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A first-in-class, claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate may prove to be an effective treatment option for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: November 2023.1 (The ASCO Plenary Series is...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fujiwara et al found that the addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors to perioperative therapy in patients with solid tumors was associated with an increased risk of grade 3 and 4 treatment-related adverse events and adverse ...
Elranatamab may be safe and effective in Black patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to new findings presented by Varshavsky-Yanovsky et al at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 3333). Background Elranatamab—an...
Data presented at the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition suggest that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy remains a viable option for patients who have lymphoma that goes into remission before the cell therapy begins (Abstract 615). While the findings do not answer the...
In a combined analysis of two Chinese phase II trials (RC48-C005 and RC48-C009) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sheng et al found that the antibody-drug conjugate disitamab vedotin—an anti-HER2 antibody conjugated with monomethyl auristatin—produced promising results in patients with...
The combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab may result in a higher levels of toxicities in patients with unresectable pleural mesothelioma than was reported in the CheckMate 743 trial, according to a recent study published by McNamee et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Background Australia...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports of T-cell malignancies, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-positive lymphoma, in patients who received treatment with B cell maturation antigen (BCMA)- or CD19-directed autologous CAR T-cell immunotherapies. Reports were...
On November 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the existing indication of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with trastuzumab, fluoropyrimidine, and platinum-containing chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic...
Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, discusses phase III findings from the KEYNOTE-522 study, which showed neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab continues to improve event-free survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer, regardless of pathologic complete response (Abstract LBA18).
Mark M. Awad, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses phase III findings from the CheckMate 816 trial, which showed a potential clinical benefit to neoadjuvant nivolumab plus ipilimumab vs chemotherapy in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Abstract 1261O).
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III AEGEAN trial has shown that perioperative durvalumab improved event-free survival and pathologic complete response (pCR) rate in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Sun Young Rha, MD, and colleagues, the phase III KEYNOTE-859 trial has shown that the addition of first-line pembrolizumab to chemotherapy was associated with a statistically significant improvement in overall survival in patients with HER2-negative advanced...
On October 31, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to be used with gemcitabine and cisplatin for the treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic biliary tract cancer. KEYNOTE-966 Efficacy was evaluated in KEYNOTE-966...
Ze-rui Zhao, PhD, of China’s Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, discusses new phase II findings on stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with sequential immunochemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment of patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This therapy yielded a high major pathologic response rate, according to Dr. Zhao (Abstract LBA60).
In the INHERIT study—reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology—Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD, FASCO, and colleagues identified associations between germline EGFR mutations and familial lung cancer. As stated by the investigators, “The genomic underpinnings of inherited lung cancer risk are poorly...
In the phase II TITAN-RCC trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Grimm et al found that a strategy of nivolumab monotherapy with or without nivolumab/ipilimumab as an immunotherapeutic boost was associated with activity in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Study Details In...
Jonathan D. Spicer, MD, PhD, of McGill University, discusses findings from the KEYNOTE-671 study of perioperative pembrolizumab for patients with resectable early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy followed by resection and adjuvant pembrolizumab improved overall survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and resection alone in stage II, IIIA, or IIIB (N2) disease (Abstract LBA56).
Two new studies—presented by Drumheller et al and Vento et al at the 2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium—utilized data from ASCO’s CancerLinQ® database (Abstracts 418 and 532). One study revealed deficiencies in biomarker testing and tracking in electronic health records, and the other analyzed...
In a Chinese single-center phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Pan et al found that sequential CD19- and CD22-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy was active in pediatric patients with refractory or relapsed B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Study Details In...
Researchers have found that a text message–based program in combination with routine laboratory testing could safely accelerate patients to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, eliminate the need for in-person assessments with their physicians, and save them about 1.5 hours in total wait...
Early-phase trials demonstrate the potential for TROP-2–directed antibody-drug conjugates to enhance the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without actionable genomic alterations, several investigators reported at the International...
In exploratory analyses of results from the SWOG S1801 trial in patients with stage III to IV resectable melanoma, researchers saw a major pathologic response in more than half of surgical specimens taken from patients who had been treated with neoadjuvant pembrolizumab. These and other results of...
Researchers have found that nivolumab in combination with a chemotherapy regimen may improve the rate of survival in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma, according to new findings simultaneously published by van der Heijden et al in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the ...
Compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, adding perioperative immunotherapy—given before and after surgery—significantly improved event-free survival in patients with resectable early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Results from the phase III CheckMate 77T study were presented at the ...
On October 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with platinum-containing chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment, and with continuation of single-agent pembrolizumab as postsurgical adjuvant treatment, for resectable (tumors ≥ 4 cm or node-positive)...
Commenting on the DESTINY-Breast03 presentation at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Neelima Vidula, MD, a medical oncologist at Mass General Cancer Center, said: “The results highlight the important survival differences of T-DXd [fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki] compared to T-DM1...
The antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) proved to be superior to the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), significantly improving progression-free survival and overall survival, in women with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer as ...
On October 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the adjuvant treatment of completely resected stage IIB or IIC melanoma in patients aged 12 years and older. CheckMate 76K Efficacy was evaluated in CheckMate 76K (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04099251),...
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer, comprising 80% of all malignant tumors found within the kidney. Although some clear cell renal cell carcinoma tumors are sensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors, currently, there are no measures to predict whether a tumor...
In a Chinese phase 1b/II trial (COMPASSION-03) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gao et al found that the anti–PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody cadonilimab showed activity in previously treated patients with a range of advanced solid tumors, including advanced cervical cancer, esophageal squamous...
Justin F. Gainor, MD, Director of the Center for Thoracic Cancers Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, was invited to discuss IMpower151 and ILLUMINATE at the 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer. IMpower151 vs IMpower150 Dr. Gainor examined why IMpower151 was negative for both...
In advanced non–small cell lung cancer harboring mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors following disease progression with tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been unclear. Several studies reported at the International Association for the Study ...
The Alliance Data and Safety Monitoring Board has determined that adjuvant pembrolizumab may improve disease-free survival in patients with localized muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma and locally advanced urothelial carcinoma, according to the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. ...
Shirish M. Gadgeel, MD, of the Henry Ford Cancer Institute, discusses a 5-year follow-up study of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were treated with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. According to Dr. Gadgeel, the findings continue to support the use of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy as a standard-of-care first-line treatment, including in tumors with a PD-L1 tumor proportion scores of less than 1%.
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy may be effective prior to surgery in multiple types of cancers, according to a recent study published by Topalian et al in Cancer Cell. Background Neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockades have been a rapidly growing area of research and are currently being tested across...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Markus Moehler, MD, and colleagues found that in the phase III CheckMate 649 trial, the addition of nivolumab to chemotherapy was associated with generally better patient-reported health-related quality of life outcomes in patients with advanced...
In patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring EGFR mutations, the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors following disease progression with tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been unclear. Several studies reported at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2023 ...
The anti–PD-L1 monoclonal antibody durvalumab in combination with other immuno-oncology agents may outperform treatment with durvalumab alone in the neoadjuvant setting for patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a recent study published by Cascone et al in Cancer ...
In an interim analysis of a small phase I study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chiesa et al found that base-edited CAR7 T cells were active in pediatric patients with relapsed T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). As stated by the investigators: “Cytidine deamination that is...
Researchers have discovered that therapy with first-line nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab may improve the 6-year survival and quality of life of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with standard chemotherapy, according to findings presented by Peters et al...
Barbara Burtness, MD, the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Medicine and Chief Translational Research Officer at Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, featured the CONTINUUM study at the head and neck cancer session on Highlights of the Day during the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting. She noted the study’s premise...
The addition of the PD-1 inhibitor sintilimab to standard induction chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy resulted in a significant improvement in 3-year event-free survival, a manageable safety profile, and comparable quality of life in high-risk, locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma vs standard ...
The invited discussant of the VERSATILE-002 and CUE-101-01 trials, Erminia Massarelli, MD, PhD, MS, said both are examples of a growing interest in evaluating immunotherapeutic strategies and treatment sequences in early-stage head and neck squamous cell cancer as well as in metastatic disease. Dr. ...
Immunotherapeutics that target human papillomavirus (HPV) genotype 16 appear to boost the activity of pembrolizumab in advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Two examples were presented in posters at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.1,2 The phase II VERSATILE-002 trial evaluated PDS0101,...
ASCO EXPERT Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, commented on the implications of the study presented by Zhao et al. Dr. Yu is Physician-in-Chief at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute. “Tumor microbiome studies are at the cutting edge of precision medicine metabolomics,” Dr. Yu stated....
In patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), gut microbiome characteristics differed between those who had durable responses to immunotherapy and those who did not, according to a retrospective study presented at the 2023 ASCO Breakthrough meeting.1 The presence of Clostridium...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Xie et al explored outcomes associated with immune checkpoint inhibition among patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with Child-Pugh B vs Child-Pugh A liver function. Study Details The analysis included 22 studies...
Patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma who were treated with a chemoimmunotherapy regimen containing the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab experienced significantly improved overall survival compared with those treated with chemotherapy alone, with acceptable tolerability, according...
In the phase III ATALANTE/ENGOT-ov29 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kurtz et al found that the addition of atezolizumab to bevacizumab and platinum-based doublets did not significantly improve progression-free survival among patients with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer....
Researchers have identified new strategies to help physicians predict which patients with advanced colorectal cancer may benefit from immunotherapy, according to a recent study published by Saberzadeh-Ardestani et al in Clinical Cancer Research. The findings demonstrate the potential of using...