Gastrointestinal Cancer

In this month’s Letter to the Readers, ONCOLOGY co-editor-in-chief Howard S. Hochster, MD, reviews results of the CIRCULATE-Japan clinical trial that were presented at the 2022 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, spoke about using immunotherapy to treat localized gastric cancer.

NUC-1031 plus cisplatin was unlikely to reach a primary end point of improved overall survival in advanced biliary tract cancer, leading to the discontinuation of the phase 3 NuTide:121 trial.

Patients with advanced midgut neuroendocrine tumors experienced a clinically relevant improvement in median overall survival when treated with 177Lu-Dotatate compared with the control of high-dose long-acting octreotide, although the difference was not significant.

The CheckMate 648 trial found that using a combination of nivolumab and chemotherapy or nivolumab plus ipilimumab vs chemotherapy alone improved survival in advanced esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma.

“The pendulum is moving fast towards giving chemotherapy prior to surgery, and the research is going on to continue that trend.”

Zev A. Wainberg, MD, discusses future research efforts for the treatment of patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Jun Gong, MD, hosted a Twitter takeover during the 2022 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium where he discussed breaking presentations in a #CNRealtimeReport.

Zev A. Wainberg, MD, spoke to the rationale for examining the efficacy of pembrolizumab alone and in combination with chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Tislelizumab met the primary end point of overall survival in the phase 3 RATIONALE 305 trial in a population of patients with locally advanced unresectable/metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer with a PD-L1–expressing tumor in the first-line setting.

Pemigatinib is a new treatment option following approval from the Hong Kong Department of Health for patients with locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with an FGFR2 fusion or rearrangement following progression on at least 1 prior line of therapy.

Patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma achieved notable improvements in survival and responses following treatment with transarterial chemoembolization and lenvatinib.

Interim results of a phase 2 trial found a safe toxicity profile for olaparib plus pembrolizumab in advanced cholangiocarcinoma.

The quality of life was maintained for patients with esophageal cancer plus including gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma when treated with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy.

Nivolumab in combination with chemotherapy was beneficial vs chemotherapy alone in patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer at a follow-up of at least 24 months.

Patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma achieved a statically significant and clinically meaningful survival benefit following treatment with pembrolizumab and best supportive care in the second line.

Patients with biliary tract cancer who were given the adjuvant oral fluoropyrimidine derivative S-1 had better overall survival compared with surgery alone.

Updated results from a cohort of the KRYSTAL-1 trial spotlight the potential of adagrasib for patients with previously treated KRAS G12C¬–mutant gastrointestinal tumors.

Risks of skin-related adverse events from nivolumab may be predicted by the presence of Arthrobacter and fatty acid metabolism pathways in the gut microbiome of patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Patients with resectable microsatellite instable/mismatch repair–deficient oeso-gastric junction adenocarcinoma experienced a high rate of pathologic complete response following treatment with neoadjuvant nivolumab and ipilimumab followed by adjuvant nivolumab.

In an interview with CancerNetwork® during the 2022 Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium, Zev A. Wainberg, MD, discussed key updates from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-062 trial, examining pembrolizumab plus or minus chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Patients saw an improvement in overall survival when given fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki to treat HER2-positive gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma received an overall survival benefit following first-line treatment with durvalumab (Imfinzi) and tremelimumab.

When compared with placebo and chemotherapy, durvalumab plus gemcitabine and cisplatin was superior in terms of overall survival in the treatment of advanced biliary tract cancer.

CYNK-101 plus standard frontline chemotherapy, trastuzumab, and pembrolizumab has received a fast track designation from the FDA for patients with advanced HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.