Articles related to CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS

In this cohort study of 34,131 patients with cancer published in JAMA Oncology, trial ineligibility was associated with a greater likelihood of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) monotherapy use compared with non-ICI therapy. Among trial-ineligible patients, there were no overall survival differences between treatment with ICI monotherapy, ICI combination therapy, and non-ICI therapy.

In a study in the journal Nature Cancer, the researchers found that in laboratory cell lines and tumor models novobiocin selectively killed tumor cells with abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which help repair damaged DNA. The drug, developed in the 1950s and largely supplanted by newer drugs, was effective even in tumors resistant to agents known as PARP inhibitors, which have become a prime therapy for cancers with DNA-repair glitches.

In this JAMA Original Investigation, the researchers studied 19,529 patients with Medicare coverage who initiated first systemic therapy for advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using 1 of 4 regimens of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, and combined chemoimmunotherapy. The goal? To gauge the uptake and effectiveness of immunotherapy among older patients outside clinical trials.

As a TROP-2-directed antibody-drug conjugate with an SN-38 payload that has shown preliminary activity in metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC), sacituzumab govitecan (SG) – brand name Trodelvy –was evaluated and compared to current treatments to gauge whether SG objective response rates (ORRs) and median overall survival (OS) outperform the average of 10% ORR and 7 to 8 months OS.  

The Journal of Clinical Oncology presents a Rapid Communications summary of the PENELOPE-B trial, a double-blind, placebo‐controlled, phase III study in women with HR+, HER2- primary breast cancer without a pathological complete response after taxane‐containing NACT and at high risk of relapse. With about one-third of women relapsing, palbociclib – a cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor – was examined.

In this Q&A with Dr. Jorge Cortes, the Director of the Georgia Cancer Center, the drug asciminib is discussed based on its utility as a third-generation TKI as well as its favorable, unique characteristics. Early data has shown promising results with few adverse events, possibly illuminating the drug as a potential first-in-class agent.