Brigitte Dréno, MD, PhD from the University Hospital of Nantes, Nantes, France discusses vaccination and T-cell adoptive therapies for the treatment of melanoma at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Dr Dréno begins by introducing the subject of adoptive T-cell therapy and the new approaches focusing on specific antigens and inducing more reactive T-cells, by sorting and using clones, which are being researched currently. Dr Dréno believes that that in the future, vaccination and adoptive T-cell therapy will be used in combination, providing…
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Victoria Sherwood , PhD of the University of Dundee, Dundee, UK, talks about Wnt signalling at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Dr Sherwood explains that Wnt signalling in melanoma has been studied for a number of years and an interesting link between Wnt signalling and metabolic regulation in melanoma cells has been found. Wnt signalling can be broadly divided into two distinct signalling subgroups – pathways that signal in a ?-catenin dependent manner (canonical Wnt signaling pathway) and pathways that signal in…
Stephan Grabbe, MD of the University Medical Center, Johannnes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany discuses cutaneous immunology at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Prof. Grabbe starts by explaining that clinical experience shows that, for example, metastatic disease in the skin and also primary skin cancer is sensitive to immunotherapy. Local immune response within the skin seems to be somewhat special compared to other sites such as the liver or the lung or other organs. When the composition of the skin immune system…
Robert Knobler, MD of the Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria talks about extracorporeal photopheresis in the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (the particular varient being Sézary syndrome) at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Extracorporeal photopheresis was invented in 1983 and became well known worldwide in 1987 when the first study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Prof. Knobler’s role was to review the literature and the progress that has been done in the past 30 years in the…
Robert Andtbacka, MD, CM of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT talks about the update on the randomized Phase III OPTiM study for melanoma in which patients with unresectable stage IIIb, IIIc and stage IV melanoma received intralesional talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) versus GM-CSF subcutaneously (NCT00769704), presented at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. The response pattern of earlier stage patients, patients with stage IIIb, stage IIIc and stage IV m1A disease were looked at. Prof. Andtbacka explains that it was found…
Paul Lorigan, MB, BCH, BAO, BA, FRCP of the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, discusses key points from his talk on chemotherapy in melanoma, presented at the 2016 World Congress of Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. He first highlights that there has been very little progress in advancing melanoma chemotherapy treatment over the past twenty years. In his talk, Prof. Lorigan suggested that there were three pillars to treatment for advanced melanoma: targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, he explains that for the vast majority of patients,…
Paolo Ascierto, MD of the National Tumor Institute Fondazione G. Pascale, Naples, Italy discusses biomarkers in melanoma as part of his overview of his talk on the best use of immunotherapy in melanoma held at the World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Biomarkers are an important issue – if you want to optimize treatment with immunotherapy, you have to weigh patient selection and increase activity of immunotherapy. Prof. Ascierto explains that a biomarker is a marker that is able to predict, which patient can have…
Larisa Geskin, MD of Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY gives an overview of her talk on chemotherapy for melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Dr Geskin explains that chemotherapy may play little role in the management of these diseases, particularly in the case of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The multi-agent chemotherapy may only play role in the palliative setting, which is related to the fact that CTCL is a chronic and incurable…
Jürgen Becker, MD, PhD from the University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany discusses the symposium on Merkel cell carcinoma treatment at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer, for which the standard treatment is chemotherapy following metastasis, however, positive treatment responses tend to be short-lived. The symposium also covered current immunotherapy options for Merkel cell carcinoma, which include PDL-1 and PD-1 blockade. Dr Becker goes on to recall recent clinical trial results that…
Martin Mihm, Jr., MD of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA gives an overview of the session on open quesions in dermatopahtology of cutaneous tumors held at the World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Prof. Mihm held the first talk [overview available in a separate video]. First, he discusses the talk by Dr Klaus Busam about the diagnosis of desmoplastic melanoma; this tumor presents as a firm hard nodule like a scar. Dr Busam further discussed the use of molecular techniques to look for mutations…
Jean-Jacques Grob, MD of Aix Marseille University and APHM Hospital CHU Timone, Marseille, France discusses the idea of focussing on treating melanoma patients during earlier stages of disease at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Prof. Grob explains that while there are treatments specifically to treat advanced melanoma there is less focus on treating earlier stages of melanoma. He suggests treating patients with disease stages as early as primary melanoma or nodule disease would be advantageous. There is currently debate around this concept…
Isaac Brownell, MD, PhD of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD provides insight into the possible mechanisms of Merkel cell carcinoma development at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Clinical and pre-clinical evidence shows that Merkel cell carcinoma is highly regulated by the immune system and this may be one of the reasons why Merkel cell carcinoma tends to present late in life. The average age of a person diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma is 72 years old, which is 10 years older…
Grant McArthur, MBBS, BMedSci, PhD, FRACP, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia, suggests next steps for poor prognosis BRAF-mutant melanoma patients with elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). He highlights that he personally wants to see greater focus in understanding the biology behind the tumors in order to develop rational approaches. There is already one Phase III trial planned where anti-PD-1 will be added to BRAF and MEK inhibition in the subset of patients with poor prognosis. He suggests, however, that we still lack understanding of the biological drivers of poor outcomes are in patients with an elevated lactate dehydrogenase.…
Giovanni Pellacani, MD of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy, explores the importance of building up a consistent workflow in cancer centers and university hospitals for imaging techniques for skin cancer. Imaging patients earlier on in their cancer (early detection), as well as correctly managing cancer patients, can significantly influence workflow. He believes that in order to systematically detect which patients are more at risk, use of new technologies such as total body photography and confocal microscopy, should be applied in order to get the highest benefit for the patient, as well as the general system. Such…
In this presentation from the JAK Inhibitors in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms symposium, held August 27, 2016 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Ruben A. Mesa examines the use of JAK inhibitors as a treatment option for patients with cytopenic myelofibrosis (CF).
In this presentation from the JAK Inhibitors in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms symposium, held August 27, 2016 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Srdan Verstovsek examines a case of inadequately-controlled polycythemia vera (PV).
In this presentation from the JAK Inhibitors in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms symposium, held August 27, 2016 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Stephen T. Oh examines whether or not JAK inhibitors have a role to play in the treatment of essential thrombocythemia (ET).
In this presentation from the 2016 US Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, held August 26-27 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Richard T. Silver provides and update on long-acting interferons for the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN).
In this presentation from the 2016 US Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, held August 26-27 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Mark Heaney discusses the updated WHO diagnostic criteria for essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV), and myelofibrosis (MF).
In this presentation from the 2016 US Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, held August 26-27 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Jason R. Gotlib discusses the biology and therapy of eosinophilic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN).
In this presentation from the 2016 US Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, held August 26-27 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Stephen T. Oh discusses the interplay of somatic and germline variants in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN).
In this presentation from the 2016 US Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, held August 26-27 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Jerry Spivak discusses cytokines, cells, and inflammation in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN).
In this presentation from the 2016 US Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, held August 26-27 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Simona Colla discusses new advances in mouse models of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
In this presentation from the 2017 European Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Dr. Luca Malcovti discusses the genetic basis of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Earn CME Credit for a related activity: http://elc.imedex.com/ELC/Specialty-Search.aspx?specialty=Hematology © 2017 Imedex, LLC.
Watch as this breast cancer patient talks about on the side effects while on anti-estrogen therapy. She also gives advice about the how the benefits, risks and impacts of anti-estrogen therapy should be considered. Further knowledge and options available to you is very powerful.
Extend or End Endocrine Therapy After Year 5 for ER+ Breast Cancer Patients? Please visit http://www.breastcancerindex.com for more information. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/answersbeyond5 Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/answersbyond5
This breast cancer patient talks about her negative side effects while on anti-estrogen therapy. She also shares how she learned of the Breast Cancer Index test and its potential to help make a positive impact in her survivorship. Source: Spot_4_LA
This breast cancer patient gives her advice on the negative side effects while on anti-estrogen therapy. She also shares how she learned of the Breast Cancer Index test and its potential to help make a positive impact in her survivorship. Source: Spot 1_9-5 LA
What is Breast Cancer Index you may ask? Breast Cancer Index(SM) is a test that can help you and your doctor make a more personalized treatment decision about extending your anti-estrogen therapy. Learn more: https://www.answersbeyond5.com/what-is-bci Breast Cancer Index Intended Uses and Limitations: Learn more: https://www.answersbeyond5.com/intended-use-statement Source: BCA 2016 BioT Overview NoButton FINAL
What resources are available for cancer patients? When you are diagnosed with cancer, you feel like youve lost control of your world. Oncology social workers are available to help. Harold Dean, oncology social worker and the Director of Social Services at UAMS Myeloma Institute, joins us to offer his advice. Listen as Harold explains the role of a social worker and gives examples of the types of services to which social workers can connect you. Get email alerts | http://www.patientpower.info/alerts Subscribe on YouTube | http://www.youtube.com/patientpower Like on Facebook | http://www.fb.com/patientpower.info Follow on Twitter | http://www.twitter.com/patientpower Follow on Google+ | http://www.google.com/+patientpowerinfo
Michael Hallek, MD, PhD of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany discusses the iwCLL 2017 meeting to be held in New York in May 2017 (http://www.iwcll2017.org/). Prof. Hallek explains that the meeting will cover all aspects of biology and treatment in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). He believes that as more mature data will be available next year on novel drugs, they will be a main focus of discussion at the meeting. There will also be a young investigator meeting and Prof. Hallek is expecting many young investigators who will present their latest data. Another focus of the meeting will be…
Stephan Stilgenbauer, MD, PhD of Ulm University, Ulm, Germany discusses the upcoming CLL2-GIVe trial on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) held in Cologne, Germany. Prof. Stilgenbauer first points out that we are living in exciting times for CLL at the moment. There are a number of new agents available such as novel antibodies (e.g. obinutuzumab), BTK inhibitors and BCL2 antagonists. The question therefore is if we still need chemotherapy. The CLL2-GIVe trial, which is about to start, will look at frontline treatment with ibrutinib plus venetoclax plus obinutuzumab (GA101)…
Nicholas Chiorazzi, MD from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY discusses his research on the life cycle of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells at the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) held in Cologne, Germany. Prof. Chiorazzi explains that they are interested in identifiyng intraclonal populations with an focus on functional differences, which have to do with time since last replication. The population are divided based on surface membrane expression of markers that indicate time since last replication. He explains that what they find is that CLL cells go through a life cycle. Further,…
Michael Hallek, MD, PhD of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany discusses highlights from the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) held in Cologne, Germany. Prof. Hallek explains that world experts in the field of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) attend the workshop. In terms of the biology of CLL, we are now starting to understand the functional consequences of the deletion 13q, which is the most frequent aberration. He highlights the presentation by Prof. Carlo Croce on microRNAs and how their regulation is heavily disturbed in CLL, which leads to the upregulation of BCL2. BCL2 is…
John Gribben, MD, DSc, FRCPath, FMed Sci of Barts Cancer Institute, London, UK discusses the place of allogeneic stem cell transplantation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) in Cologne, Germany. Prof. Gribben points out that allogeneic stem cell transplantation is the only curative treatment available in CLL. However, only a small population of patients can receive a transplant due to age and it is associated with morbidity (specifically from graft-versus-host-disease) and mortality. When the choice was between a transplant or having no effective salvage therapy, the decision was more…
Dan Landau, MD, PhD of Weill Cornell Medical College and the NYGC, New York, NY gives an overview of his talk on clonal evolution in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) held at the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) in Cologne, Germany. Dr Landau explains that we understand that a malignant population such as a population of CLL cells in any patient, is actually not uniform but composed of multiple subpopulations, which continuously compete, evolve and create diversity. The therapeutic challenge is that in each patient, we are not dealing with one disease but with a collection…
Carsten Niemann, MD, PhD of Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark gives an overview of his talk on the treamtent of previously treated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) held at the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) in Cologne, Germany. Dr Niemann explains how the US and the developing European guidelines suggest, that all CLL patients who relapse, are in need of novel targeted agents. Dr Niemann challenges this view. It makes a difference if the first-line treatment was chemmoimmunotherapy or something else and also, not all patients are alike. For example, some patients may have long lasting…
Barbara Eichhorst, MD of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany gives an overview of the GCLLSG trials in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which will be presented at the 2016 ASH Annual Meeting. First, Dr Eichhorst discusses the CLLM1 study evaluating lenalidomide maintenance in patients with residual disease and an unfavourable genetic profile after chemoimmunotherapy (NCT01556776). Further, the safety run-in phase data regarding the efficacy of venetoclax plus obinutuzumab in frontline therapy of less fit patients has been submitted to the 2016 ASH Annual Meeting. Finally, efficacy data of the CLL2-BIG study has been submitted to ASH 2016, which includes bendamustine…
Barbara Eichhorst, MD of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany gives an overview of her talk on therapy for previously treated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) held at the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) in Cologne, Germany. Dr Eichhorst points out that there are many treatment options available in frontline therapy now. For the fit patients, the FCR regiment is still the standard regiment. However, it has the disadvantage of late toxicities such as secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML). There are maintenance treatment strategies as tested in the CLLM1 study (NCT01556776) where the question…
Arnon Kater, MD, PhD of the Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands gives an overview of his talk on resistance to new compounds in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) held at the 2016 International Workshop of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) in Cologne, Germany. Prof. Kater starts by discussing the chemoimmunotherapy combination of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, rituximab (FCR) and the emergence of new targeted drugs over the last few years. He explains that it is apparent that CLL is not one single genetic disease and that resistance develops to all current treatments eventually. However, it is not clear how to prepare for…
Christian Chabannon, MD, PhD of Institut Paoli Calmettes, Marseilles, France and President of the EBMT 2017 Annual Meeting talks about the topics under discussion at the 2016 EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC) in Barcelona, Spain. Dr Chabannon explains that the novel forms of cellular therapy that are being developed will be a focus of the meeting. He further talks about how new drugs affect strategies for autologous and allogeneic transplantation. Another focus will be on how the different categories of donors also contribute to change the overall strategy of how autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation is incorporated in the…
Mohamad Mohty, MD, PhD of Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France and EBMT President gives an overview of the program of the 2017 Annual Meeting of the EBMT, which will be held between 26-29 March, 2017 in Marseilles, France (http://www.ebmt2017.org/). Prof. Mohty is the president of the European Society for Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) and outlines the program for meeting. The program will cover all the relevant diseases and the hot topics in the various field. For example, there will be updates about all the novel agents, recent data and results in the field of multiple myeloma, updates on the…
Jan Styczynski, MD, PhD of Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland and provides an overview of the Infectious Diseases Working Party of which he is the chair, at the 2016 EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC) in Barcelona, Spain. The working party works together with all other 11 working parties of the European Society for Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) as infections are common for all kinds of transplants and malignancies. Its main task is to monitor the problem of infections in all transplant centers. The working party also works on recommendations and standards of management and diagnosis of…
Christian Chabannon, MD, PhD of Institut Paoli Calmettes, Marseilles, France and President of the EBMT 2017 Annual Meeting discusses the Cellular Therapy & Immunobiology Working Party at the 2016 EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC) in Barcelona, Spain. According to Dr Chabannon, it was re-designed a few years ago and its goal is the development of novel cellular therapies and accelerating their adoption.
Mohamad Mohty, MD, PhD of Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France and EBMT President provides an overview of the EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC), which took place in Barcelona, Spain between 9-11 September 2016. The course is educational and mainly targeted at younger doctors. It is proving to be a huge success according to Prof. Mohty, and this is due to the way the program has been built. The course consists of state of the art lectures that highlight routine practice and the speakers are all aware of the future perspectives and developments in their fields. Over the two and a half…
Laurent Garderet, MD of Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France gives an overview of his talk autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and drug combinations for multiple myeloma (MM) at the 2016 EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC) in Barcelona, Spain. Dr Garderet points out that major improvements have been made in treatment of myeloma but autologous stem cell transplantation remains a gold standard to treat any myeloma patient as long as they are physically fit. Now, new drugs that have been developed in the last 15 years, are given before and right after the transplant (consolidation) and further, as a maintenance treatment…
Jan Styczynski, MD, PhD of Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland and Chair of the EBMT Infectious Diseases Working Party, discusses his talk on how to manage infections after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) at the 2016 EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC) in Barcelona, Spain. According to Dr Styczynski, infections present a serious risk to HSCT patients and contribute to up to 20% of deaths following HSCT. Fungal infections and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in particular, are associated with high risk of mortality. He further discusses the role of prophylaxis, empiric therapy, pre-emptive therapy and targeted therapy. In case of…
Christian Chabannon, MD, PhD of Institut Paoli Calmettes, Marseilles, France and President of the EBMT 2017 Annual Meeting provides an overview of his talk on basic aspects of standard transplantation held at the 2016 EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC) in Barcelona, Spain. The focus was on practical considerations for donor identification, selection and collection. Dr Chabannon explains that historically, the members of the transplant community have focused on clinical aspects of transplant practices, including indications and strategies. However, now it is important that junior doctors learn about graft collection and processing.
Anna Sureda, MD, PhD of Duran I Reynals Hospital, Barcelona, Spain gives an overview of her talk on how new drugs have changed the landscape for transplant in lymphoma held at the 2016 EBMT International Transplant Course (EBMT-ITC) in Barcelona, Spain. She discusses two drugs, specifically in Hodgkin lymphoma. Dr Sureda explains that Hodgkin lymphoma is curable but that some patients relapse and are candidates for stem cell transplantation. There are two groups of new drugs, which are an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody (brentuximab vedotin) and checkpoint inhibitors, which are not available in Europe outside prospective clinical trials. In the setting…
In this presentation from the 2016 US Focus on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes, held August 26-27 in Alexandria, VA, Dr. Srdan Verstovsek discusses the use of novel agents and combination therapy in the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis. Earn accreditation for a related activity at the following location: http://elc.imedex.com/ELC/Activity-Search.aspx?search=7221 © 2016 Imedex, LLC.