Biology of response and resistance to MAPK pathway targeted therapy in patients with BRAFV600E-mutated mCRC

 Findings from the phase III BEACON metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) study were recently published in Nature Medicine. 10% of tumours in patients with mCRC are comprised of BRAF mutations; the BEACON study "demonstrated that the BRAD inhibitor encorafenib plus the anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody cetuximab, with our without the MEK inhibitor binimetinib, improved overall survival (OS), objective response rate and progression-free survival (PFS) compared with cetuximab plus chemotherapy in patients with BRAF-mutated mCRC who has been previously treated."  

To learn more about the BEACON study, click here. 

Source mentioned: 

Kopetz S, Murphy DA, Pu J, et al. Molecular profiling of BRAF-V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer in the phase 3 BEACON CRC trial. Nature Medicine; Published online 23 September 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03235-9

Benefit in overall survival with neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab in patients with resectable, early-stage non-small cell lung cancer

 Findings from the KEYNOTE-671 study, a randomized, placebo-controlled phase III trial, has shown that neoadjuvant prembrolizumab and cisplatin-based chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab "significantly improved overall survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy along in patients with molecularly unselected, resectable stage II, IIIA or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)."  Following a study of 797 NSCLC patients, 393 of whom received pembrolizumab while 400 received placebo, online survival estimates were "71% in the pembrolizumab group and 64% in the placebo group." 

To learn more about this study, click here. 

Sources mentioned: 

• Spicer JD, Garassino MC, Wakelee H, et al. on behalf of the KEYNOTE-671 investigators. Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone in patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (KEYNOTE-671): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. The Lancet 2024;404(10459):P1240-1252.
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  Presley CJ, Owen DH. Improved survival for patients with lung cancer treated with perioperative immunotherapy. The Lancet 2024;404(10459):P1176-1178.
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  Garassino MC, Gao S, Liberman M, et al. Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab (pembro) or placebo (pbo) plus chemotherapy and adjuvant pembro or pbo for early-stage NSCLC: Subgroup analyses of the phase III KEYNOTE-671 study. Annals of Oncology 2024;35(Suppl 2):S778-S779.