Immuno-Oncology

In The Death of Cancer, written by Vincent T. DeVita Jr, MD, a pioneering oncologist reveals, after 50 years on the front lines of medicine, why the war on cancer is winnable, and how to get there. In an interview with OncLive hosted by Maurie Markman, MD, he speaks with DeVita on his book and his thoughts on how the field has evolved.

An early-stage trial is examining the addition of nivolumab to a cetuximab regimen in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Robert Ferris, MD, PhD, vice chair for Clinical Operations, associate director for Translational Research, and coleader of the Cancer Immunology Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, discusses nivolumab's potential as a treatment of patients with head and neck cancer, as reported in the CheckMate-141 study.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to durvalumab as a treatment for patients with PD-L1–positive inoperable or metastatic urothelial bladder cancer following progression on prior treatment with a platinum-based regimen.

Naiyer Rizvi, MD, discusses the role of PD-L1 testing, which PD-1/PD-L1 agents have the most potential, and what is on the horizon for the use of immunotherapies in non-small cell lung cancer.

The search for immune system biomarkers that could prove clinically useful in treating patients with breast cancer is yielding promising results, particularly in triple-negative subtypes.

Renato G. Martins, MD, MPH, medical director, Outpatient General Oncology/Hematology, Thoracic/Head and Neck Oncology, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, professor, University of Washington School of Medicine, discusses patient selection for nivolumab (Opdivo) as a treatment for patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Arjun V. Balar, MD, discusses the phase II data demonstrating the efficacy of atezolizumab as a single agent, its potential as part of combination regimens, and planned clinical trials looking at immunotherapy in patients with metastatic bladder cancer.

Toni Choueiri, MD, discusses the CheckMate-025 and METEOR trials and the potential for nivolumab and cabozantinib in the first- and second-line settings for treating renal cell carcinoma.

A combination checkpoint blockade with the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab and the anti–CTLA-4 agent tremelimumab induced a response rate of 23% in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer.

Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, professor of Immunology, Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses PD-L1 as a predictive biomarker for immunotherapy in patients with bladder cancer.

The role of immunotherapy is emerging as an effective, and in some cases, dramatic treatment in the non-small cell lung cancer landscape.

Suresh Ramalingam, MD, professor, Emory School of Medicine, and chief, Medical Oncology, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University, discusses combinations with immunotherapy agents and chemotherapy being investigated as potential treatments for patients with non–small cell lung cancer.

Richard Joseph, MD, discusses the challenges of treating mucosal melanoma and what oncologists need to know prior to using immunotherapies for the treatment of both mucosal and cutaneous melanomas.

Howard L. Kaufman, MD, discusses remaining questions regarding T-VEC, the impact of the FDA approval, and its future potential.

Robert Ferris, MD, PhD, discusses CheckMate-141, the biggest remaining challenges in head and neck cancer, and the potential for nivolumab as a treatment of patients with the disease.