Biomarker-Driven Lung Cancer

Edward S. Kim, MD, chairman, Solid Tumor Oncology and Investigational Therapeutics, Levine Cancer Institute, Carolinas HealthCare System, discusses some of the challenges researchers face when it comes to biomarkers in lung cancer.

Treatment with enobosarm demonstrated an increase in lean body mass compared with a decline in LBM observed with placebo for patients with NSCLC.

The PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab and the second-generation ALK inhibitor alectinib have each gained their first approvals as treatments for patients in Japan.

Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, an associate attending physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses pembrolizumab (MK-3475) for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Haiying Cheng, MD, medical oncologist, Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Car, assistant professor, Department of Medicine (Oncology), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discuses RICTOR amplification in patients with lung cancer.

Tadd Lazarus, MD, Chief Medical Officer, QIAGEN, discusses the importance of companion diagnostics.

Continuing EGFR inhibition beyond progression with afatinib (Gilotrif) plus paclitaxel significantly improved PFS and ORR compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with heavily pretreated metastatic NSCLC.

The anti-PD-1 humanized antibody pembrolizumab (MK-3475) has robust antitumor activity as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced PD-L1-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The FDA has approved the radioactive diagnostic imaging agent Lymphoseek injection to guide sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with cancer of the head and neck.

Karen L. Reckamp, MD, co-director, Lung Cancer and Thoracic Oncology Program, associate professor, City of Hope, the results of a phase II study of the AKT inhibitor MK-2206 plus erlotinib in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who progressed on erlotinib.

Adding necitumumab to standard of care with gemcitabine-cisplatin improves survival compared with chemotherapy alone as first-line treatment in patients with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of squamous histology.

Luiz H. Araujo, MD, medical oncologist, Corporate Cancer Foundation fellow, Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, discusses the discovery of oncogenic ARAF as a new driver for lung cancer.

David Spigel, MD, director, Lung Cancer Research Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, provides an update on research into MPDL3280A for the treatment of patients with lung cancer.

The third-generation EGFR inhibitor CO-1686 continues to demonstrate promising activity in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who developed resistance after prior treatment with an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI).

Adding the VEGFR-2 inhibitor ramucirumab (Cyramza) to standard docectaxel improved overall survival (OS) by 1.4 months versus docetaxel alone in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, a professor of medical oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, discusses data presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting examining EGFR inhibitors for lung cancer.

Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD, vice chair, Clinical Trials Office, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the impact of the stigma of cigarette smoking on lung cancer research.

The EGFR inhibitor CO-1686 has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA for its potential as a treatment for patients with metastatic T790M mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have received at least one prior line of EGFR-targeted therapy.

Todd Demmy, MD, clinical chair, Department of Thoracic Surgery, professor of oncology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, describes lung suffusion.

In December 2013, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that asymptomatic, high-risk individuals receive annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT).

The highly selective EGFR inhibitor AZD9291 demonstrated an ORR of 64% without inducing dose-limiting toxicities in patients with metastatic NSCLC who harbor an acquired EGFR T790M resistance mutation.

Despite initial clinical benefit of erlotinib and geftinib, overall efficacy of these agents is limited by emergence of drug-resistance mutations, including the gatekeeper T790M mutation.

Balazs Halmos, MD, section chief of Thoracic Oncology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the variety of immune checkpoint inhibitors that are currently being explored as treatments for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Michael A. Postow, MD, attending physician, Melanoma and Immunotherapeutics Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses using PD-L1 as a biomarker of response in melanoma.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) updates its guidelines several times annually to incorporate the most recent advances in screening, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with cancer.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to ceritinib (Zykadia; LDK378) as a treatment for patients with ALK-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following treatment with crizotinib.

Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD, vice chair, Clinical Trials Office, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses treatment considerations for older patients with lung cancer.

Balazs Halmos, MD, section chief of Thoracic Oncology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the implication of the IPASS study.

Thomas J. Lynch, MD, Yale Cancer Center, discusses actionable mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

CO-1686 has demonstrated promising activity without producing many of the side effects traditionally associated with the class of drugs in patients with T790M-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).