GI CANCERS

According to findings presented at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, the combination of the VEGFR-2 inhibitor ramucirumab (Cyramza) plus the anti–PD-L1 agent durvalumab (Imfinzi) demonstrated antitumor activity in a phase Ia/b study of patients with previously treated advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

According to results reported at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, early signs of efficacy were seen with the investigational oral cancer stem cell pathway inhibitor napabucasin (BBI608) combined with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in the first 8 patients enrolled in a multicenter phase I/II trial of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Superior overall survival was induced with sequencing regorafenib (Stivarga) before cetuximab (Erbitux) compared with the reverse sequence in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer following failure of standard chemotherapy, according to findings from the phase II REVERCE study presented at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

According to 2 analyses presented at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, data from the CheckMate-142 study support the use of nivolumab (Opdivo) alone or in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of patients with previously treated DNA mismatch repair-deficient/microsatellite instability-high metastatic colorectal cancer.

According to findings reported during the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, a weekly dose-escalation strategy of regorafenib (Stivarga) beginning at 80 mg and ending at 160 mg was found to be superior than the previously standard starting dose of 160 mg in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

According to findings from the phase III CELESTIAL trial released ahead of the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, cabozantinib (Cabometyx) improved median overall survival by 2.2 months compared with placebo for patients with previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

In patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced pancreatic cancer, induction treatment with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) plus gemcitabine induced an overall disease control rate of 77.6%, according to updated findings from the phase II LAPACT trial presented at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Madappa Kundranda, MD, PhD, recently discussed the cases of 2 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and the treatment considerations and decisions he would make when treating these patients. Dr. Kundranda, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, Phoenix discussed these cases during a <em>Targeted Oncology</em>&nbsp;live case-based peer perspectives dinner.

A novel circulating tumor cell assay has demonstrated a high accuracy of up to 88% for detecting early-stage colorectal cancer, according to the results of a prospective study from Taiwan released ahead of a presentation at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California. The study marks the first to show a high sensitivity for detecting precancerous lesions, as prior studies tended to identify later-stage CRCs.

In results from the&nbsp;phase III CROSS trial reported in the <em>Journal of Clinical Oncology,&nbsp;</em>neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy failed to lower postoperative health-related quality of life compared with surgery alone for patients with&nbsp;esophageal or junctional cancer.<br /> &nbsp;

Jesper B. Andersen, MSc, PhD, discusses a study that shows&nbsp;using a single-gene dissection approach in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma can characterize divergent cancer programs and drug vulnerabilities.

Cathy Eng, MD, FACP, professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses ongoing clinical trials in the <em>BRAF</em>-mutant colorectal cancer patient population.

Eileen O&rsquo;Reilly, MD, associate director for clinical research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses areas she believes will be the focus of future research in pancreatic cancer.

John L. Marshall, MD,&nbsp;recaps some of the biggest CRC advancements of 2017, and explained what those successes mean for the treatment paradigm moving forward.

According to findings from the phase III TERRA trial published in the <em>Journal of Clinical Oncology, </em>previously treated Asian patients with metastatic colorectal cancer saw a significant survival benefit with TAS-102&nbsp;(trifluridine and tipiracil; Lonsurf) compared with placebo.

Boston University Medical Center has announced that Matthew Kulke, MD, will serve as its chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine, effective March 1, 2018. Kulke will also obtain the roles of deputy director of the BU-BMC Cancer Center, medical director of the Clinical Cancer Center at BMC, and the Zoltan Kohn Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine.

Howard S. Hochster, MD, an internationally recognized leader in the development of cancer clinical trials, gastrointestinal oncology, and early phase cancer drugs, has joined Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey as associate director for clinical research and chief of gastrointestinal medical oncology.

John L. Marshall, MD,&nbsp;chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, director, Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancer, discusses the progress that has been made with immunotherapy in the treatment of colorectal cancer.

Hans-Joachim Schmoll, MD,&nbsp;discusses updated CHARTA findings, the current role of chemotherapy in patients with metastatic CRC, and his predictions for the future CRC treatment landscape.

Leonard Saltz, MD,&nbsp;highlights the current go-to therapies and overarching questions for mCRC treatment.

Shubham Pant, MD,&nbsp;discusses therapeutic options for patients with metastatic CRC, while&nbsp;stressing the importance of clinical trials as an avenue to establish more novel treatment decisions in this setting.

John L. Marshall, MD,&nbsp;chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, director, Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancer, discusses when to order next-generation sequencing for a patient with metastatic colon cancer.

George P. Kim, MD, recently shared the treatment considerations and decisions he makes when treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Kim, a medical oncologist at 21st Century Oncology in Jacksonville, Florida, explained his treatment decisions based on 2 case scenarios during a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>&nbsp;live case-based peer perspectives dinner.

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy with bb2121 demonstrated an objective response rate of 94% in patients with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, according to findings from a dose-escalation study. The senior study author, James N. Kochenderfer, MD, presented updated findings from the study during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting, and commented that 89% of patients had a very good partial response or better, and 56% of patients had a complete remission.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

Alan P. Venook, MD, recently discussed 2 cases of patients with colorectal cancer, and the treatment treatment considerations and decisions he would make when treating these patients. Venook, Shorenstein Associate Director for Program Development, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and professor, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, discussed these cases during a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>&nbsp;live case-based peer perspectives dinner.<br /> &nbsp;