October 2 2020

“In order to make continued progress, one gap we face is the limited diversity in our cohorts of patients in biomedical research.”

A report demonstrated the potential impact of COVID-19 on cancer-related patient encounters, which may result in an increase in the presentation of later-stage disease for newly diagnosed patients in future months.

The high variability in responses among different types of HRAS-altered cancers highlights the need to identify rational therapeutic combinations that enhance response to HRAS-directed therapies.

With immune checkpoint inhibitors gaining widespread adoption, their optimal use hinges on a greater understanding of biomarkers, practical applications, and their potential in combination with cellular therapies.

Due to efforts to reduce exposure to the coronavirus, oncology patient volumes initially decreased, treatment regimens were disrupted or altered, and new cancer diagnoses also slowed. This affected not only patient care, but also clinical trials.

The introduction of venetoclax into the treatment paradigm of chronic lymphocytic leukemia has led to options for time-limited therapy in a space that has been dominated by continuous therapeutic agents.

As a greater understanding of triple-negative breast cancer heterogeneity develops over time, combinations of PD-1/PD-L1 plus PARP inhibitors, androgen receptor targeted agents, and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway inhibitors are undergoing evaluation by investigators in the field.

Much is still unknown about the cancer process and how targeted therapies work on specific tumor vulnerabilities. Providers must closely follow evolving information, especially regarding adverse events.

The CLOVER-1 study is testing CLR 131 in patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma and Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

Recent acceleration in the introduction of new regimens for the treatment of estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer has led to significant survival enhancement, but questions remain regarding how patients should be stratified following disease progression with these therapies.

In a presentation at the 2020 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium, Virginia G. Kaklamani, MD, DSc, reviewed the current genomic tools in the triple negative breast cancer landscape that predict response to targeted treatments.

New guidelines from he American Society of Hematology for treating newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia in older patients recommend intensive antileukemic therapies over more conservative approaches.

Until recently, few options existed for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who progressed on earlier lines of therapy. Recent approvals of 3 drug combinations offer new tools that may prolong life and control brain metastases across lines of therapy.