Project Oncology®

Fear of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to added safety precautions that have prevented patients from receiving much-needed cancer screenings. How will this impact the field of oncology, and what can we do to encourage patients to get their screenings? Dr. Therese Beavers, Medical Director of the Cancer Prevention Center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, joins Dr. Jacob Sands to discuss the fatal consequences of missed cancer screenings.

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is a common complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Although systemic corticosteroids are traditional first-line treatment for aGVHD, about half of patients are refractory to therapy. So what options are available for the treatment of steroid-refractory aGVHD?

Regardless of the cervical cancer screening (CCS) approach used, effective triage tests are needed to improve diagnostic evaluation. An ideal screening and triage approach should identify as many precancerous lesions as possible while referring as few women as possible to colposcopy. Learn how to maximize the diagnostic accuracy of CCS triage by including p16/Ki-67 dual-staining cytology in your screening algorithm.

The majority of patients with HCC have advanced disease at diagnosis and aren’t candidates for potentially curative treatment options, such as resection, liver transplantation, or ablation. Advances in immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy are transforming the way clinicians treat and manage HCC, with immunotherapy treatment strategies now FDA approved in both the first- and second-line settings. Several combinations of immune checkpoint inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors with other targeted agents continue to be investigated in clinical trials. Results of many combination clinical trials have the potential to substantially alter the standard of care for patients with advanced HCC.

Additionally, immune checkpoint inhibitors come with a unique set of side effects or immune-related adverse events (irAEs) due to the increased activity of the immune system. These irAEs can involve multiple organs and although they are often mild, they can be severe, irreversible, or even life-threatening. It can be challenging for clinicians to understand how to best incorporate immune checkpoint inhibitors into current treatment strategies, including irAE management.

Liver cirrhosis and hepatic dysfunction often complicate treatment, which underscores the importance of coordinated care. Communication and collaboration through a multidisciplinary approach is vital to the treatment and management ...

Dr. Scott Kopetz and Prof. Eric Van Cutsem evaluate both the initial and updated pivotal outcomes from the BEACON trial in second- and third-line BRAF V600E-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer. They extend their discussion of these practice-changing results to include the early-stage findings from the ANCHOR trial in the first-line setting. This podcast also highlights the central role of anti-EGFR therapies in the management of patients with BRAF V600E-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer.

Additional downloadable slides will be available soon.

Dr. Scott Kopetz, Prof. Eric Van Cutsem, and Dr. Josep Tabernero engage in a panel discussion with a focus on the practice-changing initial and subsequently updated mature findings from the BEACON trial. These pivotal findings alter the standard of care for patients with BRAF V600E-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer following first-line failure. Find out what you need to know about the latest studies so you can provide the best care for your patients with this condition.

There remains a critical unmet need for effective therapies following the recurrence of endometrial cancer. In this activity, Drs. Linda Duska and Richard Penson assess the role of immunotherapy and targeted therapies in managing advanced endometrial cancers, as well as the importance of evaluating the microsatellite and mismatch repair biomarker status of recurrent and metastatic endometrial cancer.

Since the release of this activity, the FDA has approved the use of dostarlimab for the treatment of patients with recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer that has progressed on or following prior treatment with a platinum-containing chemotherapy and whose cancers have a specific genetic feature known as dMMR, as determined by an FDA-approved test. Visit the FDA statement dated 22 April 2021 to learn more.

There are now multiple biomarker-defined patient subgroups in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including RET rearrangements, and there is growing evidence that treatment with targeted therapies has significant clinical outcomes. In response to current rapid changes in the field of NSCLC, Drs. Mark Socinski and Alexander Drilon discuss the biology of RET fusion and how to translate the latest recommendations for targeted therapies into clinical practice.

Since this CME activity has been published the FDA has approved a new treatment for adults with metastatic RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer. To learn more about this approval, please visit the FDA.gov: FDA approves pralsetinib for lung cancer with RET gene fusions

Anti-HER2 therapy is well established as a first-line approach for many patients with metastatic breast cancer. HER2 has now been identified as an oncogenic driver across multiple malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and gastric cancer. Dr. Sara A. Hurvitz and Dr. Jacob M. Sands discuss the rationale for incorporating the various anti-HER2 therapies in the clinic, and with the use of 3D animation address the emergence of anti-HER2 treatment resistance and novel approaches to overcome that resistance.

Advances in treatment and new insights into the biology of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have led to the development of treatments that significantly extend overall survival.

In this discussion, Drs. Mark Socinski and Helena Yu cover the latest scientific and clinical data on the emerging role of targeted therapies in EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC.