Precision Medicine in Oncology®

The FDA has approved naxitamab-gqgk (Danyelza) for use in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor as a treatment for pediatric patients 1 year of age and older and adult patients with relapsed/refractory high-risk neuroblastoma in the bone or bone marrow who have demonstrated a partial response, minor response, or stable disease to prior treatment.

November 24, 2020 - Until now, the field of cell-based immunotherapy has been dominated by chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, with groundbreaking FDA approvals for 3 drugs across several types of hematologic malignancies. In solid tumors, however, CAR T-cell therapies have yet to gain ground.

In our exclusive interview, Dr. Oxnard explained how precision medicine has affected the treatment landscape of lung cancer, discussed the current capabilities of liquid biopsy, and forecasted the future of precision oncology in the field.

The noninvasive blood-based targeted methylation assay ELSA-seq identified early cancers with high specificity and provided accurate predictions of the tissue of origin.

November 19, 2020 - Lorlatinib has been found to significantly prolong progression-free survival, elicit a higher overall and intracranial response, and improve quality of life compared with crizotinib in treatment-naïve patients with advanced ALK-positive non­–small cell lung cancer.

Although PARP inhibitors are generally reasonably well tolerated, certainly compared with platinum and other routinely employed cytotoxic antineoplastic drugs, the majority of patients receiving PARP inhibitors in multiple reported clinical trials reported low-grade nausea and fatigue.

The identification of chromosomal rearrangements that result in oncogenic gene fusions ushered in the era of molecularly targeted therapies in oncology.

November 16, 2020 — The FDA has approved the PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx to aid in the identification of patients with triple-negative breast cancer who are eligible to receive the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab.

In our exclusive interview, Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, sheds light on the implications of targeting HRAS in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, details the data that has been reported to date with tipifarnib, and shares his expectations for the ongoing KO-TIP-007 trial.

TP53-targeted treatment options represent an unmet need for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia.

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, discusses the rationale to conduct the NCI-MATCH trial, key findings from the recent publication, and potential permutations of the trial design that could further the role of precision medicine in oncology.

Adagrasib, a novel agent aimed at KRAS G12C mutations, has demonstrated early signs of efficacy in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer whose tumors harbor the alteration, raising hopes for a new therapy against a challenging oncogenic target.

Alterations in MET, RET, and NTRK have become established actionable drivers of oncogenesis in lung cancer, and therapeutics targeting these aberrations have since obtained regulatory approval from the FDA and have been incorporated into treatment guidelines.

Although historically considered to be undruggable, the KRAS G12C mutation has since emerged as an actionable alteration in the field of non–small cell lung cancer.

In our exclusive interview, Dr. Aggarwal and Dr. Gandara discuss the evolution of liquid biopsy in lung cancer, explain the clinical implications of recent liquid biopsy approvals, and forecast the future of liquid biopsy in the field.

The FDA has approved the FoundationOne Liquid CDx for use as a companion diagnostic with olaparib, which is indicated for select patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic homologous recombination repair gene–mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Mark E. Robson, MD, discusses how a strong cognizance of germline testing is becoming increasingly important in the field of oncology, across an array of tumor types.

Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, discusses the role of targeted therapy in melanoma.

The FDA has approved the cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2 as a companion diagnostic for EGFR TKIs in the treatment of patients with EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer.

TROPHY U-01 cohort 1 is a phase 2 open-label study of sacituzumab govitecan in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer and disease progression after both platinum-based regimens and checkpoint inhibitors.

Neal D. Shore, MD, FACS, discusses the need for further education on molecular testing for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

In our exclusive interview, Dr. Raez provides insight into the advantages and disadvantages of liquid biopsy relative to tissue biopsy and forecasts the utility of liquid biopsy within the field of lung cancer as more of these assays become available.

Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, discusses the results of the ASCENT trial in triple-negative breast cancer.

Delaying treatment for up to 7 days so that genomic data can be utilized to inform a personalized treatment approach is safe, feasible, and can improve overall survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 is a glycoprotein that spans the epithelial membrane surface and plays a role in cell self-renewal, proliferation, and transformation.