Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, director of thoracic oncology and immunotherapeutics at Columbia University Medical Center discusses using PD-L1 expression on a tumor to identify patient response to treatment.
Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, director of thoracic oncology and immunotherapeutics at Columbia University Medical Center discusses using PD-L1 expression on a tumor and its benefits.
Transcript
We are pre-identifying patients by PD-L1 expression on the tumor; it’s an immunohistochemical assay and it’s fairly easy to do. High levels of PD-L1 expression do tend to correlate with benefit—it’s not a perfect biomarker; there’s both false positives and negatives. It’s not a binary biomarker, like EGFR mutation testing, but it does provide some guide to who is more likely to benefit.
The approval of pembrolizumab first-line treatment, a single agent in lung cancer was based on KEYNOTE-024 where patients who have more than 50% of PD-L1 expression, which is about a third of non-small cell lung cancer and in those patients, they had a superior response rate, progression-free survival, as well as overall survivor with single-agent pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy.
So, based on that data, and really the standard of care, to test for PD-L1 expression if you’re positive at the 50% threshold and treat with single agent pembrolizumab and not chemotherapy.
Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
Listen
Dr Michael Farwell on FDG PET/CT Imaging to Predict Immunotherapy Response in Advanced Melanoma
April 15th 2024Michael Farwell, MD, associate professor of radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, provides insights into a study on the benefits of using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT imaging to detect metabolic tumor changes in skin cancer.
Read More
Overcoming Employment Barriers for Lasting Social Impact: Freedom House 2.0 and Pathways to Work
April 16th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our second episode, in which we learn all about Freedom House 2.0 and the Pathways to Work program.
Listen
Increasing Lp(a) Awareness for Better Cardiovascular Health: Dr Mary McGowan
March 24th 2024For Lp(a) Awareness Day, Mary McGowan, MD, FNLA, chief medical officer of the Family Heart Foundation, highlights how most people with elevated Lp(a) are completely unaware that they have this increased risk and calls for increased testing.
Read More
Dr Al Benson on Reimbursement for Supportive Care When Treating Patients With Cancer
March 22nd 2024Al Benson, MD, FACP, FACCC, FASCO, medical oncologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and associate director of the Robert E. Tillery Comprehensive Cancer Center, discussed findings from a national survey assessing barriers to comprehensive cancer care delivery.
Read More