Immuno-Oncology

First-line therapy with nivolumab failed to improve progression-free survival in PD-L1 positive non-small cell lung cancer compared with standard chemotherapy.

Atezolizumab (Tecentriq) reduced the risk of death by 27% compared with docetaxel in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer following the failure of platinum-based chemotherapy.

Safety, efficacy, and biomarker results from the phase II CheckMate-275 trial of the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) that support FDA and European Medicines Agency applications were reported at the 2016 ESMO Congress.

Single-agent pembrolizumab improved overall and progression-free survival compared with doublet chemotherapy for untreated patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer who expressed PD-L1 on ≥50% of cells.

Treatment with ipilimumab reduced the risk of death by 28% versus placebo in patients with high-risk stage III melanoma.

Almost 40% of patients with resected early-stage non–small cell lung cancer had evidence of tumor regression following neoadjuvant treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) in a preliminary clinical trial.

Over one-fourth of patients with metastatic melanoma in Europe do not have access to groundbreaking therapies that could extend their lives.

Stefani Spranger, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, Cancer Research Institute at The University of Chicago, discusses the differences between immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

Tracey L. Evans, MD, shares her perspective on the role of PD-L1 testing in lung cancer. She also discusses the role of liquid biopsies and other assays that could possibly be on the horizon.

Hossein Borghaei, DO, provides additional insight on checkpoint inhibitors, determining patient selection, and how these therapies will continue to significantly impact the treatment landscape in non–small cell lung cancer for years to come.

​Jonas de Souza, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago, discusses the approval of pembrolizumab for relapsed head and neck cancer patients who are platinum-refractory

Jeffery S. Weber, MD, PhD, deputy director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, co-director of the Melanoma Program, and head of Experimental Therapeutics at NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses considering factors when selecting an immunotherapy agent for a patient with melanoma.

In kidney cancer there are three “eras” in the history of treatment advances, said James Hsieh, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Todd Bauer, MD, associate director, Drug Development, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the emergence of the novel agent rovalpituzumab tesirine in the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer in an interview during the IASLC Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.

Randy F. Sweis, MD, clinical instructor, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the trend toward immunotherapy in the field of genitourinary malignancies.

Historically, patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma have had few treatment options, but several targeted agents and one immunotherapy, the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab, have been approved within the past 5 years, considerably expanding the RCC treatment arsenal. In the frontline setting, targeted agents are often the go-to therapy.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was well tolerated and demonstrated promising antitumor activity in patients with PD-L1–positive advanced cervical squamous cell cancer.

Ramona Dadu, MD, assistant professor, Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the current treatment approaches being evaluated for patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer.

Katherine Thornton, MD, discusses the potential that immunotherapy agents could have in the field of sarcoma, as well as the role of genomic profiling in understanding the patients who may benefit from select treatments.

Joel Neal, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine (Oncology), Stanford University Medical Center, discusses exciting advancements in the field of lung cancer over the past few years.

Janice Mehnert, MD, medical oncologist, director, Phase I and Developmental Therapeutics Program, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discussing promising biomarkers for patients to receive immunotherapy across tumor types.

Heather A. Wakelee, MD, associate professor of Medicine (Oncology), Stanford University Medical Center, regent, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) discusses updated efficacy findings from the BIRCH trial, which was a phase II study of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for patients with PD-L1–selected advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Wakelee discussed these findings during an interview at the 2016 IASLC Multidisciplinary Symposium on Thoracic Oncology.

Although checkpoint blockade inhibitors targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway are currently dominating the oncology community's attention, there are many other exciting approaches to anticancer immunotherapy being explored in a range of solid tumors

The FDA-approved fixed dose of 200 mg of pembrolizumab administered once every 3 weeks yielded durable responses in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Barbara A. Burtness, MD, discussed the potential role for immunotherapy in frontline head and neck cancer, as well as the possible benefit of using it in combination with standard treatments, including radiation and chemotherapy.

Elizabeth Plimack, MD, discusses some of the most impressive advancements with immunotherapy agents in the fields of renal cell carcinoma and bladder cancer, as well as remaining questions with the use of these treatments.

Barbara Burtness, MD, professor of Medicine, Yale Cancer Center, discusses some of the ongoing trials currently examining the use of immunotherapy to treat patients with head and neck cancer.

The European Medicines Agency has validated a type II variation application for use of nivolumab (Opdivo) as a treatment for patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy.