Three HCRN investigator-initiated clinical trials were highlighted during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 Annual Meeting held virtually June 4-8.

Deepak Kilari, MD, (pictured left), associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin and a medical oncologist at the MCW Cancer Center, presented a poster (Abstract #TPS4591) on HCRN GU18-343, the phase II ABATE study of cabozantinib in combination with atezolizumab as neoadjuvant treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).

Michael B. Atkins, MD, (pictured center), deputy director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and professor of oncology and medicine (hematology/oncology) at Georgetown University School of Medicine, presented a poster discussion (Abstract #4510) on HCRN GU16-260 – Cohort B, a phase II study of nivolumab and salvage nivolumab + ipilimumab in treatment -naïve patients with advanced non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma (nccRCC).

Matt D. Galsky, MD, FASCO, (pictured right), professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology) at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and co-director of the Center of Excellence for Bladder Cancer at The Tisch Cancer Institute, presented an oral abstract (Abstract #4503) on HCRN GU16-257, a phase II trial of gemcitabine, cisplatin, plus nivolumab with selective bladder sparing in patients with MIBC. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network investigators presented the ongoing study LUN18-335, RAMOSE: An open-label randomized Phase II study of osimertinib with or without ramucirumab in TKI-naïve EGFR-mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), during the World Conference on Lung Cancer earlier this year.

Led by Xiuning Le, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the goal of this multicenter study is to determine the efficacy of the combination of osimertinib and ramucirumab in treatment-naïve EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer. An earlier phase I study demonstrated the safety and feasibility of this combination.

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This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Summit Health Cancer Center in Florham Park, New Jersey, and David Gallinson, DO, a medical oncologist.

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Researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, along with colleagues from Fox Chase Cancer Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, presented data from the HCRN GU15-217 study, also known as UC-GENOME: Urothelial Cancer-GENOmic Analysis to iMprove Patient Outcomes and rEsearch, during the AACR Annual Meeting 2021.

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This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Daniel M. Geynisman, MD, associate professor, Hematology/Oncology and a medical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

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Hoosier Cancer Research Network investigators presented a poster highlighting GI17-319, a gastric and esophageal adenocarcinoma study, during the AACR Annual Meeting 2021.

A single arm, multi-center phase 2 trial of mFolfox6 + trastuzumab + avelumab in first-line, metastatic, HER2-amplified gastric and esophageal adenocarcinomas, GI17-319 examined whether adding the anti-PD-L1 antibody avelumab to the chemotherapy drug trastuzumab and FOLFOX chemotherapy would result in a greater response rate than expected with trastuzumab and FOLFOX alone in HER2-amplified gastroesophageal cancer.

Researchers concluded the combination of avelumab, trastuzumab, and FOLFOX chemotherapy demonstrated evidence of activity, and response rate and median progression-free survival compared favorably to results expected with trastuzumab plus chemotherapy from historical data. These outcomes corroborate with results from prior small studies of chemotherapy, trastuzumab, and immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with HER2-amplified metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma and demonstrate the potential for the addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors in this setting. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Joshua F. Zeidner, MD, associate professor of medicine, chief of leukemia research, and associate chief of research, hematology at UNC Lineberger.

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The moment a cancer patient learns about their cancer diagnosis, they begin one of the most important conversations they will have with their doctor. Many patients are fortunate to have a clear treatment plan, tested and proven effective through rigorous clinical trials. For others, often diagnosed in the latter stages of disease progression, standard options are limited and clinical trials may be the best path forward.

These conversations are daily occurrences for investigators active in the Hoosier Cancer Research Network. The clinical trial options they present to patients are the result of many months, sometimes years, of a highly coordinated process of protocol development and activation, the inner workings of which are invisible to the patient but as complex as any mechanical system that depends on all parts functioning in harmony. A break anywhere in the process can cause the whole machinery to grind to a halt.

Delays in study development can occur in many stages, including early discussions with research colleagues, contract and budget negotiations with sites and funders, scientific and regulatory review, and site activation. While a short delay in any part of the process may not seem significant, delays can accumulate over time. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wis., and Deepak Kilari, MD, a medical oncologist with specialization in genitourinary cancers.

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This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., and Jian Li Campian, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist with specialization in neuro-oncology and immunotherapy.

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This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center and medical oncologist Shilpa Gupta, MD. Dr. Gupta is a genitourinary oncologist and the leader of the bladder cancer program at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a member and co-chair elect of Hoosier Cancer Research Network’s Genitourinary Clinical Trial Working Group. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network investigators recently presented abstracts during the 2021 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. The abstracts included a poster featuring the HCRN GI14-198 study, led by Walid Shaib, MD, of Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, and a trials in progress poster featuring HCRN GI19-405, led by Aiwu Ruth He, MD, of Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Richard Kim, MD, service chief of Medical Gastrointestinal Oncology and senior member in the Gastrointestinal Oncology Department at Moffitt Cancer Center, has been appointed as a co-chair of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) Gastrointestinal Clinical Trial Working Group. He joins fellow co-chairs Bassel El-Rayes, MD, of Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, and Autumn McRee, MD, of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute and medical oncologist Dwight Owen, MD, MS. Dr. Owen is a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James.

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This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) in Nashville, Tenn., and Nancy B. Davis, MD, associate professor of medicine and VICC senior medical director for Cancer Care Network and Strategy, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read More

The Hoosier Cancer Research Network multi-center BRE12-158 study on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), led by Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, was recently presented as a Spotlight Poster Discussion during the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium virtual meeting.

The correlative analysis from the study, “A Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial of Genomically Directed Therapy After Preoperative Chemotherapy in Patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer,” found patients with circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), who had a presence of TP53 mutations, had a greater chance of rapid disease recurrence.

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Two Indiana University School of Medicine hematology-oncology fellows are digging deep into timely cancer research questions, with research support provided by the George and Sarah Jane Fisher Fund.

Melissa Yan, MD, and Nikhil Shukla, MD, are investigating biomarkers that may one day provide more personalized solutions in treating lung cancer. Each award recipient received $6,000 to support their oncology research. William B. Fisher, MD, co-founder of Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) established the George and Sarah Jane Fisher Fund in the late 1990s in memory of his mother, Sarah Jane, and brother, George, both of whom died of cancer. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution, the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, and Ulka Nitin Vaishampayan, MBBS, FAB, director of the phase I program at Rogel Cancer Center and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Vaishampayan is leading an HCRN multi-institution study that will investigate pembrolizumab and lenvatinib in advanced/metastatic neuroendocrine prostate cancer. She is a site principal investigator on HCRN bladder cancer studies GU14-182 and GU15-262, and a co-investigator on the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium kidney cancer study BTCRC-GU16-043. She is a member of the HCRN Genitourinary Clinical Trial Working Group. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member, the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah and Benjamin Maughan, MD, PharmD, assistant professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at Huntsman Cancer Institute, who specializes in genitourinary cancers.

Dr. Maughan is a site principal investigator for the HCRN bladder cancer studies GU16-257, GU16-287, and GU17-294, and a member of the HCRN Genitourinary Clinical Trial Working Group.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Maughan’s research focus is on studying innate and acquired resistance mechanisms to therapy in genitourinary malignancies. In metastatic prostate cancer, he has studied how resistance pathways may play a role in expression of truncated androgen receptors (e.g., AR-V7 expression) and loss of tumor suppressors such as PTEN and Rb. More recently, Dr. Maughan has studied the resistance mechanisms toward immunotherapy in metastatic bladder, kidney, and prostate cancers in the context of novel immune therapy combinations for each of these cancers. For instance, one of his investigator-initiated clinical trials involves a combination of cancer vaccines (PSA and brachyury antigen directed) in combination with PD-L1 inhibition. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network investigators recently presented an E-Poster on the HCRN study GU18-343 during the ESMO 2020 Virtual Congress.

The multi-center clinical trial, “A Phase 2 Study of Cabozantinib in Combination with Atezolizumab as NeoAdjuvant Treatment for Muscle-Invasive BladdEr Cancer (ABATE),” is led by Deepak Kilari, MD, a medical oncologist and researcher at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. The study is now enrolling subjects at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Additional participating institutions will include Hackensack University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Rochester, and Vanderbilt University.

The study is a single-arm, open-label clinical trial that is assessing the safety and efficacy of combining cabozantinib and atezolizumab as a neoadjuvant therapy in adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, with a focus on cisplatin-ineligible patients. Read More