Dr. Makker on Combination Approaches in Endometrial Cancer

Vicky Makker, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses combination approaches garnering interest in endometrial cancer.

At the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, Makker reported phase Ib/II results on the combination of lenvatinib (Lenvima) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a treatment for patients with endometrial cancer. Based on preclinical data, both agents have been shown to be effective as single agents and in combination.

As that combination is tested in further trials, Makker anticipates other immunotherapy combinations. Specifically, she predicts that future research will investigate antiangiogenic combinations with immunomodulatory therapy. For example, there is interest in combining cabozantinib (Cabometyx) with immunotherapy. Cabozantinib is an agent that has demonstrated significant activity in patients with renal cell carcinoma. There is also interest in developing drugs that target the PI3/AKT/mTOR pathway in combination with PARP inhibitors, which have shown impressive activity in both breast and ovarian cancer.