Colorectal Cancer

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, discusses how community oncologists can play an important role in the advancement of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers despite not having access to major trials.

Cathy Eng, MD, discusses the current paradigm of GI cancers, specifically sharing insight on colorectal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma.<br /> &nbsp;

Complex drug trials that use a single protocol to test either 1 agent against multiple cancers or multiple agents against 1 cancer can make drug testing faster, cheaper, and more informative, particularly when those trials use the data to constantly improve protocols.

The National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable may have come up short in its goal to get 80% of American adults &ge;50 years screened for colorectal cancer by 2018, but David A. Greenwald, MD, told his audience at the 2018 American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting that the group can point to smaller victories that deserve recognition.

According to findings from the first neoadjuvant study to test ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus nivolumab&nbsp;(Opdivo) in early-stage mismatch repair deficient tumors and MMR proficient colon cancers, the combination induced major pathologic responses from all 7 patients with dMMR tumors.&nbsp;

In a presentation at the 33^rd Annual Meeting &amp; Pre-Conference Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cance, Dr. Galon discussed the definition of the immune contexture of Immunoscore, its international validation for the risk-classification of stage I-III colon cancer, and the potential value of Immunoscore in stage IV metastatic disease.

Michael J. Overman, MD, discusses recent data reported at the 2018 ESMO Congress for the frontline combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab in microsatellite instability-high metastatic colorectal cancer.

An analysis of immunologic biomarkers in a phase II trial of patients with advanced colorectal cancer treated with chemotherapy and PD-1 checkpoint inhibition identified several factors associated with a patient&rsquo;s beneficial response to the chemo-immunotherapy regimen, according to findings presented during the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.

Matthew Farren, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, discusses immunologic biomarker findings in a study of mFOLFOX6 plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in colorectal cancer.

Management of Metastatic Colon Cancer

Considering data from the real-world setting is becoming increasingly important with the use of anticancer agents, as there is likely a big difference between patients in a clinical trial and patients in the real world, said&nbsp;Juan Manuel O&rsquo;Connor, MD. During the 2018 ESMO Congress, O&#39;Connor presented real-world dosing findings for&nbsp;regorafenib in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

During a presentation at the 2018 International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology Annual Meeting,&nbsp;Dustin Deming, MD, discussed treatment options showing promise for patients with&nbsp;<em>BRAF</em> V600E&ndash;mutant metastatic colorectal cancer.

Anthony F. Shields, MD, PhD, discusses pivotal data from the IDEA pooled analysis, consisting of 6 international, noninferiority, phase III colon cancer studies.

Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP, FASCO,&nbsp;discusses the treatment landscape for advanced and metastatic CRC and how molecular profiling can play a vital role in selecting the optimal treatment plan for each patient. He also emphasizes the importance of participation in clinical trials to further understand these patients.

Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau, MD, PhD, discusses the rationale for using TAS-102 (trifluridine/tipiracil; Lonsurf) as a treatment for patients with gastric cancers.

James L. Wade III, MD, FACP, FASCO, discusses the importance of clinical trials in the community.