Erica DiNapoli

The management of patients with colorectal liver metastases is complicated and requires careful assessment from a multidisciplinary tumor board—especially in light of recent advances made with chemotherapy, according to Michael J. Cavnar, MD.

Molecular testing is a critical component of the treatment selection process in lung cancer, as a host of effective drugs have since been developed to target alterations such as ALK, ROS1, and RET, according to Yujie Zhao, MD, PhD, who added that the integration of RNA-based sequencing into these strategies could potentially provide further benefit to patients.

Twice-weekly text message reminders did not improve adherence to aromatase inhibitors (AIs) for postmenopausal patients with early-stage breast cancer; therefore, increasing the odds of long-term adherence for this population will require more personalized approaches, explained Julie Gralow, MD.

Patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer should be treated with neoadjuvant therapy rather than surgery to determine how they will respond to ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla)in the adjuvant setting, according to Ian E. Krop, MD, PhD, who added that although residual disease may serve as a potential predictive biomarker for response to this approach, the hunt for effective molecular biomarkers continues.

Several novel chemoimmunotherapy combinations have risen to the forefront of treatment in triple-negative breast cancer.

With the identification of actionable alterations, precision medicine continues to lead the way in all areas of oncology, but especially in melanoma, according to Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, who added that, in order to successfully apply personalized therapy, it’s critical to be fluent in the differences between biomarkers.

Following the approvals of tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel; Kymriah) and axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta), several research efforts have been dedicated to the development and exploration of CAR T-cell therapies in the realm of leukemias and lymphomas, according to Olalekan O. Oluwole, MBBS, MD, who added that although this modality has moved the needle forward, this approach is not without toxicity.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment has entered an era that is both exciting and challenging, according to Nilofer S. Azad, MD, who emphasized that as new strategies continue to be explored, treatment decisions should be informed by tumor location, the alterations present, and tolerability.

Despite the recent advancements with BRAF-targeted therapies and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, there is still much to learn in the field of melanoma, especially with regard to disease biology, according to Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, who added that this understanding is needed to inform development and sequencing strategies, as emphasized during the 2020 SMR Virtual Congress.

The FDA approval of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for use in select adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors that are tumor mutational burden (TMB)-high, has both generated a lot of excitement and been hotly debated, according to Vivek Subbiah, MD.

Denise A. Yardley, MD, highlights the evolving role of adjuvant CDK4/6 inhibition in HR-positive metastatic breast cancer.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done to determine the optimal use for immunotherapy in patients with sarcoma.

Following a period of stagnation, rapid advances have been made in the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to Bradley G. Somer, MD, but as more options emerge in all lines of treatment, sequencing approaches will require careful consideration.

The HER2-positive breast cancer treatment paradigm is constantly changing, explained Debu Tripathy, MD, who cited that in less than 1 year, there have been 2 exciting drug approvals, which are tucatinib (Tukysa) and fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu).

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) demonstrated modest clinical activity in patients with advanced recurrent ovarian cancer, according to final results of the phase 2 KEYNOTE-100 trial that were presented during the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program.