Genitourinary Cancers

Novel therapeutic strategies are poised to expand in adjuvant settings for patients with early-stage disease facing recurrence risks in the treatment paradigms for a range of tumor types after positive data from large phase 3 clinical trials were highlighted at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting

The combination of the GAS6/AXL inhibitor AVB-500 and cabozantinib has demonstrated acceptable tolerability when used in the treatment of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

In a 13 to 4 vote, the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee chose to hold off on a decision regarding accelerated approval for retifanlimab for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous carcinoma of the anal canal who have progressed on or are intolerant of platinum-based chemotherapy.

Nizar Tannir, MD, FACP, discusses the results of the phase 2 CANTATA trial with telaglenastat plus cabozantinib and future research directions for the glutaminase inhibitor.

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the top 10 most common cancers, although incidence rates have been stable over the past decade. It is more common in men than women and rates are higher among African American, American Indian, and Alaska Native patient populations.

The hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha inhibitor belzutifan maintained clinical efficacy with further follow-up in patients with Von-Hippel Lindau–associated renal cell carcinoma, as well as other VHL-associated neoplasms.

Cabozantinib exposure was not significantly associated with progression-free survival but appeared to predict high rates of palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia and diarrhea in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with the frontline combination of cabozantinib and nivolumab.

The addition of lenvatinib to pembrolizumab elicited a notable survival benefit and improved responses over single-agent sunitinib in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma across evaluable International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium risk subgroups.

The combination of pembrolizumab and cabozantinib induced a response in more than half of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma at the recommended phase 2 dose with a manageable safety profile, meeting the primary end point of a phase 1/2 trial.

Subsequent systemic therapies were found to impact overall survival outcomes with lenvatinib plus everolimus versus sunitinib in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received treatment in the phase 3 CLEAR trial.

Nazir Tannir, MD, FACP, discusses the efficacy of the combination of telaglenastat and cabozantinib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, as demonstrated in the phase 2 CANTATA trial.

OncLive sits down with Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, and Erin K. Crane, MD, MPH to discuss the biggest abstracts in genitourinary cancers and gynecologic cancers, respectively, at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The frontline combination of pembrolizumab plus axitinib continued to show a survival benefit over single-agent sunitinib in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Frontline treatment with the combination of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma led to similar health-related quality of life outcomes and disease-related symptom scores vs sunitinib.

Toni K. Choueiri, MD, discusses the efficacy of pembrolizumab as a post-nephrectomy adjuvant therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-564 trial.

Tivozanib led to a more than doubled median duration of response compared with sorafenib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Avelumab as frontline maintenance plus best supportive care demonstrated a survival benefit compared with BSC alone across several previously unreported subgroups of patients with advanced urothelial cancer who have progressed on first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy.

Pembrolizumab was associated with a 32% reduction in the risk of disease recurrence or death compared with placebo as an adjuvant treatment for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Dr. Rini discusses unique elements of the TIVO-3 trial, the significance of the FDA approval of tivozanib in advanced RCC, and potential next steps for research with the TKI in the paradigm.

Hans Hammers, MD, PhD, discusses the potential utility of HIF-2α inhibitors in renal cell carcinoma.

Innovative strategies are vital for patients diagnosed with rare cancers, who are frequently at a disadvantage compared with those who have more common malignancies, experts say.

Thomas Hutson, DO, PharmD, discusses key safety considerations with cabozantinib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Cell-free methylated DNA immunoprecipitation-sequencing uses plasma cell-free methylomes to detect and classify several types of cancer early on, and provides the opportunity to monitor tumors for response to treatment in noninvasive way.

Brian I. Rini, MD, discusses the results of an exploratory analysis of the phase 3 IMmotion151 trial in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Hans Hammers, MD, PhD, discusses the importance of assessing quality of life in renal cell carcinoma.