Jennifer Yon-Li Wo, MD, on Colorectal and Pancreatic Cancers: New Findings on SBRT With Ipilimumab and Nivolumab
2024 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium
Jennifer Yon-Li Wo, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the local failure rate of non-ablative hypofractionated radiation therapy in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitors ipilimumab and nivolumab compared to ablative SBRT to treat metastatic microsatellite-stable colorectal and pancreatic cancers as a secondary analysis of four prospective trials. Dr. Wo and her team found that, despite using nearly half the radiation dose in those who received immunotherapy, there was no significant difference in local failure rates (Abstract 752).
The ASCO Post Staff
Lorraine A. Chantrill, PhD, MBBS, of Australia’s Wollongong Hospital, New South Wales, discusses phase II findings on the combination of nab-paclitaxel plus carboplatin as a first-line treatment for patients with gastrointestinal neuroendocrine carcinomas. According to Dr. Chantrill, this regimen appears to be active in these tumors and warrants further evaluation in a phase III trial (Abstract 589).
The ASCO Post Staff
Yasunobu Ishizuka, MD, of Japan’s Aichi Cancer Center, discusses study results showing that scheduling infusions of nivolumab monotherapy before mid-afternoon for patients with metastatic gastric cancer may alter treatment efficacy. Several studies have suggested that circadian rhythm is essential in immune system function, including anticancer immunity (Abstract 268).
The ASCO Post Staff
Frank Kullmann, MD, of Germany’s Klinikum Weiden, discusses results from the ALPACA trial, which suggest a dose-reduced regimen with alternating cycles of gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine monotherapy after three induction cycles of standard gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel is feasible and associated with an overall survival comparable to that with standard treatment, as well as improved tolerability (Abstract 605).
The ASCO Post Staff
Riccardo Lencioni, MD, of the University of Pisa School of Medicine, discusses phase III results from the EMERALD-1 study of durvalumab plus bevacizumab plus TACE (transarterial chemoembolization) in patients with embolization-eligible unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Compared with TACE alone, this combination is the first immune checkpoint inhibitor–based regimen to improve progression-free survival and has the potential to set a new standard of care in this disease, according to Dr. Lencioni (Abstract LBA432).
The ASCO Post Staff
Manish A. Shah, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College, discusses phase III findings of the KEYNOTE-590 study, which shows that, after 5 years, the use of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy improved survival with durable efficacy, compared with placebo plus chemotherapy, in patients with untreated advanced esophageal cancer (Abstract 250).
