Immuno-Oncology

Despite advances made against the disease, researchers note that breast cancer still remains a top cause of cancer-related mortality in women around the world.

With 40% of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma experiencing relapsed or refractory disease (rrDLBCL), researchers highlighted the promise of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for these patients.

Both the ZUMA-7 trial for axicabtagene ciloleucel—approved for second-line treatment earlier this year—and the TRANSFORM trial for lisocabtagene maraleucel showed significant improvement over standard of care for large B cell lymphoma (LBCL), while the BELINDA trial for tisagenlecleucel did not.

Data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting found non-White patients are less likely to receive immunotherapy for head and neck cancer, said Amila Patel, PharmD, chief clinical officer, Navigating Cancer.

Overall, infections occurred in 18.42% of cases and typically occurred within the first month, significantly dropping from then on.

Kim A. Reiss, MD, assistant program director, assistant professor of medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, discusses 2 abstracts presented during ASCO.

Abstracts presented at this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual meeting detailed the financial hardships many patients with cancer face, including those related to high-deductible health plans and clinical trial participation.

Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, BCOP, clinical pharmacy manager at the University of Kansas Health System, explains some of the strategies that payers can use to improve cost management and increase patient access related to chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapies.

Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, BCOP, clinical pharmacy manager at the University of Kansas Health System, catalogues the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapies that are coming down the pipeline.

Miruna Sasu, PhD, MBA, became president and CEO of COTA Healthcare in March 2022, not quite a year after joining the company as its chief strategy officer. As the importance of RWD grows, Sasu is ready to take its use in precision oncology to new levels. She spoke with Evidence-Based Oncology™ (EBO) about her new role.

Major adverse cardiac events are rare but serious in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), and increased awareness is crucial to identify and treat these conditions in a timely manner.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have changed the way certain cancers are treated, but more can be done to optimize treatment and improve patient responses.

While no agents are approved just yet, a variety of promising drugs targeting CLDN18.2 are undergoing early research and clinical trials for several cancer types. 

Moving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies outside of the hospital will bring training and safety challenges, said Aklilu Tedla, vice president, insights and engagement, regulatory science, cell and gene, Cardinal Health.

Allogeneic, or off-the-shelf, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies will bring new logistical challenges, said Aklilu Tedla, vice president, insights and engagement, regulatory science, cell and gene, Cardinal Health.

The logistics for storing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies remain a challenge, said Joel Wayment, vice president of operations for 3PL Services, Cardinal Health.

Treatment resistance is a significant challenge in immunotherapy, but it is not fully understood. A recent review summarized 5 tumor microenvironment traits that may inhibit therapy effectiveness and potential strategies to improve therapy responses.

Miruna Sasu, PhD, MBA, president and CEO of COTA Healthcare, discusses the medicines discovery process and how real-world data can be used to evaluate patient and tumor response to treatment regimens.

The study of constructed αROR1‐CAR T cells showed an increase of PD-L1 expression when exposed to elevated pressure, driving resistance to CAR T cell-mediated cytotoxicity. However, the findings also suggest that adding PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors to CAR T-cell therapy could help address this.

The researchers highlighted a need for the detection of more relevant markers and guidance on how to treat adverse events (AEs), the types and severity of which vary based on disease type.

So far, the wonders of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy have only been seen in blood cancers. Investigators at Moffitt Cancer Center report findings that show a potential target in solid tumors.

With further research, a selection of combination therapies could increase patient response in various cancer types.

Pacritinib is now included as a recommended treatment for myeloproliferative neoplasms with specificity for JAK2 and IRAK1 in the latest National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Accenture’s 2021 report, “The Future Is Now: How to Drive Precision Oncology Adoption," adds to the chorus calling for greater sharing of data and improved standardization, so that academic centers and community practices alike can continually improve data sets used worldwide.

Camille Hertzka, vice president, head of oncology, US Medical, AstraZeneca, clarifies testing for the HRR mutation in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and the predictive importance of radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) for overall survival in this setting.

Therapy resistance remains a challenge with immune checkpoint inhibitors, and a new study proposes targeting ligand-dependent corepressor (LCOR) in addition to known immune targets to improve outcomes.