Publications by authors named "Ilana Epstein"
Article Synopsis
- - Enfortumab vedotin (EV) is effective for patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma who have previously received platinum chemotherapy and immune therapy, despite lacking research on those treated with avelumab maintenance.
- - A study of 182 patients showed a median overall survival of 12.7 months and a progression-free survival of 7.9 months, with 39% achieving a positive response to EV after avelumab treatment.
- - The study confirms EV's effectiveness, suggesting it can be a viable option for patients previously treated with avelumab, with manageable side effects like grade ≥ 3 neuropathy and skin rash occurring in a minority of cases.
Association of Tumor Mutational Burden and Microsatellite Instability With Response and Outcomes in Patients With Urothelial Carcinoma Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor.
Clin Genitourin Cancer
December 2024
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigated the relationship between Tumor Mutational Burden (TMB) and Microsatellite Instability (MSI) status in patients with urothelial carcinoma (UC) receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), focusing on overall survival (OS).
- - Results showed that patients with a higher TMB (≥10 mut/Mb) generally experienced longer median OS compared to those with lower TMB, although these differences weren't always statistically significant.
- - Notably, patients treated with maintenance avelumab had a significantly better OS when TMB was high (61 months vs. 17 months for low TMB), indicating potential benefits of ICI based on TMB and MSI status, warranting further investigation.
Background: Comprehensive profiling of autoantibodies (AAbs) in metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC) has not been performed to date. This may aid in diagnosis of UC, uncover novel therapeutic targets in this disease as well as identify associations between AAbs and response and toxicity to systemic therapies.
Methods: We used serum from patients with mUC collected prior to and after systemic therapy (immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) or platinum-based chemotherapy (PBC)) at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) plays a central role in the cellular response to DNA damage and ATM alterations are common in several tumor types including bladder cancer. However, the specific impact of ATM alterations on therapy response in bladder cancer is uncertain. Here, we combine preclinical modeling and clinical analyses to comprehensively define the impact of ATM alterations on bladder cancer.
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