David Reardon, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses phase I/II results from the EOGBM1-18/ROSALIE study, which showed the EO2401 vaccine plus nivolumab generated systemic immune responses correlating with efficacy in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. Adding bevacizumab to this combination appeared to improve efficacy. (Abstract 642).
Kishu Ranjan, PhD, of Yale University School of Medicine, discusses his study findings, which identified a deficiency in the biomarker TAP2 as a prominent immune evasion mechanism in patients whose non–small cell lung cancer has resisted immunotherapy (Abstract 148).
Roger Li, MD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses results from a phase II single-arm study of CG0070, a cancer-selective oncolytic adenovirus that creates mechanistic synergy with immune checkpoint blockade. In this trial, the virus was combined with pembrolizumab in patients with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer that is unresponsive to bacillus Calmette-Guérin. At 3 months, 88% of the 35 patients enrolled achieved a complete response (Abstract 666).
Jonathan Chen, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses “immunity hubs” that interact with a reservoir of stem-like CD8 T cells and appear to be associated with subsequent response to anti–PD-1 blockade in patients with non–small cell lung cancer. Hybrid hubs, Dr. Chen says, are a favorable class of immunity hub notable for CD8-positive and TCF7-positive cells, as well as CCL19 expression (Abstract 956).
Julia Tchou, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses preliminary results of the phase Ib/II BreastVax study, which suggested a single preoperative pembrolizumab dose plus a tumor-targeting radiation boost may result in pathologic response in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (Abstract 644).
Saman Maleki, PhD, of Canada’s Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute, discusses modifying the gut microbiome in patients with advanced melanoma to induce a response to anti–PD-1 therapy and potentially reduce primary resistance to immunotherapy. A fecal microbiota transplant from healthy donors before treatment appears to be beneficial (Abstract 614).
