CONGRESS NEWS

Highlights from the 2018 annual meeting of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS)

SUMMARY

From the 4–8th of December, the San Antonio Riverwalk again formed the background of the most important breast cancer congress in the world. This report will summarise eight top stories presented during the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). For a more complete overview of studies presented at the meeting, we refer to the congress website www.sabcs.org.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2019;13(2):66–71)

Highlights in thoracic oncology

The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment arsenal of NSCLC patients revolutionised the way these patients are treated. Similarly, the development of several next-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors, targeting activating EGFR and ALK mutations/rearrangements, has changed the treatment paradigm for patients with oncogene-driven NSCLC. While these agents were initially used in the relapsed setting, both immune checkpoint inhibitors and next-generation TKIs were now successfully tested in the first-line treatment of metastatic NSCLC patients. ESMO 2018 featured the presentation of a long list of these trials. In addition, efforts are being made to improve the outcome of patients with stage III NSCLC and also in this setting interesting data were presented.

Highlights in breast cancer

During ESMO 2018 an entire presidential session was dedicated to breast cancer. In addition to exciting immuno-oncology data in the treatment of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), this session featured the presentation of the overall survival (OS) data of the phase III PALOMA-3 trial, evaluating the alpha-specific PI3K-inhibitor alpelisib in PI3KCA-mutant advanced breast cancer, and results of a clinical trial demonstrating improved outcomes when adding a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor to exemestane in hormone-receptor positive advanced breast cancer. In early breast cancer it was further demonstrated that non-compliance with adjuvant endocrine treatment is an under-appreciated and under-reported problem. In addition, the HOBOE-2 adds to the evidence that adjuvant bisphosphonates also improve the disease-free survival (DFS) in premenopausal luminal breast cancer patients who have received ovarian function suppression combined with an aromatase inhibitor. Finally, a subgroup analysis of the ShortHER trial suggests that for low- and intermediate risk cancer HER2-positive early breast cancer, 9 weeks of trastuzumab might be non-inferior to the standard 1-year treatment duration. However, the interpretation of this trial is challenging and as such, one year of trastuzumab should remain the standard for now.

Highlights in head and neck cancer

The 2018 annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) turned out to be a grand cru for head and neck cancer, with two abstracts in this disease entity presented during the presidential sessions of the meeting. These two presentations, one on the use of immune checkpoint inhibition in the frontline treatment of recurrent/metastatic (R/M) Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck (HNSCC) and one evaluating treatment de-escalation in low-risk, p16-positive oropharyngeal cancer, form the lion’s share of this report. In addition to this data were presented of clinical trials looking at the potential of durvalumab plus danvatirsen, M7824, tipifarnib and SD-101 in the treatment of R/M SCCHN.

Highlights in gastro-intestinal oncology

Although none of the submitted abstracts in the field of gastro-intestinal oncology reached the presidential sessions of ESMO 2018, some practice-changing and promising data were presented especially in the field of immunotherapy. This report summarises the highlights in the field of colorectal, anal and upper digestive tract cancer.

Highlights in genitourinary cancers

From the 19^th till the 23^rd of September, Munich was host for the 2018 ESMO Congress. The central theme of the congress was ‘Securing access to optimal cancer care’. This year’s venue was attended by more than 25,000 registered attendees. This report will highlight 10 key studies concerning genitourinary cancers presented during the meeting.

Highlights in gynaecological cancers

During this year’s ESMO Congress in Munich, which was attended by over 28,000 participants, the vast majority of presentations and communications in the gynaecological cancer domain were devoted or restricted to ovarian cancer. This included at least one major breakthrough and practice-changing study in the first-line treatment of BRCA mutated high grade serous and endometrioid ovarian cancer.