Tag: ASCO

2017 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium

gu_symposium_2017_img_3054The 2017 Genitourinary (GU) Cancer Symposium kicked off on February 16th in Orlando, Florida, bringing together more than 3,000 attendees from all over the world. At this annual conference, clinicians from a wide range of disciplines treating people with prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, and testicular cancer come together to hear from experts on the latest scientific discoveries and how they impact clinical care for patients.

The Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) and NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) GU Oncology team is down in the Sunshine State highlighting the cutting-edge research and patient care that has been taking place back on campus in New York City.

twitter-iconTeam member Dr. Bishoy Faltas was selected by the conference to be a “Featured Voice” on Twitter, so be sure to follow him (@DrFaltas) for updates in real-time. Dr. Scott Tagawa (@DrScottTagawa) is now on Twitter too and also tweeting live from the symposium. The official conference hashtag is #GU17.

Some #GU17 highlights

Day 1 – The initial session focused on active surveillance for prostate cancer, including using both imaging as well as tissue biomarkers to help select optimal patients for surveillance versus those who should undergo surgery or radiation. A subsequent session focused on prostate cancer that progresses despite therapy and the pathways of resistance that can develop. This included a discussion of prostate cancer subtypes that become independent of the androgen-receptor (hormonal) pathway, including aggressive variant and neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). Neuroendocrine prostate cancer is one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant types of prostate cancer that most often evolves from prior hormonal therapy.

beltran-attard
Dr. Misha Beltran and Dr. Gerhardt Attard are two of the primary investigators for the 2016-2018 Movember Foundation-PCF Challenge Award

Dr. Gerhardt Attard at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, gave a great talk on the value of circulating tumor DNA in prostate cancer. He spoke about the collaborative grant from the Movember Foundation and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) that he, Dr. Misha Beltran and others have used to develop signature ways to confirm neuroendocrine prostate cancer with a blood test. An additional collaborative grant will allow optimization of this technology across a larger number of centers. Learn more about this prestigious Movember Foundation-PCF Challenge Award and how we’re using genomic characterization of tumors in less invasive ways in order to bring precision medicine – or narrowly tailored, personalized treatment – to more patients.

evi_taxynergy_gu-symposium_jpgDr. Evi Giannakakou explains to a crowd of physician-scientists results from our TAXYNERGY clinical trial showing additional evidence of using cancer cells circulating in the blood, also referred to as circulating tumor cells or CTCs, as a primary biomarker for chemotherapy response. This research validated prior work regarding the mechanism of action of chemotherapy in prostate cancer and demonstrates that using a simple blood draw, within one week of first chemotherapy treatment, we’re able to determine whether men with metastatic prostate cancer have a higher chance of responding. In the future, this might spare men from additional treatment (with associated side effects) with a drug that has a lower chance of working. For additional background information on this research, check out our prior in-depth blog post on the topic.

jok9106Dr. Josephine Kang, a radiation oncologist at WCM/NYP, presented a poster on Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT), which is an emerging treatment modality with excellent control rates for low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer. The role of SBRT for high-risk prostate cancer has not been studied as closely, but this trial showed encouraging results for those with high-risk disease. These results are very encouraging, as the treatment can be completed in 5 treatments. Additionally, this data longitudinally followed men treated with this modality for 7 years, and it appears to be a safe and effective treatment for high-risk prostate carcinoma. SBRT may be a good treatment alternative particularly for patients unable to undergo hormonal therapy (androgen receptor therapy/ADT) or unwilling to receive standard 8-9 week radiation therapy. More research is ongoing. Learn more about our open clinical trial using this modality. Another study will soon be opening.

In the oral abstract session, data was presented from a cooperative group trial that the older chemotherapy drug mitoxantrone should not be used immediately following surgery. Assays from biopsy material can separate different classes of prostate cancer with different risk for inferior outcomes. Blood biomarkers utilizing circulating tumor cells appear to be prognostic and potentially predictive of response to certain drugs. We are currently participating in a study to validate this data across multiple institutions and technology platforms.

In the keynote lecture, Dr. Charles Drake who recently joined the NYP family at Columbia discussed the current status and future directions of immunotherapy for prostate cancer.

Stay tuned for additional updates throughout the symposium!

Best of ASCO 2016: Prostate Cancer Treatment Updates

Beltran_HeadshotLast weekend, Dr. Himisha Beltran traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak at the “Best of ASCO” meeting. She hosted the session on prostate cancer and summarized some of the most important studies presented at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago.

She also represented Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian on a panel of the nation’s leading experts. The panel answered questions regarding some of the most challenging cases in genitourinary (GU) cancer care.

What’s new in research and treatment?

For men with advanced (metastatic) prostate cancer, the class of chemotherapy that has consistently proven to improve survival is called “taxanes.”

There are two taxanes that have been FDA-approved to treat prostate cancer, docetaxel (brand name: Taxotere) and cabazitazel (brand name: Jevtana). While these drugs are similar, men whose tumors have grown despite taking one drug often respond to the other.

Much of the important research at this year’s ASCO meeting focused on some key questions related to these two treatment options:

1. What treatment dose is best to maximize response, but minimize side effects?
2. Does the order in which patients receive these treatments matter?
3. When should oncologists switch between treatments if one is not working?
4. What is the impact on quality of life?

Another hot topic was the value and cost of treatments, and the link between treatment cost and access to care, since there can be financial barriers associated with certain treatments.

Below, we’ve outlined some of the key studies and clinical takeaways for prostate cancer treatment that Dr. Beltran discussed at the Best of ASCO meeting:

Chemotherapy Updates
  • For patients with untreated metastatic prostate cancer, large studies have recently demonstrated the improved survival impact of using a combined treatment of both chemotherapy and hormonal therapy as opposed to only hormonal therapy for men with metastatic prostate cancer. A new research study examined the CHAARTED study data and evaluated the quality of life (QOL) of patients treated on the study. This research found that while the QOL was initially worse (at 3 months), there was no long-term negative impact, and QOL was better at 12 months for chemo patients relative to those who only received hormonal therapy. This has important implications for counseling patients, as some are worried about side effects. It is comforting to know that while side effects may occur, they are temporary and the longer-term benefit of cancer control leads to improved QOL in the longer term.
Radiation Updates
  • A randomized trial examined radiation therapy for treating localized prostate cancer that had not spread beyond the prostate gland in men with intermediate risk disease. This study compared the standard eight-week course of treatment with a shorter course of four weeks, called hypofractionation. The shorter course of treatment did not see any reduction in treatment response and did not increase toxicity. The results from this study in combination with two other similar studies (RTOG 0415 and ChIPP) support using hypofractionation as a new standard for men with intermediate risk prostate cancer, as it is more convenient since it requires fewer visits to complete and is potentially less costly for patients.
Genomic Updates
  • In a large multi-institutional study of nearly 700 patients (including Weill Cornell), over 11% of patients with metastatic prostate cancer had inherited mutations in DNA repair genes (such as BRCA2 or ATM). This has important family risk and treatment implications since these genes can be passed down through the family tree and are not only linked with prostate cancer, but other cancer risk, as well. This is practice changing and supports genetic counseling and testing for all men with metastatic prostate cancer. In addition, research is ongoing to utilize drugs that may work especially well in this situation.

Hi-Tech Blood Biomarker Signals When a Strategic Switch in Chemotherapy Will Benefit Prostate Cancer Patients

For men with metastatic prostate cancer that grows despite hormonal therapy (also referred to as castration-resistant prostate cancer), chemotherapy has been a mainstay. The class of chemotherapy that has consistently proved to improve survival for men with advanced prostate cancer is called “taxanes.”

Taxanes target microtubules, which are structures in cells that are involved in cell division, as well as the trafficking of important proteins. In prostate cancer, one of the main ways taxane chemotherapy works to kill the cancer cells involves blocking the movement of the androgen receptor (AR) along the microtubule “tracks” towards the cell nucleus, a mechanism we discovered here at Weill Cornell Medicine.

There are two taxanes FDA-approved to treat prostate cancer, docetaxel (brand name: Taxotere) and cabazitazel (brand name: Jevtana). While the drugs are similar, men whose tumors have grown despite taking one drug often respond to the other. The challenge for oncologists has been pinpointing when exactly to switch treatments.

ScottTagawa_ASCO2016_TAXYNERGYDr. Scott Tagawa presented exciting results from a phase II clinical trial at the 2016 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting demonstrating the power of this treatment switch, and when to make the switch.

This research came to be because we thought that we might be able to increase the number of men who respond to taxane chemotherapy with an early assessment and by changing the drug for those who have a sub-optimal response. Simply put, those with no response or only an initial minor response had their drug changed at a much earlier time point then standard practice. This resulted in a higher response rate for the patients in the study.

Top Boxes_Taxynergy
In the photos from a sub optimally responding patient, almost all of the androgen receptor (AR, labeled in green) is in the nucleus (indicated by the arrow which is overlayed in blue on the right), meaning that the taxane chemotherapy treatment was unable to block AR from moving to the nucleus and thus unable to kill the prostate cancer cells.

In addition, it’s very exciting that we can examine cancer cells from a simple blood test, a process also referred to as collecting circulating tumor cells or CTCs. This allows us to assess the ability of a drug to target the pathway in real time and to tell us whether there is a positive tumor response or resistance.

These circulating tumor cells provide an opportunity for real-time molecular analysis of taxane chemotherapy and at Weill Cornell Medicine we’ve pioneered a way to examine the AR pathway with a simple blood test.

To do this we use an extremely specialized technology that captures the very small fragments or rare circulating tumor cells on a “chip.” From this chip we are able to determine which cells are responding to treatment.

Bottom Boxes_Taxynergy
In real time, we can see taxane chemotherapy kept the (green) AR out of the (blue) nucleus area in cells from a responding patient. 

In cancer care, we are always trying to maximize treatment response rates by targeting the right cells at the right time. This promising precision medicine approach offers us one more tool to better personalize treatment and improve outcomes.

 

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