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Immunotherapy

Chicago, IL—The addition of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab (Avastin) resulted in a substantial and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival (OS) in patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer, according to the final OS analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-826 trial. The results were presented during the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. Read More ›

The landscape of cancer and immunology has gone through major scientific advances in research over the past 2 decades. The emergence of immunotherapy as a treatment option for patients diagnosed with cancer has led to improvements in patient outcomes. Patients diagnosed with certain forms of cancer can now live longer and enjoy good quality of life. Although not widely used at present, therapeutic cancer vaccines are now available for select groups of patients, such as those with early prostate cancer. In this paper, we provide a brief background and an overview of cancer vaccine therapy, current research, clinical application, and current challenges. Read More ›

Although there is a biological rationale that supports the “abscopal” effects of radiation therapy plus checkpoint immunotherapy in fighting cancer, this combination showed mixed results and no robust effects in patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results of 2 preliminary studies presented at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Read More ›

The combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) immunotherapy plus bevacizumab (Avastin) improves survival as well as significantly delaying deterioration in quality of life compared with the current standard of the targeted therapy sorafenib (Nexavar) in the treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Read More ›

The addition of a second immunotherapy, ipilimumab (Yervoy), to the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and cabozantinib (Cabometyx) produced durable responses and longer progression-free survival (PFS) than cabozantinib plus nivolumab alone in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. The overall survival (OS) was not yet reached in the triplet arm. Read More ›

On December 2, 2019, Merck announced that the FDA has granted priority review for its supplemental biologics license application for the anti–PD-1 agent pembrolizumab (Keytruda). If approved, the drug would be indicated as monotherapy to treat patients with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin–unresponsive, high-risk, non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer who are ineligible for or have decided not to undergo cystectomy. Read More ›

Reprogramming patients’ immune cells to treat their cancer has become the front line of cancer therapy, with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy now approved by the FDA for several blood cancers. But translating this success to solid tumors remains a challenge. At the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, Gianpietro Dotti, MD, Cancer Cellular Immunotherapy Program, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, discussed efforts to extend the application of CAR T-cell therapy to solid tumors.

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With 475 cell and gene therapy companies in North America representing a business enterprise with approximately $20 billion, new immunotherapies are moving rapidly from the laboratory to the clinic. As chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy makes its way from the academic to the community setting, however, appropriate resources and infrastructure are required to ensure the safe and effective management of patients. Read More ›

Moving PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors to an early line of therapy, immediately after chemoradiation, has improved survival for patients with unresectable, stage III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Read More ›

The era of immunotherapy has opened new perspectives in renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), which is one of the tumors most highly infiltrated with CD T-cells and PD-1 expression, partially accounting for its sensitivity to immunotherapy. Other mechanisms to explain its sensitivity include myeloid infiltration, metabolic alterations, loss-of-function mutations, and human endogenous retroviruses. Read More ›

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