Welcome to The Five Under 5, your go-to roundup of the top 5 videos of the week.
These short videos are designed for busy oncologists to view on the go, and feature expert insights on breaking news, regulatory updates, practice-changing data shared at medical meetings, and other key topics in the realm of oncology.
Here’s what you may have missed:
Full FDA Approval of Brexu-Cel in R/R Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Luhua (Michael) Wang, MD
Luhua (Michael) Wang, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the April 2026 traditional FDA approval of brexucabtagene autoleucel (brexu-cel; Tecartus) for adult patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), supported by data from the phase 2 ZUMA-2 trial (cohorts 1 and 2, NCT02601313; cohort 3, NCT04880434). Confirmatory data from cohort 3 (n = 86), which comprised BTK inhibitor–naive patients with relapsed/refractory MCL after at least 1 prior line of therapy, showed an objective response rate (ORR) of 91% with the CAR T-cell therapy; the CR rate was 79%, and the median duration of response (DOR) that was not reached at a median follow-up of 23.0 months. Brexu-cel was granted accelerated approval in June 2020 based on data from cohorts 1 and 2. Wang emphasized that the similarly strong outcomes across BTK inhibitor–exposed and –naive populations strengthen the overall evidence base, and the toxicity profile remains manageable and consistent with expectations for CAR T-cell therapy without new emerging concerns.
Preliminary Data With Trastuzumab Pamirtecan in HER2-Expressing Endometrial Cancer: Bhavana Pothuri, MD
Bhavana Pothuri, MD, of Perlmutter Cancer Center and NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Health, discusses early efficacy and safety findings from a global phase 2 study (NCT05150691) examining trastuzumab pamirtecan (DB-1303/BNT323) in patients with previously treated HER2-expressing advanced or metastatic endometrial cancer shared during the 2026 SGO Annual Meeting. Trastuzumab pamirtecan demonstrated an ORR approaching 50% in this heavily pretreated population, where treatment options remain limited after progression on previous therapies. Durability of response was also a key finding, with a median DOR of 9.9 months suggesting meaningful sustained clinical benefit beyond tumor shrinkage alone. The treatment was overall well tolerated, although Pothuri underscores the need for careful monitoring and early identification of interstitial lung disease to minimize the risk of more severe, higher-grade complications, with continued follow-up needed to further characterize long-term outcomes and optimize safety management.
Future Directions for Studying ADT Plus Immunotherapy in Salivary Gland Cancer: Manish R. Patel, DO
Manish Patel, DO, of University of Minnesota Health and University of Minnesota Medical School, discusses the emerging clinical significance of combining hormonal and immune therapies in the phase 2 BTCRC HN17-111 trial (NCT03942653), examining androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with salivary gland cancer. Although the dataset supports this regimen as a robust treatment consideration, the study enrolled only 19 patients due to the rarity of this tumor type, making it difficult to definitively establish it as a new standard of care or to directly compare outcomes with other established regimens. Patel acknowledged that previous studies leveraging combined androgen blockade without immunotherapy yielded similar efficacy results, and his team plans to conduct correlative studies to better understand the unique contribution of pembrolizumab by identifying post-treatment changes in the immune response. He concluded that disseminating these data to the oncology community is a critical step toward eventual regulatory consideration, although a randomized controlled trial remains necessary to provide definitive evidence supporting ADT plus immunotherapy in this setting.
Targeting CALR Mutations in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms: Aaron Gerds, MD, MS
Aaron Gerds, MD, MS, of the Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center of Case Western Reserve University, discusses the rationale for targeting CALR mutations as a precision medicine strategy in the treatment of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). In myelofibrosis and other MPNs, driver mutations—including CALR, JAK2, and MPL— vary by individual, and developing targeted therapies directed at these alterations could enable a more individualized approach tailored to each patient’s genetic profile. Unlike intracellular JAK2 mutations, CALR mutations are expressed on the cell surface, allowing monoclonal antibodies to bind directly and interrupt signaling, potentially starving malignant megakaryocytes critical for tumor growth. Cell surface expression also opens the door to immunotherapy strategies like bispecific antibodies and engineered T-cell approaches. Gerds concluded that targeting CALR mutations could allow these agents to play a meaningful role in the MPN treatment paradigm as they have in other hematologic malignancies.
MONSTAR-Screen-3 Study in Resectable RCC: Taigo Kato, MD, PhD
Taigo Kato, MD, PhD, of Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, discusses the MONSTAR-SCREEN-3 study (UMIN000053975) examining an ultra-sensitive whole genome sequencing–based minimal residual disease (MRD) assay in patients with resectable renal cell carcinoma (RCC). MONSTAR-SCREEN-3 was a prospective, multicenter study of 3,200 screened patients combining spatial transcriptomics with circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)/RNA sequencing, bulk tissue whole exome/transcriptome sequencing, plasma proteomics, and microbiome analyses across multiple solid tumor types, including urological cancers. Preliminary data shared during the 2026 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in the RCC cohort (n = 29) showed a baseline sensitivity rate of 100%, an MRD positivity rate of 11.1% at 1 month after surgery, with 50.0% of positive cases detected at ultra-sensitive levels, and ctDNA levels linked with tumor stage, size, and nodal status. Kato concluded that this approach is feasible and shows promise for predicting disease recurrence in RCC, although additional validation with extended follow-up and an expanded cohort is necessary to confirm these data.
