Virginia Powers, PhD

According to findings presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress, nab-paclitaxel monotherapy demonstrated efficacy in patients with pretreated advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer that is not improved by the addition of CC-486. 

Median overall survival findings from treatment with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) were significantly longer compared with chemotherapy in patients with recurrent, advanced urothelial carcinoma, according to mature results from the phase III KEYNOTE-045 study. 

The combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and bevacizumab (Avastin) demonstrated greater progression-free survival in patients with untreated metatatic renal cell carcinoma compared with standard sunitinib (Sutent), according to findings presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress held in Madrid, Spain. 

The combination of taselisib and standard letrozole improved the objective response rate compared to letrozole with a placebo in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive and HER2-negative early breast cancer, according to findings from the LORELEI study presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress in Madrid, Spain.

In patients with heavily-pretreated microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), treatment with CEA-TCB, an investigational CEA/CD3 bispecific antibody, showed a favorable safety profile and promising efficacy, with enhanced efficacy when combined with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab.

A large analysis of data comparing selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT) plus chemotherapy to chemotherapy did not show expected improvements in survival, but an unanticipated benefit was observed with SIRT in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Overall survival was prolonged with treatment with ziv-aflibercept compared to placebo across subgroups of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with wild-type and mutated <em>RAS, KRAS,</em> and <em>BRAF</em> genes.

According to findings from a small phase I study, all patients with multiple myeloma showed a response following treatment with an active dose of bb2121, an investigational anti&ndash;B-cell maturation antigen chimeric antigen receptor T-cell construct.

Patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma who did not elect to undergo stem cell transplant but remained on single agent ixazomib maintenance fared as well as those who received SCT.

C. Kent Osborne, MD, outlines&nbsp;current strategies for overcoming resistance to HER2-targeted agents in early breast cancer.

According to an assessment of a large global dataset reported at the 2017 International Liver Congress, log₁₀ alpha fetoprotein level in the blood directly corresponded to the years of posttreatment survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who were previously treated with sorafenib had long-term responses to nivolumab of more than 1 year.

In patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, liver-targeting treatment with selective internal radiation therapy more effectively controlled liver tumor progression and was better tolerated, but the therapy did not improve rates of overall or progression-free survival over sorafenib.

Mipsagargin, a first-in-class prodrug, showed promising antitumor activity and enabled patients with advanced sorafenib-refractory hepatocellular carcinoma to achieve disease stabilization.

In updated results presented at the 2017 International Liver Congress, Spanish researchers raised a red flag regarding observations of unexpected higher rates of hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence following treatment with direct-acting antivirals for hepatitis C virus infection.

Researchers have identified higher levels of hepatocytes positive for pERK immunostaining and greater microvascular invasion as independent prognostic factors of recurrence in patients&nbsp;treated with sorafenib Nexavar for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Patients were at no elevated risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma after achieving sustained virologic response following treatment with direct-acting antiviral therapy for hepatitis C compared to interferon therapy.

According to a careful examination of studies exploring the immune response, immunotherapy will be most effective as a treatment for breast cancer when it is used to alter the tumor microenvironment. Nora Disis, MD, presented her findings during the 15th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference.

Tari A. King, MD, discusses whether&nbsp;age is an independent prognostic factor in breast cancer or if it&#39;s simply a reflection of biology.

Findings from an efficacy update of patients participating in a study in the CheckMate series revealed that first-line nivolumab (Opdivo) demonstrated activity in advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, and the addition of ipilimumab (Yervoy) resulted in enhanced activity, specifically in prolonged progression-free survival and higher objective response rates.

Durvalumab treatment in the second-line setting or beyond demonstrated clinical benefit and led to durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

Determining the PD-L1 status of a patient&rsquo;s tumor has become increasingly important for informing the clinical decision whether to offer certain immunotherapeutic agents, making standardization of the tests and antibodies used to determine the PD-L1 status necessary to provide accurate and consistent results.

Treatment with icotinib more than doubled intracranial progression-free survival (iPFS) compared with whole brain irradiation (WBI) combined with standard chemotherapy.

A lower dose of radiation therapy following surgery did not improve limb function and was not found to be non-inferior compared with standard dose radiation 2 years post procedure in patients extremity soft tissue sarcoma.&nbsp;

The pathological response following pre-operative cisplatin, pemetrexed, and bevacizumab treatment may serve as a surrogate marker for post-surgical recurrence-free survival in patients with non-squamous non&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

TRC105, an endoglin antibody, combined with pazopanib showed promising anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced angiosarcoma, warranting the initiation of a phase III study to explore the combination further.<br /> &nbsp;

Olaratumab displayed anti-tumor activity both as a single-agent and in concert with standard of care chemotherapy in a study using human pediatric sarcoma cell-derived models and in human sarcoma cell transfected mice.&nbsp;

Pembrolizumab plus low dose metronomic cyclophosphamide demonstrated limited patient benefit in adult patients with diverse types of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic sarcoma.<br /> &nbsp;

Clinical benefit, including partial response and stable disease, was observed in 11 of 20 patients with relapsed metastatic sarcoma following nivolumab treatment that was administered either alone or in combination with pazopanib.