Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, on the Road to Synthetic Immunity: Novel CAR Designs
AACR Annual Meeting 2021
Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the challenges in developing CAR T-cell therapy, as well as the progress being made, such as creating hybrid CAR and T-cell receptors that should enable T cells to recognize much lower levels of antigens. The field, he says, is poised to take on a range of solid tumors to extend the successes in hematologic malignancies.
The ASCO Post Staff
Jessica C. Hassel, MD, of University Hospital Heidelberg, discusses phase III results of a study that compared tebentafusp, a bispecific fusion protein, with investigator’s choice in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. Tebentafusp nearly halved the risk of death among patients in the trial with this rare eye cancer (Abstract CT002).
The ASCO Post Staff
Samra Turajlic, MBBS, PhD, of The Francis Crick Institute, discusses our limited understanding of metastases in terms of the timing of dissemination, the many metastatic phenotypes and varieties of seeding, as well as how the spread of cancer evades the immune system and resists treatment. Expanding this knowledge base is critical to better managing malignant disease.
The ASCO Post Staff
Jeanne Tie, MD, MBChB, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses how to improve the current, somewhat imprecise, approach based on pathologic staging alone, used to select patients for adjuvant treatment. Circulating tumor DNA analysis after curative-intent treatment may detect minimal residual disease and might be used to predict recurrence and adjuvant treatment efficacy across multiple tumor types.
The ASCO Post Staff
Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, reflects on the ways in which breast cancer research pioneered the targeted treatment approach, as understanding of the basic biology of tumors deepened and new pathways were uncovered. He sees a future ripe with possibilities for new molecular targets to further improve outcomes for patients with breast cancer and other types of tumors.
The ASCO Post Staff
Carey K. Anders, MD, of the Duke Cancer Center, discusses the ways in which treatment of brain metastases arising from solid tumors has moved into a new era of patient care and how the field may advance.
