Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD

Cancer treatment is advancing through the use of tumor-targeted antibodies combined with toxic payloads like chemotherapy agents and radioisotopes.

The debate on non-specific vs targeted therapies in oncology highlights the need for a balanced approach optimizing existing agents while developing biomarkers and precision medicine.

Due to federal budget constraints, the National Cancer Institute faces significant risk, impacting cancer research funding amid crucial breakthroughs.

Until recently, the CAR gene modification has been focused on T cells, thought for decades to be the main effector population for controlling cancer or for harnessing cancer immunotherapy.

It is a promising time for cellular therapy, and combinations with gene modification or other systemic or local therapies bode well for solid tumor development of this TIL therapy platform.

The growing number of clinical trials testing neoadjuvant immunotherapy with or without chemotherapy has opened up new possibilities for treating locally advanced solid tumors.

The recent announcement of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has turned attention again to RNA therapeutic vaccines and a better understanding of RNA biology.

The classes of cellular immunotherapies and those blocking negative regulatory signals, known as immune checkpoint blockade, have revolutionized cancer treatment.

Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, discussed the growing use of bispecific antibodies and how he expects to see more of these advances in the coming years.

Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, discusses what should be done when a trial results in a negative finding.

Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, reflects on the status of telehealth in oncology and patient care following the COVID-19 pandemic.

the tremendous scientific developments in ctDNA, including genetic and epigenetic alterations, which are detectable in the blood—the so-called liquid biopsy—or multicancer early detection tests, represent a revolution that seems to be rapidly emerging on the horizon.

Advances in thyroid cancer to date hold promise for other orphan cancers with analogous alterations, on which we might bring to bear agents that will have similar effects.

The oncology community has enjoyed success to a large degree through the existing NIH and NCI mechanisms. Will they ask how can they work with us in a concerted fashion to benefit new discoveries, novel translation in well-designed clinical trials, and eventual development of exciting, more effective cancer therapies for patients?

Emerging from a 2-year pandemic, the work-from-home revolution has led to the migration of staff to the pharmaceutical industry or contract research organizations.

Harnessing existing and otherwise safe antibody-targeting strategies and combining them with chemotherapy or other bioactive compounds or as a bispecific dual antibody moiety are an exciting strategy of protein engineering that is emerging and coming into its own in oncology.

There is a role for these overlapping entities—guidelines and pathways—and each permits flexibility for the oncologist for available treatment options in the level and quality of data.

Using combination treatments in the concurrent setting with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or small molecule oncogene and pathway inhibitors may yield positive data in one setting but not another.

According to Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, there is a steady pace of drug development for head and neck cancers despite modest findings with durvalumab triplet.

In-person interactions enrich and eventually improve the outcomes that we are able to provide to our trainees, and thus to patients and the field of oncology.

The field is ripe for preventing the undesirable long-term effects of cancer treatment or reducing them altogether through de-intensification, according to Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD.

It has taken some decades, but the identification of targets such as HER2 has enabled us to segregate cancers into different subtypes, develop novel therapeutic strategies, and eventually understand the biology distinguishing one group of patients from another, says Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD.

One of the most exciting and successful historical demonstrations of translational immunotherapy is the development of monoclonal antibodies, says Robert L. Ferris, MD.

Nearly 20% of the world’s cancer cases are caused by viruses, and 7 viruses have been documented to cause this aggregate number of cancer cases, with HPV being the most well recognized.

In this trial, the previous observation of liver toxicity using CD137 agonism was not observed, suggesting a safe neoadjuvant dosing. Indeed, 30% of patients demonstrated pathologic responses. Further research may combine a way of overcoming immune checkpoint pathways with stimulatory agonists.

In the wake of the enthusiasm around cancer immunotherapy trial results—with several positive trials presented annually at each American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in more and more diseases over several years—setbacks have served as a grim reminder that our work is not finished.

Exciting new knowledge and a more exquisite understanding of the role of tumor cell biology and the tumor microenvironment have driven the fields of precision oncology/genomics-based medicine and immuno-oncology/cancer immunotherapy.

"In all, these 3 exciting trials combining PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibition with targeted therapy, chemotherapy, or immune cell therapy bode well for evolving advances with this tolerable class of agents."

Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, discusses the rationale for evaluating STING agonists as treatment for patients with head and neck cancers.

"This infectious disease would have likely wiped out many communities only decades ago. It is true that our highly connected and peripatetic society may have increased exposures across the world. Yet, we have risen to the occasion and implemented public health screening, testing, and treatment strategies."