Tag Archive for: American Society of Clinical Oncology

DLBCL Treatment and Research Updates Patients Should Know About

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DLBCL Treatment and Research Updates Patients Should Know About from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment and research updates should patients know about? Expert Dr. Amitkumar provides an overview of recent updates and shares credible resources to learn about emerging research.

Dr. Amitkumar Mehta is Director of the Lymphoma Program and CAR T Program and Medical Director of the Clinical Trials Office at O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. Learn more about Dr. Mehta.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

The annual American Society of Hematology, or ASH, meeting happened recently, where DLBCL experts shared their research. Are there updates that patients should know about?

Dr. Mehta:

Absolutely. There are so many promising agents that were presented in a wide variety of different clinical trials, early phase or Phase I, Phase II, and also some of the advanced studies that were discussed. The promising right now, I say in a relapse setting, potentially curative is the CAR T. There was some long-term data, a newer platform of CAR T therapy, autologous, that means where patient’s own T cells have modified. There are quite many products already approved. Their long-term data, safety, and efficacy was discussed – very impressive. The new set of cellular therapy, which includes not only CAR T but other immune cell like NK cell therapy, which are also presented – very impressive. Now, remember, we need to auto our own CAR-T cells being processed. There is a time lag, about two or three weeks for preparing those cells compared to the others they’re over the shelf.

Of course, all of this data are early, but they are very promising going forward. The others are bispecific antibodies. So, so far what we have is the monoclonal antibodies targeting single antigen like CD20 or CD19. But now we have bispecific, which targets CD20 on one end but CD3, the T-cell antigen on the other end. And those antibodies have proven very effective in all B-cell lymphoma and large-cell lymphoma.

And there are so many other agents in early phase. As we go out more in-depth going forward, we will lower their efficacy and side effects and how they fare compared to the other approved agents. So, very exciting time for lymphoma patients. So, that even if it comes back, we have multiple options to have it back in remission and potentially a cure going forward.

Katherine:

Yeah. No, that’s great. How can patients learn more about emerging research?

Dr. Mehta:

Very important question. And currently, as we were discussing, Googling sometimes is not the right way because it is unfiltered information. And its sample size could be different. Somebody has a negative experience, and they would write that, and the person reading might have a different perception of the diagnosis and treatment. There are good websites, American Society of Hematology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Lymphoma & Leukemia Society.

There are many other cancer societies. They have good information available. But the most important is actually the responsibility, in my opinion, lies on the provider. When the patient comes and sees me, I make sure that I share the information with the patient. And I direct them to the right source of information, and it should be interactive.

That means if they read something if they have any questions, they come back and ask me. At the end, it is our responsibility as a care team to be available, first of all, for any questions and provide right information. What I’ve learned through a period of time that that has helped patient quite a bit all across so that they don’t have to wander around for nonspecific information like on Google or other search platforms

Addressing Racial Disparities in CLL Care

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Addressing Racial Disparities in CLL Care from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How are CLL racial disparities being addressed? Dr. Adam Kittai explains abstracts presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2022 conference that examined CLL disparities and shares resources for patients who feel they’re struggling to receive equitable care. 

Dr. Adam Kittai is a hematologist and an assistant professor at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Kittai, here.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

We touched on research at the top of the program, but are there other areas of research that you’re excited about and that patients should know about? 

Dr. Kittai:

Yeah, so one of the things that I think is being really talked about in cancer care – and medical care in general – is if disparities exist between minority patients and white patients. And I think this is a really, really important topic.   

So, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which had the conference recently, really made this a mainstay point of the conference this year and there were a lot of abstracts that were defining whether disparities exist and hopefully, by defining whether disparities exist, we’re able to target those disparities in order to make outcomes equal for all of our patients.  

So, in the CLL world, one of the things that I alluded to is a lot of our therapies can be really expensive. So, these new therapies are really expensive, they really widen the disparity gap for patients who are minorities, as well as patients who come from socioeconomic status.  

Katherine:

Absolutely. 

Dr. Kittai:

And so, there were two abstracts. One was an oral presentation that looked at the National Cancer Database in ASCO that showed that Black patients do have worse overall survival than white patients. And then, I actually did my own study looking at the SEER database, which also showed the same exact thing. Even when controlling for socioeconomic status.  

So, I think addressing these disparities, making sure that there’s equity amongst our patients, that everyone has access to these drugs and can afford them, especially when they make our patients live longer and are safer than chemoimmunotherapy in CLL is very, very important.  

Katherine:

Dr. Kittai, if a patient feels like they’re not getting equitable care, are there resources available for them?  

Dr. Kittai:

Yeah, so one of the things that I love about the CLL society, is that they have a section called Access an Expert, I believe. So, look on the website, I’m not sure it’s actually called Access an Expert, but it’s a way for all patients to get a second opinion from one of the CLL experts listed on the website. And so, if somebody is feeling like they’re not getting access to the most beneficial treatment, for whatever reason, seeking a second opinion and using the CLL Society’s website to find that second opinion, I think would be a great way for someone who feels that way to get access to the care that they deserve.  

I believe there are other ways to do this through the Lymphoma Research Foundation, as well as LLS. But I know for sure on the CLL Society, there is a link that you can click that you can get access to a second opinion.  

CLL Research Highlights: What Should Patients Know About?

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CLL Research Highlights: What Should Patients Know About? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What should CLL patients know about recent research updates? CLL expert Dr. Adam Kittai shares recent research highlights, including updates on BTK inhibitors, BCL-2 inhibitors, and monoclonal antibodies.

Dr. Adam Kittai is a hematologist and an assistant professor at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Kittai, here.

See More from CLL Clinical Trials 201

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Transcript:

Katherine:

I understand that CLL researchers met recently at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, also known as ASCO, to share their research. Are there highlights from the meeting that patients should know about?  

Dr. Kittai:

Yeah, so this time of year, there are two main conferences actually that are very important to the CLL groups at large, as well as the oncology community. So, there’s ASCO and then there’s EHA, the European Hematology Association. And in general, there was a lot of exciting things at both of these conferences. 

In CLL, we have two main treatments that we’re really focused on. One is called the BTK inhibitors, which is ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, and zanubrutinib that you may have heard about. And the other treatment regimen is called venetoclax, and that’s usually paired with something called obinutuzumab. So, right now we’re either using the BTK inhibitors or the venetoclax as our frontline therapies. And typically, when patients progress on either one of those treatments – their disease gets worse – we switch to the other one. 

And so, what I’m getting to be that right now, that paradigm of starting with one therapy – the BTK inhibitors or the venetoclax – and then switching to the other, or vice versa, is being challenged. How that’s being challenged is combining the two medications together to see if combining them together is better than giving them sequentially. So, I think this is the primary research that’s being looked at in the world of CLL and we got some updates to show that the combination of the BTK inhibitors, plus the venetoclax, is looking quite good. It’s looking like it’s inducing deep remissions in some of our patients.  

Some of the challenges here though that we still need to figure out is that a lot of these combinations are leading to more toxicity. So, ultimately, I think we’re going to have a discussion about who is the appropriate patient for the combination, as opposed to giving it sequentially. 

There’s also a lot more research going on, looking at what we call randomized trials, which we’ll get to in a second, to determine if the combination is better than giving it sequentially. Right now, we just have what we call single-arm studies that kind of show safety and how well the trial works. But really, the definitive clinical trials – and once again, we’ll get to this a little bit later – are going to be randomized study where we randomize patients to the combination versus the sequential therapy to determine if doing it together is better than doing it sequentially.  

So, I would say that this new treatment paradigm of combining our two main treatments up front is looking quite good. We’re worried about some of the toxicities when we combine these medications, and we’re still not quite sure if combining them is the right approach, if it actually is superior to giving them sequentially. So, I think that’s the name in research right now for CLL, whether or not combination therapy is better than sequential therapy. The jury is still out, but some of the new data we saw was exciting. 

Katherine:

So, how can patients stay up to date on research like this as it develops? 

Dr. Kittai:

Yeah, great question. So, for one, you can talk to your physician. A lot of the physicians will go to either ASCO or the European Hematology Association and be able to come back with some of this data to share with their patients. And then also, there’s a lot of smaller conferences that local oncologists will go to get highlights from these particular conferences, where they also will come back to the patient to let them know some of this highlighted research. I think that’s probably the easiest way for patients to get access to this research. And Google’s our friend, right? And so, a lot of things are available on Google if you know where to look for them. 

Myeloma Treatment & Research Updates From 2022 ASCO and EHA Meetings

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Myeloma Treatment & Research Updates From 2022 ASCO and EHA Meetings from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma specialist and researcher Dr. Krina Patel discusses highlights from the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting and the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2022 Congress. Dr. Patel shares promising research updates related to approaches including: stem cell transplant, CAR T-cell therapy, and bispecifics.

Dr. Krina Patel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Patel is involved in research and cares for patients with multiple myeloma. Learn more about Dr. Patel, here.

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Transcript:

Katherine:   

Dr. Patel, cancer researchers recently came together at the annual ASCO and EHA meetings. Are there any highlights from the meetings that myeloma patients should know about?

Dr. Patel:    

Yeah, so we had some amazing trials that were presented at both. And I got to actually go to Chicago for the ASCO meeting, and I’ll say we actually had a plenary session that was presented for myeloma. That doesn’t happen as often as we like. So, basically that was a study presented by Dana-Farber and all of the different groups around the U.S. that did a transplant study. And basically, they’re looking at patients who got induction therapy when they’re newly diagnosed with transplant versus they didn’t get transplant upfront. And it’s called the DETERMINATION study, and it was to determine should everybody be getting a stem cell transplant.

Katherine:  

Right.

Dr. Patel:   

And this is a trial that’s been going on for over 10 years; that’s why it was so highly anticipated. And basically, the biggest thing that we saw was what we call progression-free survival; so, the time that the myeloma hibernates is what I call it, for PFS. Basically, patients who got transplant upfront, it was 21 months longer that it stayed hibernating than if you didn’t get transplant upfront. So, that’s the trial, that’s what it was looking at, and that’s all they could really say about it. The good news is, even patients who didn’t get transplant upfront but then got transplant in second remission tended to have a really good, long progression-free survival or hibernation in that second remission.

So, it still tells us that right now, a transplant is still important for the majority of our myeloma patients. And basically, that’s sort of what that trial showed.

Now, the difference is we do different types of upfront therapies, and we have new things like CAR T and bispecifics that are coming up earlier. So, we’ll see in the future if it still holds up. But as of right now, it still holds up for transplant. The other big studies, of course, were some of our bispecific studies that use different antigens. So, antigens are the flags that are on the myeloma that we make these receptors for CAR T, so they can find the myeloma, or bispecifics go after that.

And basically, there are other antigens. BCMA, B-cell maturation antigen, is the big one that we use for everything right now. But now, we found even more antigens, which is fantastic.

So, we have something called FcHR5. We have something called GPRC5D. It’s like alphabet number soup, basically. But what’s really exciting is that these new antigens give us a different way of getting to that myeloma, especially if someone has already had a BCMA therapy and they’ve relapsed on that. Well, now we have even new ways to get to that myeloma cell. So, I think that’s some really, really exciting data.

And then, I’ll say the other big one was one of the CAR Ts, Cilta-Cel was something that they presented.

Again, this was two years after the last patient had gotten treated on the trial. And so far, they still have about 71 percent of patients that are still in remission two years after. So, that is huge.

Katherine:                  

Wow.

Dr. Patel:  

We’ve never seen that in relapsed refractory patients before, so we’re really, really excited to kind of have gotten that data to say, “Okay, we found a brand-new way of treating myeloma.” And it really is changing how we’re looking at even earlier lines of therapy now.

Katherine:   

Such promising news. That’s great.

Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research News

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Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research News from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Prostate cancer experts recently gathered at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting to share research updates. Expert Dr. Maha Hussain reviews clinical trial findings presented at the meeting, potential treatments for FDA approval, and credible sources for prostate cancer research information.

Dr. Maha Hussain is the Deputy Director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Learn more about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

I’d like to start by asking about developments in prostate cancer research and treatment. Experts recently gathered at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, also known as ASCO, to share their research.

So, what were the highlights from that meeting that you feel patients should know about?

Dr. Hussain:

I think probably perhaps I can focus on two major – what I would consider major highlights, and those were the results from two randomized Phase III clinical trials.

One of the trials is called the VISION trial. And the VISION trial was a Phase III randomized trial evaluating lutetium-PSMA-617 treatment in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. And the delightful thing about this study is that that study was positive. The PSMA story has been really going on for a few years now. And there’s the PSMA for purposes of scans, imaging, to assess the cancer. And the FDA just approved a PSMA PET imaging this year.

I think it was in May when it was approved. And that would help better define if the cancer is spread or not, and it help with the decision regarding treatment. But the second part is treatment purposes, so identifying the cancer location and trying to attack it with a specific sort of targeted attack to the tumor is really important.

And so, the FDA is currently looking at this particular agent. And I am hopeful that we will hear soon from the FDA, hopefully before the end of the year, and maybe – who knows? – maybe by summer, middle summer or end of summer. Because I do think that would be a major benchmark in there. And so, that’s one thing.

The other clinical trial that I thought was interesting from a data perspective – and for disclosure, I am one of the investigators on this study. And this was an intergroup Southwest Oncology, or SWOG, sponsored clinical trial. So, it’s a federal study that Dr. Aggarwal presented. And this was a study that was aiming at maximizing, again, the anti-tumor therapy with the use of a drug which I call is the younger brother of abiraterone.

So, abiraterone is a drug that is FDA-approved and has been around for several years right now for both castration-resistant prostate cancer and certainly hormone-sensitive metastatic disease. And so, TAK 700 (Orteronel) is a younger brother, I call it, of abiraterone (Zytiga). And one of the potential advantageous when this trial was designed was the fact that you don’t need to use prednisone. And the trial was completed. It was a national clinical trial. And what was interesting is that there is certainly what appears to be a potential benefit, but not in terms of the conclusive based on the way the study was designed.

Having said that, what I thought was remarkable is that patients who basically were only on the control arm was LHRH therapy, so this could’ve been like leuprorelin (Lupron), goserelin (Zoladex), or something like that plus bicalutamide, which is what we call combined androgen deprivation. And that was sort of like the strongest control arm we could do at the time when the trial was designed.

Remarkably, the patients who were on that arm had a median survival of basically 70 months. That’s the median. That’s the bell-shaped curve with the number in the middle. Seventy months is probably the longest ever in any other randomized trials in this disease space, in the hormone-sensitive space. So, that tells us is that men are living longer with prostate cancer, even though it’s metastatic disease; and, yes, it’s not necessarily curable, but men are living longer. And it’s a function of all of the better treatments that are supportive care and everything that was going on.

And so, the control arm, as I mentioned, was the 70.2 months. The actual experimental arm was about 81.1 months. And again, I don’t know where things will go from this. Obviously, I’m not the sponsor not the FDA. But the point here is that men are living longer, and so wellness and health become even more so important than we ever did. And as I tell my patients, every day you’ll live longer. The odds of living longer is there because of better treatments coming on.

So, to me – not to take too much time from the interview – to me, these were the two highlights: new, approved – I’m sorry, new treatment that I’m hoping will be FDA-approved and, obviously, the fact that men are living longer.

Katherine:

How can patients keep up to date on the research that’s going on?

Dr. Hussain:

I’m a bit biased, obviously. I’m a member of ASCO.

And what I would recommend to my patients is to look at the cancer.net website. The cancer.net is a website that is an ASCO-generated website specifically for patients and families to review. It is vetted. The committees are not run just by physicians, oncologists, a multidisciplinary team, but also patient representative. So, the lingo and the presentation are lay-friendly, I call it, there.

The other part I would say, the NCI website, and the American Cancer Society, the American Urological Association. I would say there’s a lot of stuff on the media. The difficulty is vetting what is sort of fake, what is not so accurate, or bias versus there. I also think that the NCCN has also some resources for patients.

And one thing I always tell patients: explore, look, but make sure that you talk to your doctor about the meanings of everything because sometimes it can be not – it could be misleading, I should say, or maybe not very clear on what the implications are.

Colon Cancer Treatment and Research News

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Colon Cancer Treatment and Research News from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What’s the latest colon cancer treatment and research news from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting? Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi shares updates about research findings that were presented at the meeting along with exciting ongoing research in colon cancer.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Welcome, Dr. Krishnamurthi. Would you mind Would you mind introducing yourself?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Sure, it’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me, Katherine. I’m Smitha Krishnamurthi. I’m a medical oncologist. I specialize in taking care of patients who have colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal cancers. As a medical oncologist, I treat patients with drug therapy like chemotherapy and immunotherapy.  

Katherine Banwell:

And where are you located?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi: I work at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Katherine Banwell:

Excellent. Thank you so much.  

Cancer researchers came together recently to share findings at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, also known as ASCO. Are there highlights from the meeting that patients should know about?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Yes. That’s always such an amazing gathering of knowledge. Thankfully, it’s continued virtually at least due to the pandemic. This past ASCO last month, some of the major highlights in colorectal cancer were the final overall survival results were presented from the study of pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with deficient mismatch repair or MSI high status.  

These are the patients who are predicted to benefit from immunotherapy.  

We’d already seen earlier results that the patients who received the immunotherapy up front had a much-improved time for the cancer to regress. Here, they presented the overall survival results, which showed that the median survival for patients who received chemotherapy was three years, meaning half the patients lived shorter time, half lived longer. For the patients who received the pembrolizumab, they hadn’t even reached the median survival at five years.  

So, it looks very important that we know this MSI status or mismatch repair status from the beginning, so that we can offer the right patients immunotherapy first.  

Other highlights were, for example, for patients who have cancers that overexpress HER2/neu. It’s an oncogene. When it’s overexpressed, it tends to drive growth of cancers.  

 We don’t have any FDA-approved drugs for HER2-amplified colorectal cancer, but there are many studies showing that those patients with that type of cancer benefit from targeting this HER2 protein. There are, of course, approved drugs for HER2/neu-amplified breast cancer and stomach cancer. One of these drugs is trastuzumab deruxtecan.   

It’s a drug that targets the HER2/neu protein, but it’s connected with chemo. So, it’s like bringing chemo right to the tumor. The results showed a very high response rate. But it does have a peculiar toxicity of causing inflammation in the lung. So, it’s another treatment option that could be approved. It’s good to see that we’re getting more treatment options there. 

Katherine Banwell:

What are you excited about when it comes to colon cancer research? 

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

There are so many important questions we still need to learn the answers to. I find that patients who have, of course, a mutation of the KRAS or NRAS gene and have metastatic cancer, they have fewer treatment options than when those genes are normal. 

KRAS is a very important oncogene driver of cancer in colorectal cancer, but also in lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. For many decades, it was thought that there was no way to target this protein. Now, we’re seeing that there’s a certain type of KRAS mutation – KRAS G12C – that can be targeted with drugs that now are approved in lung cancer. 

It’s a small fraction of colorectal cancer patients who have that mutation, but it’s like we’re beginning to crack this code. The most common KRAS mutation is G12D. There is a company – Mirati – that has a candidate G12D inhibitor that’s going to enter clinical trials this year. It’s very exciting.   

There was recently a press release onvansertib, which is a polo-like kinase inhibitor, combined with chemotherapy, a second-line treatment for patients with KRAS-mutant colon cancer, showing a much higher response rate than we would expect with the chemotherapy alone.  

That will need to be validated in a large, randomized trial, but that’s looking very exciting. Then the other aspects that I’m most excited about are how to get immunotherapy to work for more of our patients.   

We know that patients who have abnormal mismatch repair or MSI-high cancers can benefit remarkably in the metastatic setting and there are studies going on in the early-stage setting and there are reports of it looking quite promising. But how do we get it to work for the majority of patients who have normal DNA mismatch repair or MSS, microsatellite stable cancers? That’s an area of great interest.  

We’ve seen a study in the Netherlands where they treated patients with normal DNA mismatch repair, early-stage colon cancer, with just two doses of immunotherapy before going to surgery for their early-stage cancer. I was surprised to see like four out of 15 patients responded to the treatment. Perhaps earlier stage cancers may be more responsive to immunotherapy. Definitely looking forward to more updates from that study, which we’ll probably hear in the fall at the European Society of Medical Oncology meeting in fall of 2021. 

Then, of course, the other area that really interests me is what is causing this epidemic of colorectal cancer in young adults? This is really a matter of laboratory studies and epidemiologic studies, but that’s also an area of great interest.  

Katherin Banwell:

There’s an epidemic among younger people?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Yeah. I think of it as an epidemic in that colorectal cancer has definitely been increasing in young Americans and young people around the world in many countries.  

Basically, clearly, there’s been an increase since the 1980s. It seems to be something environmental because it’s related to time. So, it’s not inherited. Some of our patients below the age of 50 diagnosed with colorectal cancer do not have an inherited cause. A study from Ohio State found that 16 percent have an inherited cause. So, 84 percent of them do not. This is definitely increasing, particularly of rectal cancer. I think it must be something environmental. Possibly something like we’re ingesting because our colon is exposed to what we eat. But we really don’t know yet.  

And so, I just advise all my patients and everyone who is interested to just try to eat as much natural food as we can. To try to minimize processed foods and chemicals. 

Because I think that’s the best we can do until we really identify the cause.  

Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Treatment and Research News

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Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Treatment and Research News from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What’s the latest diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment and research news? Dr. Jean Koff explains study findings shared at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 meeting and what they could mean for the future of DBCL treatments.

Dr. Jean Koff is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. Learn more about Dr. Koff, here.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Cancer researchers came together recently to share findings at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. Also known as ASCO. Are there highlights from the meeting that patients should know about?

Dr. Koff:

Well, I think at every meeting, there are lots of exciting updates to possible treatments for DLBCL. I think with the recent ASCO meeting, what a lot of researchers and clinicians are excited about are treatments in the relapse setting for DLBCL. So, there may be shifts where we are more likely to use immunotherapies known as CAR T-cells rather than what we have standardly used for patients who have relapsed after their frontline therapy.

So, that’s one of the exciting updates and we’re eager to see more details on this data. But one of the other exciting areas that we’re following closely in and ask were there several updates are a newer class of drugs, a type of immunotherapy known as fites. And these are immunotherapies that help to target the lymphoma by binding to a marker on the lymphoma tumor surface and recruiting your own immune system to attack the lymphoma. And so, we’re getting more results from clinical trials from lots of these types of agents that are showing very promising results in patients who have relapsed DLBCL.

Katherine Banwell:

What are you excited about when it comes to DLBCL research?

Dr. Koff:

So, I’m very excited about what we call precision medicine.

Which is matching a variety of treatments that we have to what is best for an individual patient. Based on the factors we talked about, like the patient level factors, but more importantly the tumor level factors. Things like gene abnormalities or even abnormalities in the patient’s immune system. We’re still in the infancy of really getting a good understanding of how these molecular factors might be matched to an ideal treatment. But that to me is really the future is matching these patients based on their tumor profiles with a treatment that is the most likely to control the lymphoma, get rid of the lymphoma and offer patients a cure.

Is the COVID Vaccine Effective for CLL Patients?

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Is the COVID Vaccine Effective for CLL Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is the COVID vaccine effective for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients? Dr. Paul Barr shares insight about mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in CLL patients – both for those in remission and those in active treatment.

Dr. Paul Barr is Professor of Hematology/Oncology at University of Rochester Medical Center. Learn more about Dr. Barr, here.

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An Expert’s Perspective on CLL Research Advances

Transcript:

Katherine:

I understand that researchers have been looking into whether the COVID vaccination is as effective in people with CLL. What can you tell us about that? The research?

Dr. Barr:

Sure. Everyone knew this was going to be an important question. We’ve known for a long time that riff CLL responses to vaccines in general aren’t as good as some of the normal population. So, there’ve been a whole host of studies over the years where patients didn’t quite respond as well to flu vaccines or pneumonia vaccines. Nonetheless, we typically recommend standard vaccinations, because there’s can be some degree of response. And our testing isn’t always perfect in terms of how well vaccines work.

So, when it typically, is felt to be a relatively safe procedure, is something we typically recommend.

More recently, we looked at studies on the shingles vaccine, and actually that works better than perhaps the flu shot, for example. Because patients probably were previously exposed to that virus earlier in life when they get vaccinated. So, recall response, which is a little bit easier for the immune system.

So, that brings us up to the COVID vaccines, which is obviously critically important ever on everyone’s mind. And the data’s still early. But what we’ve learned so, far is that, like what we might have predicted, our patients, the CLL patients don’t respond as well to the mRNA-based COVID vaccines.

So, in the media we saw, in the larger 20- and 40,000 patients studies that maybe, 95 percent of patients didn’t experience infection. It looks like in the general population, those vaccines work very well. In a cohort of 160, some CLL patients who are vaccinated early on in Israel, it looked like maybe about 40 percent of patients responded.

For the patients who hadn’t previously been treated but had measurable CLL, maybe about half of patients responded adequately in terms of generating antibodies. So, kind of a flip of a coin. For patients who have been treated and were in remission for more than a year, we’ll say the responses were better, maybe 80 percent or so.

For patients who are on active treatment, even our novel treatments, like the BTK inhibitors or venetoclax (Venclexta), the BCL-2 inhibitor, the responses were pretty poor, 18 or so percent.

So, you can see for patients with active disease, their responses are impaired. For those that are in remission, a little better. For those who are on active treatment, the antibody responses aren’t very good. So, I honestly think this is important information, but tell patients, don’t lose hope.

It’s still important to take the precautions. Some degree of wearing masks and social distancing. They will be better protected if their friends and family around them are vaccinated, and they still may respond to some degree. It’s not like the vaccines aren’t working at all. It’s just that the responses aren’t quite as good as the general population. So, again, another long-winded answer, but hopefully that helps patients understand some of the limitations in vaccinations.

But also that generally things are getting safer in that they still can venture out in society, but still have to take some precautions.

What Is a CLL Biomarker?

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What Is a CLL Biomarker? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is a chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) biomarker? Dr. Paul Barr provides the definition of a biomarker and explains how they may assist in determining a CLL patient’s prognosis and treatment approach.

Dr. Paul Barr is Professor of Hematology/Oncology at University of Rochester Medical Center. Learn more about Dr. Barr, here.

See More from Engage CLL

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An Expert’s Perspective on CLL Research Advances

Transcript:

Katherine:

Often patients are confused with the term biomarker or biomarker testing. Would you define that for us?

Dr. Barr:

Sure. Biomarkers, I think of them as surrogates to understand the bigger picture. A lot of times what we really want to know when we’re meeting a patient is what’s going to happen in the future? What’s going to happen in five and 10 years from now? Or maybe we want to know as we’re getting closer to treatment, how well is this going to work and how long is it going to work for?

So, we do a lot of research in developing surrogate tests to try to give us an idea of what the future might hold. And so, we have developed a number of molecular genetic tests that we test for, and they give us an estimate of what to expect in terms of the patient’s prognosis.

Or perhaps they help predict for which treatment might work best. So, we often, will look at some molecular aberrations or some genetic tests that tell us about abnormalities just within the CLL cells in the leukemia cell. And they can predict for more slowly or rapidly growing disease. And other tests, might predict for, which drug might serve a patient best in terms of efficacy or how long would it work or for safety.

So, think of that as useful tools to help us give the patients an idea of what to expect over time.

An Expert’s Perspective on CLL Research Advances

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An Expert’s Perspective on CLL Research Advances from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

What chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) research advances have emerged recently? Dr. Paul Barr shares how CLL treatments have advanced in recent years and how progress has impacted quality of life for patients.

Dr. Paul Barr is Professor of Hematology/Oncology at University of Rochester Medical Center. Learn more about Dr. Barr, here.

See More from Engage CLL

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CLL Treatment and Research Update: News From ASCO 2021

Transcript:

Katherine:

What are you excited about when it comes to CLL research?

Dr. Barr:

Well, it’s hard not to be excited, honestly. Five years ago, roughly, we were largely using chemotherapy.

And while patients could do very well, not all of them did. And in such a short period of time, everything has been turned on its head. We have better treatments for safer, patients are doing better, they’re living longer. There are more novel treatments being studied now. And we start to wonder if with some of the newer treatments, if maybe we actually can cure this disease. Maybe if the majority of them, they might be able to live a normal lifespan. So, we’re incredibly optimistic.

Those are very general statements, but they really are, they come from just the impressive outcomes that we’ve seen from patients being able to be at home, take their treatment, go into deeper remissions and do better in the long-term.

So, yeah, there’s a lot to be excited about. And that’s why my answer is just kind of general. There’s a lot to focus on, from the different novel agents to MRD-guided therapy, to some of the CAR-T products that are coming out. I really think it’ll continue to change at a pretty rapid pace.

Katherine:

That sounds very promising. When it comes to new developments in research, how can patients discuss this type of information with their doctor to find out if there’s a new approach or a clinical trial that might be right for them?

Dr. Barr:

Well, I honestly think they should feel empowered to simply ask. I know a lot of my patients they will want to know anything new. They can ask us, generally is that, they know that we have these major meetings twice a year. And what’s new with these treatments. Or many of them are on clinical trials and want to know, “Do we have any results yet? What’s been changing?” And sometimes at the end of every visit, we’ll spend five minutes just talking about the new developments or what’s coming down the pike or how practice is changing.

I’m just in the routine of having this conversation with most of the patients on a recurring basis. And honestly, they feel well-served, like we’re keeping them up to date. I think patients enjoy that sort of conversation. So, I wouldn’t feel shy about simply asking.

How Can You Engage in Your CLL Care?

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How Can You Engage in Your CLL Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients become more engaged in their care? Dr. Paul Barr explains steps that patients can take to activate shared decision-making with their provider for optimal care.

Dr. Paul Barr is Professor of Hematology/Oncology at University of Rochester Medical Center. Learn more about Dr. Barr, here.

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An Expert’s Perspective on CLL Research Advances

Transcript:

Katherine:

We’ve been hearing a lot about shared decision-making lately. In your opinion, how is this concept best put into practice?

Dr. Barr:

So, I honestly think shared decision-making is not just useless term. This is something we actually really use in our clinics, and it’s very important for the care of CLL patients, where we have patients who do very well for a long period of time. And there are a lot of different management decisions and a variety of treatment options that we have to discuss.

So, when we have that luxury, it’s really important to help educate patients on the different options and to better understand what their goals of care are, so they can help us decide what’s best for them. When we’re deciding just, one example is that, when we’re deciding on various treatments, we can use agents that are given orally, taken at home, but patients may be on them for many years.

Alternatively, we have fixed duration regimens, but may involve trips to the infusion center. And a lot of these different treatments all work very well. So, involving the patient in that decision making process, makes the process that much easier for the patient and enables you just to take better care of them over the long run.

Katherine:

What is the role of the patient to making treatment decisions?

Dr. Barr:

Well, I think that the role of the patient is really to be their own advocate. Take all the information and then, help us make decisions together. And to just be very honest about what they want from, not just a simple decision about a treatment, but from their overall care. To really just to be as involved as possible and to make sure all of their concerns are heard, all of their questions are answered.

Katherine:

For those who might have trouble speaking up for themselves, what advice do you have for them?

Dr. Barr:

Oh, I would say, especially for our patients with CLL, often there are many,

many appointments along the way, where there may not be urgent decisions being made and there are opportunities to slowly learn more to ask questions. So, as much as possible, try not to be intimidated by that visit to the cancer center, which obviously can be anxiety provoking, but to develop a relationship with your hematologist, your oncologist, your care team so, that they can take better care of you.

I honestly think it works best when you slowly get to know your team, understand the field, some of the decisions that need to be made and that the team only wants what’s best for you. So, yeah, I honestly think it’s – think of it as a process. It’s not a one-time visit where you have to get everything out and get everything answered. It should be a relationship.

CLL Treatment and Research Update: News from ASCO 2021

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CLL Treatment and Research Update: News from ASCO 2021 from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

What’s the latest chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treatment and research news out of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 meeting? Dr. Paul Barr shares study results and explains how they could impact CLL care.

Dr. Paul Barr is Professor of Hematology/Oncology at University of Rochester Medical Center. Learn more about Dr. Barr, here.

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An Expert’s Perspective on CLL Research Advances

Transcript:

Katherine:

I’m Katherine Banwell, your host for today’s program. Joining me is Dr. Paul Barr. Dr. Barr, would you please introduce yourself?

Dr. Barr:

Sure. Hi, Paul Barr from the University of Rochester. Glad to be here.

Katherine:

Thank you so, much. Cancer researchers came together recently to share findings at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, also known as ASCO. Is there news from the meeting that CLL patients should know about?

Dr. Barr:

There is. It seems like at every major meeting, we have a potentially practice-changing dataset that we like to scrutinize and talk about. This ASCO is no exception. I think probably the most impactful abstract was a report.

The first time we’ve seen the results from a study that was called The ELEVATE Relapsed Refractory Study. This was a randomized trial, enrolling previously treated CLL patients who had high-risk disease and randomizing them to two of our very important BTK inhibitor treatments.

Half the patients got acalabrutinib (Calquence), and the other half received ibrutinib (Imbruvica). And both groups were treated until the drug essentially either stopped working, the disease became resistant or was stopped for side effects. So, this was a study we have waited on the results for a long time given that we don’t often see these randomized studies comparing two such active agents. And the results showed us that both drugs work really almost equally as well.

The progression-free survival or the roughly the average amount of time patients are taking the drug was just over three years, 38 months in both arms. So, they really work very well and equally as well. But we did see less side effects with the acalabrutinib. And one of the most important side effects that the study was powered around was, atrial fibrillation or flutter.

There was less AFib or less new AFib in patients that were treated with the acalabrutinib. There was also less minor bleeding, arthralgia, diarrhea. So, a number of, perhaps less severe type side effects, were less common. There was more headache and more cough in the acalabrutinib-treated patients. But I think overall, most of us took from this abstract that both drugs work exceptionally well.

And overall, are very well tolerated treatments although there does look to be lower rates of a number of important side effects with acalabrutinib.

Katherine:

Dr. Barr, is there any other news from the conference that patients should know about?

Dr. Barr:

There is. I’ll give you a couple other additional findings. One was an update of a study, we’ve seen the results before. It’s sort of a partner study to the one I just mentioned. It was called The ELEVATE TN or ELEVATE Treatment Naive Study.

These were previously untreated patients, treated with an old standard, randomized study where the patients received either chlorambucil-based therapy (Leukeran). It was combined with a CD20 antibody obinutuzumab (Gazyva). The second arm was single agent acalabrutinib and the third arm was acalabrutinib plus obinutuzumab. Not surprisingly both of the acalabrutinibs continue to perform very well. The treatments work much better than chlorambucil. But now, we have four-year data. And that’s important for us to really understand what to expect as time goes on.

And I think that the major take-homes are that, acalabrutinib continues to work very well in the first-line setting. There is a hint that acalabrutinib, I’m sorry, that obinutuzumub may prolong the remissions, which is a little bit surprising to us.

But again, small differences in the study weren’t powered to really look at that comparison. And also, the major take home from that dataset is that the safety still looks very good at four years for the patients receiving acalabrutinib. So, I think that continues to shape our practice. And I think the last dataset or abstract to comment on, was one actually we saw at a different meeting at the European Hematology Association meeting, EHA. And this was another randomized study comparing two different BTK inhibitors in relapsed CLL patients.

This one compared ibrutinib and zanubrutinib (Brukinsa). Like acalabrutinib, zanubrutinib is another more specific BTK inhibitor. And when you compare it to ibrutinib and perhaps somewhat similarly to The ELEVATE Relapsed Refractory Study in this zanubrutinib-ibrutinib comparison, so-called ALPINE study, we saw similar efficacy.

Zanubrutinib actually looked like it performed a little better than ibrutinib, but also again here, lower rates of side effects. So, the theme continues for the more specific BTK inhibitors. They seem to work just as well, maybe a little better in some respects, compared to Ibrutinib and somewhat lower rates of side effects. So, when you put it all together, all of the BTK inhibitors work exceptionally well.

We have varying degrees of follow-up and confidence. We have the most follow-up in our ibrutinib treated patients so, we know what to expect for patients six, seven years out after being on ibrutinib.

But we’re now seeing in these earlier studies that lower rates of various toxicities for the newer more specific BTK inhibitors. So, kind of a long-winded answer to your simple question, but hopefully that shows how the new and emerging data continues to shape how we take care of patients.

Confusing CLL Terms Defined

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Confusing CLL Terms Defined from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is FISH testing? What is IGHV? Physician assistant Danielle Roberts explains the meaning of these often confusing terms and their role in disease monitoring and CLL treatment decisions.

Danielle Roberts is a physician assistant with the Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant (BMT) team at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. Learn more here.

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Transcript:

Danielle Roberts:    

So, a FISH test is a test from your either blood in your bloodstream or from your bone marrow biopsy. And it stands for florescence in situ hybridization. And this is a highly specific test that looks at the chromosomal changes with CLL. This can be done in the peripheral blood or in the bone marrow.

And it’s important to remember that when we consider genetic testing and CLL, we aren’t talking about inherited genes, but the abnormalities that occur within the CLL itself.

So, an IGHV test is a mutational test that stands for the immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable gene locus. This can also be done in the peripheral blood and the bone marrow biopsy. This test can help us determine treatment options as well as help with determining what high-risk features there are for your particular disease.

So, 17p deletion is the deletion of the long arm of chromosome 17. This can be seen at initial diagnosis or it can be acquired later on in disease progression. So, for all patients this is one of the more important tests that if you’re going to ask your doctor if you’ve had, you should ask at a diagnosis. If you’ve relapsed later on, you should ask again if that mutational status is being observed or checked in your follow-up testing.

17p deletion is something that can be acquired along the course of your disease progression. It is not always seen at initial diagnosis but can be acquired if you are relapsed or refractory. Therefore I recommend that every time you’re having peripheral blood for flow or if you’re having bone marrow biopsies, especially if it’s for treatment planning purposes, you should advocate to your physician team to make sure that this test is being performed as it will drive – or as it can drive treatment decision-making.

Practical Advice for Coping with a CLL Diagnosis: What’s Next?

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Practical Advice for Coping with a CLL Diagnosis: What’s Next? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

After receiving a diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), patients can have a variety of concerns. Physician assistant Danielle Roberts shares her top three pieces of practical advice for patients to move forward. 

Danielle Roberts is a physician assistant with the Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant (BMT) team at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. Learn more here.

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Transcript:

Danielle Roberts:       

My recommendations if I could have three things that I would recommend all patients with CLL do, 1.) It would be to have your financial information kind of in line or know how to find that. Unfortunately, a lot of the medications that we use to treat disease are incredibly expensive. However, there are really good patient assistance programs out there. In order to be able to apply for patient assistance programs you do have to submit your financial information to them. So, I would really suggest that you have access or be able to know where to find that.

I would also really recommend you talk to your family members in so that they understand what’s – where you are with your treatment and what’s going on. As a physician’s assistant, one of the questions I generally get is when they bring in a family member or somebody who has not been along in their journey for their treatment, if they’re asking lots of questions, that was and kind of diagnosis. So, I encourage people to talk about that at the beginning, so everybody understands where they are and what the plan for the future is going to be.

And then the last thing that I always recommend to everybody is to understand that not one treatment is right for everybody. Understand that things are going to change and we’re all going to grow and we’re going to learn with the process. But if you don’t tell your healthcare team what’s going on, we can’t help you. And we say that there is no such thing as a bad question to us. You’re never bothering us. That’s what we’re here for. Rather you tell us, even if it may be something you feel is minor, ahead of time so that we can address it and work towards a solution, if there needs to be one.

How Could Emerging CLL Treatments Impact Your Care?

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How Could Emerging CLL Treatments Impact Your Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

In the changing world of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) research, how can emerging treatments impact care for patients? Dr. Jennifer Woyach shares information about targeted therapies, immunotherapy and clinical trials, and explains why she is hopeful about the future of CLL care.

Dr. Jennifer Woyach is a hematologist-oncologist specializing in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute. Find out more about this expert here. 

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Transcript:

Katherine:                  

That’s a good point. Are there emerging treatments patients should know about?

Dr. Woyach:               

Yeah. There are a lot of really exciting things going on in CLL right now. And CLL is a disease that has been completely transformed in the last five to 10 years and is poised to do so again. So, I mentioned these therapies that we use for frontline treatment, and there are clinical trials now combining them together. So, these agents work so well on their own. Are they going to be even better if we add them together?

There are also newer target therapies, different targets that we are finding increasingly important in CLL, as well as a modality called CAR-T cells, which most people have heard of where we take patients’ own T cells, modify them in the lab and then, give them back with a goal of getting those cells engineered to kill CLL cells.

These are all things that are not ready for prime time in CLL yet but are available in clinical trials. And I think one other thing I’d really like to put a plug in for is clinical trials in CLL, because right now we’re at a point where our therapies are really very good. But if people just do those treatments, we are never going to figure out which one is the best or figure out, for specific types of patients, which treatment is the best. And so, I advocate that any of my patients that are eligible for clinical trials should consider them, because that’s how we make progress in the disease from an altruistic sense.

That’s how we make things better for everybody. That’s one way a patient can think about it. But more personally than that, being in a clinical trial gives somebody the opportunity to get a treatment that they otherwise wouldn’t get that might be better than our standard of care therapies.

Katherine:                  

Dr. Woyach, as a researcher in the field, why are you hopeful?

Dr. Woyach:               

I am so hopeful in CLL because there is so much that we’re learning every day about the biology of the disease, about specific mutations and other genetic factors that are important and really can be targeted by new drugs. Paralleling our understanding of the disease, there also are many more techniques to make these targeted therapies that kill cancer cells selectively while sparing normal cells and making our drugs even more tolerable.

And I think both the targeted therapies like this and the potential of combining them, figuring out sequences that are best but then, also these newer modalities where we, actually, get the immune system involved like the CAR-T cells. They’re making CAR NK cells now. And just lots of other strategies that could be used together with targeted therapies to, hopefully, cure the disease.