Biomarker-Driven Lung Cancer

Several clinical trials combining nivolumab (Opdivo) with targeted therapies against ALK, c-MET, and T790M for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been established as part of a collaboration between Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS).

Patients with advanced lung cancer had improved appetite, less weight loss, and a significant increase in lean body mass when treated with a ghrelin agonist, two randomized trials showed.

Almost 60% of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer had tumor shrinkage when treated with the PD-L1 inhibitor pembrolizumab.

Maurie Markman, MD, discusses the role of molecular testing in gynecologic cancers.

Timing of metastatic development, lymph node involvement, and type of disease all factor into the overall survival (OS) rate of patients with stage IV NSCLC, and could offer a potential risk stratification scheme for ablative therapy.

High pretreatment levels of serum VEGF-A and TGF-β1 indicated significantly worse disease-free survival (DFS) following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Siavash Jabbari, MD, discusses the potential for implantable cardiac devices such as pacemakers to malfunction following radiation therapy.

Paul A. Bunn, Jr., MD, Giant of Cancer Care: Lung Cancer, professor of medicine in medical oncology, head of the division of medical oncology, University of Colorado, discusses the potential benefit for a blood-based test to detect a T790M mutation in lung cancer.

Andrew R. Allen, BM, BCh, MA, MRCP, PhD, Executive Vice President of Clinical and Pre-Clinical Development, Chief Medical Officer, Co-Founder, Clovis Oncology, discusses how patients are selected for treatment with CO-1686.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies lung cancer into 2 major categories based on histology, prognosis, and treatment: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States, despite decreases in lung cancer mortality rates beginning in 1991 for the male population and decreases beginning in 2003 for female population.

Although prognostic biomarkers have become increasingly important in the treatment of many types of cancer, no such markers have yet been identified and validated for thyroid cancer.

The optimal management of patients with early-stage NSCLC remains controversial, and the prospect of exposing an otherwise low-risk patient to potentially toxic chemotherapy based on limited prognostic information remains a problem for many clinicians.

Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, a professor of medical oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discusses the role of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) in the treatment of lung cancer.

James L. Mulshine, MD, professor, Associate Provost for Research, Vice President, Rush University Medical Center discusses the correlation between e-cigarettes and smoking cessation.

AstraZeneca has announced new collaborations with QIAGEN and Roche to create 2 separate, noninvasive companion diagnostic tests to be used with 2 of its drugs for NSCLC, gefitinib (IRESSA) and AZD9291.

James CH Yang, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Deputy Director, Department of Medical Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Director, Cancer Research, Center National Taiwan University College of Medicine, discusses current practices for administering TKI therapy and the potential for TKI combinations.

David Gandara, MD, professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses overcoming KRAS mutations in lung cancer.

During a 2013 discussion on treating NSCLC, a group of oncologists were asked what share of cancer patients have access to molecular testing. The answers varied: One said he guessed 40% to 50%, another said "a large minority."

A handful of angiogenesis biomarkers predicted improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with bevacizumab.

Eighty-five percent of patients with EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) experienced significant reduction in tumor growth rate with the addition of cabozantinib to erlotinib.

Treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—which includes adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma—has traditionally consisted of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

Lecia V. Sequist, MD, medical oncologist, associate professor, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, discusses adverse events (AEs) associated with CO-1686 for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Karen L. Reckamp, MD, discusses a phase II, single-arm study of cabozantinib plus erlotinib for the treatment of patients with advanced EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Bilal Piperdi, MD, discusses an analysis presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting that looked at RICTOR amplification to define a subset of patients with lung cancer.