Immuno-Oncology

Andrea Apolo, MD, medical oncologist, chief of the bladder cancer section of the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, National Cancer Institute, discusses immunotherapy combinations with cabozantinib (Cometriq) in genitourinary tumors.

Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Urology, co-director, Signal Transduction Research Program, Yale Cancer Center, 2017 Giant of Cancer Care in Genitourinary Cancer, discusses the KEYNOTE-045 trial investigating pembrolizumab (Keytruda) versus physician’s choice of chemotherapy for patients with urothelial carcinoma.

Toni K. Choueiri, MD, clinical director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, director, Kidney Cancer Center, senior physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses phase I results of axitinib (Inlyta) plus avelumab (Bavencio) for the treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Combining the PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab (Bavencio) with the VEGF inhibitor axitinib (Inlyta) as a frontline regimen induced a response rate of 58.2% in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, according to findings from the phase Ib JAVELIN Renal 100 trial presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Combining the PD-1­ inhibitor pembrolizumab with the IDO1 inhibitor epacadostat led to an overall response rate of 35% in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma.

The combination of the IDO inhibitor epacadostat and nivolumab demonstrated promising signs of activity for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and those with melanoma.

Nivolumab as monotherapy or in combination with ipilimumab may present a new second- or third-line treatment option for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, based on preliminary findings from a phase II trial where nivolumab alone or in the combination improved disease control and prolonged survival in patients with this rare but aggressive cancer.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) showed durable antitumor activity in patients with heavily pretreated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), according to findings from cohort A of the phase II KEYNOTE-086 trial presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Pembrolizumab continued to show promising signs of clinical activity as a treatment for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer in updated findings from the KEYNOTE-059 study.

Nivolumab plus ipilimumab demonstrated an intracranial response rate of 42% in asymptomatic patients with melanoma brain metastases who had not received prior local therapy to the brain.

Andrea B. Apolo, MD, principal investigator and the head of the Bladder Cancer Section in the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research, discusses the updated findings of the phase Ib JAVELIN trial exploring avelumab (Bavencio) for the treatment of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

The frontline combination of pembrolizumab, pemetrexed, and carboplatin reduced the risk of progression or death by 50% and nearly doubled objective response rates compared with chemotherapy alone for patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC.

Arjun V. Balar, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, New York University Cancer Institute, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the mature clinical trial results and biomarker findings of KEYNOTE-052, first-line pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with cisplatin-ineligible advanced urothelial cancer, during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, chairman, Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the significance of nivolumab (Opdivo) for patients with lung cancer.

Driven by newer agents, the cost of US oncology medicines has increased 88% over the past 5 years, according to the QuintilesIMS Institute Global Oncology Trends 2017 report.

Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, head of the Division of Early Drug Development at European Institute of Oncology, in Milan, Italy, discusses immunotherapy trials in triple-negative breast cancer.

Physicians treating hepatocellular carcinoma often have to choose between a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) and immunotherapy but oncologists need better tools to make an informed choice.

Results from the KEYNOTE-028 study showed that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was associated with a median duration of response of 6 months and a 6-month progression-free survival rate of 40.4% in women with advanced PD-L1–positive endometrial cancer.

Less than 2 years after checkpoint blockade immunotherapy first became available for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab is poised to reshape the treatment paradigm for previously untreated individuals without molecular mutations.

Melissa L. Johnson, MD, medical oncologist, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses potential immunotherapy regimens for patients with lung cancer.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to nivolumab (Opdivo) for use as a treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma following prior sorafenib (Nexavar).

Costas Lallas, MD, professor at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, discusses challenges with immunotherapy in genitourinary (GU) malignancies.

The FDA has granted a priority review to a supplemental Biologics License Application for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of patients who have undergone at least 2 courses of chemotherapy for recurrent or advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Axel Grothey, MD, medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic, discusses the FDA approval of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of patients with microsatellite instability-high colorectal cancer (CRC).

Oliver Sartor, MD, a medical oncologist at the Tulane University School of Medicine, discusses the analysis of African-American patients receiving sipuleucel-T (Provenge) compared with Caucasians with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic, microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) solid tumors that have progressed after prior treatment and who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options, as well as for patients with MSI-H or dMMR colorectal cancer following progression on a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan.

Costas Lallas, MD, professor at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, discusses combinations of immunotherapy for genitourinary malignancies.

Arjun V. Balar, MD, discusses the impact of the approval of pembrolizumab and other immunotherapy agents in urothelial carcinoma, as well as the next steps with these treatments.

Researchers are hoping to build on the success of the KEYNOTE-012 and CheckMate-141 trials, which led to the approvals of pembrolizumab and nivolumab, respectively, by examining anti–PD-1/PD-L1 agents in the frontline and as a part of combination regimens for patients with head and neck cancer.

Ahead of this year's meeting, researchers are increasingly interested in the state of communication between patients and doctors on immunotherapy.