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
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
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
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
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).
