Themed Securing access to optimal cancer, some of us have recently returned from attending this year’s ESMO Congress that was, as promised by VHIO’s Director and ESMO/ESMO Congress President, Josep Tabernero, a momentous celebration of the latest groundbreakng results spanning preclinical, translational and clincial discovery in oncology.
Drawing a record attendance of 28.000 delegates from 138 countries, several VHIO researchers, medical oncologists and physician scientists also gathered in Munich to listen to, exchange and debate with the 578 invited speakers as well as the many other experts presenting their findings from among the 2052 accepted abstracts and 66 late breakers.
Selecting this year’s ESMO Congress to first outing results from several of their studies, VHIO faculty were actively participating across some of the 195 scientific and educational sessions as presenters, and several of our scientists and clinical investigators were also appointed as Chairs and Members of various Congress Tracks and Scientific Sub-Committees.
A pick of VHIO contributions
At the organizational level, as previously mentioned, in his capacity as ESMO President and Congress President, our Director, Josep Tabernero headed the tremendous efforts spearhead by Solange Peters (Lausanne, Switzerland), ESMO President-Elect and Congress Scientific Committee Chair, Andrés Cervantes (Valencia, Spain), Educational Chair of ESMO 2018, in addition to the 20 Track Chairs and respective Committee Members who collectively represented the engine that powered an exceptionally stimulating scientific program of excellence.
VHIO faculty featured prominently on the list of Congress Officers as follows:
- Enriqueta Felip, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group, took the reins as Chair of the Non-metastatic NSCLC and other thoracic malignancies Track.
- Joan Seoane, Director of Translational Research at VHIO, served on the CNS Tumors Track chaired by Matthias Preusser (Vienna, Austria).
- Principal Investigator of our Gynecological Malignancies Group, Ana Oaknin, was called on for her expertise as Scientific Committee member of the Gynecological Cancer Track, led by Susana Banerjee (London, UK).
- Irene Braña, Medical Oncologist and Physician Scientist of Enriqueta Felip’s Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer, was appointed member of the Head and neck cancer Track, directed by Amanda Psyrri (Athens, Greece).
As a reflection of their respective authority within the oncology field as well as these scientific program appointments, Enriqueta, Joan and Ana were selected to interview by ESMO as well as the premier oncology channel, ecancer, on the ground in Munich at ESMO 2018 – please see the links to some of these expert videos under ‘ESMO Congress: VHIO experts on film’ below.
Talking of filming and media, Rodrigo Dienstmann, who heads VHIO’s Oncology Data Science (ODysSey) Group, also did a superb job in his role as Core Committee member of ESMO’s Press and Media Affairs Committee chaired by Pilar Garrido (Madrid, Spain). Not only was his input instrumental to developing the ESMO Congress 2018’s press program, but he was also an appointed expert readily at hand to guide and advise journalists on studies presented throughout the Congress.
In his capacity as Chair of ESMO’s Young Oncologists Commitee (YOC), VHIO’s Guillem Argilés, Medical Oncologist and Physician Scientist of our Gastrointestinal & Endocrine Tumors Group, headed by Teresa Macarulla and directed by Josep Tabernero, ensured that this year’s Young Oncologists Track (YO) built on the tremendous successes of ESMO meetings past. The expertly crafted YO program tackled critical issues such as how to more effectively achieve a work/life balance at early career stages, and provided essential guidance in important areas including the elaboration of research projects – from ideas to papers. This particular forum was co-moderated by Leticia de Mattos-Arruda, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Applied Genetics of Metastatic Cancer Group and Member of ESMO’s YOC.
Research reported by VHIO: forward steps in rendering oncology more precise
Applauded as potentially practice changing, data from the phase III SOLO-1 multi-center clinical trial* that counted on the participation 19 internationally renowned experts across 10 countries, were presented during the ESMO Congress Presidential Symposium co-chaired by VHIO’s Director, ESMO and ESMO Congress President, Josep Tabernero, and the Society’s Past President, Fortunato Ciardiello, Sunday 21 October.
Led by Kathleen Moore, Associate Professor at the Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center (USA), and co-authored by Ana Oaknin, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Gynecological Malignancies Group, findings from this important study showed a spectacular 3-year extension of progression-free survival in over 50% patients with advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA 1/2 mutation who were treated with maintenance therapy with the PARP inhibitor, olaparib. In addition, results showed a 70% reduced risk of disease progression in these patients. Serving as testament to the practice changing promise of these findings, not only was this study selected by both VHIO and ESMO for their respective media programs, it was also timed to publish as an open access Original Article on the very same day of the Congress by The New England Journal of Medicine**.
For more information, please see VHIO’s dedicated news piece here.
Famed for being open to all professionals working in cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, care and advocacy, ESMO’s unified and multispecialty approach continues to expand the appeal of its annual Congresses. This year’s meeting was of no exception.
As an example, this year’s series of 18 Multidisciplinary Interactive sessions offered all participants the opportunity to consider and debate together from a broad range of different perspectives. One of the most popular focused on recurrent cervical cancer and was moderated by Ana. Kicking off the Session, David Cibula (Prague, Czech Republic), introduced a case for discussion and proceeded to present his take as a surgeon, followed by Alexandra Taylor (London, UK) who revealed her perspective as a radiotherapist, and finally, Ana, who defended her viewpoint as a medical oncologist. Illustrative of the popularity of ESMO Congress’ multidisciplinary scope and depth, the room was jam-packed and the Q&A round to follow was lively, entertaining with numerous delegates queuing with more questions once the Session had closed.
Central to our efforts aimed at turning current challenges in precision oncology into opportunity and better outcomes, is the fine-tuning of patient selection matched to novel therapies in early phase clinical trials. Representing an important step in this direction, VHIO’s Early Clinical Drug Development Group headed by Elena Garralda, presented the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) Immuno-Oncology prognostic index (VIO): a new tool for improved patient (pt) selection in Phase 1 (Ph1) trials with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICI) – abstract no. 92P.
During a Poster Display session on Saturday 20 October, Cinta Hierro, Phase I Investigator of the same group as well as Associate Investigator at VHIO’s Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UTIM) – “la Caixa”, also directed by Elena Garralda, presented results that promise a more precise patient selection for phase I clinical trials with immunotherapies. By factoring in of all clinical-laboratory variables linked with worse median Overall Survival (mOS), findings showed that the VIO prognostic index more accurately predicts Overall Survival (OS), and is superior to other published prognostic scores. Importantly, for those individuals graded with a poor prognosis – who would be less likely to benefit from enrollment in phase I trials with immunotherapies – alternative treatment options could therfore be considered for these patients.
Another study led our Early Clinical Drug Development Group centered on the expansion of indications of VHIO’s comprehensive prescreening program that is championed by Ana Vivancos and Paolo Nuciforo, Principal Investigators of VHIO’s Cancer Genomics and Molecular Oncology Groups, respectively. More specifically, the Impact of a molecular prescreening program (MPP) in the management of patients with non-glioblastoma brain tumors – abstract no. 4302, sought to establish the impact of the program towards the more effective and tailored management of patients with a non-glioblastoma diagnosis.
Carried out in collaboration with several VHIO translational-clinical teams including our Oncology Data Science (ODysSey) Group, spearhead by Rodrigo Dienstmann, results of this study that retrospectively reviewed the clinical and molecular data from these patients, were presented during a Poster Discussion session on Saturday 20 October by María Vieito, Phase I Investigator of Elena’s Group and Associate Investigator at VHIO’s Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UTIM) – “la Caixa”. Considering the high number of druggable mutations identified, coupled with the lower likelihood of premature death compared with patients diagnosed with glioblastoma, this research validates the relevance of including these patients in molecular prescreening programs and phase I Unit clinical trials.
ESMO Congress: VHIO experts on film
As previously mentioned, several VHIO investigators were filmed to reveal insights, discuss findings and provide comment throughout the course of the Congress.
The list below is by no means exhaustive but provides a flavor of these important contributions. Once additional footage is published, VHIO Communications will be adding links to more videos.
VHIO’s Ana Oaknin, Principal Investigator of our Gynecological Malignancies Group, was interviewed by ESMO for one of its Expert Video Reports. As co-author of the aforementioned Phase III SOLO-I multi-center trial that made the headlines during the Congress (see VHIO’s dedicated news here), she comments on the importance of the reported findings, discusses the results of the Phase III CORAIL trial of lurbinectedin in platinum-resistant relapsed setting – which she also co-authored, and outlines next step directions in clinical trial design to improve outcomes for patients. To access this interview click here.
Enriqueta Felip, Principal Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group provided expert comment on LBA57: Overall survival results of ceritinib in ALKi-naïve patients with ALK-rearranged NSCLC (ASCEND-3). To discover more please click here to access this ESMO Congress Highlights video.
Enriqueta also granted an expert interview with leading oncology channel ecancerTV to talk about the certinib and ribociclib in patients with ALK-positive NSCLC and, further to positive results, she also highlights a number of agents available as first-line therapy. Find out more by clicking here.
ecancer TV also caught up with Elena Garralda, Principal Investigator of our Early Clinical Drug Development Group and Executive Director of VHIO’s Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – “la Caixa”, to discuss just some of her group’s studies and results that were presented throughout the course of the meeting. Watch now by clicking here.
Joan Seoane, Director of Translational Research at VHIO, was also filmed by ecancerTV to discuss data presented from the latest trials in CNS, disease relapse and the role and relevance of the tumor microenvironment. Please click here to view this filmed interview.
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References:
* LBA7_PR. Maintenance olaparib following platinum-based chemotherapy in newly diagnosed patients (pts) with advanced ovarian cancer (OC) and a BRCA1/2 mutation (BRCAm): Phase III SOLO1 trial. K.N. Moore, N. Colombo, G. Scambia, B.-G. Kim, A. Oaknin, M. Friedlander, A. Lisyanskaya, A. Floquet8, A. Leary, G.S. Sonke, C. Gourley, S. Banerjee, A.M. Oza, A. González-Martín, C. Aghajanian, W. Bradley, E.S. Lowe, R. Bloomfield, P. DiSilvestro.
** Maintenance Olaparib in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Advanced Ovarian Cancer. Kathleen Moore, M.D., Nicoletta Colombo, M.D., Giovanni Scambia, M.D., Byoung-Gie Kim, M.D., Ph.D., Ana Oaknin, M.D., Ph.D., Michael Friedlander, M.D., Alla Lisyanskaya, M.D., Anne Floquet, M.D., Alexandra Leary, M.D., Gabe S. Sonke, M.D., Ph.D., Charlie Gourley, M.D., Ph.D., Susana Banerjee, M.D., Ph.D., Amit Oza, M.D., Antonio González-Martín, M.D., Ph.D., Carol Aghajanian, M.D., William Bradley, M.D., Cara Mathews, M.D., Joyce Liu, M.D., Elizabeth S. Lowe, M.D., Ralph Bloomfield, M.Sc., and Paul DiSilvestro, M.D. October 21, 2018. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1810858
