IMMUNOTHERAPY

David F. McDermott, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses PD-L1 expression in kidney cancer and developing biomarkers for anti-PD-L1 agents.

According to a retrospective analysis of the phase III COMPARZ trial, high tumor expression of the protein PD-L1 (programmed cell death 1 ligand 1) is independently associated with shorter overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) receiving treatment with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted therapy.

Treatment with decitabine prior to administration of chemotherapy and a cancer vaccine yielded clinical benefit for women with recurrent ovarian cancer, suggesting that this combinatorial chemoimmunotherapy may provide a new treatment option.

The future of PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibition in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is bright, with ongoing studies suggesting that the strategy will lead to a “new world” in the treatment of the disease.

Harriet Kluger, MD, associate professor of medicine (medical oncology), associate director, Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, Yale Cancer Center, comments on the changing landscape of immunotherapies for the treatment of melanoma.

James J. Hsieh, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses emerging treatment options for patients with kidney cancer.

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, associate professor, chief, Cellular Therapeutics Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the differences between the CAR-modified T cells of three institutions.

Matthew Burke, MBA, RN, MSN, APRN-BC, Oncology Nurse Practitioner/Melanoma and Renal Cell Carincoma, Yale New Haven Hospital, discusses the difference between adverse events caused by chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

William Kevin Kelly, DO, professor of medical oncology and urology, Thomas Jefferson University, discusses the possibility of preselecting which castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients will be sensitive to chemotherapy or hormone therapy.

At the 10th International Meeting of the Society for Melanoma Research, researchers provided insight into combination treatments and immunotherapies for the treatment of melanoma.

Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, discusses the phenomenon of pseudoprogression in patients with lung cancer after they receive immunotherapy treatment.

Harriet Kluger, MD, associate professor of medicine (medical oncology), associate director, Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, Yale Cancer Center, discusses the difference between blocking PD-1 and PD-L1 in melanoma.

T-VEC, a novel oncolytic immunotherapy derived from the herpes simplex virus type 1, demonstrated a significant improvement in DRR, the primary endpoint in a pivotal phase III trial in patients with stage IIIB-IV melanoma.

MPDL3280A produced durable responses in studies in patients with forms of locally advanced/metastatic cancers, including smokers with NSCLC who customarily have poorer responses to cancer therapies than nonsmokers.

The use of cancer immunotherapies has evolved. The latest immunotherapies are not only effective, but also accessible enough to be administered not just by expert immunologists, but by general oncologists.

Targeted Therapies spoke with Suzanne Topalian, MD, professor of Surgery and Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, about the progress and promise of PD-1 targeted cancer therapy.

Targeted Oncology spoke with Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, director of the Tumor Immunology Program Area at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, about the emerging role for immunotherapy in cancer.

Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, an associate attending physician, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies in development for the treatment of lung cancer.

Jeffrey A. Sosman, MD, from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses the use of checkpoint inhibitors in cancer care.

PD-L1 expression in tumors is a candidate molecular marker warranting further investigation as a means to select patients for immunotherapy with an anti PD-1 antibody

Concurrent nivolumab and ipilimumab produced “rapid and deep” responses in patients with advanced melanoma who took part in the first phase I trial to evaluate the PD-1-blocking antibody nivolumab, along with the CTLA-4-blocking antibody ipilimumab.

Julie R. Brahmer, MD, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the outlook for immunotherapies in cancer care.

Julie R. Brahmer, MD, explains the role of the PD-1 pathway and the ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2 in the regulation of the immune system.

Omid Hamid, MD, discusses promising combination therapies for the treatment of melanoma.

Michael Birrer, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, director, Gillette Center for Gynecologic Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses other targets in ovarian cancer besides PARP.