Immuno-Oncology

Peter Emtage, discusses a phase I open-label study evaluating the safety and tolerability of MEDI4736 in combination with tremelimumab for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The FDA has assigned a priority review designation to the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) as a treatment for pretreated patients with advanced melanoma.

To gain further insight into the approval of pembrolizumab, OncLive interviewed John Glaspy, MD, MPH, from the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA, where research into the novel drug was conducted.

Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, discusses the implications of responses to the CAR T-cell therapy KTE-C19, particularly among patients with chemotherapy-refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

Sara Hurvitz, MD, highlights key points on the PIK3CA mutation, and addresses several other key topics in the field of breast cancer.

Robert H. I. Andtbacka, MD, CM, from Intermountain Healthcare and Huntsman Cancer Institute, discusses the safety and efficacy of T-VEC in combination with ipilimumab in patients with previously untreated, unresected stage IIIB-IV melanoma.

A novel HER2-derived peptide vaccine designed to stimulate CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes reduced the rate of breast cancer recurrence and proved safe and well tolerated in the adjuvant setting.

BMS has filed a lawsuit over Merck's newly approved immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, contending that the much-heralded PD-1 inhibitor will infringe upon patents that Bristol-Myers holds on the groundbreaking technology.

This article reviews up-to-date clinical studies combining chemotherapy with immunotherapy; it also explains the rationale for this combination in treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a treatment for patients with advanced or unresectable melanoma who are no longer responding to other drugs, making it the first PD-1 inhibitor to gain approval in the United States.

Sipuleucel-T (Provenge), an immunotherapy tailor-made for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) using their own white blood cells, is just as potent if it is manufactured while a patient is taking enzalutamide (Xtandi), and the two drugs seem to boost immunity more effectively when administered together.

Robert Petit, PhD, the chief scientific officer at Advaxis, provides insight into the ADXS-PSA immunotherapy and the rationale behind the combination study with pembrolizumab.

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy is an immunotherapy in which the patient's own T cells are isolated in the laboratory, redirected with a synthetic receptor to recognize a particular antigen or protein, and reinfused into the patient.

Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, an associate attending physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses pembrolizumab (MK-3475) for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) is effective when given either before or after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer (BRPC) who face a high risk of developing metastases, a study has found.

Advaxis and Merck have entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement to evaluate the combination of two novel immunotherapies for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

A major step toward improved tolerability of cisplatin-based therapy came in the early 2000s with the advent of the modern regimen of gemcitabine and cisplatin.

A number of large pharmaceutical companies have forged clinical trial collaborations focused on the investigation of novel combinations and companion diagnostics across multiple cancer indications.

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine at the Yale Cancer Center and chief of medical oncology at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven in Connecticut, discusses new immunotherapy agents showing potential as treatment options for patients with lung cancer.

Ever since ipilimumab (Yervoy) gained FDA approval in 2011 for the treatment of metastatic melanoma, the immune checkpoint blockade strategy that the agent employs has been an intense focus of interest in research and pharmaceutical circles.

James P. Allison, PhD, director, immunotherapy platform, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Giant of Cancer Care, discusses the potentiation of immune checkpoint blockade cancer immunotherapy with oncolytic virus.

Emerging agents and pressing research questions in immunotherapy were reviewed in depth during the 15th Annual International Lung Cancer Congress, with Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of the Yale Cancer Center, leading the way.

Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, Professor, Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the Lung-MAP trial, which uses next-generation sequencing as a screening test rather than screening for one mutation.

Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, a professor of medical oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discusses the utility of the vaccine tecemotide as treatment for non-small cell lung cancer.

Melanoma care has fortunately undergone a whirlwind of changes over the past several years. Novel immunotherapies are perhaps the most exciting recent development in cancer care because patients can enjoy long-term benefit from these treatments, meaning that they are possibly "cured."