Elizabeth Smyth, MD, on New Data in Gastric/Gastroesophageal Cancers
ASCO 2026
Elizabeth Smyth, MD, of Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Churchill Hospital, discusses three major studies presented at this year’s meeting: the antibody-drug conjugate izalontamab brengitecan in recurrent or metasatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (Abstract 4008); the ATTRACTION-6 study of chemoimmunotherapy in HER2-negative advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer (Abstract 4006); and an investigational EP4 antagonist in combination with chemoimmunotherapy as a first-line strategy for HER2-negative gastric/GEJ cancer (Abstract 4007).
Suneel Kamath, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, discusses a study that found tissue tumor mutation burden (TMB) was a stronger predictor of immunotherapy outcomes than blood-based circulating tumor DNA testing, with high tissue TMB associated with a longer time to treatment failure (Abstract 2580).
The ASCO Post Staff
Adam Kibel, MD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, discusses findings from the phase III PROTEUS trial, which evaluated perioperative (neoadjuvant and adjuvant) apalutamide and androgen deprivation therapy vs placebo and ADT with radical prostatectomy in patients with high-risk localized or locally advanced prostate cancer. Dr. Kibel talks about how the regimen of apalutamide and ADT affects both the surgical procedure itself as well as patient outcomes postprocedure (Abstract LBA1).
Lucy Gilbert, MD, of McGill University Health Centre, discusses subgroup analyses from the ROSELLA study. Relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel demonstrated a statistically and clinically significant overall survival benefit in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer compared to a weekly taxane; subgroup analyses for overall survival showed a consistent benefit favoring the addition of relacorilant to nab-paclitaxel irrespective of prior taxane use (Abstract 5503).
The ASCO Post Staff
Robert C. Stein, PhD, MBBChir, FRCP, of the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, discusses the first results from the phase III randomized OPTIMA trial, which is comparing chemotherapy decisions made with the Prosigna (PAM50) gene expression test with standard treatment with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer (Abstract 500).
The ASCO Post Staff
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, FACP, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, provides an update focusing on progression-free survival after next line of treatment and subsequent therapies among patients enrolled in the ASCENT-03 trial. The study compared sacituzumab govitecan vs chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (Abstract 1001).
