CONGRESS NEWS

Highlights in melanoma

At ESMO 2020, most attention in the melanoma field went to studies addressing the benefit of immunotherapy, alone or in combination with other drugs. First of all, updates on the use of immunotherapy in the adjuvant setting were provided for the Keynote-054 and the CheckMate 238 trials. In the advanced melanoma setting, several studies investigating combinations of immunotherapy with targeted agents will be addressed. In addition to this, the ILLUMINATE-204 trial investigates the potential of combining immunotherapy with intratumoral therapy. Similarly, a second study describes the value of local therapy in the treatment of solitary melanoma after progression upon checkpoint inhibitors. Finally, vaccination strategies with an IDO/ PD-L1 peptide vaccine and adjuvant dendritic cell vaccination will be discussed.

Highlights in digestive oncology

The annual ESMO meeting was held virtually between 19^th and 21^st September 2020 and covered many interesting abstracts in the field of digestive oncology. In this overview, our main aim was to highlight the data that are most relevant for daily clinical practice. This year, we will discuss the results according to the traditional division in upper and lower gastro-intestinal tract tumours.

Highlights in gynaecological cancers

In this overview, the key highlights from ESMO 2020 with respect to gynaecological cancers will be discussed. In advanced endometrial cancers, data were presented on the use of letrozole in combination with palbociclib. In addition, to this, promising clinical efficacy was seen for the antibody-drug conjugate tisotumab vedotin in the treatment of patient with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. Also in cervical cancer, a study was presented on the optimal management of cervical cancer patients with intraoperatively detected positive pelvic lymph nodes. In ovarian cancers, several updates were presented of pivotal trials evaluating PARP inhibitors. In addition, results if the phase III INOVATYON trial indicate that platinum-based regimens should remain the standard of care for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who experienced disease progression within six-twelve months after their last line of platinum-based therapy. Finally, results were presented of the IMagyn050 trial assessing the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab in combination with atezolizumab in the treatment of patients newly diagnosed stage III-IV ovarian cancer.

Oncology highlights of the EAU20 Virtual Congress and EAU20 Theme Week

In light of the emergence and impact of COVID-19, the European Association of Urology (EAU) redesigned its 35th Annual EAU Congress (EAU20) into two online events, EAU20 Virtual Congress and EAU20 Theme Week, which took place from 17 to 19 July 2020 and from 20 to 26 July 2020, respectively. This article is an abridged version of the events’ oncology updates featured in the peer-reviewed conference report of the Medicom Medical Publishers.

BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(7):364-7)

Highlights of the European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (ENETS) Congress

The 17^th Annual European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (ENETS) Congress took place as a virtual meeting from March 11^th until March 13^th, 2020. This article will provide you with the highlights discussed at the meeting.

Highlights in digestive oncology

Summary

At this years’ virtual annual ASCO meeting, a wide range of interesting studies in the field of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer were presented. The aim of this overview is to discuss the most important of these studies, with a particular focus on data that have the potential to be practice changing. For practical reasons, this report will not follow the traditional subdivision in cancers from the upper and lower GI tract, but will rather focus on three major therapeutic strategies: neoadjuvant therapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(5):183-7)

Highlights in breast cancer

Summary

During the 2020 Virtual ASCO meeting, no less than 226 presentations were dedicated to breast cancer. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss all these abstracts, but instead we try to focus on the data that are most relevant for your daily clinical practice.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(5):191-200)