News

Researchers in Seattle are reporting success with an experimental therapy that modifies T cells to express a CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to treat B-cell malignancies.

Gene therapy with the CRISPR/Cas9 system corrects mutations identified with patient-specific models that use stem cells generated from skin.

Study results show that transplanted human retinal stem cells rescue photoreceptors in rabbit retinas for 8 months.

Chris Barker, MD, discusses a study investigating radiation therapy plus the hedgehog pathway inhibitor vismodegib (Erivedge) in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Results from a series of preclinical studies are providing proof of principle that gene targeting using CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology can prevent or treat glaucoma associated with mutations in the myocilin (MYOC) gene.

A small study in 30 patients with advanced B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia has further strengthened the faith in the potential of chimeric antigen receptor or CAR-T cell therapy.

First-line osimertinib, a targeted therapy against EGFR mutations, was found to be effective in patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer, resulting in a 77% overall response rate.

Clinicians now have a new targeted therapy option for treating patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior antiangiogenic therapy.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to nivolumab as a single-agent treatment for patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck following a platinum-based therapy.

Patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) as a first-line therapy had durable responses in a phase II clinical trial.

Anti–PD-1 therapy in the first-line induced responses in more than half of patients with advanced Merkel cell carcinoma, with encouraging durability to the responses.

Treatment with single-agent nivolumab reduced the risk of death by 30% and double 1-year overall survival rates compared investigator's choice of therapy for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

A form of immunotherapy that harnesses the power of CD4 T-cells was shown to be safe and effective in patients with various types of metastatic cancers.

Plasma genotyping can, in most cases, identify T790M-positivity in non-small cell lung cancer, which gives patients the option of receiving the targeted therapy osimertinib without the need for a tumor biopsy, according Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD.

Recent advances in mantle cell lymphoma include: (1) identification of new pathways to target, (2) novel therapeutics to treat patients with relapsed/refractory disease, and (3) monitoring of minimal residual disease and adoption of a maintenance therapy approach to prevent relapses post induction or post stem cell transplantation.

Postoperative RT with or without systemic therapy was associated with acceptable disease-related outcomes at 1 year. Outcomes of patients managed with systemic therapy plus RT may be attributable to selection bias, since patients with more advanced disease receive systemic therapy.

Overall, the future of patients with MCL is promising, since therapeutic options have widened. The implementation of universal aggressive treatment is challenged by novel regimens, targeted agents, the use of MRD to guide treatment decisions, and new trials that will directly compare transplant vs non-transplant approaches.

This retrospective study showed that lower WBC, ANC, and ALC nadirs during CCRT for LSCLC were associated with worse treatment outcomes.

Increasing time from diagnosis to simulation and from simulation until the start of therapy is associated with worse outcomes. Patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma are at increased risk of nodal progression before treatment.

While IMRT is the standard technique for most head cancers and offers excellent sparing of normal tissues to avoid late effects, BolusECT is appropriate for superficial targets, with good sparing of mucosal tissue to reduce acute mucositis that impairs nutrition, quality of life, and treatment intensity.

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer who had ceased to respond to EGFR TKI therapy demonstrated a rapid and robust response to the investigational agent BI-1482694 (HM61713).

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12-1 against the accelerated approval of rociletinib as a treatment for patients with metastatic EGFR T790M–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have previously received an EGFR-targeted therapy.

Refractory cases of myasthenia gravis can be relieved by a new treatment based on replacing a patient’s immune system with new one created from transplants of his own stem cells, Canadian researchers report.

Jonathan D. Schoenfeld, MD, discusses potential synergy between radiation therapy, given with or without chemotherapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Intracoronary gene transfer among heart failure patients increased left ventricular function beyond standard heart failure therapy.

Stem cell treatment did 37% better than placebo treatment in a group of patients with ischemic heart failure.

First-line crizotinib therapy offered better intracranial disease control rate than chemotherapy in patients with ALK-positive non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and stable treated brain metastases.

Local surgical excision remains the preferred therapy for periocular and facial basal cell carcinoma. However, interest is growing in nonsurgical drug therapy for locally advanced or metastatic basal cell carcinoma.