ASCO 2021: Updates in Genitourinary Cancers

Nizar Tannir, MD, FACP, discusses the results of the phase 2 CANTATA trial with telaglenastat plus cabozantinib and future research directions for the glutaminase inhibitor.

The hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha inhibitor belzutifan maintained clinical efficacy with further follow-up in patients with Von-Hippel Lindau–associated renal cell carcinoma, as well as other VHL-associated neoplasms.

Cabozantinib exposure was not significantly associated with progression-free survival but appeared to predict high rates of palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia and diarrhea in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with the frontline combination of cabozantinib and nivolumab.

The addition of lenvatinib to pembrolizumab elicited a notable survival benefit and improved responses over single-agent sunitinib in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma across evaluable International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium risk subgroups.

The combination of pembrolizumab and cabozantinib induced a response in more than half of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma at the recommended phase 2 dose with a manageable safety profile, meeting the primary end point of a phase 1/2 trial.

Bone-protecting agents utilized during treatment with radium-223 plus enzalutamide reduced the risk for fractures in men with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Avelumab as frontline maintenance plus best supportive care demonstrated a survival benefit compared with BSC alone across several previously unreported subgroups of patients with advanced urothelial cancer who have progressed on first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy.