Clinical Trial Results Published in Nature Medicine Show Immunotherapy’s Potential in Resectable Esophageal and Gastroesophageal Junction Cancers and the Benefits of Monitoring Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) to Measure Disease Response

The results of a study published today in Nature Medicine show exciting immune responses in patients with operable esophageal or gastroesophageal cancers given neoadjuvant immunotherapy. The study results also show the potential for monitoring circulating tumor DNA as a predictor for future intervention.

Immune Checkpoint Blockade Prior to Surgery Promising in Multiple Cancer Types

Treating cancer with immunotherapies known as an immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) prior to surgery (so-called neoadjuvant immunotherapy) has been a rapidly growing area of research, but the scientific community is just scratching the surface of what is possible, according to a review article co-authored by several current and former investigators from the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Combination immunotherapy treatment effective before lung cancer surgery

Combination immunotherapy with the anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody durvalumab and other novel agents outperforms durvalumab alone in the neoadjuvant (pre-surgical) setting for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dual immunotherapy plus chemotherapy before surgery improves patient outcomes in operable lung cancer

In a Phase II trial led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, adding ipilimumab to a neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, combination of nivolumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy, resulted in a major pathologic response (MPR) in half of all treated patients with early-stage, resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Administered Before Surgery Improves Outcomes of Melanoma Patients

A team of researchers from institutions across the United States, including Moffitt Cancer Center, launched a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating a new treatment option for this patient population. Their results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, show that treating resectable stage 3 and 4 melanoma patients with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab both before and after surgery greatly improves outcomes when compared to pembrolizumab given only after surgery.