Dr. Singh Discusses the Next Steps for Immunotherapy in GISTs

Arun S. Singh, MD, associate professor, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, discusses the next steps following a trial investigating single-agent and combination immunotherapy for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).

This phase II trial examined the role of single-agent nivolumab (Opdivo) versus nivolumab plus ipilimumab (Yervoy). Currently, 14 patients have been enrolled on the study and 8 remain on treatment. Stable disease was the best response in 3 of 7 patients treated with nivolumab monotherapy and 1 partial response and 2 patients with stable disease were reported for the nivolumab/ipilimumab arm.

One-third of patients have received benefit, not just in terms of disease shrinkage but a prolonged disease control, which is important for the group, says Singh. The real question is why those patients are receiving benefit. In a separate ongoing study, physicians are looking at predictive biomarkers to try to identify who is responding, why they are responding, or reasons why patients do not respond to immunotherapy.