CONGRESS HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights in breast cancer

The 2023 ASCO meeting again featured several ground-breaking presentations in the field of breast cancer (BC). Early-stage highlights include the long-awaited data of the NATALEE trial assessing adjuvant ribociclib in combination with endocrine therapy (ET) and the PHERGain trial exploring chemotherapy de-escalation using 18F-FDF PET/CT metabolic response assessment. Other studies discussed new molecular biomarkers for recurrence and response, and the impact of ET timing intake on outcomes. Finally, flibanserin was shown to be effective in countering sexual dysfunction in BC patients receiving adjuvant ET. In the metastatic setting, the SONIA trial questioned the universal use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in the first line treatment of patients with hormone-receptor (HR) positive metastatic BC. Furthermore, a pooled analysis of the DESTINY-Breast01, -02, and -03 trials reaffirmed trastuzumab deruxtecan as an effective treatment option for patients across all age subgroups in HER2-positive BC. Finally, a less toxic capecitabine regimen emerged as an alternative to standard treatment in metastatic BC. These results, along with other important findings, are summarised in this report. We would like to acknowledge Prof. Hans Wildiers and Prof. Patrick Neven (University Hospitals Leuven) for their help in selecting the abstracts and adding a clinical interpretation to this overview.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2021;15(5):193–201)

Highlights in melanoma

SUMMARY

At ASCO 2023, updated distant metastasis-free survival data from KEYNOTE-716 trial provided additional support for the use of adjuvant pembrolizumab in Stage IIB/IIC melanoma. While a biomarker analysis of the CheckMate 76K study provides some insights into biomarkers that correlate with a greater benefit from adjuvant nivolumab, these factors unfortunately do not allow a selection of the most suitable patients for this therapy in daily practice. In addition to this, promising data were generated with a new immune-oncology strategy combining a personalised therapeutic RNA vaccine and pembrolizumab in patients with stage III melanoma. Finally, a two-year update of the RELATIVITY-047 trial confirmed the benefit of nivolumab plus relatlimab over nivolumab alone in patients with previously untreated, unresectable, or metastatic melanoma.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2023;17(5):89–92)

Highlights in lung cancer

SUMMARY

The most important lung cancer news at ASCO 2023 came from the ADAURA trial, showing a significant overall survival (OS) benefit from adjuvant osimertinib in patients with early-stage EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Also in the early-stage setting, three different studies showed the clinical potential of using immunotherapy in the (neo)adjuvant treatment of non-oncogene-driven NSCLC patients. In the advanced setting, KEYNOTE-789 did not show a benefit with the addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy in EGFR-mutant advanced NSCLC patients progressing on first-line anti-EGFR TKI therapy. In the same setting, two new EGFR TKIs (BLU-945 and sunvozertinib) yielded promising results. Finally, retrospective data brought further insights into the optimal treatment duration of immunotherapy and on the use of chemoimmunotherapy in older NSCLC patients.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2023;17(5):183–6)

Highlights in gastrointestinal cancer

SUMMARY

The annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting always features the best scientific advances in cancer treatment and research. This year, one of the abstracts in the field of gastro-intestinal cancer was even selected for the plenary session, the meeting’s highlight. The takeaways for the oncology community are summarised in this report.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2023;17(5):178–82)

Highlights in genitourinary cancers

SUMMARY

The 2023 annual ASCO meeting offered once more remarkable presentations about the last trial updates in renal cell, bladder, testicular and prostate cancer. This article will give an overview of the key highlights presented during this meeting in this setting.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2023;17(5):169–77)

Highlights in head and neck cancer

SUMMARY

The ASCO Annual Meeting was held from 2–6 June 2023 in hybrid (live and virtual) format. During this meeting, neoadjuvant immunotherapy strategies are further entering the field of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Immunotherapy + chemotherapy gains an overall survival (OS) benefit in first-line recurrent/metastatic (R/M) NPC. Promising chemotherapy-free regimens are at the horizon in first- and second-line treatment of R/M HNSCC, though more studies in larger patient populations are needed. Treating salivary gland tumours with prostate cancer products was not successful in two studies shown during the meeting.

In this report, the most important headlines will be discussed, with comments on the clinical relevance of the different studies.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2023;17(5):157–68)

Highlights in lung cancer

The 2022 annual ESMO meeting again featured a long list of interesting lung cancer-related abstracts, ranging from long-term updates of pivotal studies to preliminary data of studies assessing novel treatment strategies for lung cancer. This article will give an overview of the key highlights in lung cancer presented during this meeting. We are grateful to Prof. Lore Decoster, from the University Hospital Brussels, for helping us I selecting the abstracts for this overview and for providing her expert opinion on the different studies.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(8):395–403)