Podcast appearances and mentions of kristen ciombor

Dr. Shaalan Beg and Dr. Kristen Ciombor discuss practice-changing studies in GI cancers and other novel treatment approaches that were presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting. Transcript Dr. Shaalan Beg: Hello, I'm Dr. Shaalan Beg, welcoming you to the ASCO Daily News Podcast. I'm a medical oncologist and an adjunct associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. There were some remarkable advances in gastrointestinal cancers that were presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting, and I'm delighted to be joined by Dr. Kristen Ciombor to discuss some exciting GI data. Dr. Ciombor is the Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research and a co-leader of Translational Research and the Interventional Oncology Research Program at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Our full disclosures are available in the transcript of this episode. Dr. Ciombor, it's great to have you on the podcast today. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Thanks, Dr Beg. It's great to be here. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Alright, let's kick it off. Big year for GI cancers. We'll start off with LBA1. This was the ATOMIC study sponsored by NCI and the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and the Alliance group. This is a randomized study of standard chemotherapy alone or combined with atezolizumab as adjuvant therapy for stage III mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: I think this study was really definitely practice-changing, as you can tell because it was a Plenary. But I do have some concerns in terms of how we're actually going to implement this and whether this is the final answer in this disease subtype. So, as you said, the patients were enrolled with stage III resected mismatch repair deficient colon cancer, and then they were randomized to either modified FOLFOX6 with or without atezolizumab. And that's where it starts to become interesting because not many of us give FOLFOX for 6 months like was done in this study. Obviously, the study was done over many years, so that was part of that answer, but also the patients received atezolizumab for a total of 12 months. So the question, I think, that comes from this abstract is, is this practical and is this the final answer? I do think that this is practice-changing, and I will be talking to my patients with resected mismatch repair deficient colon cancer about FOLFOX plus atezolizumab. I think the big question is, do these patients need chemotherapy? And can we do a neoadjuvant approach instead? And that's where we don't have all the answers yet. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Yeah, but it has been great to see immunotherapy make its way into the adjuvant space after having made such a big impact in the metastatic space, but still some unanswered questions in terms of the need for chemotherapy and then the duration of therapy, which I guess we'll have to stay tuned in for the next couple of years to to get a lot of those questions answered. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah, but a big congratulations to the study team, to the NCTN, the NCI. I mean, this is really a great example of federally funded research that needs to continue. So, great job by the study team. The DFS 10% difference is really very large and certainly a practice-changing study. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Yeah, and and sticking with colon cancer, and and this another federally funded study, but this time funded by a Canadian cancer clinical trials group was LBA3510. This is the CHALLENGE study. It's a randomized phase 3 trial of the impact of a structured exercise program on disease-free survival for stage III or high-risk stage II colon cancer. This study got a lot of buzz, a lot of mainstream press coverage, and a lot of discussions on what that means for us for the patients who we're going to be seeing next week in our clinic. What was your takeaway? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah, this is a really interesting study, and I was so glad to see it presented because this partially answers one of the questions that patients always have for us in clinic, right? You know, once they've completed their standard chemotherapy and surgery, what else can they do to help prevent recurrence? And so we've always known and sort of extrapolated that healthy lifestyle habits are good, but now we have data, particularly in these patients. Most of them were stage III colon cancer patients, those had high-risk stage II cancer. And basically, the goal was to increase their physical activity by at least 10 MET hours per week. So, my big question, of course, as I came into this presentation was, “Okay, what does that mean exactly? How does that translate to real life?” And really what the author presented and explained was that basically most patients could hit their target by adding a 45- to 60-minute brisk walk 3 to 4 times a week. So I think this is very approachable.  Now, in the confines of the study, this was a structured exercise program, so it wasn't just patients doing this on their own. But I do think kind of extrapolating from that, that this is very achievable for most patients. And not only did this prevent recurrence of their prior cancer, but actually the rate of new primary cancer diagnoses, was less, which is really interesting, especially in the breast and prostate cancer. So this was a really interesting, and I think practice-changing study as well, especially given that this is something that most patients can do. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Yeah, and there was a lot of discussion in the hallways after the presentation in terms of how this really changes our existing practice because most folks already recommend exercise as a way for improving outcomes in cancer patients. So we've already been doing that. Now we have some data on how much it can impact the benefit. But there was some discussion about what the actual degree of impact was. There was a drop-off rate in terms of how long folks were able to stick with this exercise regimen. But you've seen this in clinic when someone have their surgery, they have their chemotherapy, they've been so intimately involved with the oncology world, with the oncology practice, and they somehow feel that they're being let loose into this mean, angry world without any guidance and they're looking for something to do. “What more can I do in terms of my lifestyle?” And then here we have very solid data, as solid as can be for an intervention like exercise, showing that there is an impact and you can give a prescription for exercise when someone wraps up their chemotherapy for colon cancer, thanks to the study. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah. It was a great study. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Moving to gastroesophageal cancer, another late-breaking abstract. This is LBA5. The MATTERHORN trial was a phase 3 trial of durvalumab plus FLOT for resectable GE junction and gastric cancer. And again, another area where immunotherapy has made an impact, and here we're seeing it move closer for earlier-stage disease. What was your take-home for the MATTERHORN trial? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah, so this study looked at neoadjuvant perioperative durvalumab plus our current standard chemotherapy of FLOT versus placebo plus FLOT. And this was a large study, almost 1,000 patients were randomized. And the primary endpoint was event-free survival, and it was definitely met in favor of the D + FLOT arm, as Dr. Klempner discussed after Dr Janjigian's presentation. I do think there are still some unanswered questions here. Overall survival is not yet mature, so we do have to wait and see how that shakes out. But it's very interesting and kind of is reflective of what, as you said, we're looking at earlier and earlier lines of therapy, particularly with immunotherapy, in these GI cancer spaces. So it makes a lot of sense to test this and and to look at this. So the toxicity was pretty similar to what we would expect. Primary endpoint was met, but again, we'll have to wait and see what the survival data looks like. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Yeah, and in oncology, we know, especially for treatment that does add additional cost, it does add additional potential toxicity that we want to see that overall survival nudged. I did see some polls on social media asking folks whether their practices changed from this, and I think the results were favoring adding durvalumab for this group of patients but understanding that there are caveats to the addition of treatments and the eventual FDA approval in that indication as well. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Exactly. I completely agree with that. Dr. Shaalan Beg: All right. How about we stick with gastroesophageal cancer? LBA4002 was trastuzumab deruxtecan versus ramucirumab plus paclitaxel for second-line treatment in HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic gastric cancer or GE junction cancer. This was the DESTINY-Gastric04 study. And again, antibody-drug conjugates making a big impact across different diseases. And here we have more data in the HER2-positive gastric cancer space. Your thoughts on this study? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah, so this is a really important space in gastroesophageal cancer because the HER2 positivity rate is fairly high as compared to some of our other tumor types. So, I do think one of the important things was that patients did have biopsy confirmation of HER2 status, which was very important, and then they were randomized to either T-DXd versus the kind of second-line standard of ramucirumab-paclitaxel. So this was a great practical study and really answers a question that we had for a while in terms of does anti-HER2 therapy in the second-line really impact and improve survival. So we did see a statistically significant improvement favoring T-DXd. I do think it's always important to look at toxicity, though, too. And there was about almost 14% rate of interstitial lung disease, which of course is the most feared toxicity from some of these antibody-drug conjugates, especially T-DXd. So I do think it's important to keep that in mind, but this is definitely a great addition to the armamentarium for these HER2-positive patients. Dr. Shaalan Beg: And pancreas cancer was on the stage after a very long time with a positive clinical trial. This is Abstract 4006. These were preliminary results from a phase 2 study of elraglusib in combination with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel versus gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel alone for previously untreated metastatic pancreas cancer. This is a frontline clinical trial of gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel plus/minus the study drug. There were other cohorts in this study as well, but they reported the results of their part 3B arm. And great to see some activity in the pancreas space. And your thoughts? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah, we definitely need better treatments in pancreas cancer. This was a very welcome presentation to see. The elraglusib is an inhibitor of GSK-3beta, and it's thought that that mediates drug resistance and EMT. And so this is, I think, a perfect setting to test this drug. So patients basically were randomized. Patients with metastatic pancreas cancer were randomized 2: 1 to gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel plus or minus this elraglusib. So, what we saw was that overall survival was better with the addition of this new drug. And overall, not only the 1-year overall survival, but also median overall survival.  The thing that was interesting, though, was that we saw that the overall survival rates were 9.3 months with the combination versus 7.2 months with just gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. And that's a little bit lower than we've seen in other studies. So, not sure what was going on there. Was it the patients that were a bit sicker? Was it a patient selection, you know, thing? I'm not really sure how to explain that so much. Also, the toxicity profile was much higher in terms of visual impairment, with over 60% of patients being treated with the combination versus 9% with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. So these were mild, grade 1 and 2, but still something to be cautious about. Dr. Shaalan Beg: And especially with this being a phase 2 trial, making sure that in a larger study we're able to better evaluate the toxicity and see if the control arm in the larger confirmatory study performs differently will be really important before this compound makes it to the clinic in our space. But very exciting to see these kinds of results for pancreas adenocarcinoma. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah. Dr. Shaalan Beg: We've talked, it seems, a couple of times on this podcast about the BREAKWATER clinical trial. We did hear PFS and updated OS data, updated overall survival data on first-line encorafenib plus cetuximab plus modified FOLFOX6 for BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer. This was LBA3500. And eagerly anticipated results – we have all previously heard the progression-free survival results – but here we heard updated overall survival results, and very well-received study it seemed from the audience that time. So what are your takeaways on the updated results for BREAKWATER? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: In my opinion, this was one of the most practice-confirming studies. As you mentioned, we've already seen some of the preliminary data of BREAKWATER at prior meetings. But really what was particularly impactful for me was the median overall survival with the BREAKWATER regimen. So, again, patients received FOLFOX, encorafenib cetuximab in the first line if they had BRAF-mutated V600E-mutated colorectal cancer. And the median PFS was 12.8 months, which was actually really remarkable in this traditionally very aggressive, poor prognosis subtype of tumors. So, by seeing a median overall survival of 30.3 months was just incredible, in my opinion. Just a few years ago, that was considered the median overall survival for all comers for metastatic colorectal cancer. And we know the median overall survival was more in the less than 12 months range for BRAF. So this was incredibly impactful, and I think should be absolutely practice-changing for anyone who is eligible for this regimen.  I think again, where the practice meets the study is what's kind of important to think about too, how long did patients get FOLFOX, and certainly it adds toxicity to add a BRAF-targeted regimen on top of FOLFOX already. So, one of the other interesting things about the study, though, was that even though it didn't complete treatment, they actually did look at encorafenib/cetuximab alone and in the first line without chemotherapy. And those preliminary results actually looked okay, especially for patients who might not be able to tolerate chemotherapy, which we certainly see in practice. So, overall, definitely more data. And I agree that it's certainly practice-changing. Dr. Shaalan Beg: And it completely, as you mentioned, changes the outlook for a person who's diagnosed with BRAF-mutated metastatic colon cancer today versus even 7 or 8 years ago. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: And we're seeing this over and over in other subtypes too, but how you choose to treat the patient up front really matters. So really giving the right regimen up front is the key here. Dr. Shaalan Beg: And along the same lines, Abstract 3501 wanted to answer the question on whether people with MSI-high metastatic colorectal cancer need double checkpoint inhibitor therapy or is single therapy enough. So this [CheckMate-8HW] study compared nivo plus ipi with nivo alone, nivo monotherapy for MSI-high metastatic colorectal cancer. And we've known that both of these are fairly active regimens, but we also know the chance of immune-related adverse events is significantly higher with combination therapy. So this was a much-needed study for this group of patients. And what were your takeaways here? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: This, of course, has been really nivo-ipi in the first-line MSI-high metastatic colorectal cancer is now a standard of care. And not everybody is eligible for it, and there could be reasons, toxicity reasons, and other things too. But as we've been seeing for the last couple of years, immunotherapy clearly beats chemo in this space. And now looking at doublet versus single immunotherapy treatment in the first line, I think really nivo-ipi does beat out monotherapy. I will say, however, there is a caveat in that we still haven't seen the nivo-ipi versus nivo in the first line. So what has been presented thus far has been across all lines of therapy, and that does muddy the waters a little bit. So definitely looking forward and and we've asked this many times and based on the statistical plan and and what not, you know, we just haven't seen that data yet. But I do think it's becoming increasingly important to consider doublet immunotherapy for these patients as long as there are no contraindications. With the again, with the caveat that we have to have these toxicity discussions in the clinic with patients because many patients can tolerate it, you know, this regimen fairly well, but there can be very severe toxicities. So, I think an informed discussion should really be had with each patient before moving forward. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Yeah, informed decision, making them aware of the potential of real significant toxicities, immune-related toxicities with double therapy. But I am curious in your practice, how often do you see people choosing doublet therapy as frontline? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: So patients are really savvy, and a lot of times they've heard this data before or have come across it in patient advocacy groups and other things, and it's really nice to be able to have that conversation of the risk versus benefit. So I will say not all of my patients choose doublet, and many of them are still cured with immunotherapy monotherapy. So the big question there is, will we ever understand who actually needs the doublet versus who can still be cured or have very good long-term outcomes with just the single agent? And that has not been answered yet. Dr. Shaalan Beg: What a great point. So the last abstract I was hoping we could talk about is POD1UM-303 or the INTERAACT2 subgroup analysis and impact of delayed retifanlimab treatment for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal. What were your thoughts here? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: This was a study, actually we saw at ESMO, we saw the primary data at ESMO last year, and this was an update with some exploratory analyses. But this was really an important study because once again, we're looking at immunotherapy in later lines of therapy. That's how we started looking at and investigating immunotherapy, and now we're moving it up and up in the treatment course. So this was a study of carboplatin/paclitaxel plus or minus retifanlimab. Actually it was retifanlimab versus placebo. And it was a positive study, as we heard last year. This actually led to FDA approval of this regimen last month, just before ASCO, and it has now been incorporated in the NCCN guidelines as the preferred first-line option.  So what I thought was important from the additional data presented at ASCO was looking at the different subgroups, it did not appear that patients with liver mets or not had different outcomes. So that was really good to see because sometimes in colon cancer we see that immunotherapy doesn't work as well when patients have liver mets. And interestingly, because we use immunotherapy in anal cancer without any biomarkers, unlike with colon cancer or some of the other tumor types, also the authors looked at PD-L1 status, and it did look like maybe patients did a little bit better if they had higher PD-L1 expression, but patients still could benefit even if they were PD-L1 negative. So that was important, I think, and we will continue to see further data come out from this study. I want to mention also that EA2176 just completed accrual, so that was carbo-taxol plus or minus nivolumab. And so we should be seeing that data sometime soon, which will hopefully also confirm the ongoing role for immunotherapy in the first-line setting for anal cancer. Dr. Shaalan Beg: That was a fantastic review. Thank you, Dr Ciombor. Thanks for sharing your valuable insights with us today on the ASCO Daily News Podcast. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Thanks for having me here. Dr. Shaalan Beg: And thank you to our listeners for your time today. You will find links to the abstracts discussed today in the transcript of this episode. And if you value the insights that you hear on the podcast, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts. Disclaimer: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. More on today's speakers:   Dr. Shaalan Beg  @ShaalanBeg  Dr. Kristen Ciombor @KristenCiombor Follow ASCO on social media:    @ASCO on Twitter   @ASCO on BlueSky  ASCO on Facebook    ASCO on LinkedIn    Disclosures:   Dr. Shaalan Beg:   Consulting or Advisory Role: Ipsen, Cancer Commons, Foundation Medicine, Science37, Nant Health, Lindus Health Speakers' Bureau: Sirtex Research Funding (Inst.): Delfi Diagnostics, Universal Diagnostics, Freenome Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Consulting or Advisory Role: Pfizer, Incyte, Exelixis, Bayer, ALX Oncology, Tempus, Agenus, Taiho Oncology, Merck, BeiGene Research Funding (Inst.): Pfizer, Boston Biomedical, MedImmune, Onyx, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Incyte, Amgen, Sanofi, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Array BioPharma, Incyte, Daiichi Sankyo, Nucana, Abbvie, Merck, Pfizer/Calthera, Genentech, Seagen, Syndax Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: Incyte, Tempus

Join us in this exciting episode of the Oncology Brothers podcast as we dive into the highlights from ESMO 2024, focusing on gastrointestinal malignancies. Hosts Drs. Rohit and Rahul Gosain are joined by Dr. Kristen Ciombor, a GI medical oncologist from Vanderbilt University, to discuss four key studies that have significant implications for clinical practice. In this episode, we covered: •⁠ ⁠LEAP-012 Study: An update on HCC treatment with Lenvatinib and Pembrolizumab combined with TACE, exploring the promising progression-free survival (PFS) data and the need for mature overall survival (OS) results. •⁠ ⁠Keynote-811: The current standard of care for HER2-positive gastroesophageal junction and gastric adenocarcinoma, highlighting improved OS with Pembrolizumab, chemotherapy, and Trastuzumab. •⁠ ⁠POD1UM-303 Trial: A groundbreaking study in metastatic anal cancer that shows significant OS improvement with the addition of the PD-1 inhibitor Retifanlimab to chemotherapy. •⁠ ⁠NICHE-2 Study: A remarkable update on MSI-high patients, showcasing a 100% three-year disease-free survival rate with neoadjuvant immunotherapy. Tune in for an insightful discussion that will keep you updated on the latest advancements in GI oncology! Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more conference highlights and oncology discussions. #OncologyBrothers #ESMO24 #GIMalignancies #CancerResearch #Podcast Subscribe for more updates and insights from the Oncology Brothers! Website: http://www.oncbrothers.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/oncbrothers Contact us at info@oncbrothers.com  

High-risk myeloma is a moving target. Myeloma plasma cells always learn to fight back. The key to treating myeloma is to fight multiple targets, understand the biology, and find out why myeloma is becoming more aggressive.  In this episode, ACCRU podcast host Dr. Kristen Ciombor interviews Dr. Shebli Atrash, who specializes in hematology and oncology at the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, N.C. He is also a Community Member of the ACCRU Board of Directors. Dr. Atrash discusses what drew him to hematology oncology and shares what needs to be improved in high-risk myeloma research. His current myeloma study with ACCRU will enroll approximately 42 patients across 7 centers.  Dr. Atrash also shares his advice for junior investigators getting started in their field of research.  

Outcomes in cancer treatment depend on the most basic question: Did the patient take the drug? In a recent National Cancer Database analysis of breast cancer patients with hormone receptor breast cancer who had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Dr. Matthew Goetz, and his team discovered that upwards of 40% of patients never started endocrine therapy. Those who didn't take their adjuvant endocrine therapy had a 60 to 70% higher risk of death. In this episode with Dr. Goetz, who directs the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) and co-leads the Women's Cancer Program at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, he also discusses an innovative ACCRU neoadjuvant endocrine trial for premenopausal women with hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative breast cancer that recently activated. Podcast host Dr. Kristen Ciombor and Dr. Goetz also highlight the importance of community physicians in trial development and patient outcomes.

Featuring perspectives from Drs Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Scott Kopetz, and John Strickler and Prof Eric Van Cutsem, moderated by Dr Kristen Ciombor, including the following topics: •      Integration of Therapies Targeting BRAF and HER2 in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC) — Dr Strickler o   Introduction (0:00) o   Case: A man in his early 40s presenting with microsatellite-stable (MSS) rectal cancer and liver metastases — Victoria Giffi, MD (2:04) o   Cases: A man in his late 70s with HER2-amplified colon cancer and extensive liver metastases and a man in his late 50s with KRAS G12S-mutant HER2-amplified colon cancer and lung metastases — Ranju Gupta, MD and Shaachi Gupta, MD, MPH (9:12) o   Faculty presentation (16:39) •      Optimizing the Use of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in the Management of mCRC — Dr Ciombor o   Case: A man in his mid 50s with BRAF V600E-mutant, KRAS/NRAS wild-type metastatic colon cancer with disease progression on FOLFOXIRI/bevacizumab — Lai (Amber) Xu, MD, PhD (26:13) o   Case: A man in his late 60s with localized unresectable microsatellite instability-high carcinoma of the cecum — Farshid Dayyani, MD, PhD (32:02) o   Faculty presentation (41:11) •      Evidence-Based Selection and Sequencing of Therapy for Patients with mCRC — Prof Van Cutsem o   Case: A man in his late 70s with metastatic rectal cancer and newly diagnosed PMS2-positive Lynch syndrome — Liudmila N Schafer, MD (51:39) o   Case: A man in his mid 50s with pan-RAS wild-type metastatic rectal cancer treated with FOLFOX/cetuximab — Warren S Brenner, MD (56:55) o   Faculty presentation (1:03:36) •      Promising Agents and Strategies for Patients with mCRC — Dr Bekaii-Saab o   Case: A woman in her early 50s with KRAS and BRAF wild-type, HER2-negative T3N1 rectal cancer with liver and lung oligometastases who underwent multiple ablations and stereotactic body radiation therapy and is currently receiving FOLFIRI/panitumumab – MSS, mismatch repair-proficient, PD-L1 0% — Jennifer L Dallas, MD (1:13:13) o   Case: A woman in her early 60s with metastatic KRAS G12C-mutant cancer of the sigmoid colon — Philip L Brooks, MD (1:18:43) o   Faculty presentation (1:22:32) •      The Changing Management Paradigm for Localized CRC — Dr Kopetz o   Case: A man in his early 70s with 2 synchronous T3N0 cancers of the splenic flexure and cecum who is found to have circulating tumor DNA after resection — Dr Brenner (1:35:56) o   Case: A man in his early 80s with a Stage II obstructing cancer of the right colon — Namrata I Peswani, MD (1:46:12) o   Faculty presentation (1:47:58) CME information and select publications

Gastrointestinal cancer experts Dr. Aparna Parikh and Dr. Kristin Ciombor discuss the treatment implications of the phase 3 PARADIGM trial and other advances in colorectal cancer with guest host and ASCO Daily News Associate Editor, Dr. Shaalan Beg.   TRANSCRIPT Dr. Shaalan Beg: Hello, and welcome to the ASCO Daily News Podcast. I'm Dr. Shaalan Beg, your guest host of the ASCO Daily News Podcast today. I'm an adjunct associate professor at UT Southwestern's Simmons Comprehensive Center and vice president of Oncology at Science 37. I'm delighted to welcome Dr. Aparna Parikh, and Dr. Kristen Ciombor to the podcast today. Dr. Parikh is an assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard University and a GI medical oncologist at the Mass General Hospital Cancer Center. Dr. Ciombor is an associate professor of Medicine and GI medical oncologist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Today, we'll be discussing exciting new approaches using EGFR inhibitors as frontline therapy in colorectal cancer, and promising advances with immune therapy in the treatment of rectal cancer. Our full disclosures are available in the show notes, and disclosures of all guests on the podcast can be found in our transcripts at: asco.org/podcasts. Dr. Parikh, and Dr. Ciombor, it's great to have you on the podcast today. Dr. Aparna Parikh: Thanks so much. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Thanks so much for having us. Dr. Shaalan Beg: We've seen some exciting advances in GI oncology this year. Let's start with colorectal cancer. Dr. Parikh, there have been many trials looking to compare EGFR and VEGF inhibitors in colorectal cancer. We've heard about the IDEA studies, the FIRE trials, and CALGB 80405. At the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, we heard the results of the PARADIGM trial. Have we finally answered the question of when to use EGFR inhibitors as frontline therapy for colorectal cancer? Dr. Aparna Parikh: Thanks so much, Dr. Beg, for this great question. It has been a really exciting year for colorectal cancer across the board. So, the anti-EGFR story is really interesting and has evolved. And maybe just for a little bit of background, we know that colorectal cancer originating from both the right and left side of the colon differ. So, they differ embryologically, and epidemiologically; there are different genetic and molecular aspects to right and left sides of colon cancers. And we have learned over time that in the era of targeted therapy, the primary tumor location has been found to play a very important role, not only in the prognosis of patients but to predict treatment response. We know that patients that have left-sided colon cancers-- and when we think about left-sided colon cancers, we think about cancers that originate from the splenic flexure and descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectosigmoid junction, and sometimes include the rectum in this as well. The rectals have slightly different molecular features than distal colons. And we know that these left-sided patients, overall, have better survival benefits than patients that have right-sided CRC. And that includes again, cecum, ascending colon, hepatic flexure, and transverse colon. So, we know that that had prognostic implications, but what about the predictive implications? And with ASCO, we saw some really exciting data with the PARADIGM study, as Dr. Beg highlighted. We have seen many examples in the past showing the predictive power of anti-EGFR therapy, and anti-EGFR therapy showing a detriment for patients on the right side of the colon. But all these results historically have been obtained by retrospective analysis. So, retrospective analysis of the pivotal CALGB 80405 study, which is the first-line biologic trial. FIRE-3, which is a similar study, but done out of Europe, and KRYSTAL. So all these studies show the same finding but were all obtained basically by retrospective analysis. And what we saw with PARADIGM this year, which is exciting to see, is that this was the first prospective trial to test the superiority of an anti-EGFR inhibitor panitumumab versus bevacizumab in combination with standard doublet first-line chemotherapy for patients that were RAS-wild type. I guess I forgot to mention that again, anti-EGFR therapies are only eligible for patients that are RAS-wild type. We know that RAS-mutant patients and RAS, KRAS HRAS patients don't respond to anti-EGFR therapy. So, the study was looking at RAS-wild type patients, and again, asking the question “was panitumumab better than bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy for these RAS-wild type patients and for left-sided tumors?” It was a multicenter trial done in Japan-- and I always commend the Japanese on their work and their designs and ability to do these studies that ask really important questions. And, overall survival was the primary endpoint of the study in patients with left-sided tumors, but they also did a full set analysis including patients that didn't have left-sided tumors. They had 823 randomized patients. Many patients, a handful did not receive per-protocol treatment, and some were excluded for other reasons relating to inclusion criteria. And they had 400 patients that ultimately received panitumumab and 402 patients that received bevacizumab in the full set analysis. And of those patients, there were 312 and 292 respectively had left-sided tumors. And although the PFS was comparable between the treatment group, we saw that panitumumab in the left-sided patients actually did improve the OS in both patient populations. But when you looked at the left-sided tumors, the difference was 37.9 versus 34.3 months meeting statistical significance. So, this was an exciting study because it confirmed prospectively what we have seen time and time again, and really behooves us to do early biomarker testing and know RAS status early for these patients with right-sided tumors, as they do derive benefit from anti-EGFR. Maybe I'll just pause there and open it up for more questions or comments from Dr. Ciombor as well. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah, Dr. Parikh, I thought these data were encouraging. And as you mentioned, the first prospective data that we have in this setting now that we know this primary tumor sidedness matters. Just on a practical note, what do you do in practice? Do you give a lot of anti-EGFR in the first-line? I find that the toxicity can be challenging sometimes and patients may not want to do that. So, it leaves us in a quandary sometimes. Dr. Aparna Parikh: Yeah. So, what's interesting and I don't think we have this data clearly answered yet is, I had, especially for kind of a fit patient-- with the previous data that we've seen with TRIBE and others showing a survival benefit with triplet chemotherapy for first-line therapy, my inclination had actually been to prefer triplet-- and we know that triplet and anti-EGFR toxicity-wise is really, really tough to manage, and really no benefit there that we've seen with OS or PFS, even though you maybe do get a little bit of a better response rate with that. And so where I have sort of struggled is triplet versus just doing first-line doublet plus anti-EGFR. You know, we are not having a discussion about triplet today, but we also saw some data at ASCO showing that perhaps the benefit of the triplet, with the triplet study, is not as much as we had hoped it would've been too. So, it's a good question. I do tend to prefer triplet, I guess, overall, for the healthy, good performance status patient. And then, if not, then doublet. And we, unfortunately, don't have kind of rapid EGFR testing, we're pushing for that. In practice, I think having RAS/RAF status up front would be entirely helpful. It's lumped into our pan-tumor profiling, comprehensive genomic panels. We get microsatellite instability (MSI) status, which I know we'll talk about here next right away. But I think another reason that oftentimes we don't add it right away, is because we don't have the RAS status right away. So, you just start with a doublet and you may end up sneaking it on later. And then, I'd love to, maybe in another podcast, where we can discuss second-line anti-EGFR therapies and what people do in practice for those right-sided patients should they never get anti-EGFR and later-lines of therapy too. And I would argue, perhaps not, because we do see some patients that do benefit, but it can be challenging sometimes with a fresh new patient to make these decisions. But at least, feel encouraged that we're doing the right thing by adding anti-EGFR therapy if they can tolerate it for the left-sided RAS-wild type patient. How about you? What do you do? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah. Largely, it's a great question. And I don't love giving anti-EGFR therapy. We have an additional issue where I am geographically in that we don't ever give cetuximab because of the high rates of an infusion reaction. So, we pretty much stick to panitumumab and are glad to have that option. But I have started to talk to patients about toxicity and I'm really upfront with the survival data. And it's interesting how people choose differently in terms of what's important to them. And whereas a few extra months in the overall survival may be overshadowed by the toxicity that they have to go through to accomplish that. So, it's good to have many options though, and that's the important thing, and I think the takeaway, as well. Dr. Shaalan Beg: So, kind of brings it back to the fundamentals of practicing medicine, right? Bringing our patients and giving them the options that are most available to them. But I'm going to ask both of you one by one: So, if we have our patient with left-sided colorectal cancer, known as KRAS RAS-wild type, do you recommend EGFR therapy and VEGF therapy and allow the patients to decide, or do you feel that we decide if their profile is such that we should continue with VEGF therapy instead? Dr. Ciombor, do you want to go first? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah, I think both are good options. I don't only do bevacizumab in the first-line by any means because we do have that survival data. It mostly comes down to a discussion with the patient in terms of toxicities and survival and how well those balance out. Dr. Aparna Parikh: Yeah, very similar. I think we have also gotten a little bit more adept at managing toxicity. I'm pretty aggressive about prophylaxis with even doxy and topicals for managing the rash. And so, for some of my younger patients who are wanting to be "aggressive" and want the exposure to anti-EGFR early but are still very mindful of how it's impacting their day-to-day semblance of self, especially for the younger patients, try to be very proactive about side effect management. And then, of course, we have the patients that have the electrolyte wasting and things too that sometimes if it's bad, we are stuck with infusions frequently and you may end up dropping for those patients. But I think the rash at least I feel like for most patients we can manage if you're aggressive about it too. And I think we have gotten better at that than we were many years ago. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Never thought we'd be dermatologists, did we? In training, that was definitely not a path I was good at. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Dermato-Oncology, rapidly growing field. So, Dr. Ciombor, the rectal cancer space has evolved very rapidly in recent years, especially when we hear about total neoadjuvant therapy, short-course radiation, watch-and-wait, for those with complete clinical responses. So at ASCO this year, we heard results on immune therapy and rectal cancer. Can you summarize where we are with immune therapy and rectal cancer? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: So, yes. We heard a lot this year at ASCO; both at ASCO GI and ASCO, from the Memorial group and Dr. Cercek's group. And this has been a really exciting advance that we're starting to see and potentially paradigm-shifting data. So, we know-- as you mentioned, that our treatment of rectal cancer, specifically, locally advanced rectal cancer has changed a lot in the last few years with a shift to more Total Neoadjuvant Therapy. And what the Memorial data showed was that for the patients who have microsatellite instability or mismatch repair deficiency, which admittedly, is a small group, but certainly ones that we see in clinic, those patients, on their trial were treated with six months of dostarlimab as neoadjuvant therapy prior to any other treatment; before radiation, surgery, et cetera, and no chemotherapy. And what they found was that actually, six months of dostarlimab in the first 14 evaluable patients actually induced a 100% clinical complete response rate. So, it's really unheard of in most of our trials to see 100%. And I think that caught everyone's attention for sure. I think we have to keep in mind who these patients were and are because they are currently being followed. So, for instance, these were patients that had pretty bulky node-positive disease, almost all these patients did. These were not really early-stage tumors. We did see that 100% were BRAF-wild type, so it does tell us maybe this is not completely the population that we're all seeing when we do see microsatellite instability since we see a lot of sporadic tumors with BRAF mutations. But on the whole, I mean, these were all MSI-high patients and treated with dostarlimab; the six months, that was the total amount of treatment that they received, though a few patients achieved that clinical complete response earlier at about three months, at the three-month reassessment. And what the clinical complete response rate was, was looking both radiographically, as well as endoscopically, and not seeing any sign of residual tumor. I think the important thing here is that median follow-up is still pretty short. There are a few patients who are approaching now two years past that dostarlimab therapy and have not had tumor recurrence, but overall, the median follow-up is still quite short. So, I think we do need to continue to follow these patients. We don't have overall survival data yet either. I think we still have a lot to learn, but this is a very encouraging start and certainly, something that could be really treatment-changing for these patients, which again, as Dr. Parikh was saying, we need this molecular profiling early to make treatment decisions right off the bat, not even only for metastatic now, but even for these locally-advanced rectal cancer patients. Because if you think about it, we've all taken care of patients who have to go through chemoradiation, and chemo, and surgery, and have a lot of morbidity from those treatments so that even if you cure them, they're left with a lot of toxicity. So, if we could avoid some of that, even potentially, surgery, that would be wonderful. But I do caution that this is not the standard of care yet. This is only based on 14 patients with short follow-ups at the current time. But the trial is ongoing, and there are other trials open in this space for patients who don't live in New York or can't get to New York. And for instance, ECOG-ACRIN study 2201 is treating these same patients with nivo and ipi, as opposed to dostarlimab. And that trial is open in about 80 sites now across the US. So hopefully, geographically near all of these patients. Dr. Shaalan Beg: I think a lot of us and a lot of our listeners, that Monday after the results were announced on ASCO had our phone lines and our patient secure messaging lines blowing up. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: We should have warned our nurses and our treatment teams that they would be fielding these questions, yes. On one hand, it's wonderful that our data and the science is getting out to patients. But I think we also have to be really careful as to what is reaching them because many of them didn't realize it was for this subset of patient populations. But great that they're asking those questions and wondering-- being advocates for themselves too. Dr. Shaalan Beg: You use the term clinical complete response. Can you talk about how we determine someone has a complete clinical response and what their follow-up looks like? Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Yeah. In the context of this study, it was actually, as I mentioned, it was both radiographic complete response, as well as endoscopic. So that's one thing that is a little bit tricky when you think about surveillance of these patients. So, it requires a lot, both in frequent surveillance, MRIs, FLEX SIGs often, digital rectal exams, sometimes doing PET scans or CTs, and patients who-- not only on this kind of study but also in non-operative management; watch-and-wait - really have to commit to very close, very frequent follow-up because if the cancer recurs, we don't want to miss that and lose our chance to cure them. So I think that's a little bit different everywhere, how that watch-and-wait approach really manifests, but I think we're learning how to do that, and working in a multidisciplinary group to make sure that patients get the surveillance that they need. Dr. Aparna Parikh: Yeah. I totally agree. If we offer, for the MSI-high patients, if we ultimately end up offering neoadjuvant immunotherapy-- and actually, I'm looking forward to your study, Dr. Ciombor, too, I think the monotherapy versus doublet, too, is going to come up for these patients. But I had a patient just a week or two ago that was starting on this approach with neoadjuvant immunotherapy, but for now, as a group, if we're proceeding down that and they do get a clinical complete response, we're deciding to forego even the radiation and surgery. We're following what they did in the OPRA study, which was pretty aggressive surveillance on the backend, both with direct visualization and MRIs, and you're seeing these patients every three months or so. Dr. Shaalan Beg: Well, thank you Dr. Ciombor and Dr. Parikh for sharing some valuable insights with us on the podcast today. Dr. Aparna Parikh: Thanks so much for having us. It was a lot of fun. Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Thanks for having us on. Dr. Shaalan Beg: And thank you to our listeners for your time today. If you value the insights that you hear on the ASCO Daily News podcast, please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts. Disclaimer: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. Follow today's speakers: Dr. Kristen Ciombor @KristenCiombor Dr. Aparna Parikh @aparna1024   Dr. Shaalan Beg @ShaalanBeg Listen to additional episodes on advances in GI oncology: Novel Therapies in GI Oncology at ASCO22 ASCO22: Key Posters on Advances in GI Oncology Follow ASCO on social media: @ASCO on Twitter ASCO on Facebook ASCO on LinkedIn Disclosures: Dr. Shaalan Beg: Employment: Science 37 Consulting or Advisory Role: Ipsen, Array BioPharma, AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Cancer Commons, Legend Biotech, Foundation Medicine Research Funding (Inst.): Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Merck Serono, Five Prime Therapeutics, MedImmune, Genentech, Immunesensor, Tolero Pharmaceuticals Dr. Kristen Ciombor: Consulting or Advisory Role: Merck, Pfizer, Lilly, Seagen, Replimune, Personalis Research Funding (Inst.): Pfizer, Boston Biomedical, MedImmune, Onyx, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Incyte, Amgen, Sanofi Recipient, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Array BioPharma, Incyte, Daiichi Sankyo, Nucana, Abbvie, Merck, Pfizer/Calithera, Genentech, Seagen Travel, Accommodations, Expenses Company: Array Dr. Aparna Parikh: Stock and Ownership Interests: C2i genomics Consulting or Advisory Role: Eli Lilly, Natera, Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Roche/Genentech, Inivata, Biofidelity, Guardant Health Research Funding(Inst.): PMV Pharma, Plexxikon, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, Guardant Health, Array, Eli Lilly, Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd., PureTech, Mirati Therapeutics, Daiichi Sankyo

Featuring perspectives from Drs Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Eileen O'Reilly, Philip Philip, John Strickler and Prof Eric Van Cutsem, including the following topics: Introduction (0:00) Integration of targeted therapy and immunotherapy into the management of metastatic colorectal cancer — Kristen K Ciombor, MD, MSCI (3:15) Other considerations in the management of early and advanced colorectal cancer — John Strickler, MD (33:15) Current and future treatment paradigm for gastroesophageal cancers — Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD (55:26) Selection and sequencing of therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma — Philip A Philip, MD, PhD, FRCP (1:23:00) Novel treatment strategies for advanced biliary tract cancers — Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD (1:50:31) CME information and select publications

Featuring perspectives from Dr Kristen Ciombor and Ms Jessica Mitchell, including the following topics: Introduction (0:00) Management of localized disease (10:56) Management of HER2-negative metastatic disease (34:36) Management of HER2-positive metastatic disease (57:08) NCPD information and select publications

Featuring perspectives from Dr Kristen Ciombor and Ms Jessica Mitchell, moderated by Dr Neil Love. Produced by Research To Practice.

Featuring perspectives from Dr Kristen Ciombor and Ms Jessica Mitchell, moderated by Dr Neil Love. Produced by Research To Practice.

Featuring perspectives from Dr Kristen Ciombor and Ms Jessica Mitchell, moderated by Dr Neil Love. Produced by Research To Practice.

This week, CancerNetwork turns to the second part of its 3-part series focused on colorectal cancer. Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, a gastrointestinal cancers (GI) medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, continues the conversation with Kristen Ciombor, MD, MSCI, a GI medical oncologist and associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and John Strickler, MD, a GI medical oncologist, associate professor of medicine, and co-leader of the Molecular Tumor Board at Duke University School of Medicine. This episode's discussion turns to the GOZILA platform and its international collaboration. The experts expand on this platform, what it means for drug development, and examine genetic testing in GI malignancies. Tune in next week for the third and final part of this conversation on colorectal cancer. Don't forget to subscribe to the “Oncology Peer Review On-The-Go” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere podcasts are available.

This week, CancerNetwork looks at the final part of its 3-part series focused on colorectal cancer. Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, a gastrointestinal cancers (GI) medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, concludes his conversation with Kristen Ciombor, MD, MSCI, a GI medical oncologist and associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and John Strickler, MD, a GI medical oncologist, associate professor of medicine, and co-leader of the Molecular Tumor Board at Duke University School of Medicine. This conversation focuses on resistance to targeted therapies in metastatic colorectal cancer, and the importance of addressing it. The experts also discuss EGFR resistance, EGFR rechallenging after prior progression, and rising HER2 amplification. Thanks for tuning in to this series on colorectal cancer from CancerNetwork. Visit cancernetwork.com to catch up on any episodes you missed and to read more about these topics published in the journal ONCOLOGY. Don't forget to subscribe to the “Oncology Peer Review On-The-Go” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere podcasts are available.

This week, CancerNetwork kicks off the first of a 3-part podcast series focused on colorectal cancer. Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, a gastrointestinal cancers (GI) medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, leads a conversation with Kristen Ciombor, MD, MSCI, a GI medical oncologist and associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and John Strickler, MD, a GI medical oncologist, associate professor of medicine, and co-leader of the Molecular Tumor Board at Duke University School of Medicine. This conversation focuses on the current molecular treatment landscape of advanced colorectal cancer and the need for the COLOMATE platform. Among other things, the experts detail this platform and expand on its impact for patients, as well as the evolving world of colorectal cancer. Make sure to tune in next week for part 2 of this conversation on colorectal cancer. Don't forget to subscribe to the “Oncology Peer Review On-The-Go” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere podcasts are available.

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer and multiple myeloma. Featuring perspectives from Drs Neeraj Agarwal, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Brad Kahl, Mark Levis, Ann Partridge, Mark Pegram, Daniel Petrylak, Noopur Raje, David Sallman, Lecia Sequist, David Spigel, Saad Zafar Usmani and Andrew Zelenetz.

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer and multiple myeloma. Featuring perspectives from Drs Neeraj Agarwal, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Brad Kahl, Mark Levis, Ann Partridge, Mark Pegram, Daniel Petrylak, Noopur Raje, David Sallman, Lecia Sequist, David Spigel, Saad Zafar Usmani and Andrew Zelenetz.

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer and multiple myeloma. Featuring perspectives from Drs Neeraj Agarwal, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Brad Kahl, Mark Levis, Ann Partridge, Mark Pegram, Daniel Petrylak, Noopur Raje, David Sallman, Lecia Sequist, David Spigel, Saad Zafar Usmani and Andrew Zelenetz.

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer and multiple myeloma. Featuring perspectives from Drs Neeraj Agarwal, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Brad Kahl, Mark Levis, Ann Partridge, Mark Pegram, Daniel Petrylak, Noopur Raje, David Sallman, Lecia Sequist, David Spigel, Saad Zafar Usmani and Andrew Zelenetz.

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in gastrointestinal cancers. Featuring perspectives from Drs Tanios Bekaii-Saab and Kristen Ciombor, including the following topics: Introduction Case: A woman in her early 70s with metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) — Dr Peles Treatment Options for Child-Pugh B HCC — Dr Choksi First-Line Treatment for Advanced HCC with Child-Pugh B or C Cirrhosis — Dr Bekaii-Saab Second-Line Systemic Treatment for Advanced HCC After Atezolizumab/Bevacizumab — Dr Ciombor Case: A woman in her early 60s with microsatellite instability-high Stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC) and a BRAF V600E mutation — Ina J Patel, DO Case: A woman in her late 50s with microsatellite stable metastatic CRC and a KRAS G12C mutation — Dr Apuri First-Line Immunotherapy for MSI-High dMMR Metastatic CRC Chalk Talk — Dr Ciombor ctDNA in Early and Metastatic CRC Chalk Talk — Dr Bekaii-Saab Gastric, Gastroesophageal and Esophageal Cancers Chalk Talk — Dr Ciombor Case: A woman in her late 60s with metastatic pancreatic cancer — Lowell L Hart, MD Case: A woman in her early 90s with metastatic cholangiocarcinoma — Dr Choksi CME information and select publications

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer and multiple myeloma. Featuring perspectives from Drs Neeraj Agarwal, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Brad Kahl, Mark Levis, Ann Partridge, Mark Pegram, Daniel Petrylak, Noopur Raje, David Sallman, Lecia Sequist, David Spigel, Saad Zafar Usmani and Andrew Zelenetz.

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer and multiple myeloma. Featuring perspectives from Drs Neeraj Agarwal, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Brad Kahl, Mark Levis, Ann Partridge, Mark Pegram, Daniel Petrylak, Noopur Raje, David Sallman, Lecia Sequist, David Spigel, Saad Zafar Usmani and Andrew Zelenetz.

Proceedings from a daylong symposium hosted in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists, featuring key clinical presentations and papers in acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer and multiple myeloma. Featuring perspectives from Drs Neeraj Agarwal, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, Kristen Ciombor, Brad Kahl, Mark Levis, Ann Partridge, Mark Pegram, Daniel Petrylak, Noopur Raje, David Sallman, Lecia Sequist, David Spigel, Saad Zafar Usmani and Andrew Zelenetz.

Featuring an interview with Dr Kristen Ciombor, including the following topics: Final overall survival from the Phase III KN177 study evaluating pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy for microsatellite instability-high/mismatch repair-deficient metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) (0:00) Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) in patients with HER2-expressing mCRC: Final results from the DESTINY-CRC01 study (1:54) My Pathway HER2 basket study: Pertuzumab with trastuzumab for patients with HER2-positive advanced solid tumors in a large, tissue-agnostic cohort (3:49) Nivolumab with ipilimumab or nivolumab with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone as first-line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: First results from the CheckMate 648 study (6:38) First-line nivolumab with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone for advanced gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer or esophageal adenocarcinoma: Expanded efficacy and safety data from the CheckMate 649 study (8:15) Adjuvant nivolumab for resected esophageal or GEJ cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy: Expanded efficacy and safety analyses from the CheckMate 577 study (9:57) Trastuzumab deruxtecan in patients with HER2-positive advanced gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma: Final overall survival results from the Phase II DESTINY-Gastric01 study (11:10) Pembrolizumab with trastuzumab and chemotherapy for HER2-positive metastatic gastric or GEJ cancer: Initial findings of the Phase III KEYNOTE-811 study (12:27) FIGHT: A Phase II study of bemarituzumab combined with modified FOLFOX6 as first-line therapy for FGFR2b-positive advanced gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma (15:24) IMbrave150 trial: Exploratory analysis of the association between treatment response and overall survival among patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with atezolizumab/bevacizumab compared to sorafenib (16:19) Updated results of a Phase Ib study of regorafenib with pembrolizumab for first-line treatment of advanced HCC  (17:36) Pemigatinib for previously treated locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma: Update of the FIGHT-202 study (18:39) NIFTY: A Phase II study of liposomal irinotecan in combination with fluorouracil and leucovorin for patients with metastatic biliary tract cancer after disease progression on gemcitabine/cisplatin (20:14) Preoperative chemoradiation therapy to improve overall survival for patients with pancreatic cancer: Long-term results of the Phase III PREOPANC trial (21:40) Efficacy and safety of zenocutuzumab in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer and other solid tumors harboring NRG1 fusions (22:54) CME information and select publications

Featuring a discussion on important datasets on gastrointestinal cancers from the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting with Dr Kristen Ciombor, moderated by Neil Love, MD.

Featuring a discussion on important datasets on gastrointestinal cancers from the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting with Dr Kristen Ciombor, moderated by Neil Love, MD.

Featuring a discussion on important datasets on gastrointestinal cancers from the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting with Dr Kristen Ciombor, moderated by Neil Love, MD.

Dr Kristen Ciombor from the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee, discusses key presentations on gastrointestinal cancers from the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting. CME information and select publications here (http://www.researchtopractice.com/OncologyTodayPostASCOGI21).