Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, on Early Breast Cancer and Weight Loss: Results From the BWEL Trial
2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a telephone-based weight loss intervention that induced clinically meaningful weight loss in patients with breast cancer who had overweight and obesity, across demographic and tumor factors. Additional tailoring of the intervention may possibly enhance weight loss in Black and younger patients as well (Abstract 12001).
The ASCO Post Staff
Claire Roddie, PhD, MBChB, of University College London, discusses results of the FELIX study, which showed that the second-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy obecabtagene autoleucel is safe for adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, even those with a high burden of disease. This agent yielded high rates of complete response and ongoing CAR T-cell persistence in most patients whose disease responded (Abstract 7000).
The ASCO Post Staff
Eunice S. Wang, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Gregory Roloff, MD, of the University of Chicago, discuss data that are the first to demonstrate post–FDA approval efficacy and toxicity rates of brexucabtagene autoleucel in adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although the data may confirm high response rates associated with this agent, they also highlight the need for interventions to reduce associated toxicities (Abstract 7001).
The ASCO Post Staff
Tycel J. Phillips, MD, and Alex F. Herrera, MD, both of the City of Hope National Medical Center, discuss findings from the POLARIX study, which provided the largest prospectively collected circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) data set on patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Achieving ctDNA-negative status was associated with improved outcomes when patients were treated with polatuzumab vedotin-piiq plus combination chemotherapy vs combination chemotherapy alone (Abstract 7523).
The ASCO Post Staff
Sarah K. Tasian, MD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, summarizes three studies presented at ASCO: genomic determinants of outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a phase III trial of inotuzumab ozogamicin for high-risk B-cell ALL, and preliminary results from the first-in-child phase II trial of bosutinib in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia (Abstracts 10015, 10016, and 10017).
The ASCO Post Staff
Amer Methqal Zeidan, MBBS, MHS, of Yale University and Yale Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings on the first-in-class telomerase inhibitor imetelstat, which was given to patients with heavily transfusion-dependent non-del(5q) lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes that are resistant to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Imetelstat resulted in a significant and sustained red blood cell (RBC) transfusion independence in 40% of these heavily transfused patients. The response was also durable and accompanied by an impressive median hemoglobin rise of 3.6 g/dL, and seen in patients with and without ring sideroblasts. Importantly, reduced variant allele frequency was observed in the most commonly mutated myeloid genes which correlated with duration of transfusion independence and hemoglobin rise, therefore suggesting a disease-modifying potential of this agent (Abstract 7004).
