Investigators from the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center presented new research at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, covering advances in immunotherapy, targeted therapies, and new combination therapies for aggressive and hard-to-treat cancers.
Highlights include a decade of survival data from immunotherapy for advanced lung cancer, a novel PSMA-targeted radioligand therapy offering new hope for men with recurrent prostate cancer, encouraging clinical trial results in colorectal cancer and a potential new therapy for advanced bladder cancer.
Notable studies presented by UCLA researchers include:
Abstract LBA90: Adding PSMA-targeting radioligand therapy SBRT more than doubled progression-free survival in men with recurrent prostate cancer
Dr. Jeremie Calais, director of the Ahmanson Translational Theranostics Division’s clinical research program and associate professor at the department of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, presented findings from the LUNAR clinical trial, which evaluated adding 177Lutetium-PSMA, a targeted radioactive therapy, as a treatment given before stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for men with recurrent prostate cancer. The team found adding 177Lu-PSMA before SBRT more than doubled progression-free survival, extending it from 7.4 months to 17.6 months, reducing the risk of cancer returning, the need for hormone therapy, or death by 63%. This translates into a significant delay in the start of hormone therapy, which is commonly used to treat recurrent disease but can carry significant side effects such as fatigue and bone loss. Avoiding or postponing hormone therapy can help improve quality of life.
Calais also led a special session that discusses what is next after clinical trials testing PSMA and lutetium.
Abstract LBA34: Promising targeted therapy improves survival in patients with advanced colorectal cancer
Dr. Zev Wainberg, professor of medicine and co-director of the GI Oncology Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, presented final results from the Phase 2 DeFianCe study testing sirexatamab (DKN-01), a new antibody that blocks the tumor-promoting protein DKK1, in combination with chemotherapy and bevacizumab for patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Among patients with high DKK1 levels, adding sirexatamab led to a higher response rate (38% vs. 24%) and significantly improved progression-free and overall survival compared with standard treatment alone. The combination was well tolerated, showing no increase in side effects. These results highlight sirexatamab’s potential as a promising new targeted therapy for patients with difficult-to-treat, DKK1-high colorectal cancer and support its advancement to larger, biomarker-driven clinical trials.
Abstract 3070MO: FGFR3 inhibition shows encouraging results in advanced bladder cancers
Dr. Alexandra Drakaki, associate professor of hematology/oncology and urology and co-director of the GU Oncology Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, presented new results from the FORAGER-1 clinical trial that looks at vepugratinib, a novel oral highly selective FGFR3 inhibitor, in FGFR-3 altered metastatic urothelial cancer. The study found that vepugratinib was well-tolerated and highly effective, with an objective response rate of 34% and a disease control rate of 94% at the dose of 200mg BID. The side effect profile was manageable and vepugratinib in combination with enfortumab vedotin and pembrolizumab showed promising activity in first-line metastatic urothelial cancer. Now, FORAGER-2, a global registrational study investigating this combination, is underway.
Abstract 3208P: 10-year follow-up shows pembrolizumab provides long-lasting survival benefit for patients with advanced lung cancer
Dr. Edward Garon, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, presented 10-year follow-up results from multiple clinical trials testing pembrolizumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. The long-term data show that pembrolizumab continues to improve survival compared with standard chemotherapy, particularly for patients whose tumors have high PD-L1 levels. Across the studies, pembrolizumab consistently extended both overall survival and the time patients lived without their cancer worsening, with benefits maintained over a decade. These results confirm the durable, long-term impact of pembrolizumab in transforming treatment outcomes for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
