Despite a significant potential for cure, relapsed and refractory large B-cell lymphomas (LBCL) comprise the most common cause of lymphoma-related mortality. Sequential relapses reflect the limits of repeated exposure to chemotherapy, even when delivered at high doses. More than 30 years ago,...
From microchips to automobiles, people in the United States are experiencing shortages of all kinds of products, and oncology treatments are no exception. In particular, shortages related to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy have been reported, most acutely, for B-cell maturation...
Julien Taïeb, MD, PhD, of Paris Descartes University, discusses phase II results from the SAMCO-PRODIGE 54 trial, which shows the efficacy and safety of avelumab in the second-line treatment of patients with deficient DNA mismatch–repair microsatellite-instability metastatic colorectal cancer. According to Dr. Taïeb, the study indirectly suggests this population should be treated as soon as possible with an immune checkpoint inhibitor (Abstract LBA23).
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by O’Brien et al, the second interim analysis of the phase III PEARLS/KEYNOTE-091 trial has shown significantly improved disease-free survival with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with completely resected stage IB to IIIA non-small cell lung cancer...
New data show that the immuno-oncology drug atezolizumab may be a safe and effective treatment for patients with stage IB to IIIB non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prior to surgery, according to a study led by researchers with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James...
As reported in The Lancet by Livingstone et al, the final analysis of the German phase II IMMUNED trial showed significantly improved recurrence-free survival with adjuvant nivolumab/ipilimumab and nivolumab alone vs placebo in patients with resected stage IV melanoma who had no evidence of disease ...
Concurrent chemoradiation followed by durvalumab has become the standard of care in patients with unresectable, locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the PACIFIC trial.1 But clinical trials have predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and they evaluate selective...
Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center shared data on a treatment option for patients with bladder cancer at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 (Abstract LBA73). Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, medical oncologist and Chief of the Genitourinary Oncology...
Georgina V. Long, MD, PhD, of the Melanoma Institute Australia, discusses results from the CheckMate 915 trial, an analysis of the pretreatment circulating tumor DNA, along with other clinical and translational baseline factors, and their association with disease recurrence in patients with stage IIIB–D/IV melanoma treated with adjuvant immunotherapy (Abstract 788O).
In a retrospective study reported in JAMA Oncology, Butt et al found significantly higher pretreatment neurofilament light chain levels in patients who did vs did not develop immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) after CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy....
Gérard Zalcman, MD, PhD, of France’s Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital, Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, discusses phase III results from the IFCT-1701 trial, which explored the questions of whether to administer nivolumab plus ipilimumab for 6 months or whether to prolong the treatment in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (Abstract 972O).
Jean-Pascal Machiels, MD, PhD, of Belgium’s Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc (UCLouvain), discusses the primary results of the phase III KEYNOTE-412 study of pembrolizumab plus chemoradiation therapy (CRT) vs placebo plus CRT for patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (Abstract LBA5).
Adjuvant therapy with the anti–PD-L1 therapy atezolizumab failed to improve disease-free survival compared to placebo in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) at high risk of recurrence after resection, according to results of the phase III IMmotion010 trial presented by Axel Bex, MD, PhD, at...
Merkel cell carcinoma has a high rate of metastasis and poor patient outcomes. The current standard of care for patients with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic disease is immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy targeting PD-1 and PD-L1, but only about half of patients respond to this therapy....
A physician-scientist at City of Hope has identified a novel combination immunotherapy regimen—a triplet therapy consisting of regorafenib, ipilimumab, and nivolumab—that demonstrated significant response in patients with chemotherapy-resistant, microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer....
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, of France’s Gustave Roussy Cancer Centre, discuss phase III findings showing that cabozantinib in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab reduced the risk of disease progression or death compared with the combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma of IMDC (the International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium) intermediate or poor risk. However, the combination of cabozantinib, nivolumab, and ipilimumab vs nivolumab plus ipilimumab did not demonstrate an overall survival benefit to patients (Abstract LBA8).
Axel Bex, MD, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, discusses phase III findings from the IMmotion010 study, which evaluated the efficacy and safety of atezolizumab vs placebo in patients with renal cell cancer who are at high risk of disease recurrence following nephrectomy (Abstract LBA66).
Martin Reck, MD, PhD, of Germany’s Lung Clinic Grosshansdorf, details two trials that included patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer: 3-year survival outcomes in the EMPOWER-Lung 1 study of continued cemiplimab-rwlc beyond disease progression with the addition of chemotherapy, and phase III results from the IFCT-1701 trial of nivolumab plus ipilimumab 6-month treatment vs treatment continuation (LBA54 and Abstract 972O).
In an international, multicenter phase II clinical trial, 63.3% of patients with stage II to IV cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma saw their tumors nearly or completely eradicated when treated with the anti–PD-1 agent cemiplimab-rwlc before surgery. The results were presented by Gross et al at the...
Patients with high-risk melanoma who received the anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab both before and after surgery to remove cancerous tissue had a significantly lower risk of their cancer recurring than similar patients who received the drug only after surgery. These results from a study by the SWOG...
Sapna P. Patel, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the latest findings from the SWOG S1801 trial, which showed that using single-agent pembrolizumab as neoadjuvant therapy improved event-free survival compared to adjuvant therapy in high-risk resectable stage III–IV melanoma (Abstract LBA6).
Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, of Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, discusses findings from the CheckMate 358 trial, which showed that chemotherapy-free immunotherapy with nivolumab alone or in combination with ipilimumab may provide durable tumor regression with manageable toxicity in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, regardless of tumor PD-L1 expression (Abstract 520MO).
A targeted kinase inhibitor added to a two-drug immunotherapy combination slowed the progression of advanced kidney cancer in previously untreated patients, according to research led by Toni K. Choueiri, MD. Dr. Choueiri, who is the Director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Cancer at...
The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group presented data from PROSPER RCC (EA8143), the first randomized phase III trial of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in patients with kidney cancer, at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 (Abstract LBA67). Patients with high-risk renal cell...
Mount Sinai researchers have published results that show alternate therapeutic options for patients with multiple myeloma after first-line treatment with bispecific antibodies fails. While new T cell–based immunotherapies, or “T-cell redirection” therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, and colleagues, the phase III TROPiCS-02 trial has shown a significant progression-free survival benefit with sacituzumab govitecan-hziy vs chemotherapy in previously treated patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive,...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the 30-month follow-up of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial showed a continued disease-free survival benefit with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma who are at increased risk...
In an interim analysis of the Chinese phase III ORIENT-31 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lu et al found that the addition of sintilimab and the bevacizumab biosimilar IBI305 to chemotherapy prolonged progression-free survival in patients with advanced EGFR-mutated nonsquamous non–small cell ...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of phase III trials of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment in patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancer reported in JAMA Oncology, Harry H. Yoon, MD, MS, and colleagues found that PD-L1 expression was the strongest predictor of overall survival...
Interim results of a phase II study have demonstrated the safety and feasibility of treating elderly and frail patients with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with the monoclonal antibody durvalumab during and after radiation therapy, without chemotherapy. The results of a...
On September 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved durvalumab (Imfinzi) in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer. TOPAZ-1 Efficacy was evaluated in TOPAZ-1 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:...
Ryan B. Corcoran, MD, PhD, commented on the C-800 study for The ASCO Post. Dr. Corcoran is the Mark J. Kusek Endowed Chair in Colorectal Cancer, Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center Program and Scientific Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy, Massachusetts General Hospital...
Expanded data from the phase I C-800 study showed the immunotherapy combination of botensilimab and balstilimab appeared to be active in patients with microsatellite-stable (MSS) metastatic colorectal cancer. The findings were reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World...
Currently, there are two U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies targeting the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) for adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma: idecabtagene vicleucel and citacabtagene autoleucel. However, although ...
The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor tislelizumab to first-line chemotherapy significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50% and, despite a 49% crossover rate, numerically boosted overall survival in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer, Zhang et al...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Thierry André, MD, and colleagues, the French (GERCOR) phase II NEONIPIGA trial has shown a high pathologic complete response rate with nivolumab/ipilimumab neoadjuvant therapy in patients with localized deficient mismatch repair...
In a single-center phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Somaiah et al found that the combination of durvalumab and tremelimumab showed activity in a group of previously treated patients with advanced or metastatic soft-tissue and bone sarcomas of various subtypes. Study Details In the...
In a retrospective study reported in a research letter in Blood Advances, Rejeski et al found that a stem cell boost was successful in treating severe hematologic toxicity in patients who had received CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for refractory B-cell malignancies. Study...
According to Alexey V. Danilov, MD, PhD, Professor and Co-Director, Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center, City of Hope, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) refractory to chemotherapy represents an unmet medical need, with data from the SCHOLAR-1 study demonstrating a median overall survival of...
Subcutaneous epcoritamab, a bispecific antibody, has demonstrated deep and durable responses in a large expansion cohort of patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL), according to late-breaking data presented during the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2022 Congress in...
In locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immunotherapy consolidation with the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab improved overall survival in the PACIFIC trial,1 thus leading to its use after chemoradiotherapy as a standard of care. Real-world evidence of durvalumab’s effect on overall and...
In the investigator-initiated, prospective, open-label, single-arm phase II TUXEDO-1 study conducted among patients with newly diagnosed or progressive brain metastases from HER2-positive breast cancer, the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) yielded responses according...
The human monoclonal antibody sugemalimab is a safe and effective consolidation therapy for patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without disease progression after either concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT) or sequential chemoradiotherapy (sCRT), according to...
Young people with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who received doses of tisagenlecleucel, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, at the higher end of the approved dosing range had significantly better survival rates at 1 year compared with those who received lower doses within...
Researchers from Japan recently reported that the first phase II study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of durvalumab and concurrent curative radiation therapy for PD-L1–positive unresectable locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without chemotherapy met its primary endpoint with...
On August 11, Roche announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a label expansion for the Ventana MMR RxDx Panel. The Ventana MMR RxDx Panel is the first immunohistochemistry (IHC) companion diagnostic test to aid in identifying patients whose solid tumors are deficient in DNA ...
Patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received a combined therapy of tremelimumab, durvalumab, and chemotherapy experienced longer overall survival compared with those who received chemotherapy alone, regardless of STK11, KEAP1, or KRAS mutational status. These findings...
Investigators have identified genetic signatures that could predict whether tumors in patients with bladder and other cancers will respond to immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Their findings, published by You et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, implicate DDR1- and...
In less than a decade, immunotherapy has reshaped the treatment landscape of cancer, but some histologies tend to be more responsive to this modality than others. During the Society of Surgical Oncology 2022 International Conference on Surgical Care, Yuman Fong, MD, of the City of Hope Medical...
In the phase II LEAP-004 trial reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Arance et al found that the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab was active in patients with advanced melanoma with confirmed progression on PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors as monotherapy or in combination with other agents. As...