Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, deputy director, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, co-director of its Melanoma Program, head of Experimental Therapeutics, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses keys to targeted therapies for melanoma. These keys lie in BRAF and MEK inhibitors and combining those drugs with immunologic therapies.

Thomas Herzog, MD, clinical director, University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute, discusses the types of patients who benefit from neoadjuvant therapies. Patients who cannot undergo aggressive cytoreduction, patients with comorbidities and older patients would be ideal candidates to receive the therapy, he adds.

With the incidence of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers on the rise, researchers are currently seeking less intense treatment options that combine effectiveness and low toxicity for patients.

The kinase inhibitors sorafenib (Nexavar) and lenvatinib (Lenvima) have significantly altered the treatment paradigm for patients with advanced radioactive iodine (RAI)-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer in both older and younger populations, with combination strategies hoping to further build upon this success.

Dr. Jonathan Trent discusses the FDA approval of trabectedin for patients with soft tissue sarcomas.

Maurie Markman, MD, president of Medicine and Science, Eastern Regional Medical Center, talks about use of PD-1 inhibitors in ovarian cancer and the lack of evidence pointing toward their functionality.

Monoclonal antibodies, specifically the CD3 and CD19 bispecific agent blinatumomab (Blincyto) and the CD22-targeted antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin, are set to overhaul the treatment of adults with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Achieving optimal results with novel antibodies like elotuzumab (Empliciti) and daratumumab in multiple myeloma treatment will involve combination regimens with established agents, according to Sagar Lonial, MD.

The news of a shifting landscape for the diagnosis and treatment of polycythemia vera (PV) is a good thing for patients and practitioners. The altered playing field means refined criteria for diagnosing symptomatic patients, identifying those at highest risk, and an impressive arsenal for treating a disease which carries such heavy symptom burdens.

While CLL patients have lived longer with the use of B-cell pathway inhibitors, they require diligent monitoring and even potential suspension to control adverse events.

Both HPV-positive and -negative head and neck cancers are “outstanding candidates for immunotherapeutic strategies,” said Andrew G. Sikora, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, at the 2014 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium.

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.

In May 2014, ASCO issued guidelines recommending the administration of adjuvant tamoxifen for 10 years in women with stage I-III hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer, based on data from the collection of 5 clinical trials.

When Gail J. Roboz, MD, took the stage Wednesday to give her talk on what’s ahead in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), she admitted feeling a little jealousy toward her colleagues in the lymphoid diseases.

The landscape in lymphoma management continues to evolve, with new therapies and approaches improving established treatment paradigms.

As the targeted therapy era in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) continues to unfold, two next-generation agents are generating responses with improved safety profiles as single agents and in combination regimens.

The combination of a FLT3L-primed in situ vaccine, low-dose radiotherapy, and a TLR 3 agonist has been shown to be feasible, safe, and immunologically and clinically effective in a phase I/II study for patients with low-grade lymphoma.

Joshua Brody, MD, assistant professor, Icahn School of Medicine, director, Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program, Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses vaccine strategies in follicular lymphoma.