DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE

Josh LaBaer, director of Biodesign's Center for Personalized Diagnostics, focuses on developing advanced diagnostic tools for earlier, more accurate disease diagnosis using personalized medicine. His work aims to treat patients with greater precision, leveraging the human genome project's insights. LaBaer's interdisciplinary team collaborates across various scientific fields to innovate health solutions, exemplified by their rapid COVID-19 testing response.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers present three studies at the 66th ASH Annual Meeting on early detection and intervention in multiple myeloma. The studies include a genomic-based MM-like score for predicting progression from precursor conditions, identifying M-proteins up to 22 years before diagnosis, and a tool called PANGEA 2.0 improving risk stratification for smoldering multiple myeloma.

ASCO/AACR 2025 Workshop on clinical cancer research, held July 20-25 in La Jolla, CA, focuses on effective clinical trial designs for junior faculty and clinical fellows in oncology subspecialties. Workshop codirected by Julie M. Vose, Manuel Hidalgo, and Wendy B. London.

Dana-Farber researchers present 30+ studies at the 47th San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, including OlympiA trial results on olaparib for BRCA-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, COMET study on low-risk DCIS management, TBCRC 056 trial findings on niraparib and dostarlimab, atirmociclib in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer, BWEL trial on weight loss intervention effects, and MARGOT/TBCRC052 trial comparing margetuximab and trastuzumab in HER2+ breast cancer.

Caris Life Sciences and collaborators present seven studies on various breast cancer types, including male breast cancer, at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, highlighting the impact of Caris’ multimodal database on precision medicine.

Recap of November 2024 episodes of OncLive On Air, featuring discussions on toripalimab in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, emerging breast cancer treatments, relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, zolbetuximab approval for CLDN18.2+ HER2-negative gastric/GEJ adenocarcinoma, HPV16-targeted immunotherapy in HNSCC, trastuzumab deruxtecan in HER2+ gynecologic cancer, long-term zanubrutinib data in R/R CLL, and obe-cel approval for B-cell precursor ALL.

Reid Merryman, MD, discusses MRD monitoring in lymphoma, noting it's not standard practice outside trials. Trials often track MRD to guide therapy, using early MRD changes to adjust treatment, guide consolidation, or decide treatment cessation and reinitiation based on MRD status.

Ascentage Pharma's olverembatinib, a third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor, has its new indication for adult patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) resistant and/or intolerant of first-and second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) included in the China 2024 National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL), effective January 1, 2025.

Dana-Farber researchers developed a machine learning model using genomic heterogeneity and ploidy to predict resistance to anti-PD-1 therapy in metastatic melanoma, validated in four cohorts. The model suggests 43% of predicted resistant patients respond to combination therapy, potentially guiding treatment choices.