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October 30, 2015
To Type or to Print? Oncotype DX and Mamma/BluePrint Tests for Breast Cancer
Emma Shtivelman, PhDWomen diagnosed with localized breast cancer face difficult decisions with their doctors. What kind of neoadjuvant (before surgery) treatment to choose? Should chemotherapy follow surgery? Based on the subtype of breast cancer, should specific chemotherapy drugs be used?
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September 9, 2015
To PD-L1 or Not to PD-L1: That Is the Question
Emma Shtivelman, PhDThese days, it seems that I write mostly about immune checkpoint blockade drugs, or some other new immunotherapy treatment for cancer. This post is no different—it covers PD-L1, a protein that is at the center of clinical decisions for selecting patients who are likely to benefit from treatment with an anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 drug.
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August 13, 2015
What Determines Whether a Melanoma Patient Will Respond to Checkpoint Blockade Drugs?
Emma Shtivelman, PhDOf all cancer types, melanoma is the most investigated in terms of its potential to be treated through immune system-based approaches. More immunotherapy drugs are approved for melanoma than for any other type of cancer, and more are in development. Recent additions to the immunotherapy arsenal are the ‘anti-PD-1’ immune checkpoint blockade drugs pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and nivolumab (Opdivo).
Molecular Testing Options
Molecular tests help match patients to the personalized treatments that are most likely to work for them. Keep up with new developments in genetic tests, blood tests, liquid biopsies, tumor mutations, other biomarkers, precision medicine, next-generation sequencing, and more.
