Expert Interviews

Experts discuss the impact of manufacturing and treatment timing on patient outcomes for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy in relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (R/R LBCL).

Key opinion leaders discuss patient experiences with an oral chemotherapy regimen, highlighting benefits like treatment autonomy, challenges such as pill burden and gastrointestinal toxicities, and the importance of proactive side effect management and patient education.

Experts discuss treatment options for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer following progression on trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), weighing real-world data on tucatinib-capecitabine-trastuzumab versus T-DM1, considering factors such as resistance mechanisms, administration preferences, and side effect management.

As a radiation oncologist, James B. Yu, MD, MHS, FASTRO, works with urologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, physicists, and health services researchers.

The Oncology Brothers, discuss how bladder cancer treatments commonly cause adverse effects, including frequent urination, painful urination, blood in urine, fatigue, nausea, hair loss, decreased immunity, diarrhea, skin irritation, and bladder inflammation. More severe effects may include organ damage, sexual dysfunction, and reduced fertility.

The Oncology Brothers, discuss how second-line treatment for bladder cancer typically involves immune checkpoint inhibitors (pembrolizumab, atezolizumab) after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. For patients who are ineligible for immunotherapy, alternative chemotherapy regimens or targeted therapies may be used based on molecular profiling.

The Oncology Brothers, discuss how advances in bladder cancer management have demonstrated significant clinical benefits by strategically combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy, which leverages cytotoxic agents to directly target malignant cells while simultaneously activating immune-mediated tumor recognition, as well as checkpoint inhibitors that have shown promise in maintaining disease control after initial chemotherapy response, especially in metastatic settings.

The Oncology Brothers, discuss recent clinical trials for early muscle-invasive bladder cancer that have shown promising results with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy as standard of care, immunotherapy trials using checkpoint inhibitors that have demonstrated improved pathological complete response rates, and bladder-sparing approaches combining maximal TURBT with chemoradiation that have shown comparable outcomes to cystectomy in select patients.

The Oncology Brothers, discuss how the definition of muscle-invasive bladder cancer is defined as when the cancer has invaded the muscle. They also highlight recommended treatment methods, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and aggressive surgery.

Experts discuss the impact of tumor burden on postprogression survival, exploring strategies to optimize responses in renal cell carcinoma.

Experts discuss insights from the CLEAR trial on lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab, focusing on depth of response and clinical outcomes in advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Panelists discuss the efficacy and safety of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy in relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL) and compare the data collected from the TRANSFORM and ZUMA-7 trials, including information regarding the patient control group, patient population prior response, crossovers of both trials, and vein-to-vein time.

Panelists discuss the optimal timing of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy in relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which requires careful evaluation of patient fitness, disease burden, prior treatment response, and logistical factors. Key considerations include performance status, comorbidities, disease aggressiveness, and the availability of bridging therapy. Treatment decisions should be individualized based on patient-specific risk factors, prior therapy outcomes, and care goals while balancing the potential benefits and risks across different lines of treatment.

“The single most practice-impacting abstract might be the [phase 3 NIAGARA trial] follow-up,” Guru P. Sonpavde, MD, said, regarding results shared at 2025 ASCO GU.

Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, spoke about the TROPION-PanTumor01 trial results and the TROP2 targeting nature of dato-DXd in patients with heavily pretreated, metastatic urothelial cancer.

Experts discuss the relevance of PD-L1 CPS in predicting immunotherapy efficacy, other complementary biomarkers, the benefits of adding nivolumab to a FOLFOX regimen, and how the CheckMate 649 trial and its recent 5-year update have influenced the use of nivolumab in combination with chemotherapy for advanced gastric and gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas.

Experts discuss patient selection and timing considerations for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy in treating relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma.

Experts discuss long-term efficacy and real-world outcomes with liso-cel in treating relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma.

Experts discuss the role of reflex testing in ensuring accurate and timely treatment selection, the challenges it may present, and how it can be integrated with next-generation sequencing (NGS) to provide a comprehensive molecular profile while minimizing delays.

Dr O’Shaughnessy leads a panel of medical experts in a discussion around a patient case surrounding findings from HER2CLIMB and EMILIA clinical trials.