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AACR 2020 Highlights

Many cancer vaccines have been studied, but thus far the search has been unsuccessful. Results from a new study suggest that the combination of a messenger (mRNA)-based personalized cancer vaccine (known as RO7198457) plus the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) shows promise for the treatment of advanced cancer. The results of the phase 1b clinical trial were presented at the 2020 AACR virtual annual meeting. Read More ›

At the 2020 virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting, part I, a team of oncologists from different COVID-19 hotspots around the world gave a snapshot of wisdom gleaned from their experience thus far. Understanding of COVID-19 is rapidly evolving; the summaries below represent the experience as of late April 2020.

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Tumors with KRAS mutation are notoriously difficult to treat. Early data presented at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research virtual annual meeting suggest 2 new routes for the treatment of cancers with KRAS mutation, including (1) the combination of a RAF/MEK inhibitor and a FAK inhibitor, and (2) the use of onvansertib, an investigational competitive inhibitor of the PLK1 enzyme, together with chemotherapy.

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No improvement in survival or in any key secondary end point was observed when the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) was added to enzalu­tamide (Xtandi) for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in the phase 3 IMbassador250 trial. The study results were presented at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research virtual annual meeting.

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The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) to the 2 targeted therapies—the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) and the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib (Cotellic)—improved progression-free survival (PFS) and the duration of responses compared with the 2 targeted therapies plus placebo in patients with newly diagnosed advanced melanoma and BRAF V600E/K mutation, according to the phase 3 IMspire150 clinical trial. The results were presented at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research virtual annual meeting by lead investigator Grant A. McArthur, MB BS (Hons), PhD, FRACP, FAHMS, Head, Cancer Therapeutics Program, Cancer Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

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The first “off-the-shelf” chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell platform targeting CD7 induced a complete response (CR) with no minimal residual disease (MRD) in 4 of the first 5 adults with relapsed or refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) who received treatment with the universal CAR T-cell therapy currently labeled GC027. Read More ›

A bispecific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product directed against CD19 and CD22 antigens induced a complete response (CR) in 5 of 12 (42%) evaluable children and young adults with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Read More ›

Data from the TRACERx lung study suggest that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be a biomarker for the detection of postsurgical minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), suggesting which patients are at increased risk for disease relapse and will require more aggressive adjuvant therapy. Read More ›

The combination of the checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi), the poly (ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza), and chemotherapy with paclitaxel used as neoadjuvant therapy improved the pathological complete response (pCR) of patients with high-risk HER2-negative stage II or III breast cancer compared with the physician’s choice of chemotherapy. Read More ›