Immuno-Oncology

Results of a large phase III trial testing the efficacy of the investigational vaccine L-BLP25 in patients with advanced lung cancer found that the vaccine failed to show a statistically significant improvement in overall survival

Ipilimumab provides a striking example of the way in which some patients derive long-term benefits from therapy while others do not. The reasons for such differences should be a priority for translational research.

Scott Gettinger, MD, from the Yale School of Medicine, discusses updated results from a phase I trial that examined the novel immunotherapy BMS-936558 in patients with NSCLC and other solid tumors.

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, Leukemia Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, explains the process by which his laboratory at MSKCC genetically modifies immune cells to fight cancer.

Interim data from a phase II clinical study of the dendritic cell vaccine CVac in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer showed promising signs of improving PFS compared with the observational standard of care.

Suzanne L. Topalian, MD, has led clinical development of monoclonal antibodies to treat patients with melanoma and other solid tumors, including those targeting the PD-1 T cell co-receptor.

Michael Rotkowitz, MD, says that one of the main challenges and a leading goal of immunotherapy research is measuring response to justify the administration.

Increasing evidence suggests that the ability to outsmart the body's immune response represents a hallmark of tumor development.

Michael Rotkowitz, MD, from Cancer Treatment Centers of America, discusses a phase III trial that examined ipilimumab plus dacarbazine for patients with metastatic melanoma.

David R. Gandara, MD, University of California, Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, provides his opinion on some of the most exciting research currently taking place for patients with NSCLC.

Patients who received sipuleucel-T developed immune parameters that correlated with improved overall survival suggesting that these parameters should be the focus of further studies on the treatment.

Antoni Ribas, MD, from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a phase I/II trial combining vemurafenib and ipilimumab for metastatic melanoma.

The incidence of melanoma, the deadliest of all skin cancers, is quickly rising, and the disease is responsible for more than 8000 deaths each year.

Nearly twice as many patients with metastatic melanoma who received a combination of ipilimumab and dacarbazine were alive after four years, suggesting that ipilimumab has long-term survival benefits.

In April 2010, the FDA approved sipuleucel-T for patients with castration-resistant and metastatic prostate cancer, providing a new treatment that would help the body fight its own cancer.

Dr. Daniel Petrylak, from the Smilow Cancer Center at Yale-New Haven, Explains the Correlation Between Immune Response to Sipuleucel-T and Survival.

Researchers have determined that patients who received sipuleucel-T (Provenge, Dendreon) developed immune parameters that correlate to improved overall survival, giving researchers a better understanding of how the immunotherapy works at a cellular level to improve survival.

Dr. Alan Sandler from the Oregon Health & Science University Discusses Immunotherapies for Lung Cancer

It is difficult to overstate the excitement surrounding the development of two new effective therapeutic strategies in the management of metastatic melanoma.

Research presented at ASCO 2012 examined the expanded use of sipuleucel-T, as well as methods to determine which patients might benefit the most from the therapy.

Preliminary data suggest a promising role for sipuleucel-T as a treatment for African-American men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Dr. Lawrence Fong from University of California, San Francisco, Discusses Immune Response to Sipuleucel-T

Immunotherapy is maintaining its momentum in clinical development programs, with explorations under way in many tumor types, including breast and lung cancers previously considered poor candidates for such modalities.

Dr. Suzanne Topalian, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, on the PD-1 Targeted Immunotherapy BMS-936558.

In the past few years the pace of discovery of effective immunotherapies has accelerated as a consequence of better chemistry and understanding of immune biology.

Kathleen Madden, from NYU Langone Medical Center, on the Importance Educating Patients About Ipilimumab's Side Effects.

Dr. Charles Ryan, from UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Discusses Sequencing Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Therapies.

While many approaches to using immunotherapy for the treatment of prostate cancer are under study, four strategies currently in later-stage clinical development have emerged as the most promising.

Dr. Julie Brahmer, from the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, on the PD-1 Immunotherapy BMS-93655 Clinical Trial

An immunotherapy agent that targets the PD-1 pathway demonstrated response rates as high as 28% in an early-phase study involving patients with different tumor types.