GYNECOLOGIC CANCERS

A panel of expert clinical investigators discussed details of several treatments and a dozen patient cases involving gastric, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer at a satellite meeting of the 2015 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium.

Targeted agents have become available in recent years to treat many major cancers, but for women with ovarian cancer, standard treatment following cytoreductive surgery remains systemic intravenous/intraperitoneal chemotherapy with a platinum agent and a taxane. Approximately 80% of women who receive first-line treatment with this platinum-based regimen experience relapsed disease. However, early research indicates that more and better options may be on the way.

Representatives Diana DeGette (D, Colorado) and Fred Upton (R, Michigan) recently released a "discussion draft" of the 21st Century Cures Act.

Donna McNamara, MD, discusses PARP inhibitors for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Manish A Shah, MD, talks about a recent phase II study of FOLFOX with or without onartuzumab, a MET inhibitor, for the treatment of metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Metastatic disease accounts for the vast majority of cancer-related deaths. Ensuring a definitive diagnosis and the most effective treatment in a timely fashion is essential for extending life expectancy.

In the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the understanding of how various cancers develop and progress.

Patients with advanced, MET-amplified gastroesophageal cancer had a high likelihood of response to an investigational MET inhibitor, results from a preliminary, dose-escalation trial suggested.

The New York State Stem Cell Science Program recently awarded a 4-year $11.9 million grant to Roswell Park Cancer Institute to fund research and development of a stem-cell based treatment for ovarian cancer.

One of the leading non-clinical attributes that affect how oncologists decide which therapeutic agent to prescribe over another is patient affordability.

Jason D. Wright, MD, discusses progression-free survival (PFS) as an endpoint for ovarian cancer trials.

The FDA has approved the PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) for the treatment of women with BRCA-positive advanced ovarian cancer.

Women with HR+ breast cancer who remained premenopausal after receiving chemotherapy had a lower risk of disease recurrence when adding ovarian suppression to adjuvant exemestane or—to a lesser extent—tamoxifen, compared with standard tamoxifen alone.

Jae Park, MD, assistant attending physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Treatment with nilotinib (Tasigna) in combination with chemotherapy elicited complete hematological remissions (CHR) in 87% of elderly patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL).

The anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T-cell therapy CTL019 demonstrated a 92% complete response (CR) rate in pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

The anti-CD19 immunotherapy blinatumomab (Blincyto) has been approved by the FDA as a treatment for patients with Philadelphia chromosome-negative relapsed/refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), based on findings from a phase II trial.

The FDA has granted the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy JCAR015 a breakthrough therapy designation as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

The monoclonal antibody cirmtuzumab, currently in clinical trials to treat CLL, targets ROR1 on the surface of cancerous B cells, and the agent may have a wider reach in the treatment of ovarian and other cancers.

Bevacizumab (Avastin) has been approved for patients with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer in combination with chemotherapy. The approval was based on results from the phase III AURELIA trial.

Recent news stories profiling a cancer patient whose last hope rests on treatment by injections of the virus that causes AIDS may have created some misconceptions regarding a new cancer immunotherapy.

Translating current and emerging knowledge of the molecular drivers of ovarian cancer is yielding promising new insights into potential clinical targets, moving treatment away from historical paradigms in favor of more personalized therapeutic approaches.

PARP inhibitors represent an important class of emerging therapies for the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer and possibly other malignancies, but many scientific questions about the underlying molecular mechanisms that these agents target must be answered before they can be fully employed in clinical practice.

A statistically significant improvement in overall survival (OS) was not seen with the combination of paclitaxel and the angiogenesis inhibitor trebananib when compared with paclitaxel alone for patients with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

The investigational chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy CTL019 elicited complete remissions in 27 of 30 pediatric and adult patients (90%) with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 2 pilot trials.