Research

*June 2019*  Medscape.  The latest research indicates immunotherapy followed by osimertinib resulted in serious irAEs (severe immune related adverse events) in some advanced lung cancer patients. Medscape (3/20, Castellino, Subscription Publication) reports a study team “notes that serious iirAEs were seen when osimertinib was given after immunotherapy in six of 41…

*January 2019*  Lung Cancer.   This small study from Taiwan was performed to investigate the relationship between PD-L1 expression levels and resistance to EGFR-TKI medications in patients with treatment-naïve advanced EGFR mutant lung adenocarcinoma. (By treatment naïve, these patients had not received any other treatments first such as conventional chemo. By…

*March 2019*  Overview written by Donald Ox. This article deals with a case study of the latest clinical data of brigatinib + cetuximab combo that has stabilized a triple-mutant EGFR patient with concomitant EGFR-T790M and C797S mutations.  Brigatinib, the dual EGFR-ALK inhibitor, especially when used in combination of with anti-EGFR…

*March 2019*  This is an overview (written by Donald Ox) of the current EGFR TKIs and acquired resistance leading to the effectiveness of the afatinib + cetuximab combo treatment especially useful for T790M negative patients who developed acquired resistance to Iressa/Tarceva/Afatinib, as many in our group queried about their options other…

*March 2019* Currently available for research purposes only, the Signatera (RUO) is the first ctDNA (circulating tumor DNA) assay custom-built for treatment monitoring and minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment. The test is being developed by Natera and is not yet FDA approved.  It is currently being offered to patients across multiple…

*January 29, 2019* Lungevity, by Juhi Kunde.   In 2004, after the discovery of mutations in the EGFR gene in lung cancer, the FDA approved a targeted therapy that increased survival in EGFR-positive NSCLC patients. However, the tumors inevitably became resistant to the treatment, and the cancer returned unchecked. To understand…

*January 2019* Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, by Stephen Lyons.   When Dr. Lecia Sequist was undergoing her training to become a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the early 2000s, the treatments available for lung cancer were very limited. Radiation and surgery were seldom options, because in…

*January 25, 2019* Targeted Oncology, Tony Berberabe. Patients who continued receiving osimertinib (Tagrisso) after their non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had progressed demonstrated a prolonged benefit beyond the initial progression event, according to a retrospective analysis of 118 patients from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) and the…

*November 10, 2018* GRACE partnered with Swedish Cancer Institute to present a discussion on Local Therapies for Metastatic Lung Cancer. Videos from the live webcast: Newer Technologies in Radiation; Novel Indications for Local Therapy in Advanced NSCLC; Systemic Therapies for Advanced NSCLC - Shifting the Utility of Local Therapies; The…