VJHemOnc Podcast

EHA & ICML 2021: updates in Hodgkin lymphoma

Although classical Hodgkin lymphoma has a high cure and overall survival rate, the treatment of relapsed/refractory disease, treatment-related adverse events, quality of life and poor outcomes in older patients present ongoing unmet needs. Much research is currently focused on risk stratification, such as with positive emission tomography (PET) scans, to identify patients who are at low- or high-risk of recurrence and enable the use of risk-adapted approaches. Furthermore, longer-term follow-up data from trials of novel immunotherapy combinations in the frontline setting have recently been presented which demonstrate durable remissions and may reduce the risk of relapse for patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

In this podcast, Julia Driessen, MBBS, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Ann LaCasce, MD, MMSc, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA; Martin Hutchings, MD, PhD, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Stephen Ansell, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MI, share updates on the use of PET in the treatment and management of Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as five-year follow-up data from the ECHELON-1 and CheckMate 205 trials, as presented at the 2021 International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) and this year’s European Hematology Association (EHA) Congress.

Latest transplant updates from EHA 2021

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is used as a treatment option for a wide variety of hematological disorders. Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a systemic disorder that arises when the graft’s immune cells recognize the host as foreign and attack the recipient’s body cells. Its occurrence poses a major medical complication that limits the efficacy of HSCT and causes significant morbidity and mortality. New insights into the pathophysiology of GvHD have led to new developments in treatment strategies. Additionally, immediate survival is no longer the only concern after allogeneic HSCT (allo-HSCT). The burden of long-term morbidity borne by allo-HSCT survivors is substantial, and patients who received allo-HSCT have recently been identified as being at increased risk of cardiovascular events.

 

In this exclusive podcast, John Koreth, MBBS, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, Eduardo Rodríguez-Arbolí, MD, MPhil, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Seville, Spain, and Eleni Gavriilaki, MD, PhD, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, provide the latest transplant updates, as presented at this year’s Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA 2021).

Key updates on CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma

The treatment of multiple myeloma is a rapidly evolving field with advances in the understanding of myeloma disease biology contributing to the development of novel targeted therapies. Recently, there has been a rapid increase in the number of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies being trialed for patients with multiple myeloma, and in March 2021, idecabtagene vicleucel became the first CAR-T therapy to receive FDA approval for the treatment of myeloma.

In this podcast, Nina Shah of the University of California San Francisco, CA; Saad Usmani of the Levine Cancer Institute, NC; Sham Mailankody of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, NY; Adam Cohen of the Abramson Cancer Centre, PA; and Maria-Victoria Mateos of the University Hospital of Salamanca, Spain, discuss the use of CAR-T therapy in patients with multiple myeloma.

The Lymphoma Sessions: highlights from EHA and ICML 2021

In this roundtable discussion, chaired by Gilles Salles, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York, NY; Nirav N. Shah, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin, Brookfield, WI; Ulrich Jäger, MD, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Stephen Ansell, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MI, review the most exciting updates in lymphoma from the 2021 European Hematology Association (EHA) and International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) meetings, highlighting the latest data on antibody, cellular and novel therapies.

The CLL Sessions: highlights from EHA and ICML 2021

In this roundtable discussion, chaired by Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Susan O’Brien, MD, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA; Lydia Scarfò, MD, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy and Othman Al-Sawaf, MD, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, review the most exciting updates in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) from the 2021 European Hematology Association (EHA) and International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) meetings, including the latest data from the RESONATE-2, CLL14, MURANO and ELEVATE-RR trials, as well as talking on second-generation BTKs and fixed-duration therapy.

EHA 2021: updates on treatment for MDS

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of myeloid clonal disorders caused by a defect in bone marrow, which hinders their ability to produce healthy and normal functioning red blood cells (RBCs). The heterogeneous nature of MDS means therapeutic approaches need to be specifically tailored to each subtype. Current treatment options for MDS include allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which is the only curative form of treatment and available to only a small population of patients, whilst for most patients, non-curative treatment such as iron chelation and growth factors, lenalidomide and hypomethylating agents are the only available options. Although progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms which underpin MDS, few novel treatments have been developed. 

In this podcast, Valeria Santini, MD, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; Andrew Wei, MBBS, PhD, Alfred Hospital and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; and Sangmin Lee, MD, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, discuss the latest research on treatment for MDS, as presented at this year’s Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA 2021).  

iwNHL 2021: immunotherapy and the microenvironment

Recent progress in the field of immunotherapy presents an exciting alternative to standard chemotherapy treatments for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However, at present, durable responses are only achieved in a minority of patients. Accumulating evidence suggests that the microenvironment plays a critical role in the regulation of immunotherapeutic agents. Furthering our understanding of this relationship may help to enhance the outcomes of current immunotherapy regimens and improve the development of novel immunotherapies.

In this podcast, Patricia Pérez Galán of the IDIBAPS University Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain, Stephen Ansell of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, Frederick Locke of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, and Francisco Hernandez-Ilizaliturri of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, talk on the impact and role of the tumor microenvironment on outcomes with immunotherapy in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The Myeloma Sessions: highlights from EHA and ASCO 2021

The introduction of many novel drug classes and therapies has resulted in significant improvements in overall survival outcomes for patients with multiple myeloma over the past decade. Despite this, many patients become relapsed or refractory to currently available therapies and as such, novel agents and combination regimens remain key to improving the outcomes of patients in high-risk subgroups. Immunotherapies, such as monoclonal antibodies, and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies have become increasingly prominent in the multiple myeloma space, with the first CAR-T therapy for myeloma receiving FDA approval in March 2021. However, with such a broad range of treatments now available, there is debate on the optimal sequencing of therapies.

In this roundtable discussion, chaired by Noopur Raje, MD, from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, Nina Shah, MD, of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA, Yi Lin, MD, PhD, from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, and Katja Weisel, MD, from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, review the most exciting updates from the 2021 European Hematology Association (EHA) and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meetings, including the latest data from the MAIA, FORTE and Cassiopeia trials, as well as talking on novel agents and CAR-T therapies.

EHA 2021: key trial updates in myelofibrosis

The breakthrough discovery of upregulation of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway as the driving force behind myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) has led to a broadened range of treatment options across the spectrum of MPNs. Myelofibrosis is one of the most common types of MPN and many clinical trials are exploring novel drugs and combinations for its treatment. The JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib became the first JAK inhibitor to receive FDA approval for the treatment of myelofibrosis in 2011, and more recently the FDA granted approval to fedratinib for patients with intermediate-2 or high-risk myelofibrosis.

In this podcast, Srdan Verstovsek, MD, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, Ruben Mesa, MD, from the UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, San Antonio, TX, and Naveen Pemmaraju, MD, of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, discuss the key updates from clinical trials investigating novel therapies and treatment regimens for patients with myelofibrosis, which were presented at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2021 meeting.

The MPN Sessions: highlights from EHA and ASCO 2021

Over the past decade there has been a vast increase in the number of clinical trials taking place in the field of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), with many trials investigating the potential benefits of novel JAK inhibitors both as monotherapy and in combination with other drugs, such as Bcl-2, Bcl-xL or BET inhibitors. More recently, next-generation sequencing has led to the identification of further mutations associated with MPNs, which may provide alternative therapeutic targets. In particular, the telomerase inhibitor imetelstat and the MDM2 inhibitor KRT-232, have demonstrated potential benefits for patients with myelofibrosis, whilst the tyrosine kinase inhibitor avapritinib recently received FDA approval for the treatment of advanced systemic mastocytosis.

In this roundtable discussion, leading MPN experts Ruben Mesa, MD, from the UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, San Antonio, TX, and Naveen Pemmaraju, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, review the top highlights from the 2021 European Hematology Association (EHA) and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meetings, including data on novel JAK inhibitors and combination regimens, therapies for rarer MPNs and updates from ongoing Phase III trials of key treatments.