HEMATOLOGY

The novel agents idelalisib and ABT-199 in combination with rituximab have demonstrated impressive activity with manageable toxicity for patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Jennifer Woyach, MD, assistant professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the efficacy findings from the RESONATE trial, a phase III trial that compared ibrutinib versus ofatumumab in relapsed or refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma.

Ian W. Flinn, MD, PhD, director, Hematologic Malignancies Research Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, gives an overview of two ongoing clinical trials looking at IPI-145 for the treatment of hematologic malignancies.

Filip Janku, MD, PhD, discusses a trial presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting looking at the activity of the mTOR inhibitor sirolimus and HDAC inhibitor vorinostat in heavily pretreated patients with refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.

Treatment with single-agent ibrutinib (Imbruvica) dramatically increased progression-free survival (PFS) by nearly 80% and significantly extended overall survival (OS) by 57% compared with ofatumumab in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Harry Erba, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, director, Hematologic Malignancy Program, University of Alabama at Birmingham, discusses the excitement around FLT3 inhibitors for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Nivolumab and elotuzumab have each been granted breakthrough therapy designations by the FDA for the treatment of two types of blood cancers.

The ASCO clinical practice guideline now recommends treatment with adjuvant tamoxifen for 10 years in women with stage I-III hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer.

In an interview with Targeted Therapies, Wierda discussed new treatments for CLL, including issues in translating these regimens into clinical practice.

A phase III study exploring the chemotherapy regimen DHAP plus ofatumumab failed to meet its primary endpoint of prolongation in PFS when compared with DHAP plus rituximab for patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL.

Anas Younes, MD, chief, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the implications of ibrutinib’s approval for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Timothy S. Pardee, MD, Assistant Professor, Hematology & Oncology, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, describes initial results of the CALGB 10801 (Alliance) study, which added dasatinib to standard induction and consolidation therapy for newly diagnosed patients with core binding factor (CBF) acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Amid advances in targeted therapies for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), researchers also have been making strides in the realm of chemoimmunotherapy regimens for the disease.

Richard R. Furman, MD, a member of the Lymphoma/Myeloma Service in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, discusses the ability to avoid the administration of chemotherapy when using novel agents, such as idelalisib, to treat patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Meir Wetzler, MD, from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, discusses the potential impact of FLT3 inhibitors for the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, describes a novel CLIA-certified next-generation sequencing-based assay for hematologic malignancies.

The FDA has approved the anti-IL-6 chimeric monoclonal antibody siltuximab (Sylvant) as a treatment for HIV- and HHV-8-negative patients with multicentric Castleman’s disease (MCD).

Jasmine Zain, MD, from the Center for the Lymphoid Malignancies, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses two ongoing trials in T-cell lymphomas.

William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the CLL11 trial, a three-arm trial comparing chlorambucil versus chlorambucil plus rituximab versus chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

The FDA has approved ofatumumab (Azerra) plus chlorambucil for previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who are considered inappropriate for treatment with fludarabine therapy.

Mark R. Litzow, MD, chair, ECOG-ACRIN Leukemia Committee, professor of medicine, Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, discusses the role of transplant in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Anas Younes, MD, chief, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the prospect of sequencing or combining idelalisib and ibrutinib in lymphoid malignancies.

The adaptive I-SPY 2 trial has found that a neoadjuvant regimen of neratinib and standard chemotherapy is beneficial for high-risk patients with hormone receptor (HR)-negative, HER2-positive stage II/III breast cancer.

C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, a senior investigator in the Multiple Myeloma Section of the National Cancer Institute, discusses the treatment of older patients (over age 70) with multiple myeloma.

Alessandra Ferrajoli, MD, associate professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses ibrutinib, which was recently approved for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have received at least one previous therapy.