Van K. Morris, MD, on Colon Cancer: ctDNA as a Predictive Biomarker
2024 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium
Van K. Morris, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase II results on using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a predictive biomarker of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II colon cancer. During the trial, no improvement in ctDNA clearance was observed after 6 months of chemotherapy following resection of disease. Dr. Morris notes that future trials should account for evolving assay performance in patients with colorectal cancer (Abstract 5).
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
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
Ken Kato, MD, PhD, of Japan’s National Cancer Center Hospital, discusses the first comprehensive findings on biomarkers from the CheckMate 648 study. These results further corroborate the clinical efficacy of nivolumab plus chemotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab in the first-line treatment of advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. According to Dr. Kato, the data suggest an overall survival benefit across multiple biomarker subgroups (Abstract 252).
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).
The ASCO Post Staff
Anant Ramaswamy, DM, of Tata Memorial Centre, discusses phase III results of a study that added docetaxel to a doublet regimen of fluorouracil or capecitabine and oxaliplatin, which did not improve overall survival in patients with advanced gastroesophageal junction and gastric cancers. Continuing chemotherapy beyond 6 months also did not appear to improve survival in this population (Abstract LBA248).
