Latest Conference Articles

Smokers With HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer Accumulate Tobacco-Associated Mutations

Tobacco-associated mutations accumulate over time in smokers with HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer, resulting in less dependence on E6/E7 and other HPV-associated mutations.

Mismatch Repair-Deficient GI Tumors Respond to Anti—PD-1 Therapy

Mismatch repair-deficient gastrointestinal tumors are highly responsive to checkpoint blockade with anti-PD-1 therapy.

PFS in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Similar with Two Chemo Backbones

A potential biomarker to guide chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer failed to stratify patients by progression-free survival or responsiveness to bevacizumab.

Dr. Kunz on the CLARINET Study for GEP-NETs

Pamela L. Kunz, MD, assistant professor, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, discusses tumor response in the CLARINET study, which examined lanreotide depot versus placebo in patients with metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs).

Dr. Melis on Avoiding Surgery for Patients With Rectal Cancer

Marcovalerio Melis, MD, associate professor, Department of Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses a study examining if surgery can be avoided in patients with advanced rectal cancer by using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to predict pathologic response.

Three Drugs Marginally Better Than Two in First-Line Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) had marginal yet inconsistent improvement in clinical outcomes when treated with a three-drug chemotherapy regimen plus bevacizumab compared with a doublet-bevacizumab regimen.

Neoadjuvant Carboplatin/Paclitaxel Showing Potential in Esophageal Cancer

Neoadjuvant treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel-based chemotherapy produced a 27.9% pathologic complete response rate in patients with resectable esophageal cancer, according to results of the NEOSCOPE trial.

Avelumab Clinically Active in Advanced Gastric/GEJ Cancer

The investigational anti–PD-L1 antibody avelumab demonstrated clinical activity as a second-line and maintenance therapy for patients with unresectable gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer.

Dr. Shahda on BBI-608 With Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel in Patients with mPDAC

Safi Shahda, MD, assistant professor of Clinical Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, discusses a phase Ib study examining the cancer stem cell pathway inhibitor BBI-608 in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Dr. Hong on High-Dose Hypofractionated Proton Beam Therapy for Liver Cancer

Theodore S. Hong, MD, director, Gastrointestinal Service, Department of Radiation Oncology, discusses high-dose hypofractionated proton beam therapy for unresectable primary liver cancers.

Neoadjuvant Sorafenib Shows Significant Activity in HCC

Nearly a quarter of patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma experienced major tumor necrosis of greater than or equal to 50% following preoperative treatment with sorafenib.

Nivolumab Shows Clinical Activity in Gastric Cancer

The PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) had an overall response rate of 14% with an acceptable safety profile in patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer.

Pembrolizumab Active in Advanced Esophageal Carcinoma

The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) elicited encouraging activity with mild adverse events as a treatment for patients with advanced PD-L1–positive esophageal carcinoma.

Dr. Abou-Alfa on Sorafenib Plus Doxorubicin in Patients With HCC

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the CALGB 80802 study, which examined sorafenib versus sorafenib plus doxorubicin in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in the first-line setting.

Dr. Bekaii-Saab on Sequencing Regorafenib and TAS-102 in CRC

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses sequencing regorafenib and TAS-102 for the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer.

Nivolumab Active in Heavily Pretreated Esophageal Cancer

The immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab demonstrated activity in patients with previously treated esophageal cancer.

Liposomal Irinotecan OS Advantage Maintained in Updated Pancreatic Cancer Data

Adding liposomal irinotecan to 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin reduced the risk of death by 25% for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer following progression on a gemcitabine-based regimen.

Holly Prigerson on Chemotherapy Regimens for Patients With Advanced Gastric Cancer

Holly G. Prigerson, PhD, professor of Sociology in Medicine, Irving Sherwood Wright Professor in Geriatrics, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, director, Center for Research on End of Life Care, Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYorkPresbyterian Hospital, discusses chemotherapy regimens for patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Dr. Chak on Challenges With Screening For Esophageal Cancer

Amitabh Chak, MD, professor of Medicine, Gastroenterology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, discusses challenges with screening patients for Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer.

New Neoadjuvant Regimen Shows Similar Efficacy, Less Toxicity in Rectal Cancer

Preoperative treatment with short-course radiation therapy plus 3 cycles of chemotherapy improved overall survival (OS) and was associated with fewer adverse events compared with standard chemoradiation for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

Everolimus Emerges as New Standard of Care for GI NETs

Everolimus reduced the risk of disease progression by at least 40% in patients with either gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors or NETs of unknown primary origin.

Results for Lu-Dotatate in Patients With Midgut NETs Continue to Impress

For patients with advanced midgut neuroendocrine tumors, the peptide receptor radionuclide therapy Lu-Dotatate continues to confer a major therapeutic benefit, reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 79% and signaling an improvement in overall survival as well.

Cory Abate-Shen on Bladder Cancer Modeling

Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, research faculty, Columbia Urology, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the challenges of bladder cancer modeling.

Oral HDAC Inhibitor Improves Antitumor Activity of IL-2 in mRCC

A selective class I oral histone deactylase inhibitor may increase the antitumor effect of high- dose interleukin-2 in renal cell carcinoma.

Nivolumab's Survival Benefit Sustained Across RCC Subgroups

Nivolumab’s second-line survival benefit in renal cell carcinoma was consistent across subgroups categorized by patient risk status, prior treatment, and degree of metastases, according to an update of the phase III CheckMate-025 trial.

Dr. Hamstra on Length of Radiation Treatments for Patients With Prostate Cancer

Daniel A. Hamstra, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan Health System, discusses clinical trials comparing the length of radiation treatments for patients with prostate cancer.

Hypofractionated Radiotherapy May Be New Standard of Care in Prostate Cancer

Hypofractionated radiotherapy demonstrated similar toxicity and was noninferior to standard radiation therapy for preventing PSA increases or disease recurrences for men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer.

Atezolizumab Update Affirms Activity in Bladder Cancer

Second-line treatment with atezolizumab (MPDL3280A) led to durable responses in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Combo of Celecoxib and Zoledronic Acid Improves Survival in Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Adding celecoxib and zoledronic acid to standard treatment extended survival in men with metastatic prostate cancer commencing first-line hormone therapy, according to updated data from the STAMPEDE trial.

First Checkpoint/Chemo Combo Study for Urothelial Cancer Falls Short

The addition of the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab to cisplatin and gemcitabine did not significantly improve overall survival for patients with metastatic urothelial cancer.