Vol. 17/No. 21

It has been about 18 months since the first immunotherapy checkpoint agent was approved for patients with non–small cell lung cancer. Now there are 3 monoclonal antibodies that target the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway on the market for the tumor type and the focus has shifted rapidly to establishng immunotherapy as a new frontline standard.

Ten prominent oncology researchers and clinicians have been chosen as the 2016 Giants of Cancer Care® award winners from the largest field of nominees in the 4-year history of the unique OncLive recognition program. The winners were chosen by a panel of esteemed oncology leaders.

Gregory L. Beatty, MD, PhD, who focuses his research on understanding the role of innate immunity in gastrointestinal malignancies, discusses CD47 as an anticancer target.

During our many years in the oncology information field, we’ve continually been impressed and inspired by the talent, dedication, and caring nature of the researchers and clinicians who treat patients with this most complex set of diseases.

During the past several decades, it has become increasingly clear that there is a complicated relationship between a tumor and the patient’s immune system. Although the genetic and epigenetic changes that fuel cancer development create foreign antigens that should trigger an immune response, one of the hallmarks of cancer is its ability to evade this immune recognition.

In a most provocative commentary published in a recent issue of The Lancet, two authors present a strong argument that it is sometimes ethical to provide therapy that is known to be validated but less effective than the standard of care if this therapy is also so significantly less expensive that access is substantially enhanced.

Patients with advanced lymphoid malignancies have had few treatment options, particularly those with extensive, refractory disease. Allogeneic or autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has been one life-prolonging and potentially curative option for these patients, but these procedures are associated with various toxicities and are not appropriate for all patients, with older adults and those with great- er disease burden often excluded as candidates.

The natural products produced by microbes found in the environment have led to major therapeutic breakthroughs for a variety of conditions ranging from infectious disease to cancer.

Although nivolumab has demonstrated a clear survival advantage compared with chemotherapy in patients with progressive non–small cell lung cancer who express PD-L1 in their tumor cells, the same cannot be said for those who are PD-L1–negative.