Lung Cancer

Treatment options for patients with squamous non–small cell lung cancer are expanding rapidly yet the field is still lagging in targeted therapies and curative strategies

Sangeetha Palakurthi, PhD, head of the Cancer Biology and Pharmacology Group at the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a study that utilized non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient-derived xenografts from patients on osimertinib (AZD9291) clinical trials to further refine therapeutic strategies.

Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and pathology, University of Colorado Cancer Center, CEO, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), discusses necitumumab for first-line treatment of advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Three currently available assays for PD-L1 expression exhibited a high degree of correlation in a comparative study involving archived lung cancer tissue.

Treatment with the novel multikinase inhibitor entrectinib achieved objective responses in 79% of patients with solid tumors associated with NTRK, ROS-1, or ALK rearrangements.

Nicola Normanno, MD, chief of the Cell Biology and Biotherapy Unit, INT-Fondazione Pascale, Naples, Italy, discusses the benefit of plasma genotyping to predict response to EGFR-targeted therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Plasma-based genetic testing can effectively be used to determine whether a tissue biopsy is necessary for EGFR mutation analysis in patients with non–small cell lung cancer.

Efficacy and safety remained strong 2 years following treatment with nivolumab for patients with advanced, refractory, squamous non-small–cell lung cancer, with an indication that cytokine levels could predict long-term outcomes.

Plasma genotyping can, in most cases, identify T790M-positivity in non-small cell lung cancer, which gives patients the option of receiving the targeted therapy osimertinib without the need for a tumor biopsy, according Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD.

The FDA has approved afatinib (Gilotrif) for the treatment of patients with advanced squamous cell non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following progression on platinum-based chemotherapy.

The first analysis of a trial investigating durvalumab in combination with gefitinib (Iressa) showed encouraging anti-tumor activity and tolerability in patients with non–small cell lung cancer and EGFR mutations that were tyrosine-kinase inhibitor-naïve.

Adding necitumumab to conventional chemotherapy improved outcomes in patients with metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer in the phase III SQUIRE trial, but the greatest benefit was derived by patients with EGFR-expressing tumors.

The first report of results from a phase Ib clinical trial evaluating CRS-207, a live, attenuated, double-deleted Listeria monocytogenes vaccine, in combination with pemetrexed and cisplatin, demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

A new generation of EGFR-targeted TKIs are poised to displace traditional agents as frontline therapies for patients with lung cancer.

John Haanen, MD PhD, epartment of Medical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, discussed the role of PD-L1 as a biomarker in lung cancer.

First-line treatment with single-agent osimertinib (Tagrisso) induced a response rate of 77% in patients with EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer.

Thierry Jahan, MD, professor of medicine at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in San Francisco, discusses CRS-20, a live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes bacterium which is being investigated with chemotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses how nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) have impacted the treatment landscape of non–small cell lung cancer.

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12-1 against the accelerated approval of rociletinib as a treatment for patients with metastatic EGFR T790M–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have previously received an EGFR-targeted therapy.

The FDA has granted a priority review to atezolizumab for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer who express PD-L1 and have progressed after a platinum-containing regimen.

The European Commission has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer, regardless of PD-L1 levels.

Edward Kim, MD, discusses the impact of nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in non–small cell lung cancer, potential combinations, biomarkers, and ongoing research.

Sarah Goldberg, MD, MPH, discusses the efficacy of immunotherapies, PD-L1 as a biomarker, and how these therapies will continue to alter the treatment of patients with non–small cell lung cancer.