Latest Conference Articles

Among HER2-positive breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy alone, women with high levels of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes had an 80% lower likelihood of disease recurrence compared to those with lower TIL counts.

Some patients with heavily treated acute myelogenous leukemia benefited from treatment with the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax (ABT-199).

Ninety-six percent of patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma who received treatment with the combination of brentuximab vedotin and bendamustine responded to treatment without experiencing dose-limiting toxicity.

Almost 90% of patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma responded to the targeted combination of ibrutinib and rituximab.

Ian Flinn, MD, PhD, director of the hematologic malignancies program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses findings from a phase I study that explored monotherapy with the PI3K-gamma and delta inhibitor duvelisib (IPI-145) in patients with relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Jia Ruan, MD, PhD, is an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, discusses sustained remissions experienced by patients treated with the combination of lenalidomide and rituximab as initial treatment for MCL.

Patients with HIV-associated lymphoma can effectively be treated with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, with outcomes that are similar to patients without HIV.

Noopur Raje, MD, from the Multiple Myeloma Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the unprecedented efficacy seen with monoclonal antibodies as treatments for patients with multiple myeloma.

Treatment with elotuzumab in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone demonstrated encouraging efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Treatment with nilotinib in combination with chemotherapy elicited complete hematological remissions in 87% of elderly patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The novel drug AG-221 generated durable remissions in patients with AML by targeting a mutation of the IDH2 gene in a small, first-in-man study that represents a new, chemotherapy-free approach for attacking the malignancy.

The anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cell therapy CTL019 demonstrated an impressive 92% complete response rate in pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Farhad Ravandi, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, describes results from the phase III VALOR trial that explored vosaroxin plus cytarabine versus placebo and cytarabine in patients with first relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

Idelalisib monotherapy shows activity in treatment-naïve patients ≥65 years with CLL or SLL, with nearly 90% of patients enrolled in a phase II study demonstrating a partial response.

Eytan Stein, MD, from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses new data from a phase I study exploring the oral IDH2 inhibitor AG-221 in patients with advanced hematologic malignancies, primarily acute myelogenous leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome.

Patients with relapsed and difficult-to-treat Hodgkin lymphoma who received brentuximab vedotin had an unprecedented 50% higher likelihood of continuing to experience PFS at 2 years.

Two studies spotlighted at the 2014 ASH Annual Meeting characterized the efficacy of treatment with anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies in the frontline setting and for patients with refractory disease.

Treatment with carfilzomib in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone increased PFS by 8.7 months in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma when compared with lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone.

Treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab generated responses in 66% of patients with heavily pretreated classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

At least 80% of patients with B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia had a complete minimal residual disease response after a single cycle of treatment with the CD19-directed antibody blinatumomab.

In a small phase I trial, most patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma, having previously failed three or more therapies, responded to the immunotherapy nivolumab.

A. Keith Stewart, MBChB, from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, discusses findings from the phase III ASPIRE trial that evaluated the novel proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for patients with relapsed multiple myeloma.

Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses the optimal treatment settings for novel CD19-specific CAR-modified T cell therapies in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The top research being presented at the 2014 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting will focus on immunotherapies and novel agents, according to Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD.

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, Head, Division of Hematologic Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, provides an overview of five notable studies being presented at the 2014 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting and Exposition.

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, professor, Yale Cancer Center, chief of medical oncology, Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, discusses the state of immunotherapy in lung cancer.

Immunotherapy's promise as well as its challenges as a treatment for patients with brain cancer was the focus of a plenary session held November 15 at the Society of Neuro-Oncology's (SNO) 2014 Annual Meeting in Miami Beach.

Jeffrey J. Raizer, MD, Co-Director, Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute, Professor in Neurology, Ken and Ruth Davee Department, Medicine-Hematology/Oncology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, discusses a study that analyzed the overall survival and toxicity of proton therapy for large-volume re-irradiation for recurrent glioma.

The oncolytic virus Delta-24-RGD can infect, replicate, and kill glioma cells in patients, according to phase I research presented at the 2014 Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting in Miami.

John F de Groot, MD, nuro-oncologist, MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the efficacy of the novel c-MET inhibitor altiratinib in glioblastoma.