Author: Editor

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Kenneth O’Byrne, MD, from Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, discusses biomarkers, including biomarkers of DNA repair and related pathways, for predicting treatment response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, David Carbone, MD, PhD, from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, discusses the characterization of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in resectable early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the application of this understanding for the development of immunotherapy in early stage disease.

Faith Davies, MBBCh, MRCP, MD, FRCPath from UAMS Myeloma Institute, Arkansas, AZ gives an update on the use of trametinib, which is a MEK inhibitor, in multiple myeloma (MM). The response rate was 20% when given as a single agent and around 50% when given in combination with other drugs in patient with a RAS mutation. According to Prof Davies, the question is why the response is not 100% and her group has looked at, for example, clonal heterogeneity and the downstream expression of RAS in attempt to find an answer to this question. There may also be other groups…

Bruno Paiva, PhD, from the University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain discusses the various features of multiple myeloma (MM) that make assessing response in myeloma challenging. According to Dr Paiva, myeloma is a heterogeneous disease and the correlation between depth of response and clinical benefit, is not as evident in MM as compared to other malignancies. Further, while minimal residual disease (MRD) levels help assess the prognosis for patients with other malignancies, patients with MRD in MM generally do poorly. In recent years, however, there have been improvements in techniques such as PET-CT, which are helping to improve response assessment. Dr…

Arnon Nagler, MD, from Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel, gives an overview of matched unrelated donor (MUD) transplantation for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MUD transplantation means that the transplant is from an unrelated donor. For AML, a transplant is the only curative treatment to date according to Prof Nagler. The issues with transplantation is graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and finding an eligible donor. Unrelated donors are volunteers and due to advances in the field of transplantation, outcomes in patients who have received a transplant from an unrelated donor compared to patients who have received a…

At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, Antonio Pagliuca, MD from King’s College Hospital, London, UK gives an overview of the field of CAR T-cells. With both allogeneic and autologous CAR T-cells under development questions are being raised about their recommended uses and cost of development.

Ann Leen, PhD, from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, US, provides an overview of the ‘off the shelf’ use of virus-specific T cell therapy. At the moment, the therapy targets 5 viruses but the aim is to include more viruses over time. Recorded at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) in Valencia, Spain.

Niels van de Donk, MD, PhD, from the University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands discusses the use and mechanism of action of daratumumab. Daratumumab is an anti-CD38 targeting antibody and has shown high activity in end stage patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Dr van de Donk further explains that it has been shown to eliminate CD38 positive immune suppressor cells. This means that a sub-population of regulatory T-cells, which are CD38 positive, are killed during daratumumab therapy. According to Dr van de Donk, CD38 high regulatory T-cells are very immunosuppressive and the elimination of these kinds of cells by daratumumab, is…

Marta Chesi, PhD, from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ discusses LCL-1 for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). LCL-1 has an affinity to the cellular inhibitors of apoptosis, cIAP1 and cIAP2. cIAP1 is frequently deleted in myeloma patients and as Dr Chesi explains, when she first treated transgenic mice with LCL161, she expected that it would promote the growth of myeloma as it activates NF-kappa B. However, she observed the opposite, i.e. the tumor burden was reduced in the mice. She further explains that NF-kappa B was activated in the tumor cells as well as the host, which gave the…

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Giorgio Scagliotti, MD, PhD, from the University of Turin, Turin, Italy, discusses a phase 2 trial of the efficacy and safety of BI 1482694 (HM61713), a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutant-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), for the treatment of patients with T790M-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Keith Kerr, BSc, MB ChB, FRCPath, FRCPE, from the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, discusses biomarker-based selection of therapy and the progress in understanding clinically relevant biomarkers in patients with lung cancer.

At the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, John Murray, a Nurse Clinician at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK, talks about a standalone nurses day meeting focused on a bone marrow transplant consent. This session gives a better understanding of how patients decide on agreeing to undergo the procedure, from both psychologist’s and patient’s point of view. With limited time to ask questions during clinic hours this information gives a valuable insight into patient’s motivations.

At the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, held in Valencia, Spain, Jane Apperley, MD from Imperial College London, London, UK discusses developments leading to gene therapies for the management of graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) and CAR T-cells designed specifically for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Myeloma.

Giovanni Martinelli, MD, from the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy discusses the success of targeted drugs such inotuzumab ozogamicin in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and suggests that physicians should rapidly adpot these new drugs for clinical use. Recorded at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) in Valencia, Spain.

At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, Antonio Pagliuca, MD from King’s College Hospital, London, UK discusses the history of veno-occlusive disease (VOD) and defibrotide, which was developed to improve survival rates of patients affected by this devastating condition.

At the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, held in Valencia, Spain, Jane Apperley, MD from Imperial College London, London, UK gives an overview of EBMT 2016 presentations focused on graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) and metabolic syndrome.

Giovanni Martinelli, MD, from the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy discusses how inotuzumab ozogamicin is now used as a frontline therapy in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). According to Prof Martinelli, this means that patients can be treated with more intensive chemotherapy later on or receive a bone marrow transplantation to consolidate the therapy. The future will be without chemotherapy according to Prof Martinelli. Recorded at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) in Valencia, Spain.

At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, Antonio Pagliuca, MD from King’s College Hospital, London, UK discusses improvements in supportive care and diagnostics for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Further work is required to improve outcomes of high-risk patients.

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Zoran Gatalica, MD, DSc, from Caris Life Sciences, Phoenix, AZ, discusses a study evaluating the differences in expression of multiple biomarkers of targeted biological therapies, immune checkpoint inhibitors and chemotherapeutic agents between primary and metastatic tumors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The Myeloma 2016 meeting, was held in Boston, MA, between 2224 April. Keith Stewart MB, ChB from the Mayo Clinic, discusses the day 1 highlights with Sagar Lonial, MD of the Winship Cancer Institute, Kenneth Anderson, MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Leif Bergsagel, MD of the Mayo Clinic. Here the experts discuss the possible targets of cellular immunotherapy, using CAR T-cells and BiTE as the vehicles; minimum residual disease (MRD), the new next-generation flow cytometry techniques available and its use in the drug approval process; among other treatment-related topics.

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Joseph Paul Eder, MD, from Yale University Cancer Center, New Haven, CT, explains the development of antibodies targeting the programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and its receptor, programmed death 1 (PD-1) for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including clinical trials evaluating the integration of PD-1/PD-L1blocking antibodies with existing standard-of-care approaches.

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Niki Karachaliou, MD, from the Dr Rosell Oncology Institute, Quirón Dexeus University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, discusses the clinical utility of liquid biopsies for the identification of actionable mutations in tumors for the development of personalized medicine for patients with lung cancer, including for the identification of patients with acquired resistance associated with T790M mutation.

Michael P Kosty, MD, FACP, FASCO Medical Director, Scripps Green Cancer Center gives an update on Immunotherapy of Lung Cancer

Dr. Richard Essner, M.D., F.A.C.S. Cedar Sinai Cancer Center Surgical Director, Melanoma Program discusses the New Role of Surgery in the Treatment of Melanoma

Dr.Michael Alvarado, MD and Dr. Rick Baehner, MD present case studies and a presentation on Genomic Update in Hormone Receptor Positive Breast Cancer

Dr. Daniel S. Oh, MD Assistant Professor of Surgery Division of Thoracic Surgery Keck Medical Center of USC discusses how we can improve early stage lung cancer outcomes.

Dr. Jorge J. Nieva, MD Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine University of Southern California discusses a study conducted by Memorial Sloan Cancer Center in where the objectives were Validate the CCP gene signature (CCP score) and a Prognostic Score that identify stage I non-small cell lung cancer patients with a higher risk of cancer-related death after surgical resection

Dr. Samuel J. Klempner, MD Director of Precision Medicine The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute discusses how Diagnostic Dilemmas and Early Barriers Changing the Cancer Classification, Molecular Epidemiology, Response and Resistance Tumor Mutational Load and Immunotherapy, Liquid Biopsies

Dr. Omid Hamid MD of the Chief, Translational Research & Immuno-Oncology  Director, Cutaneous Malignancies, The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute discusses how Immuno-Oncology will affect not only melanoma but many other disease states within oncology.

Sybil R. Green, JD, RPh, MHA ACC, LOS, MOS from ASCO discusses how the updated government program called MACRA will affect payments to oncologist in the very near future.

At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 9 to 11 March 2016, Fatima Cardoso, MD, from the Champalimaud Clinical Center, Lisbon, Portugal, discusses the role of personal development and advocacy by healthcare professionals to address inequalities and unmet needs in patients with breast cancer around the world. European Medical Journal Website: http://emjreviews.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJReviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emjreviews

At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 9 to 11 March 2016, Jan-Willem Coebergh, MD, PhD, from Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, summarises future directions in the epidemiology of breast cancer, including the efforts to systematically assess patient experiences and quality of care. European Medical Journal Website: http://emjreviews.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJReviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emjreviews

At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 9 to 11 March 2016, Fatima Cardoso, MD, from the Champalimaud Clinical Center, Lisbon, Portugal, discusses the collaboration between the European School of Oncology and Pfizer in the development of the Global Status of MBC: A Decade Report, an analysis of the global metastatic breast cancer landscape from 20052015. Despite showing areas of improvement, unmet needs were identified in patients with metastatic breast cancer, including the need for improved disease awareness, research and patient support. European Medical Journal Website: http://emjreviews.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJReviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emjreviews

At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 9 to 11 March 2016, Jeremy Thomas, MD, from Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, discusses the results of a central pathology review, including tumour type, histological grade and lymphatic invasion, of the SUPREMO trial, a randomised, global phase 3 clinical trial evaluating radiotherapy after mastectomy for patients with intermediate-risk breast cancer. European Medical Journal Website: http://emjreviews.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJReviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emjreviews

At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 9 to 11 March 2016, Andrew Evans, MRCP, FRCR, from the University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom, explains the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of imaging biomarkers to predict disease behaviour in patients with breast cancer. European Medical Journal Website: http://emjreviews.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJReviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emjreviews

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Martin Reck, MD, PhD, from LungenClinic Grosshansdorf, Grosshansdorf, Germany, discusses ASSESS, a trial of the utility of circulating-free tumor DNA in the plasma for the detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Dr. John Gribben, University of London, and Dr. Constantine Tam, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, join Patient Power Founder, Andrew Schorr, to discuss the current frontline treatment advances for CLL. Learn more about the results of the Resonate II trial, including survival advantages and durable control, as well as cumulative toxicity and cost. 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

The session was held in collaboration with EONS (European Oncology Nursing Society) and discussed the management of skin reactions due to radiotherapy

This session was held in collaboration with EONS (the European Oncology Nursing Society) and explores treatments options in case of malignant fungating wounds

This session was held in collaboration with EONS (European Oncology Nursing Society) and covers the specific difficulties health care professionals have to face when dealing with Teenagers or Young Adults with cancer.

At the 6th European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC), held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1316 April 2016, Enriqueta Felip, MD, PhD, from Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain, discusses CheckMate 171, a multicenter phase 2 trial of nivolumab, an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, in patients with stage IIIB/IV squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer who have received at least one prior systemic treatment.

Is there a positive correlation between the use of a JAK Inhibitor and stem cell transplant (SCT)? UK viewer, Peter, asks about the recommended use of a JAK inhibitor prior to having a SCT. MPN expert Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju from MD Anderson Cancer Center responds with a discussion of two studies on this subject and the role of SCT for MPN patients. 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

Toxicity as a Biomarker Frede Donkosov MD

At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, Antonio Pagliuca, MD from King’s College Hospital, London, UK talks about the crucial role that nurses play in the fungal disease management.

At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Europea n Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, Catherine Bollard, MD, from Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C., provides an overview of the toxicities, including cytokine release syndrome that correlates with both toxicity and efficacy, which can be observed in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who are undergoing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, Antonio Pagliuca, MD from King’s College Hospital, London, UK discusses isavuconazole for fungal disease treatment in leukemia patients. Isavuconazole has less toxicity than voriconazole and shows significant activity over mucormycosis. It has an oral and intravenous (IV) formulation which essential in treatments of sick patients.

At the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, held in Valencia, Spain, John Gribben, MD, from Barts Cancer Institute, London, UK, discusses how chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients could soon benefit from specific treatments based on CLL characterization and their disease biology.

Mohamad Mohty, MD, PhD, from Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France, and President of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), talks about the IFM Spotlight session hosted at the 2016 Annual Meeting of EBMT, held in Valencia, Spain. This non-sponsored session covered the clinical trial IFM/DFCI2009 in multiple myeloma (MM), where the first interim results were presented by Prof. Mohty. Patients received an induction treatment with lenalidomide, bortozomib and dexamethasone (VRD), either followed by transplant and consolidation with VRD and maintenance with lenalidomide; or, no transplant, consolidation with VRD and maintenance with lenalidomide. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival…

At the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, John Murray, a Nurse Clinician at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK, discusses the role of a good nursing care in the veno-occlusive disease (VOD) management. VOD is a rare complication with 80% mortality in severe cases. Recognition of symptoms, such as weight gain or right upper quadrant pain by nurses means that action can be taken and compications reduced.

At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), held in Valencia, Spain, Catherine Bollard, MD, from Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C., explains some of challenges associated with multicenter trials of genetically modified T-cell immunotherapy, including the standardisation process of managing toxicities observed in patients following T-cell infusion.