AACR Annual Meeting 2019
Evidence Mounts for Tumor Mutational Burden as Biomarker of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Benefit in NSCLC
The search for biomarkers to identify patients who are likely to respond to immunotherapy continues. According to biomarker tissue and blood analysis of patients enrolled in the phase III MYSTIC trial...
Study Shows Rucaparib Active as Maintenance Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer
The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor rucaparib holds promise as maintenance therapy for advanced, platinum-sensitive, BRCA- or PALB2-mutated pancreatic cancer, according to an interim ana...
Pembrolizumab as Third-Line Option for Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer
USE OF the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (anti–PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab after two or more prior lines of therapy led to responses in patients with advanced small cell lung cance...
AACR Study Presentations Include New Data in Breast and Prostate Cancers, Sarcoma, and High-Risk Individuals
THE 2019 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting was held March 29 to April 3 in Atlanta. In addition to our regular coverage of news stories from the meeting, here are some bri...
Expert Point of View: Louis M. Weiner, MD, and Thomas Habermann, MD
“THIS REPRESENTS the fruits of years of research. Umbralisib is a more potent and selective PI3K inhibitor targeted to the delta isoform. This provides a more precise target for drugs that block that ...
Umbralisib: Potential Option for Relapsed or Refractory Marginal Zone Lymphoma
UMBRALISIB—an investigational PI3K-delta inhibitor—produced impressive results as monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma, according to an interim analysis of the ph...
Expert Point of View: Namrata Vijayvergia, MD
NAMRATA VIJAYVERGIA, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, commented on this study. “This is an important study because it is done in a rare tumor type; not a lot of clinical trials are condu...
Dual-Immunotherapy Approach Shows Efficacy in High-Grade Neuroendocrine Tumors
COMBINING TWO established immunotherapy agents achieved tumor shrinkage in rare, aggressive, extrapancreatic high-grade neuroendocrine tumors, according to the results of SWOG S1609, a phase II clinic...
Expert Point of View: Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD
FORMAL STUDY discussant, Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Chief of Medical Oncology at the Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut, stated that the findings of the TATTON analyses are “compelling,” and the...
Osimertinib Plus Savolitinib in Advanced NSCLC Driven by MET Resistance
THE ADDITION of the MET inhibitor savolitinib to the EGFR inhibitor osimertinib led to activity in patients with MET-amplified, EGFR-mutated non–small lung cancer (NSCLC) with acquired resistance to p...
Preliminary Results Show Activity for Mesothelin‑Directed CAR T-Cell Therapy in Malignant Mesothelioma
A phase I clinical trial showed encouraging results with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeted to the mesothelin protein in patients with mesothelin-associated malignant pleural soli...
Phase III Data Support Use of Gilteritinib in Relapsed or Refractory FLT3-Mutated AML
Treatment with gilteritinib, an oral type 1, FLT inhibitor, significantly improved overall survival compared with chemotherapy in patients with FLT3-positive relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leuke...
AACR 2019: Small Study of Virotherapy Plus Radiotherapy for Patients With Esophageal Cancer Unable to Receive Standard Treatments
The experimental oncolytic adenovirus telomelysin in combination with radiotherapy was safe and showed early clinical efficacy in vulnerable patients with esophageal cancer, according to results from ...
AACR 2019: Does Use of Oral Contraceptives Decrease the Risk of Fatal Ovarian Cancer?
Researchers have observed for several years that people who have a history of using oral contraceptives are less likely to develop ovarian cancer. A team from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center ...
AACR 2019: Phase I Trial Evaluates LOXO-195 in Patients With NTRK-Positive Solid Tumors
The investigational anticancer therapeutic LOXO-195, which targets a family of proteins called tropomyosin receptor kinases (TRKs), was safe, tolerable, and showed signs of clinical activity in patien...
AACR 2019: Does Primary Tumor Surgery Increase Survival in Patients With Advanced HER2-Positive Breast Cancer?
Surgery was associated with higher survival rates for patients with HER2-positive stage IV breast cancer compared with those who did not undergo surgery, according to results presented by Mudgway et a...
AACR 2019: Maintenance Rucaparib Treatment in BRCA- or PALB2-Mutated Pancreatic Cancer
Maintenance treatment with the PARP inhibitor rucaparib was well tolerated and showed activity among patients with advanced BRCA- or PALB2-mutated pancreatic cancer sensitive to platinum-based chemoth...
AACR 2019: Effect of Timing of Radiotherapy on Mucositis in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer
New research presented by Gu et al at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2019 found that administering radiation treatments in the morning as opposed to later in the da...
AACR 2019: Entinostat Plus Pembrolizumab in Patients With Melanoma Previously Treated With Anti–PD-1 Therapy
A combination of the experimental histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor entinostat with the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab showed clinical responses in patients with mel...
AACR 2019: Higher BMI Before Age 50 May Increase Risk of Pancreatic Cancer
A higher body mass index (BMI) before age 50 may be more strongly associated with pancreatic cancer mortality risk than excess weight at older age, according to the results of a study presented by Jac...
AACR 2019: Gilteritinib in Patients With FLT3-Mutated Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Treatment with the FLT3-targeted therapeutic gilteritinib improved survival for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) harboring an FLT3 mutation compared with standard chem...
AACR 2019: CD40 Antibody Combined With Chemotherapy in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
An interim analysis of a small phase Ib study by O’Hara et al evaluating the CD40 agonistic monoclonal antibody APX005M in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel with or without the pro...
AACR 2019: Data Analysis Shows Activity of Pembrolizumab in Pretreated Patients With Advanced Small Cell Lung Cancer
The results of an analysis of pooled data from the phase Ib KEYNOTE-028 trial and the phase II KEYNOTE-158 study of the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 monoclonal antibody pembrolizumab in ...
AACR 2019: HER2-Targeted CAR T-Cell Therapy Plus Chemotherapy in Advanced Sarcoma
A small phase I study by Navai et al investigated a combination of lymphodepletion chemotherapy and HER2-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for pediatric and adult patients with a...
AACR 2019: Does Treatment With Abiraterone Acetate Benefit Patients With Advanced Prostate Cancer and Preexisting Cardiovascular Disease?
Patients with advanced prostate cancer who had preexisting cardiovascular disease had a higher risk of mortality in the 6 months after starting abiraterone acetate treatment compared with those who ha...
AACR 2019: Diet May Influence Gut Microbiome and Response to Immunotherapy
Among patients with melanoma treated with anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy, consumption of a high-fiber diet was associated with higher gut microbiome diversity and bett...
AACR 2019: Survey Finds Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Is Often Misdiagnosed, Treated at Later Stages
A recent study by the American Cancer Society (ACS) has found that while colorectal cancer incidence in the United States is rapidly declining overall, colorectal cancer rates are increasing among you...
AACR 2019: Liquid Biopsy–Based Test May Be Reliable in Identifying Treatment for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The number of guideline-recommended biomarkers to be assessed in patients with newly diagnosed, metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is increasing. These biomarkers include both predict...
