Immuno-Oncology

Over the course of only a few days, two drugs that will be commercialized by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), nivolumab and elotuzumab, have each been granted breakthrough therapy designations by the FDA for the treatment of two different types of blood cancers.

Tomasz Beer, MD, FACP, professor of medicine, deputy director of the Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, characterizes the immune-related adverse events associated with ipilimumab in a phase III metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer trial.

Mark R. Litzow, MD, a professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, discusses novel immunologic therapies for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute, discusses the curative potential of immunotherapy for patients with cancer.

An interview with Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, on new therapies for patients with acute and chronic leukemias, in particular novel immunotherapies such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells.

The FDA has assigned a priority review designation to the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (MK-3475) as a treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma following progression on ipilimumab.

James J. Hsieh, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, gives an overview of emerging treatments for patients with kidney cancer.

The treatment decisions for NSCLC are primarily dependent on the patient's performance status, extent of disease, and histological subtype. Significant developments in the area of targeted therapies have changed the treatment paradigm for NSCLC.

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, associate professor, chief, Cellular Therapeutics Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the potential application of CAR-modified T cell technology.

An interview with Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, on the evolving field of immunotherapy for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer.

PD-L1 levels adequately predict response and clinical outcomes for PD-1 inhibitor MK-3475 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma

The use of immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer has had limited exposure, but Aduro BioTech, Inc, has had phase II success with an approach in which two vaccines are administered. The vaccines, GVAX Pancreas and CRS-207, are administered to patients sequentially.

Balazs Halmos, MD, section chief of Thoracic Oncology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the anti-PD-L1 antibody MK-3475 and the challenge of integrating immunotherapies into the field of lung cancer.

The large phase III MAGRIT study investigating the MAGE-A3-specific vaccine GSK1572932A for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) will be completely halted following an interim analysis that demonstrated a lack of benefit.

Oliver Sartor, MD, board professor, cancer research, Tulane University, discusses a trial that would study Provenge (sipuleucel-T) in combination with radium-223 as a potential treatment option for patients with prostate cancer.

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, associate professor, chief, Cellular Therapeutics Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the challenges associated with CAR-modified T cells.

Robert Dreicer, MD, MS, discusses combining and sequencing agents with immunotherapies for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The MAGE-A3-specific immunotherapeutic GSK1572932A failed to significantly extend disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with resected nonmetastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who tested negative for a specific gene expression signature

Increasing efficacy with immunotherapies in some cancers led to the strategy being deemed Breakthrough of the Year by Science magazine in 2013

The oncolytic immunotherapeutic vaccine talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) promoted tumor shrinkage in 64% of patients with advanced melanoma, including a marked reduction in the size of uninjected metastatic lesions

Nivolumab, a PD-1-specific antibody, has been shown to produce long-term remissions with limited toxicity in patients with advanced melanoma, according to results from one of the longest follow ups to examine the drug.

Karl Lewis, MD, medical oncologist, associate professor, University of Colorado, discusses sequencing strategies for the treatment of melanoma.

Although breakthrough successes are generating a renaissance for anticancer immunotherapies, the framework for translating promising research results into clinical practice remains very much under construction.

Since its approval in 1998 to treat metastatic breast cancer, the anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody trastuzumab has dramatically expanded life expectancy and improved quality of life for women diagnosed with HER2-positive disease.

Bavituximab, Peregrine Pharmaceuticals' lead clinical immunotherapeutic candidate, received Fast Track designation from the FDA to kick off 2014.