Heather A. Wakelee, MD, Stanford University, Stanford, CA discuss the efficacy of neoadjuvant and adjuvant immune therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer. Although trials of neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors have yielded positive results, there is currently a lack of disease-free survival data (DFS). In the IMpower010 Phase III trial, adjuvant atezolizumab, a checkpoint inhibitor, met its significance endpoint of DFS, delaying tumor return, however more time is required before tumor eradication can be determined (NCT02486718). Research is ongoing to determine whether patients may benefit from a combination of neoadjuvant and adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors, and to discover strategies to identify appropriate candidates for neoadjuvant/adjuvant immunotherapy e.g., using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). This interview took place at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 Virtual Meeting.

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Paul A. Bunn Jr, MD, distinguished professor, Division of Medical Oncology, James Dudley Chair in Lung Cancer Research, University of Colorado Denver, 2014 Giant of Cancer Care in Lung Cancer, discusses tumor mutational burden as a biomarker in small cell lung cancer.

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Researchers at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have discovered a new metabolic vulnerability in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) that can be targeted by existing drug therapies.

SCLC is a deadly and aggressive form of lung cancer with few therapeutic options and an incredibly low five-year survival rate of 5 percent. Researchers at CRI believe the key to finding new therapies for this disease lies in better understanding the metabolism of SCLC.