Interviews

Susan M. O'Brien, MD, associate director for clinical sciences at UC Irvine Health, shares her insights on why CAR T cells are not as successful in chronic lymphocytic leukemia as compared to lymphoma or acute lymphocytic leukemia. She also discusses what she believes must change in order for this therapy to move up in the treatment landscape for CLL.

Maurie Markman, MD, President of Medicine and Science at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, discusses where he sees the field of ovarian cancer and other gynecologic cancers headed in the future, based on the research shared at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, medical director of immunotherapy at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and member of Fred Hutchinson Research Center, discusses the clinical trials that are currently investigating chimeric antigen receptor T cells at the Bezos Family Immunotherapy Clinic at Fred Hutchinson.

Daniel A. Pollyea, MD, MS, associate professor of medicine and clinical director of Leukemia Services at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, discusses some of the recent advancements in acute myeloid leukemia. Pollyea says researchers have been able to create more personalized treatments for many patients by doing targeted sequencing of patient samples.

Jacqueline D. Barrientos, MD, MS, CLL Research and Treatment Program at Northwell Health Systems, advises community oncologists on how to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma. She emphasizes the importance of seeking a second opinion for patients that are not responding to treatment. 

Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, National Tumour Institute “Fondazione G. Pascale,” Unit of Melanoma in Naples, Italy, discusses the promising results for nivolumab (Opdivo) in patients with melanoma. 

Danielle M. Brander, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and member of the Duke Cancer Institute, discusses a major challenge in the field of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She says the biggest challenge to overcome in the treatment of patients with CLL is navigating areas where research is not yet mature. 

Brian I. Rini, MD, professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, discusses the rationale for combining atezolizumab and bevacizumab for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the IMmotion151trial.

Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP, deputy cancer center director, Translational Research Program, co-leader, Molecular Therapeutics Program, professor, Department Hematology/Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses updates in the use of liquid biopsies for multiple tumor types during the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Paul G. Richardson, MD, clinical program leader and director of Clinical Research in the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from the phase III OPTIMISMM trial comparing treatment regimens for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. This data compares a regimen of pomalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone versus bortezomib and dexamethasone alone. 

Ami V. Desai, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital, discusses the current treatment landscape for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory solid tumors.

Thierry Andre, MD, professor of medical oncology at the University Pierre et Marie Curie (UMPC) and Head of the Medical Oncology Department in St. Antoine Hospital, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux in Paris, discusses the introduction of immunotherapy to the treatment landscape of metastatic colorectal cancer.

W. K. Alfred Yung, MD, a professor of Neuro-oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the future of immuno-oncology in the treatment landscape of brain cancer. 

Martin Hutchings, MD, PhD, senior consultant in the Department of Hematology at the Copenhagen University Hospital, discusses common implications in treating patients with advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Trials rarely perform subgroup analyses, and when they do, it is common for researchers to come across particular biases in the selected subgroups. 

Robert "Bo" Gamble, director of strategic practice initiatives at Community Oncology Alliance, shares his perspective on the 340B Drug Discount Program and the implications of the program for the oncology community. He also provides his thoughts on possible solutions for imbalances created by the program.

Manish A. Shah, MD, director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses the need for targeted therapies beyond the second-line setting in esophageal cancer. While this is a deadly disease with most metastatic patients dying within a year, a recent clinical trial with pembrolizumab addresses an unmet need in the population, Shah says.

H. Jack West, MD, thoracic oncologist at the Swedish Cancer Institute of Swedish Medical Center, discusses the data with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). West says that the choice of treatment is likely best left to the judgement of the physician and patient. 

Daniela A. Bota, MD, medical director of Neuro-Oncology at University of California Irvine, discusses the findings from a dose-escalation trial of marizomib.

Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD, director of Genitourinary Oncology at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, discusses his thoughts on whether sunitinib would be more successful as a treatment for patients with renal cell carcinoma if used in the neoadjuvant setting.

Andre Goy, MD, chief, Division of Lymphoma, chairman and director, John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses the progress made with immunotherapy for the treatment of hematologic malignancies over the last 5 years.

Neil E. Kay, MD, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, discusses the challenges that arise when treating a patient with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Most times, responses in this setting are short lived.

Maria Svensson, MD, Lund University, discusses the growing interest in checkpoint inhibitor blockade treatments for gastrointestinal cancers. In the past, there have been promising results with this treatment in metastatic disease.

Alexander M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, director general of Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus Grand Paris in Villejuif, France, discusses the history of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment landscape of melanoma.

Mario M. Leitao, Jr, MD, FACOG, FACS, program director of Gynecologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, highlights some of the phase I and II clinical trials in ovarian cancer currently enrolling at his institution. He also discusses the rationale behind a new trial that is expected to open soon.

Alexander Perl, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the current challenges with CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Noa Biran, MD, physician, Multiple Myeloma Division, John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses the rationale for selecting stem cell transplant as treatment over a chemotherapy regimen for patients with multiple myeloma.

Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, a medical oncologist at the Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, discusses the rationale behind conducting the PROSPECT trial in patients with relapsed prostate cancer. Patients enrolled in this study had prostate cancer return after hormonal ablation.

Todd Yezefski, MD, a senior fellow in the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses the results of a trial investigating cost and outcome differences in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in the United States and Canada. Specifically, he looked at patients in Washington and British Columbia. This data was presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Noopur S. Raje, MD, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy in patients with multiple myeloma. This therapy has been an exciting advancement in both hematology as well as solid tumors, she notes.

Maha H. Hussain, MB, ChB, professor of medicine and deputy director at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the current role of PARP inhibitors in clinical trials for treatment of patients with prostate cancer.