Immuno-Oncology

Safety and preliminary antitumor activity with the bispecific antibody RO7122290 alone or in combination with atezolizumab demonstrated preliminary antitumor activity and was safe for the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumors.

Although atezolizumab did not improve pathological complete response when added to carboplatin and nab-paclitaxel, the immunotherapy increased the pCR by 10% or more in “immune-rich” groups with high-risk and locally advanced triple-negative breast cancer, and also turned PD-L1 negative tumors positive in most immunotherapy-treated patients.

Timothy Cragin Wang, MD, discusses the advent of immunotherapy and how it has revolutionized multiple areas of cancer treatment; however, the transformative potential of the modality has been mild in the field of colorectal cancer.

The bispecific antibody CDX-527 is now under investigation in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors who have progressed during or following standard-of-care treatment with the recent initiation of a open-label phase 1 trial.

Investigators are evaluating the clinical and immunological impact of the experimental, engineered fusion protein ALKS 4230 on the tumor microenvironment of several advanced, malignant solid tumors in the recently initiated phase 2 ARTISTRY-3 trial.

Anne Chiang, MD, PhD, discusses the management of ​immune-related adverse effects in lung cancer. 

David R. Spigel, MD, discusses the IMpower110, CYPRESS-1, and CANOPY-A trials, and spoke to the potential future outlook of drug development in NSCLC.

Omid Hamid, MD, discusses emerging biomarkers in melanoma, data supporting their efficacy and their potential for use in clinical practice, and future directions for research.

The FDA has issued an alert that the phase 3 IMpassion131 trial failed to show the effectiveness of atezolizumab plus paclitaxel in treatment-naïve patients with inoperable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

Investigators at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have launched a clinical trial to determine the impact on patient outcomes of stopping therapy after 1 year.

Jacob S. Thomas, MD, discusses the pharmacodynamic profile of INT230-6 as well as preliminary safety and efficacy data with the agent in advanced solid tumors.

Juanita Lopez, PhD, discusses early findings with RO7198457 in combination with atezolizumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic malignancies.

Gary K. Schwartz, MD, highlights research that is being done with regard to genomic signatures in sarcoma, challenges faced with immunotherapy, and where the field is headed.

The investigational immunotherapeutic ERC1671 in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, cyclophosphamide, and bevacizumab showed promising activity in patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

Clinical cancer trials that fail to successfully enroll a racially and ethnically diverse patient population run the risk of leaving critical gaps in understanding regarding the effectiveness of new approaches.

The Japan Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency has approved pembrolizumab for the treatment of patients with radically unresectable, advanced, or recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma whose tumors are PD-L1–positive, and at an additional recommended dosage of 400 mg every 6 weeks as an intravenous infusion across all adult indications.

Spartalizumab in combination with dabrafenib and trametinib failed to meet the primary end point of investigator-assessed progression-free survival in treatment-naïve patients with unresectable or metastatic BRAF V600 mutation–positive cutaneous melanoma.

Despite encouraging data shown in some subtypes, there is still a lot of work that still needs to be done with determining the optimal use for immunotherapy in patients with sarcoma, a population that has historically been difficult to treat.

The FDA has approved daratumumab in combination with carfilzomib and dexamethasone for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma who have received 1 or more prior lines of therapy.

Pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival in the frontline treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to a supplemental biologics license application for a new 4-week, fixed-dose regimen as treatment in approved indications of non–small cell lung cancer and bladder cancer.

Guru P. Sonpavde, MD, discusses several trials in the field of first-line metastatic urothelial cancer that are testing combinations with gemcitabine/platinum-based therapy followed by maintenance avelumab.

Nina Shah MD, discusses the future of CAR T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies in multiple myeloma.

Jennifer L. Atlas, MD, discusses the ​current cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma treatment paradigm.

Bradley G. Somer, MD, discusses the clinical implications of the FDA approval of atezolizumab in combination with bevacizumab in unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma.

The combination of ARID1A mutations and the immune signaling protein CXCL13 proved to be predictive of clinical response and prolonged survival after treatment with checkpoint inhibitors in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Nina Shah, MD, discusses the updated efficacy findings of JNJ-4528 from the phase 1b/2 CARTITUDE-1 study in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Marianne Davies, DNP, MSN, RN, APRN, CNS-BC, ACNP-BC, AOCNP, discusses the management of immune-related adverse effects in patients who are receiving treatment with checkpoint inhibitors.

Nivolumab in combination with chemotherapy as a frontline treatment demonstrated a significant survival benefit in patients with metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, or esophageal adenocarcinoma

Hung Khong, MD, discusses the potential benefit of combining immunotherapy with endocrine therapy in estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.