Poll Results Reveal Readers’ Top GI Cancer Abstracts for ESMO 2025

With the 2025 European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress kicking off on Friday, October 17, in Berlin, Germany, Targeted Oncology is bringing you background on the most exciting abstracts across gastrointestinal (GI) cancers set to be presented.

Targeted Oncology conducted polls on X and LinkedIn to identify which colorectal cancer (CRC), gastroesophageal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and less common GI cancer abstracts specialists were most anticipating. See the results of our polls below.

Poll 1: Which of these CRC abstracts are you most anticipating at ESMO 2025?

1. LBA29 - Nivolumab plus ipilimumab vs nivolumab monotherapy for microsatellite instability-high/mismatch repair-deficient (MSI-H/dMMR) metastatic CRC ( mCRC): new results from CheckMate 8HW

2. LBA30 - Zanzalintinib plus atezolizumab (zanza + atezo) vs regorafenib (rego) in patients (pts) with previously treated mCRC: Primary overall survival (OS) analysis from the randomized, open-label, phase 3 STELLAR-303 study

3. LBA32 - Panitumumab retreatment followed by regorafenib versus the reverse sequence in chemorefractory metastatic CRC patients with RAS and BRAF wild-type circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA): Final results of the randomized PARERE trial by GONO

4. LBA33 - ctDNA-guided anti-EGFR rechallenge strategy in mCRC: Final results of the phase II randomized CITRIC trial

The results were split across platforms, with STELLAR-303 (NCT05425940) winning 60% of the vote on X while CheckMate 8HW (NCT04008030) earned 52% on LinkedIn, with STELLAR-303 a close second with 43%.

STELLAR-303 is a phase 3 randomized, open-label study of zanzalintinib (XL092) with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) vs regorafenib (Stivarga) in metastatic CRC.¹ The primary analysis is for patients with nonliver metastases (NLM). Patients were randomized to receive zanzalintinib orally once daily plus atezolizumab intravenously every 3 weeks or regorafenib orally daily for 3 weeks on, 1 week off.The dual primary end points are overall survival (OS) in all patients and OS in NLM patients, with secondary end points of progression-free survival (PFS), overall response rate (ORR), and duration of response (DOR).

Updated results from CheckMate-8HW were presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting earlier this year and showed that the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) continues to demonstrate a sustained clinical benefit vs standard chemotherapy in patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) metastatic CRC.² The combination was also approved by the FDA in April 2025 for this patient population, supported by data from CheckMate-8HW.³

Presentation Details:

LBA30 (STELLAR-303): Monday, October 20, 2025, at 9:25 am CEST

LBA29 (CheckMate-8HW): Monday, October 20, 2025, at 8:30 am CEST

Poll 2: Which of these HCC abstracts are you most anticipating at ESMO 2025?

1. LBA50 - IMbrave152/SKYSCRAPER-14: a phase 3 study of first-line tiragolumab (tira) + atezolizumab (atezo) + bevacizumab (bev) vs placebo (pbo) + atezo + bev for patients (pts) with untreated locally advanced or metastatic HCC

2. LBA52 - Nofazinlimab combined with lenvatinib versus placebo plus lenvatinib as first-line therapy for unresectable or metastatic HCC: a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, multiregional study (CS1003-305)

3. LBA51 - IKF-035/ABC-HCC: A phase IIIb, randomized, multicenter, open-label trial of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab versus transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in intermediate-stage HCC

IMbrave152/SKYSCRAPER-14 (NCT05904886) was the winner across both sites, with 100% of the votes on X and 86% on LinkedIn. The phase 3 trial is investigating a PD-L1/TIGIT dual blockade of tiragolumab and atezolizumab vs the established atezolizumab/bevacizumab (Avastin) regimen in first-line unresectable or metastatic HCC. The dual primary end points are OS and PFS, and secondary end points include ORR, DOR, and OS rate at 1 and 2 years.⁴

Data from the phase 1b/2 MORPHEUS-Liver (NCT04524871) published in The Lancet Oncology earlier this year showed that adding tiragolumab to atezolizumab and bevacizumab yielded a higher ORR in patients with previously untreated, unresectable HCC.⁵

Presentation Details:

LBA50 (IMbrave152/SKYSCRAPER-14): Sunday, October 19, 2025, at 11:00 am CEST

Poll 3: Which of these gastroesophageal cancer abstracts are you most anticipating at ESMO 2025?

1. LBA78 - KN026 in combination with chemotherapy for previously treated HER2-positive gastric or GE carcinomas: Interim analysis of KC-WISE

2. LBA79 - Lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab and chemotherapy vs pembrolizumab and chemotherapy in untreated metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: the randomized phase 3 LEAP-014 study

3. LBA80 - Regorafenib plus nivolumab vs investigator’s choice of chemotherapy in previously treated gastric or gastroesophageal cancer: INTEGRATE IIb, a randomized phase 3 AGITG Intergroup [NHMRC-CTC/IKF/AIO, ACCRU, TCOG/NHRI] study

4. LBA82 - Tislelizumab combined with induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a multicenter, randomized, phase II trial (EC-CRT-002)

LEAP-014 (NCT04949256) took the top spot on LinkedIn, while it tied with INTEGRATE IIb (NCT04879368) on X.

The phase 3 LEAP-014 study is investigating the combination of lenvatinib (Lenvima) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and chemotherapy vs pembrolizumab and chemotherapy in untreated metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Data from the safety run-in portion were presented at the 2023 ESMO Congress and showed that the triplet had acceptable safety and tolerability, with no discontinuations due to dose-limiting toxicities and no treatment-related deaths.⁶

INTEGRATE IIb is randomizing patients 2:1 to receive regorafenib and nivolumab vs standard chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastroesophageal carcinoma. Patients are stratified by geographic region (Asia vs rest of world), prior VEGF inhibitors (yes vs no), and prior immunotherapy (yes vs no). The primary end point is OS, and secondary end points include PFS, ORR, quality of life, toxicity, and exploratory correlative biomarkers.⁷

Presentation Details:

LBA79 (LEAP-014): Friday, October 17, 2025, at 2:40 pm CEST

LBA80 (INTEGRATE IIb): Friday, October 17, 2025, at 2:50 pm CEST

Poll 4: Which of these abstracts in less common GI cancers are you most anticipating at ESMO 2025?

1. LBA11 - Neoadjuvant toripalimab plus lenvatinib and GEMOX in resectable, high-risk intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a randomized, multicenter, open-label phase II-III clinical trial

2. LBA84 - Efficacy and safety of GFH375 monotherapy in previously treated advanced KRAS G12D-mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC)

3. LBA85 - Results of a randomized phase 3 trial of short-course vs long-course preoperative chemotherapy for stage I-III PDAC

4. LBA63 - XT-XTR008-3-01: a phase III study of 177Lu-Dotatate vs high-dose octreotide long-acting repeatable (LAR) in patients with advanced grade 1–2, well-differentiated, gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NETs)

Results were mixed, with a 50/50 split on X between LBA84 and LBA85 and a strong lead for LBA11 on LinkedIn.

Data from a single-center, single-arm, phase 2 study (NCT03951597), a precursor to the phase 2/3 being presented at ESMO this year, found that toripalimab (Loqtorzi) plus lenvatinib and gemcitabine-oxaliplatin (GemOx) yielded an ORR of 80% in patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, with 23 patients achieving a partial response and 1 patient achieving a complete response. Additionally, patients with DNA damage response (DDR)-related gene mutations had a higher ORR. The median OS was 22.5 months, the median PFS was 10.2 months, and median DOR was 11.0 months.⁸

Preliminary data from the phase 1/2 study (NCT06500676) assessing GFH375 in KRAS G12D-mutant advanced solid tumors, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), were presented at the 2025 ASCO Meeting. Here, no dose-limiting toxicities were reported, the ORR was 27.3%, and the disease control rate was 86.4%. In patients with PDAC, tumor shrinkage was observed in all 7 patients, with 3 partial responses and 4 cases of stable disease.⁹

Finally, an analysis of the the phase 3 trial CASSANDRA trial (NCT04793932) is evaluating short-course vs long-course chemotherapy with cisplatin, nab-paclitaxel, gemcitabine, and capecitabine (PAXG) and mFOLFIRINOX in patients with resectable or borderline resectable PDAC. Data from CASSANDRA were presented at ASCO 2025 and showed that PAXG was superior to mFOLFIRINOX, significantly improving event-free survival.¹⁰

Presentation Details:

LBA11: Monday, October 11, 2025, at 8:53 am CEST

LBA84: Sunday, October 19, 2025, at 10:15 am CEST

LBA85: Monday, October 20, 2025, at 9:23 am CEST

REFERENCES:

1. STELLAR-303. STELLAR Clinical Trials. Accessed October 13, 2025. https://www.stellarclinicaltrials.com/stellar-303

2. Lenz HJ, Lonardi S, Elez E, et al. Nivolumab (NIVO) plus ipilimumab (IPI) vs chemotherapy (chemo) or NIVO monotherapy for microsatellite instability-high/mismatch repair-deficient (MSI-H/dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC): Expanded analyses from CheckMate 8HW. J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 17): Abstract 3501. doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.3501

3. FDA approves nivolumab with ipilimumab for unresectable or metastatic MSI-H or dMMR colorectal cancer. News release. FDA. April 8, 2025. Accessed October 13, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/3rxxn55s

4. A Study Evaluating Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab, With or Without Tiragolumab, in Participants With Untreated Locally Advanced or Metastatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma (IMbrave152) (SKYSCRAPER-14). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated August 26, 2025. Accessed October 13, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05904886

5. Finn RS, Ryoo BY, Hsu CH, et al. Tiragolumab in combination with atezolizumab and bevacizumab in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (MORPHEUS-Liver): a randomised, open-label, phase 1b-2, study. Lancet Oncol. 2025 Feb;26(2):214-226. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(24)00679-X. Epub 2025 Jan 21.

6. Sun JM, Lin CY, Rojas C, et al. First-line lenvatinib (len) plus pembrolizumab (pembro) and chemotherapy (chemo) for metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (mESCC): Safety run-in results from the phase III LEAP-014 study. Presented at: 2023 ESMO Congress; October 20–24, 2025; Madrid, Spain. Abstract 1534P.

7. Pavlakis N, Shitara K, Sjoquist KM, et al. INTEGRATE IIb: A randomized phase III open label study of regorafenib + nivolumab versus standard chemotherapy in refractory advanced gastroesophageal cancer (AGOC). Presented at: 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium; January 20–22, 2022. Abstract TPS366.

8. Shi GM, Huang XY, Wu D, et al. Toripalimab combined with lenvatinib and GEMOX is a promising regimen as first-line treatment for advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a single-center, single-arm, phase 2 study. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2023 Mar 17;8(1):106.

9. Ai X, Zhou A, Wu L, et al. A first-in-human phase I/II study of GFH375, a highly selective and potent oral KRAS G12D inhibitor in patients with KRAS G12D mutant advanced solid tumors. J Clin Oncol. 43, 3013-3013(2025). doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.3013

10. Reni M, Macchini M, Orsi G, et al. Results of a randomized phase III trial of pre-operative chemotherapy with mFOLFIRINOX or PAXG regimen for stage I-III pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 17):LBA4004. doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.17_suppl.LBA4004