T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Blazing a Trail Through the Virtual World
of ASCO and COVID-19
ho could have predicted at last year’s meeting of the
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) that
all content for the 2020 sessions would be virtual and only
available online? How could that happen? Maybe a pandemic?
Fast-forward to the surreal world of Covid-19 and the
virtual highlights from ASCO. It is astonishing to consider
that in contrast to this year, in 2019 there were 42,500
registrants for the ASCO meeting, and nearly 20,000 attendees
from the US alone gravitated to this global event.
This year, approximately 2215 abstracts were accepted for
presentation during this year’s program and more than 3400 additional abstracts
were accepted for online publication, according to ASCO.
Nevertheless, as relentless as the pandemic has been, ASCO meetings
fortunately take on a momentum of their own, even when the sessions are
virtual. Despite the absence of face-to-face discussion, this year’s agenda
did not disappoint in providing data with sharp impact on oncology and
implications for managing renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Controversies and
trends from previous poster sessions and abstract presentations re-emerged,
yielding some new if not “milestone” types of insights. But the devil is in
the details, and unpacking information from online posts provides much
to review with potential applications.
If there is scant evidence of dramatic shifts in the paradigm, occasionally
seen during previous annual sessions, incremental progress has been
sustained on many investigative fronts. With new data emerging from the
virtual meeting, we now have even more ammunition to support selected
approaches such as combination therapies with immune checkpoint inhibitors
(ICIs) and TKIs, efforts to address upstream targets with novel
agents in VHL-associated clear cell RCC, strategies to mitigate disease progression
following ICI therapy, and more reason to cheer efforts exploring
the prognostic significance of such factors as angiogenic and myeloid expression
profiles. With regard to the latter, there is new substantial evidence
supporting the prognostic potential of biomarkers in certain
settings.
ASCO has always provided a much needed update to the ongoing major
clinical trials, and analyses of these studies are now available through a
number of websites as well as the coverage in this issue of the Kidney Cancer
Journal. As we gauge the impact of data from these trials, we suggest
Editorial Mission
The purpose of Kidney Cancer Journal is to serve as a com-
prehensive resource of information for physicians regarding
advances in the diagnosis and treatment of renal cell carcinoma.
Content of the journal focuses on the impact of trans-
lational research in oncology and urology and also provides a
forum for cancer patient advocacy. Kidney Cancer Journal is
circulated to medical oncologists, hematologist-oncologists,
and urologists.
Editor-in-Chief
Robert A. Figlin, MD, FACP
Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology Oncology
Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Deputy Director, Cedars-Sinai Cancer
Deputy Director, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive
Cancer Institute
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, California
Medical Advisory Board
Michael B. Atkins, MD
Deputy Director
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
Professor of Oncology and Medicine,
Georgetown University Medical Center
Washington, DC
Robert J. Motzer, MD
Attending Physician
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY
Brian Rini, MD
Chief of Clinical Trials
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, Tennessee
Christopher G. Wood, MD, FACS
Douglas E. Johnson, MD Professorship
Professor & Deputy Chairman
Department of Urology
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas
Nurse Advisory Board
Nancy Moldawer, RN, MSN
Nursing Director
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute
Los Angeles, California
Laura Wood, RN, MSN, OCN
Renal Cancer Research Coordinator
Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center
Cleveland, Ohio
Patient Advocate
Gretchen Vaughan
Chief Executive Officer
Kidney Cancer Association
Publishing Staff
Senthil Samy, PhD., Executive Editor & Publisher
Vinu Jyothi, MD, MPH., Director, Business Strategy
Stu Chapman, Editorial Consultant
Susan Hirschhaut, Director of Advertising and Strategic Initiatives
Michael McClain, Design Director
Director of Advertising
Susan Hirschhaut
(847) 476-0588
susan@datamedica.org
Editorial Offices
517 Belle Gate Pl, Cary, NC 27519
Copyright 2020 Biomedz Global. All rights reserved. None of
the contents may be reproduced in any form without the
permission of the publisher.
About the Cover
This figure illustrates the complement interaction between
immune-checkpoint inhibitors and anti-angiogenics that is
essential to harness synergistic potential of immune-checkpoint
blockade based therapies in advanced RCC. In this,
anti-PD-L1 or other ICI agents restore immune-supportive
microenvironment, whereas anti-angiogenic drugs potentially
suppress immune checkpoints expression and also block the
negative immune signals. Such mutual regulation of immune
microenvironment reprogramming and angiogenic blockade
is crucial for overcoming immunotherapy resistance, and also
offers a basis for development of ICI based novel and efficient
immunotherapeutic strategies for advanced RCC. (See article
on page 50).
36 Medical Intelligence
38 Unpacking the Virtual ASCO20 Sessions: What Are The Latest
Developments in the RCC Toolbox?
42 Current Guidelines for Treating Oligometastatic RCC:
An Ever-changing Paradigm Integrates New Strategies
50 The Current and Evolving Landscape of Immunotherapies for
Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
56 Sequencing of Cytoreductive Nephrectomy in Metastatic
Renal Cell Carcinoma During the VEGF-TKI and Immunotherapy Era
61 Uveal Melanoma and RCC: More Similar than Meets the Eye
E D I TO R ’S M E M O
(continued on page 62)
Robert A.
Figlin, MD
W
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