ESMO 2022 – Solid Tumors – hybrid, Paris
Lecture Board: Myriam Chalabi, MD, PhD; Omid Hamid, MD; Jamie R. Merchan, MD; Armando Orlandi, MD, PhD; Matthias Pinter, MD, PhD
Medical Writer: Florence Boulmé, PhD; Eva Eckelhart, PhD
Publishing Editor: Anna Fenzl, PhD
Preface – ESMO Solid Tumor 2022
At the ESMO congress held in Paris, France, and virtually from 9th – 13th September 2022, practice-changing data and high-quality education attracted more than 29,300 participants from over 150 countries.
New clinical insights in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) was the sixth most common cancer in 2018, with more than 700,000 newly diagnosed cases per year and 350,000 cancer deaths worldwide. Around 90 % of head and neck cancers are HNSCC, with oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, and larynx being the most commonly affected areas.
Update on the treatment for advanced HCC
With more than 900,000 newly diagnosed cases in 2020, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most frequent malignant disease with a high mortality rate of approximately 92 %. Current first-line treatment for advanced HCC includes atezolizumab plus bevacizumab, as well as the tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) sorafenib and lenvatinib.
Towards treating all stages of gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma
Gastric and esophagus cancers were the fifth and the seventh most frequently diagnosed cancers worldwide in 2020, respectively. In the same year, these cancers ranked fourth and sixth in mortality, respectively. Most patients with gastric cancer/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GC/GEJA) present with inoperable or metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis; resulting in a strong need for efficient and tolerable first-line (1L) and second-line (2L) treatments.
From neoadjuvant to second-line therapeutic options for RCC patients
Kidney cancer accounted for more than 400,000 newly diagnosed cases in 2020,. Interestingly, after over two decades of increasing rates, the worldwide incidence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has shown signs of plateauing in recent years, whereas an increase of the global kidney cancer death rate was observed.
Promising therapeutic strategies for colorectal cancer treatment
With more than 1.9 million new cases, colorectal cancer (CRC) accounted in 2020 for 10 % of all diagnosed cancers. CRC ranked third in terms of incidence and was the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, with 935,000 estimated deaths in 2020. Over the last five years, clinical studies have shown that treatments specifically tailored to the molecular and pathological characteristics of the tumor improved overall survival.
Novel early clinical approaches in solid tumors
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells have proven to be effective in the clinic for patients with malignant B-cell tumors but their application for solid tumors is challenging. BNT211 is a novel therapeutic approach which comprises two components: CAR-T cells targeting the Claudin 6 (CLDN6) and a CLDN6-encoding CAR-T cell amplifying RNA vaccine (CARVac).
EXPERT VIDEOS
All video interviews from ESMO Solid Tumors 2022
Stacey A. Cohen explains if ctDNA can detect MRD and predict recurrence in patients with colon cancer in a real-world setting, if it should be used in daily clinical practice or as a surveillance biomarker in stage II ctDNA-negative colon cancer patients. Moreover, she depicts how the treatment of patients with colon cancer might change in the foreseeable future.