In this second installment of a two-part discussion about ovarian cancer advances for The ASCO Post Newsreels, Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, and Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, discuss low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma and an important recently published study. View part 1 of the program to hear them discuss antibody-drug conjugates and clinical trials including PRIMA and ATHENA.
Filmed November 22, 2024
Arvind N. Dasari, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses data presented at the ESMO Gastrointestinal Cancers Congress 2025, which showed that adding circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) testing to current standard of care surveillance for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) better identified patients who are appropriate candidates for metastasis-directed therapy.
Reference
Raajit K. Rampal, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Hematologic Malignancies and the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, reviews the four FDA-approved Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors for patients with myelofibrosis, touching upon differences in their mechanisms of action and toxicity profiles. He also discusses clinical trials of add-on drugs to the currently approved JAK inhibitors, which may increase their efficacy and durability, as well as trials of novel JAK inhibitors and immunotherapies targeting CALR.
Nikhil Khushalani, MD, Vice Chair for the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center, offers his thoughts on the role of immunotherapy in the treatment of advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). Dr. Khushalani discusses the three currently approved immunotherapeutic agents for this disease—cemiplimab-rwlc, pembrolizumab, and cosibelimab-ipdl—and their confirmatory trials as well as adverse event profiles. He also talks about choosing optimal treatment strategies for patients, and studies currently exploring monotherapy vs combination therapy regimens.
References
1. Migden MR, Rischin D, Schmults CD, et al: PD-1 blockade with cemiplimab in advanced cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma. N Eng J Med 379:341-351, 2018.
2. Hughes BGM, Guminski A, Bowyer S, et al: A phase 2 open-label study of cemiplimab in patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (EMPOWER-CSCC-1): Final long-term analysis of groups 1, 2, and 3, and primary analysis of fixed-dose treatment group 6. J Am Acad Dermatol 1:68-77, 2025.
3. Grob JJ, Gonzalez R, Bassett-Seguin N, et al: Pembrolizumab monotherapy for recurrent or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: A single-arm phase II trial (KEYNOTE-629). J Clin Oncol 25:2916-2925, 2020.
4. Maubec E, Boubaya M, Petrow P, et al: Phase II study of pembrolizumab as first-line, single-drug therapy for patients with unresectable cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas. J Clin Oncol 26:3051-3061, 2020.
5. Clingan P, Ladwa R, Brungs D, et al: Efficacy and safety of cosibelimab, an anti-PD-L1 antibody, in metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. J Immunother Cancer 10:e007637, 2023.
6. Zandberg DP, Allred JB, Rosenberg AJ, et al: Phase II (Alliance A091802) randomized trial of avelumab plus cetuximab versus avelumab alone in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. J Clin Oncol 43:2398-2408, 2025.
Kent Shih, MD, of Tennessee Oncology, shares three patient cases that illustrate how gene-expression profiling (GEP) in patients with melanoma helps shape the decision to proceed to sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and how often and thorough follow-up should be with medical oncology.
Kent Shih, MD, of Tennessee Oncology, presents three patients cases that show how the use of gene-expression profile testing guides patient and practitioner decision-making when choosing the appropriate path of adjuvant treatment among individuals with melanoma.
