Immuno-Oncology

The PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab and the second-generation ALK inhibitor alectinib have each gained their first approvals as treatments for patients in Japan.

Abraham Chachoua, MD, The Jay and Isabel Fine Associate Professor of Oncology, NYU Langone Medical Center, associate director, Cancer Services, Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone, discusses ongoing clinical trials at NYU that are evaluating immunotherapy in patients with lung cancer.

Joseph Jurcic, MD, head, Hematologic Malignancies, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the next steps for research into radioimmunotherapy.

Frontline treatment with the anti-PD-1 agent nivolumab significantly extended overall survival when compared with dacarbazine for patients with metastatic or unresectable melanoma.

When Franco Muggia, MD, was a freshly minted oncologist 50 years ago, his new colleagues warned him not to waste much time learning about a drug like fluorouracil.

Edith A. Perez, MD, discusses a genomic analysis of immune function genes and clinical outcome in the NCCTG (Alliance) N9831 adjuvant trastuzumab trial.

The concept of manipulating the immune system to treat cancer has experienced waxing and waning levels of enthusiasm over decades of clinical investigation.

Mario Sznol, MD, professor, Internal Medicine, Yale Cancer Center, discusses a phase I trial that examined the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma.

The anti-PD-1 humanized antibody pembrolizumab has robust antitumor activity as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced PD-L1-positive NSCLC.

Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Giant of Cancer Care, discusses the initial efficacy and safety results from the EORTC 18071 phase III trial, which looked at ipilimumab versus placebo after complete resection of stage III melanoma.

Long-term follow-up results demonstrated nearly doubled median OS with the combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab compared with either agent alone.

Two patients with metastatic cervical cancer achieved durable complete responses that have so far lasted from 15 to 22 months through an adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) targeting the human papillomavirus (HPV) in a study that researchers say supports the concept that the experimental immunotherapy approach may be beneficial in a variety of tumor types.

The anti-PD 1 checkpoint inhibitor, pembrolizumab, continues to deliver impressive results in patients with advanced melanoma-producing long-lasting responses and improved overall survival, regardless of whether patients have been previously treated with ipilimumab.

The immunotherapy drug ipilimumab reduced the relative risk of cancer recurrence in the adjuvant setting by 25% compared to placebo for patients with high-risk, lymph-node positive melanoma.

Lawrence Fong, MD, from the University of California, San Francisco, discusses the systemic antitumor effect and clinical response in a phase II trial of intratumoral electroporation of plasmid interleukin-12 in patients with advanced melanoma.

Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, an associate attending physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the safety and response with plus erlotinib in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutant (EGFR MT) advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

MPDL3280A reduced tumors in 43% of patients with previously treated PD-L1-positive metastatic bladder cancer, resulting in the first breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA for a treatment in this setting.

Anna C. Pavlick, DO, associate professor, Hematology and Medical Oncology, medical director, Clinical Trials Office, Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone, discusses a phase II trial exploring low-dose cyclophosphamide and ipilimumab in metastatic melanoma.

Nagashree Seetharamu, MD, assistant professor, Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology), Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone, discusses the possibility of using immunotherapy agents to treat head and neck cancers.

Over the course of only a few days, two drugs that will be commercialized by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), nivolumab and elotuzumab, have each been granted breakthrough therapy designations by the FDA for the treatment of two different types of blood cancers.

Tomasz Beer, MD, FACP, professor of medicine, deputy director of the Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, characterizes the immune-related adverse events associated with ipilimumab in a phase III metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer trial.

Mark R. Litzow, MD, a professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, discusses novel immunologic therapies for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute, discusses the curative potential of immunotherapy for patients with cancer.

An interview with Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, on new therapies for patients with acute and chronic leukemias, in particular novel immunotherapies such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells.

The FDA has assigned a priority review designation to the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (MK-3475) as a treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma following progression on ipilimumab.

James J. Hsieh, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, gives an overview of emerging treatments for patients with kidney cancer.

The treatment decisions for NSCLC are primarily dependent on the patient's performance status, extent of disease, and histological subtype. Significant developments in the area of targeted therapies have changed the treatment paradigm for NSCLC.

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, associate professor, chief, Cellular Therapeutics Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the potential application of CAR-modified T cell technology.

An interview with Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, on the evolving field of immunotherapy for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer.

PD-L1 levels adequately predict response and clinical outcomes for PD-1 inhibitor MK-3475 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma