CONGRESS HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights in gastrointestinal cancer

The European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 was held in Paris, France, between the 9^th and 13^th of September 2022. The main goal of this overview is to highlight the most relevant findings in the field of digestive oncology that could impact daily clinical practice. First, the upper gastrointestinal tract tumours will be discussed, followed by an overview of the congress highlights related to cancers of the lower gastrointestinal tract.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(8):412–20)

Highlights in head and neck cancer

The ESMO Congress 2022 was held from 9 to 13 September 2022 in a hybrid format. During this congress, more immunotherapy data were shown in the neoadjuvant setting of head and neck cancer, concomitantly with radiotherapy and updates in first- and second-line recurrent/metastatic disease. Also, this treatment modality is intruding into the field of thyroid cancer. In this report, the most important headlines will be discussed, with comments on the clinical relevance of the different studies.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(8):404–11)

Highlights in breast cancer

The 2022 annual ESMO meeting featured a plethora of interesting presentations in the field of breast cancer (BC). In the hormone-sensitive setting, data were presented on the effect of extending adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy in patients with early-stage disease. In the metastatic setting, interesting updates were presented with CDK4/6 inhibitors, while other abstracts reported the potential of selective oestrogen receptor modulators or degraders. In addition, updated results were presented for the TROPiCS-02 study evaluating the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan in pre-treated patients with HR+/HER2− metastatic breast cancer. Finally, metronomic treatment with vinorelbine plus cyclophosphamide and capecitabine proved to be another feasible treatment strategy in this setting. In triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), (neo)adjuvant data with pembrolizumab were presented together with emerging results on the use of the anti-CD73 agent oleclumab in patients with advanced TNBC. We are very grateful to Prof. Hans Wildiers and Dr. Kevin Punie for their help in making the abstract selection for this article.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(8):387–94)

Highlights in gynaecological cancers

The 2022 annual meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) was a grand cru when it comes to ovarian cancer, with the presentation of long-term data of several pivotal studies evaluating firstline maintenance therapy with a PARP inhibitor. Also, in the recurrent ovarian cancer setting, there was some interesting PARP news. In addition to this, ESMO featured the presentation of multiple studies evaluating checkpoint inhibitors in the management of ovarian cancer, endometrium and cervical cancer.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(8):380–6)

Highlights in genitourinary cancers

The 2022 annual ESMO meeting again offered striking presentations about the last trial updates in genitourinary cancers, including prostate, renal cell and urothelial cell carcinomas. This article will give an overview of the key highlights presented during this meeting in this setting.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(8):372–9)

Highlights in breast cancer

SUMMARY

ASCO 2022 featured a couple of breast cancer-related presentations with the potential to shake up the clinical practice. First and foremost, results of the DESTINY-Breast 04 study demonstrated a significant progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) benefit with trastuzumab deruxtecan in the treatment of HER2-low metastatic breast cancer (mBC) patients who received 1–2 prior lines of therapy. By effectively creating a new category of breast cancer, this trial will redefine the classical breast cancer classification and will significantly expand the population of patients who can benefit from HER2-targeted therapy. In TROpICS-02, sacituzumab govitecan, an antibody-drug conjugate directed against TROP-2, was found to delay the disease progression of patients with heavily pre-treated HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer. Also in HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer, the MAINTAIN study demonstrated a significant PFS benefit with the continued use of a CDK4/6 inhibitor with a switch in endocrine therapy partner in women who progressed while being treated with a CDK4/6 inhibitor. Finally, ASCO 2022 also showed that the significant PFS benefit obtained from adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib to letrozole in the first-line treatment of postmenopausal women with HR+ advanced breast cancer did not translate into a significant OS benefit.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(5):251–6)

Highlights in immunotherapy

SUMMARY

Over the last decade, immunotherapy has become an integral part of the oncogenic treatment arsenal. However, the field of immuno-oncology continues to evolve, which was amply illustrated by the large number of studies evaluating innovative immunotherapies presented at ASCO 2022. In this article, we will address some of the more interesting of these studies.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(5):246–50)