Emma Shtivelman, PhD Cancer Commons Chief Scientist

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Healio:

    “The FDA approved dacomitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have EGFR exon 19 deletion or exon 21 L858R substitution mutations.

    “Dacomitinib (Vizimpro, Pfizer) is a once-daily oral pan-human EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor.”

    Go to full article published by Healio on Sep 28, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Healio:

    “The addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy extended OS and PFS compared with chemotherapy alone among patients with metastatic, squamous, non-small-cell lung cancer, according to results of the randomized phase 3 KEYNOTE-407 trial presented at International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s World Conference on Lung Cancer.

    “The double-blind study included 559 treatment-naive patients with metastatic, squamous NSCLC. Patients who had symptomatic central nervous system metastases, a history of noninfectious pneumonitis that required the use of glucocorticoids, active autoimmune disease or who were receiving systemic immunosuppressive treatment were excluded.”

    Go to full article published by Healio on Oct 1, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Cancer Network:

    “Adding to a growing list of similar results, the Short-HER study was unable to show noninferiority of 9 weeks of trastuzumab compared with the standard 1 year when given along with chemotherapy in women with HER2-positive breast cancer. Shorter administration does, however, reduce the risk of cardiotoxicity.

    ” ‘Adjuvant pivotal trials with 1-year trastuzumab have significantly improved the prognosis of HER2-positive early breast cancer,’ wrote study authors led by Pierfranco Conte, MD, of the Istituto Oncologico Veneto in Italy. Several studies have attempted to reduce the duration of trastuzumab, though most have failed to show noninferiority.”

    Go to full article published by Cancer Network on Oct 1, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •  

    TLR and STING Agonists: A New Venture in Cancer Immunotherapy

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Immunotherapy includes a number of strategies that harness the immune system to help treat disease. Immunotherapy for cancer, as we know it, now relies on the activation of specific immune system cells known as T cells. Cancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors act by removing the brakes imposed on T cells by tumors or by the body’s natural mechanisms for limiting their activation to… Read more »

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Cancer Network:

    “The combination of encorafenib and binimetinib resulted in longer overall survival (OS) compared with vemurafenib in patients with BRAF V600–mutant melanoma, according to results of the COLUMBUS trial. Combined with an earlier report showing improved progression-free survival (PFS), this suggests the regimen should become an important option in this setting.

    “Small-molecule BRAF inhibitors, originally introduced as monotherapy, offered improvements in outcomes for these melanoma patients. ‘However, response durations were short and BRAF inhibitor treatment was associated with the development of squamous cell skin cancer and other skin toxicities related to paradoxical MAPK pathway activation,’ wrote study authors led by Reinhard Dummer, MD, of University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland. Combinations of BRAF and MEK inhibition have improved the situation further, but better treatment options are still needed.”

    Go to full article published by Cancer Network on Sep 26, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from MedPage Today:

    “A high proportion of men who entered active surveillance for early prostate cancer had one or more high-risk disease characteristics when they subsequently had radical prostatectomy, a Swedish study showed.

    “Medical records showed that 52 of 132 men had at least one adverse pathology feature at radical prostatectomy. All the men initially opted for active surveillance, and the median time from enrollment to surgery was 1.9 years.”

    Go to full article published by MedPage Today on Sep 21, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from OncLive:

    “Repotrectinib (TPX-0005) demonstrated a clinically meaningful and durable benefit across multiple doses in patients with ROS1 fusion–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

    “Overall response rates (ORRs) were 80% for tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-naïve patients (95% CI, 44-97) and 18% for TKI-refractory patients (95% CI, 4-44), including 33% for those who received a dose of 160 mg once daily, according to findings from the ongoing phase I/II TRIDENT-1 study. Interim analysis results were presented at the 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).”

    Go to full article published by OncLive on Sep 24, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from OncLive:

    “Lurbinectedin (Zepsyre; PM1183) plus doxorubicin demonstrated significant clinical activity as a second-line therapy for patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), especially when excluding refractory patients.

    “In particular, patients with chemotherapy-free intervals (CTFIs) of 90 days or more induced a 53% overall response rate (ORR) and PFS of 5.7 months, according to findings that were presented at the 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Toronto, Canada.”

    Go to full article published by OncLive on Sep 26, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Healio:

    “LOXO-292 appeared well tolerated and demonstrated antitumor activity among patients with heavily pretreated RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, according to updated interim results of a global, phase 1/phase 2 trial presented at International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s World Conference on Lung Cancer.

    “Researchers reported initial clinical data from the LIBRETTO-001 dose escalation/expansion study of LOXO-292 (Loxo Oncology) — an oral and selective agent in clinical development for cancers that harbor abnormalities in the rearranged during transfection (RET) kinase — at ASCO Annual Meeting in June.”

    Go to full article published by Healio on Sep 27, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from MedPage Today:

    “Three-fourths of patients with ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had objective responses lasting an average of 2 years with an investigational multikinase inhibitor, a preliminary trial showed.

    “Overall, 41 of 53 patients responded to treatment with entrectinib, including 17 of 33 patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases at baseline. Responses had a median duration of 24.6 months among patients without CNS metastases and 13.6 months among those with CNS metastases.”

    Go to full article published by MedPage Today on Sep 25, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.