Immunotherapy

With 475 cell and gene therapy companies in North America representing a business enterprise with approximately $20 billion, new immunotherapies are moving rapidly from the laboratory to the clinic. As chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy makes its way from the academic to the community setting, however, appropriate resources and infrastructure are required to ensure the safe and effective management of patients. Read More ›

Moving PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors to an early line of therapy, immediately after chemoradiation, has improved survival for patients with unresectable, stage III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Read More ›

The era of immunotherapy has opened new perspectives in renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), which is one of the tumors most highly infiltrated with CD T-cells and PD-1 expression, partially accounting for its sensitivity to immunotherapy. Other mechanisms to explain its sensitivity include myeloid infiltration, metabolic alterations, loss-of-function mutations, and human endogenous retroviruses. Read More ›

Many patients with leukemia or lymphoma who receive treatment with anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy achieve minimum residual disease (MRD) negativity, and many are in complete remission well beyond 12 months. As such, CAR T-cell therapies are curing these patients, said David L. Porter, MD, Director, Cell Therapy and Transplantation, Penn Medicine, Abram­son Cancer Center, Philadelphia, at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. Read More ›

The combination of the PD-1 inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi) and the investigational CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab plus best supportive care improved overall survival (OS) by more than 2 months versus best supportive care alone in a phase 2 clinical trial of patients with refractory colorectal cancer (CRC), reported Eric Xueyu Chen, MD, PhD, Staff Oncologist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada, at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Read More ›

Patients with ovarian cancer can respond to immunotherapy, but rationally designed synergistic combinations will be necessary to enhance upfront efficacy and to sustain durability, said Daniel J. Powell Jr, PhD, Scientific Director of Immunotherapy, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Center for Cellular Immunotherapy, University of Penn­sylvania, Philadelphia, at the 2019 ASCO-­SITC Clinical Immuno-­Oncology Symposium. Read More ›

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is associated with unique adverse events that require vigilant monitoring, aggressive care, and specialized management. Marco L. Davila, MD, PhD, Medical Oncologist, Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy Program, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, provided an overview of this topic at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-­Oncology Symposium. Read More ›

Promising markers of response to immune checkpoint inhibition include tumor mutation burden (TMB) and genomic markers that reflect a disruption of the tumor immunity cycle, said Natalie Vokes, MD, MPhil, Medical Oncology Fellow, ­Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, ­Boston, at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. Read More ›

A chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy that targets CD19 and CD22 molecules has demonstrated safety and efficacy, in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (ALL), with response rates consistent with CAR T-cell therapies that target CD19 alone. Read More ›

Adjuvant treatment with durvalumab (Imfinzi), a checkpoint inhibitor, in patients with residual disease after trimodal therapy for advanced esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma was associated with a 79% 1-year relapse-free survival rate in a phase 2 clinical trial. Read More ›