Precision therapy with anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor ceritinib in ALK-rearranged anaplastic large cell lymphoma

This ceritinib translational study in NPM1-ALK+ ALCL provides a strong rationale for a prospective study of ceritinib in ALK+ T-cell lymphomas and other ALK+ hematologic malignancies. READ ARTICLE

ESMO Open DOI: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2021.100172

Authors: V. Subbiah, S. Kuravi, S. Ganguly, D.R. Welch, C.J. Vivian, M.U. Mushtaq, A. Hegde, S. Iyer, A. Behrang, S.M. Ali, R.W. Madison, J.M. Venstrom, R.A. Jensen, J.P. McGuirk, H.M. Amin and R. Balusu

Impact of rapid multigene assays with short turnaround time (TAT) on the development of precision medicine for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Background: A variety of oncogene drivers have been identified in NSCLC and molecularly-stratified precision medicine has led to improved survival in advanced NSCLC. Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based testing is utilized to detect actionable gene alterations; however, the TAT of NGS is often too long to translate into clinical decision making. Thus, rapid multi-gene testing alternatives are needed. Conclusions: Both the 9-in-1 test and Genexus/OPA had short TATs (3−4 days), high success rates (96−98%) and good concordance (95−98%) compared with another NGS assay (OCA). These rapid multi-gene assays highly contributed to enabling precision medicine and the development of targeted therapies for advanced NSCLC. READ ARTICLE

Journal of Clinical Oncology DOI:10.1200/JCO.2021.39.15_suppl.9094

Authors: Shingo Matsumoto, Takaya Ikeda, Kiyotaka Yoh, Akira Sugimoto, Terufumi Kato, Kei Kunimasa, Atsushi Nakamura, Ichiro Nakachi, Shoichi Kuyama, Jun Sakakibara-Konishi, Haruko Daga, Eiji Iwama, Kageaki Taima, Naoki Furuya, Kaname Nosaki, Hiroki Izumi, Yoshitaka Zenke, Koichi Goto

Outcome of Targeted Therapy Recommendations for Metastatic and Recurrent Head and Neck Cancers

Recurrent/metastatic (R/M) head and neck cancers bear a poor prognosis. In this analysis, we examined the efficacy and the outcome of targeted therapy recommendations based on the patients’ molecular tumor portrait after failure of all standard therapy options. In this single-center, real-world retrospective analysis of our platform for precision medicine, we analyzed the molecular profile of 50 patients diagnosed with R/M head and neck cancer. Tumor samples of the patients were examined using next-generation sequencing panels of mutation hotspots, microsatellite instability (MSI) testing, and immunohistochemistry (IHC). In 31 cases (62.0% of all patients), a molecular-driven targeted therapy approach was recommended. Eventually, 14 patients (28%) received the suggested targeted therapy. Six of fourteen patients (43%) achieved stable disease conditions and four patients (29%) experienced a progressive disease. The median time to treatment failure was 2.8 months. Therapy recommendations were significantly more often issued for men (p = 0.037) than for women. This analysis demonstrated that precision medicine provided the basis for molecular-driven therapy recommendations in over half of the patients with advanced therapy refractory head and neck cancers, with significantly more therapy recommendations for men. Our analysis showed that although precision medicine approaches are implementable and feasible for the management of recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancers in daily clinical routine, there are major limitations and challenges that have to be overcome. READ ARTICLE

Cancers DOI: 10.3390/cancers12113381

Authors: Hossein Taghizadeh, Robert M. Mader, Leonhard Müllauer, Thorsten Fuereder, Alexandra Kautzky-Willer and Gerald W. Prager