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tial in combination therapy for kidney cancer patients,” Dr Meric-Bernstam concluded. Extensive RCC Agenda Scheduled for GU ASCO Meeting ORLANDO—The 2017 Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium is scheduled for February 16-18 at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando. In educational sessions, expert faculty will offer a multidisciplinary perspective on new research and its clinical application with an emphasis on value in cancer care across the spectrum of GU cancers. Oral abstract presentations and poster sessions will highlight the latest, cutting-edge science, and keynote lectures from internationally renowned speakers will address the most clinically relevant research in the field of GU oncology.  The 2017 Symposium will feature extended questionand anperiods for more robust audience participation, interactive case discussions, and ample time for networking with faculty members and fellow attendees. HIF-2 Inhibitors Challenge Standard of Care in Animal Model HIF-2 inhibitors may be more effective and better tolerated than the standard of care sunitinib in treating kidney cancer, researchers with the Kidney Cancer Program at Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center have found. HIF-2 inhibitors, which grew out of research begun more than 20 years ago at UT Southwestern Medical Center, work by interfering with processes that fuel the growth of cells. Investigators conducted a pre-clinical trial in mice transplanted with kidney cancer from over 20 patients and showed that the HIF-2 inhibitor PT2399 controlled cancer in half of the tumors, according to a study published Kidney Cancer Journal 141 in the journal Nature. “This is a completely new treatment for kidney cancer. We want to make HIF-2 inhibitors available to patients and are currently carrying out clinical trials,” said Dr James Brugarolas, Director of the Kidney Cancer Program, who is leading an $11 million SPORE grant from the National Cancer Institute seeking to translate new discoveries into novel therapies for kidney cancer patients. Part of the SPORE grant, one of just two directly related to kidney cancer in the nation, is focused on further researching HIF-2 inhibitors. HIFs or hypoxia-inducible factors, like HIF-2, allow the body’s cells to adjust to low-oxygen environments. HIFs activate programs that promote the development of blood vessels, facilitate oxygen delivery and promote efficient nutrient utilization. Kidney cancer cells hijack the same system to fuel their growth. KCJ MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE (continued from page 129) Everolimus, CB-839 Combination Active in Advanced RCC MUNICH—The combination of CB-839, a first-in-class selective inhibitor of glutaminase, and everolimus seems to have disease activity in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to the results of a phase I study presented at the 28th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Munich, Germany. “To date, tumors in 93% of patients with clear cell and papillary renal cell cancers have had tumor control from the regimen, with a median time without their cancer growing of 8.5 months,” said Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “For more than half of these patients their time on this treatment has been longer than the time they remained on their prior treatment, which is considered to be a good sign.”CB-839 targets glutaminase, an enzyme involved in the conversion of glutamine to glutamate, which is an important nutrient for cancer cells. Early preclinical studies of CB-839 showed that the drug had broad monotherapy activity in RCC, a disease where glutaminase is highly expressed. This study included patients with previously treated advanced or metastatic RCC, including clear cell and papillary RCC. All patients had four or fewer previous lines of therapy, an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1, and RECIST-measurable disease. Prior treatment with mTOR inhibitors or a checkpoint inhibitor was allowed. The median number of prior therapies was two. The patients were assigned to escalating doses of CB-839 between 400 and 800 mg twice daily combined with a fixed dose of 10-mg everolimus. Disease assessment was performed every 8 weeks.According to Dr Meric-Bernstam, out of 15 patients with clear cell and papillary RCC who have received the drug combination, 93% had their tumor controlled by the regimen. One patient experienced a partial response, with a 30% decrease in tumor size; an additional 13 patients have stable disease. One patient had progressive disease. Overall, the combination treatment was well tolerated. The researchers observed only one dose-limiting toxicity, a grade 3 rash that occurred at the 400-mg dose. No grade 4 or 5 adverse events occurred, and any grade 3 events were consistent with late-stage cancer or everolimus toxicity, according to the study abstract.“These results suggest that CB-839 is a very tolerable drug with significant poten


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