Gastrointestinal Cancer

Precancerous colon polyps exhibit many of the same driver mutations that fuel the development of colorectal cancer.

The majority of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma are diagnosed with late-stage, unresectable tumors, a setting in which combination chemotherapy remains the mainstay.

Manish A. Shah, MD, associate professor of Medicine, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Bartlett Family Associate Professor in Gastrointestinal Oncology, medical oncologist, Weill Cornell Medicine and New-York Presbyterian Hospital, discusses the phase IIIb HELOISE trial, which compared 2 dose regimens of trastuzumab combined with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with HER2-positive metastatic gastric/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (mGC/GEJC).

Survival outcomes in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer were significantly longer among those with tumors originating on the left versus the right side of the colon, according to a retrospective analysis of the phase III 80405 trial.

A phase III study exploring the combination of olaparib and paclitaxel missed its primary endpoint of improvement in overall survival compared with paclitaxel and placebo for patients with advanced gastric cancer.

A regimen combining the vaccines CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas failed to improve overall survival versus either CRS-207 alone or chemotherapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who had failed at least 2 prior therapies.

The investigational pancreatic cancer vaccine algenpantucel-L failed to improve overall survival versus standard of care in the phase III IMPRESS trial.

Graham Dixon, PhD, chief scientific officer, Onxeo, discusses a mechanistic study of the relative cytotoxicity of doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticle formulation versus doxorubicin in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.

Regorafenib (Stivarga) improved overall survival versus best supportive care in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma who progressed after receiving sorafenib (Nexavar).

Wendy Setiawan, PhD, assistant professor of Preventive Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, discusses a study that examined differences in pancreatic cancer incidence across five racial/ethnic populations in a multiethnic cohort.

Van K. Morris, MD, assistant professor of GI Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a study examining nivolumab (Opdivo) as a potential treatment for patients with anal cancer.

Nathan Bahary, MD, discusses results of a study that showed that the combination of indoximod with standard chemotherapy yielded a response rate of 42% as a first-line therapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.