Immuno-Oncology

Several phase III studies are exploring immunotherapy combinations with the potential to disrupt the systemic treatment paradigm for patients with ovarian cancer.

Rebecca C. Arend, MD, discussed novel combinations being investigated for the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer.

Two-year follow-up data showed sustained improvements in overall survival with pembrolizumab over chemotherapy in pretreated patients with locally advanced or recurrent urothelial cancer.

Guru Sonpavde, MD, director of Bladder Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a phase IIIb safety study of fixed-dose durvalumab (Imfinzi) and tremelimumab in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma.

The PARP inhibitor olaparib appeared to complement the antitumor activity of the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab in unselected men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, according to findings from a phase II study presented at the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Monika Joshi, MD, assistant professor, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, discusses a phase Ib study of durvalumab (Imfinzi) and radiation therapy (DUART) followed by adjuvant durvalumab in patients with urothelial carcinoma.

Hans Hammers, MD, PhD, associate professor, Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses the future of immunotherapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

A new model based on 6 clinical factors may be able to predict overall survival for patients with advanced urothelial cancers being treated with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab.

The combination of atezolizumab and bevacizumab reduced the risk of progression or death by 26% compared with sunitinib for patients with untreated PD-L1–positive metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

The combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab improved progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy in treatment-naïve patients with high tumor mutation burden non–small cell lung cancer.

Arjun V. Balar, MD, discusses the landscape of current and future standards of care for immunotherapy in bladder and kidney cancer.

Despite positive clinical trial results, the role of immunotherapy in renal cell carcinoma remains unclear.

The gene-editing tool known as CRISPR may eventually enable oncology investigators to create methods for killing tumors directly, but thus far, the focus is on enhancing forms of immunotherapy already in clinical practice.

Jae Y. Kim, MD, chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, assistant professor, Department of Surgery, City of Hope, discusses the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in surgical patients with lung cancer.

David R. Wise, MD, PhD, discusses the promise for immunotherapy and other emerging approaches in the field of prostate cancer.

Arjun V. Balar, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Program, NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses the potential of existing targeted therapy coupled with immunotherapy to improve overall survival (OS) in patients with kidney cancer.