenocarcinoma, a rare variant of primary testicular neoplasms should be considered in a differential diagnoses as was seen in this rare occurrence of a ... Link to item Cite

Case of a CD3 Negative Hepatosplenic T-Cell Lymphoma: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges.

Journal Article Case Rep Hematol · 2019 Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphomas (TCLs) are a rare, aggressive subset of TCLs, accounting for less than 5% of all peripheral T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell lymphomas. We report the case of a CD3 negative hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma in a 42-year-old fe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Initial Match Rates of an Innovative International Partnership: The Ochsner Clinical School Experience.

Journal Article Ochsner J · 2016 BACKGROUND: Ochsner Clinical School (OCS) is a unique partnership between Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, LA, and The University of Queensland (UQ) School of Medicine in Brisbane, Australia. OCS trains physicians in global medicine and promotes caree ... Link to item Cite