Nirav Niranjan Shah, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, explores whether autologous transplantation, in patients with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who achieve only a PET/CT-positive partial remission, is appropriate in the era of CAR T-cell therapy (Abstract 8000).
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, summarizes four breast cancer studies: KATHERINE, on adjuvant trastuzumab vs trastuzumab in patients with residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer; KAITLIN, on trastuzumab emtansine and pertuzumab vs trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and taxane after anthracyclines as adjuvant therapy for high-risk HER2-positive early breast cancer; TRAIN-2, on neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without anthracyclines for HER2-positive disease; and PHERGain, on chemotherapy de-escalation using an FDG-PET/CT and pathologic response–adapted strategy in HER2-positive early breast cancer (Abstracts 500, 501, 502, and 503).
Parameswaran Hari, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses data from four trials and their clinical implications for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma: the KarMMa and EVOLVE studies on CAR T cell therapies; SWOG-1211 on bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamthasone with/without elotuzumab for newly diagnosed, high-risk disease; and the GMMGCONCEPT trial on isatuximab, carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone in front-line treatment (Abstracts 8503, 8504, 8507, 8508).
Eric Zhou, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses an existing online program called SHUTi (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet), that he and his team adapted to the needs of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. After six online cognitive behavior therapy sessions delivered over 8 weeks, the 22 patients in the study reported a significant reduction in insomnia severity, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue as well as an overall improvement in quality of life.
Michael S. Hofman, MBBS, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses phase II results from the ANZUP 1603 trial, which showed that in men with docetaxel-treated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, LuPSMA was more active than cabazitaxel, with relatively fewer grade 3 and 4 adverse events and a more favorable PSA progression-free-survival (Abstract 5500).
David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, of the University of Pennsylvania, who trained as an oncologist, summarizes his opening lecture, a dramatic story of his battle against Castleman, a disease of the lymph nodes, his multiple near-death experiences, and the path that led him to develop a cooperative research effort making a difference for him and other patients with this idiopathic orphan illness.
