Immunotherapy

Pembrolizumab plus radiotherapy appeared safe and demonstrated encouraging clinical activity among a small cohort of women with poor-prognosis, metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, according to results of a phase 2 trial published in Cancer.

In this Guest Commentary, Ryan W. Jacobs, MD, principal investigator of clinical trials for chronic lymphocytic leukemia at Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute, reviews studies on CLL that will be presented at the ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. The most anticipated trials will reveal new information on BTK plus BCL-2 inhibition, updates on major clinical trials — including the CLL14 and MURANO trials — early data on CAR T-cell therapy, and more.

Satralizumab added to immunosuppressant treatment may reduce relapse in some cases of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

The UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center has begun enrolling patients in its latest chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy trial for patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s B-cell lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Certain genetic biomarkers predicted long-term overall survival for patients who received adoptive cell therapy with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes for metastatic melanoma, according to the results of a multicenter, retrospective study presented at Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting.

Tumor mutational burden seems to have arrived at an uncertain juncture in its exploration as a potential biomarker for response to immunotherapy.

The addition of pemetrexed and carboplatin chemotherapy to gefitinib significantly extended PFS and OS for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and EGFR-sensitizing mutations, according to results of a randomized phase 3 study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

There is an association between certain types of commensal urinary microbiome bacteria found in the urinary tract and a clinical response to bacillus Calmette-Guérin immunotherapy for patients with early-stage urothelial bladder cancer, according to results of an investigator-initiated, single institution pilot study presented at Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting.

HOUSTON — Children who received the peanut patch saw improvements in their health-related quality of life, according to an analysis of the PEPITES and PEOPLE studies.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — An investigational bispecific T-cell engager appeared safe and demonstrated some clinical activity among patients with HER2-positive solid tumors, according to phase 1 dose-escalation study data presented at Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting.