This Week in Oncology: Progress in Pediatric Care & Key Guideline Releases

This week, the oncology world saw a variety of key developments and publications extending across the entire disease spectrum. Potential advances included investigational therapeutic candidates in pediatric hematologic malignancies, critical guideline recommendations for clinician-patient communication, and vaccine-based regimens in genitourinary oncology.

Here are some of the notable developments that emerged:

LGNA-100: a New Potential Option in Pediatric Leukemias?

The FDA cleared an investigational new drug application for LGNA-100, a first-in-class live bacterial immunotherapy, as a potential therapeutic option for pediatric patients with high-risk leukemias.¹

Developers designed the agent to harness the immune system’s response to Listeria by robustly expanding γδ T cells that directly attack cancer cells while supplementing existing immunotherapies. Investigators of a first-in-human phase 1 study will evaluate the safety and tolerability of LGNA-100 among patients with high-risk disease following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

“Our comprehensive preclinical evaluations demonstrate that LGNA-100 drives a distinct, multifunctional γδ T cell response with improved kinetic, phenotypic, and functional features compared to [zoledronic acid], supporting more durable activation without hyperactivation or early exhaustion. I am very excited to see this translated into the clinic for these [patients with] high-risk leukemia,” Alice Bertaina, MD, PhD, co-director of the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University, and lead Clinical Advisor for Laguna Biotherapeutics, stated in the press release.¹

How Will New ASCO Guidelines Impact Patient-Clinician Communication?

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) issued new patient-clinician communication guidelines, aiming to share effective communication strategies for medical oncologists, hematologists, nurses, hospice and palliative medicine clinicians, and other multidisciplinary team members.²

The latest institutional guidelines described key communication skills that apply to areas such as telehealth interactions, cross-disciplinary discussion, treatment selection, and financial toxicity.The guideline authors also shared important universal pillars that all providers should abide by, which include establishing an environment conducive to collegial communication and actively fostering trust with patients.

Can DNA Vaccines Improve Outcomes in Metastatic CRPC?

Investigators of a phase 2 trial (NCT04090528) determined that while treatment with DNA vaccines plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) yielded prostate-specific antigen (PSA) declines and objective responses among patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), adding a DNA vaccine encoding the ligand-binding domain of the androgen receptor (pTVG-AR) did not significantly boost clinical efficacy.³

The 6-month progression-free survival (PFS) in arm A, which included patients who received a DNA vaccine encoding prostatic acid phosphatase (pTVG-HP) plus pembrolizumab, was 51% vs 45% in arm B, where patients received pTVG-HP plus pTVG-AR and pembrolizumab. The median overall survival (OS) was 33.6 months, which appeared to compare favorably with current standard therapies.

The dual vaccine approach produced a higher rate of toxicities, as 23% of patients in arm A and 37% in arm B experienced immune-related adverse effects. Additionally, only patients in arm B experienced creatine kinase elevation, which suggested an autoimmune response to androgen receptor-expressing tissues.

References

1. Laguna announces FDA clearance of IND application for LGNA-100, a novel γδ T cell activator for high-risk pediatric leukemias. News release. Laguna Therapeutics, Inc. April 29, 2026. Accessed May 1, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/72jzv8mk
2. Gilligan T, Bohlke K, Alpert AB, et al. Patient-clinician communication: ASCO guideline update. J Clin Oncol. 2026;44(11):1040-1057. doi:10.1200/JCO-26-00118
3. Kyriakopoulos CE, Pachynski RK, Eickhoff JC, Tonelli TP, Jeon D, McNeel DG. Phase 2 trial of pTVG-­ HP ± pTVG-­ AR DNA vaccines and pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). J Immunother Cancer. 2026;14:e014323. doi:10.1136/jitc-2025-014323