Tag: Weill Cornell Medical College

Meet the Newest Member of Our Team: Dr. Bishoy Faltas

Bishoy_Faltas_HeadshotWe’re pleased to announce that the Genitourinary (GU) Oncology Program is expanding! Dr. Bishoy Faltas joined us on July 1st as an Instructor in Medicine and as an Assistant Attending Physician. He will see patients with bladder, prostate, testicular, and kidney cancers.

Dr. Faltas may already be a familiar face and name because he completed his Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship here at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in 2015. Additionally, he recently finished a one-year research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Mark A. Rubin and the Institute for Precision Medicine.

As part of the Genitourinary Oncology Program, Dr. Faltas will focus his research on urothelial carcinoma, the most common type of bladder cancer, and specifically on genetic mutations and drug-resistance. He has presented groundbreaking work on genomic alterations before and after chemotherapy and the potential clinical implications. He will also be building upon his prior research examining how patients with bladder cancer respond to immunotherapies.

He has already received numerous research awards for his work, is a member of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, and we are very excited to officially welcome Dr. Faltas to the GU team!

Dr. Tagawa Presents Updated Results of ATL101 at AACR

At the annual American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, DC last week, Dr. Scott Tagawa presented updated combined analysis of 4 Phase I and Phase II studies involving 114 patients treated with ATL101. The analysis demonstrated that PSMA imaging might be used to predict the response to ATL101 radioimmunotherapy.ATL101 is a new targeted radiotherapy experimental drug for treating prostate cancer. ATL101 combines the humanized J591 monoclonal antibody targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) plus the Lutetium-177 radioisotope, creating the first tumor-specific delivery system able to target radiation to radio-sensitive prostate cancer cells wherever they are in the body.

From the sponsor’s press release:

14 patients were evaluable for semi-quantitative analysis of planar gamma images acquired after injection of ATL101 (35 patients from phase I at dose of 10-75 mCi/m²; 47 patients from Phase II at dose of 65-70 mCi/m² and 39 patients from phase I with a fractionated schedule at dose of 40-90 mCi/m²). 22 patients were also evaluable after injection of Indium-111 labeled J591 and treatment by Yttrium-90 labeled J591 at dose of 5-20mCi/m². Patients were sorted into 3 groups: low PSMA expression group included one third of patients, with no uptake (18%) or with weakly positive images (16%); high PSMA expression group included one half of patients, with tumor image as intense (26%) or more intense (24%) than liver. The 16 % remaining patients had intermediate uptake.

Significant correlation was found between higher PSMA expression (high vs. low) and higher response rates (RR) to treatment defined as >30% decline in PSA (RR=32% vs. 12.5%, p=0.01). RR was itself significantly correlated to longer survival. An association between PSMA expression by imaging and reduction in circulating tumor cell counts was also found (p=0.07). Further studies will examine quantitative molecular imaging with anti-PSMA PET/CT as recently published in animal models (Morris et al, 2013 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium).

Click here to read the complete press release.

Weill Cornell Researchers: Encouraging Results from J591 Study

Dr. Tagawa
Dr. Tagawa

Weill Cornell researchers recently published findings from a Phase II study of the lutetium-177-labeled monoclonal antibody J591 (called Lu-J591).

J591 is a man-made monoclonal antibody that is able to recognize a protein antigen (PSMA) expressed on virtually all prostate cancer cells, and more so in men with treatment-resistant metastatic disease. When a tiny tag of radioactive material is attached to the J591 antibody, that specifically targets prostate cancer cells, and delivered systemically this is known as “radioimmunotherapy.” Dr. Scott Tagawa and colleagues at Weill Cornell have been conducting clinical trials of the precision radioimmunotherapeutic J591 to determine its ability to eradicate prostate cancer cells.

In the recently published study, 47 prostate cancer patients with PSA progression after hormonal therapies with or without chemotherapy were treated with Lu-J591. 10.6 percent experienced more than 50% PSA decline, and 36.2% experienced more than 30% decline. Among those treated at the maximum tolerated dose, 46.9% had more than 30% PSA decline. Furthermore, 75% of patients with radiographically measurable disease had some measure of disease control; 67% of those assessed for circulating tumor cells had more than 50% decline in tumor cell counts 4 to 6 weeks after treatment.

The researchers concluded that a single dose of Lu-J591 was well tolerated and they found a measurable response rate. The authors conclude that Lu-J591 is a promising new therapeutic strategy to explore.

Click here to read the published abstract. Click here to read an article about the study and the findings.

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