Articles related to CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS

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.

According to research presented at the virtual ASCO GI Cancers Symposium from the phase 3 ALTER0703 trial, anlotinib was beneficial in Chinese patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), with particular overall survival (OS) improvement – the primary endpoint – among patients with RAS/KRAS/BRAF-wildtype.