Latest Conference Articles

Though clinical work is ongoing and early, researchers are already considering how to manage potentially fatal neurotoxicities in patients treated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

An emerging class of immune checkpoint blockade drugs has produced impressive benefits for patients in many solid tumor types. The class' success hints that these drugs ay be successful against central nervous system tumors as well, including glioblastoma.

Physicians are up to the task when it comes to the influx of immunotherapies being studied and approved across multiple tumor types, Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD

Optune in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or bevacizumab boosted survival rates in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

Rimas Lukas, MD, director, Medical Neuro-Oncology, co-director, Neurology Medical Student Clerkship Program, The University of Chicago Medical Center, on PD-L1 blockade treatment and its potential in patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM).

David Reardon, MD, clinical director, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, on the need to identify glioblastoma (GBM) patients with the EGFRvIII mutation in their tumor.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is increasingly used in advanced ovarian cancer, even though it has not been shown to improve survival versus primary cytoreduction.

Dr. Deirdre Cohen talks about the increasingly big role of immunotherapies in the treatment of patients with gastric cancers.

While immune checkpoint inhibitors initially showed promise in patients with ovarian cancer, results still need to be validated by larger randomized trials.

Treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) should be based on the identification of rare molecular targets such as BRAF, RET, ROS1, and MET versus clinical characteristics.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have emerged with encouraging results in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and mesothelioma

Study data involving NY-ESO-1specific T-cell receptor transgenic lymphocytes with an NY-ESO-1 peptide-pulsed DC vaccination in patients with advanced sarcomas and melanoma with or without ipilimumab were detailed during a presentation at the 2015 CTOS Annual Meeting.

William D. Tap, MD, discusses results from a phase Ib/II presented at the 2015 Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) Annual Meeting.

TRC105, an anti-endoglin antibody, demonstrated complementary antitumor effects with pazopanib, a VEGF inhibitor in the treatment of patients with soft tissue sarcomas.

The addition of olaratumab to doxorubicin improved overall survival (OS) by nearly 1 year in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, according to final results of a phase Ib/II study.

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.

Arun Singh, MD, assistant professor, Division of Hematology-Oncology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), discusses a phase Ib/II trial of immunotherapy for patients with advanced sarcoma.

Sant P. Chawla, MD, director, Sarcoma Oncology Center, discusses the potential for trabectedin as treatment of mesenchymal chondrosarcoma.

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.

George D. Demetri, MD, director, Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the trial the led to the approval of trabectedin (Yondelis) for advanced leiomyosarcoma or liposarcoma.

Robin L. Jones, BSc, MB, MRCP, MD, Consultant Oncologist, Royal Marsden Hospital, London, England, discusses results and takeaways from a phase III trial presented at the 2015 Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) Annual Meeting.

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.

Pro-inflammatory cytokines were elevated in patients with melanoma undergoing the combination treatment of radiation therapy and the systemic anti�CTLA-4 immunotherapy, ipilimumab.