Silvia Formenti, MD, chair of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College and radiation oncologist-in-chief at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYorkPresbyterian Hospital, discusses combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Previous studies investigating anti—CTLA-4 monoclonal antibodies had failed to demonstrate a significant impact in NSCLC, says Formenti. However, when ipilimumab was combined with radiotherapy a 33% objective response rate was demonstrated in patients with NSCLC.

Patients who responded compared to those who did not had some evidence of immunization, as demonstrated by circulating lymphocytes, says Formenti. 

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Silvia Formenti, MD, chair of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College and radiation oncologist-in-chief at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYorkPresbyterian Hospital, discusses combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).


Dr. Formenti on Combining Radiotherapy With Immunotherapy in NSCLC

Silvia Formenti, MD, The Sandra and Edward H. Meyer Professor of Radiation Oncology chair, Radiation Oncology, NYU Langone Medical Center, associate director, Radiation Oncology, Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone, discusses a trial that examines concurrent adjuvant systemic therapy and accelerated radiotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Formenti says research has shown that women who have a robust immunological response against their own tumor are more likely to be alive in 5-10 years. In this ongoing study, researchers decided to combine carboplatin and radiation based on preclinical work that showed that the combination can induce an immunogenic cell death. This type of cell death, Formenti says, also elicits a response from the immune system.

So far, the study has accrued 38 patients and the regimen is very well tolerated, Formenti says. At the median follow-up, which was slightly greater than 2 years, only one patient has recurred.

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Silvia Formenti, MD, The Sandra and Edward H. Meyer Professor of Radiation Oncology chair, Radiation Oncology, NYU Langone Medical Center, associate director, Radiation Oncology, Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone, discusses a trial that examines concurrent adjuvant systemic therapy and accelerated radiotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)

Silvia Formenti, MD

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Dr. Formenti on Combining Radiotherapy With Immunotherapy in NSCLC

Dr. Formenti on Concurrent Adjuvant Systemic Therapy and Accelerated Radiotherapy in TNBC