Lisa Miller

Adjuvant therapy with TKIs for patients with high-risk renal cell carcinoma who have undergone a nephrectomy may be supported by level IIa evidence from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, yet this approach is still controversial, with many physicians believing that there are not yet enough data in support of its use. 

Lori J. Wirth, MD, discusses the era of precision genotype targeted therapy in advanced thyroid cancer, with a focus on individual targets in subtypes of thyroid cancer. 

Advancements made in the field of molecular genetics for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms may be increasingly incorporated into treatment decisions, according to a presentation by Ann Mullally, MD, during the 2017 SOHO Annual Meeting.

There is a great deal of excitement in the oncology field over the use of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with lutetium-177 (¹⁷⁷Lu)-octreotate (¹⁷⁷ Lu-Dotatate, Lutathera) for the treatment of patients  with neuroendocrine tumors. The treatment is being explored in potential combinations with other modalities, including with systemic treatment with PARP inhibitors, in this patient population.

Duvelisib, a PI3K-delta/gamma inhibitor, in combination with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab showed high rates of responses and bone marrow minimal residual disease negativity in younger patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Aurora kinase inhibition in combination with an oncolytic herpes simplex virus could represent a novel treatment approach for patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 who develop malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors.

The challenge of precision medicine in metastatic breast cancer is to develop well-tolerated therapies based on key actionable, accessible, and validated biomarkers, said Francisco J. Esteva, MD, PhD, during an explanation of the current understanding of the molecular landscape of metastatic breast cancer at the <em>16th Annual </em>International Congress on the Future of Breast Cancer East.

In the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings of treating patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, trastuzumab (Herceptin) remains a standard of care. The question has become whether combination regimens with additional HER2-directed therapies or alternative therapies could improve responses in this patient population without added toxicities, according to Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH.

The uptake of biosimilar agents is still slow in oncology and hematology in the United States. But this area is expected to grow with more understanding of biosimilars and, especially, because the US patents for trastuzumab (Herceptin) and bevacizumab (Avastin) expire in 2019.

There are more than 70 subtypes that fall under the soft tissue sarcoma (STS) umbrella, according to the World Health Organization, and only account for approximately 1% of all cancers in adult patients.&nbsp;Yet, physicians continue to try to treat all sarcomas the same, making drug development for these types of tumors quite slow and frustrating.

Two oncologists&nbsp;offer rationale for both sides of the argument for/against the upfront use of newer tyrosine kinase inhibitors for patients with ALK-positive or EGFR-mutant NSCLC.

Immunotherapy agents have been rapidly absorbed into the treatment paradigm for various cancer types. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the treatment for patients with bladder cancer. In May alone, 3 checkpoint inhibitors were approved for use in bladder cancer, bringing the total of checkpoint inhibitors approved in this field to 5 agents.

Durvalumab (Imfinzi) showed a modest but encouraging clinical benefit in patients with <em>EGFR</em>-mutant or <em>ALK</em>-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with high tumor PD-L1 expression of &ge;25% in the third-line setting or beyond.

The NCCN published its first set of guidelines for myeloproliferative neoplasms in October 2016 and is already looking to update and expand these guidelines to match the need for direction in diagnosing and treating patients with MPNs.

Outcomes have significantly improved for patients with melanoma in the wake of newer targeted treatments. Yet, brain metastases from melanoma remain a significant unmet need, with up to 60% of patients with advanced melanoma developing brain metastases.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy is safe and effective in patients &ge;80 years with early-stage non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, results of a multi-center retrospective analysis showed.

The molecular profile of a patient with cancer who is about to be treated for their metastatic disease is the most critical piece of information you can have for that patient, according to Howard A. &ldquo;Skip&rdquo; Burris III, MD.

Molecular testing of patients with colorectal cancer should be incorporated into standard practice to establish the mutations each patient has that would affect their response to treatment with EGFR-targeted therapies.

Representative Doug Collins (R, Georgia) has proposed a bill that would increase the transparency of payment methodologies to pharmacies.

Responses to treatment with avelumab monotherapy can increase in certain subtypes of patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, per an analysis of the phase II JAVELIN Merkel 200 trial that was presented during the ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium.

Immunotherapy agents have shown great promise for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer; however, only a small subset of patients reap these benefits. Thus, the question becomes: which patients are more likely to benefit from these therapies, and why?

Sukhmani Padda, MD, discusses&nbsp;the status of ongoing trials participating in the race to the frontline in lung cancer.

Mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (<em>IDH1/2</em>) are not the mutations commonly found in cancer cells, according to a presentation from the 2017 AACR Annual Meeting.

The impact of the recent findings regarding tumor sidedness in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer are potentially practice-changing, with data demonstrating that patients with right-sided tumors have a poorer prognosis than those with left-sided tumors. In addition, sidedness could be clinically relevant as a predictive biomarker of response to standard frontline treatments.

Preliminary results from an ongoing phase I study have revealed the potential of a novel small-molecule inhibitor in 3 combinations for patients with advanced cancers.

As immunotherapies become a greater part of the treatment paradigm of various cancers, researchers are spending more time developing ways to determine which patients will respond better to immunotherapy. Mutational load is one such biomarker that appears to have an impact on response to immunotherapy, particularly for checkpoint inhibitors.

The International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies recently completed its fourth tour, with 8 experts in the field of head and neck oncology traveling to 8 countries over a month to offer continuing medical education courses on treatment paradigms and surgical techniques in head and neck cancer across the world.

Following the approval of 2 immunotherapy agents, pembrolizumab and nivolumab for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer over the last 6 months, immunotherapy is making its mark on the treatment paradigm for HNC.

Michael A. Postow, MD, discusses&nbsp;argeting the activating receptors OX40, GITR, and CD137 to further stimulate the T cells to fight the tumor cells.

As the oncology community adapts to using immunotherapy agents more frequently in cancer treatments, the fear over immune-related adverse events (irAEs) prevents many clinicians from fully trusting immunotherapies.