EPISODE 36: NEN TREATMENTS: FOCUS ON IMMUNOTHERAPY

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

What is immunotherapy? How effective are they for neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs)? Dr. Jennifer Eads from Penn Medicine answers common questions about immunotherapy. She discusses the latest in CAR T therapy, DLL3, and vaccine therapy for NENs. 

MEET DR. JENNIFER EADS

Dr. Jennifer Eads is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Abramson Cancer Center where she is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist focusing on the treatment of and research in patients with neuroendocrine tumors and gastroesophageal cancers. She is the Physician Lead for GI Clinical Research, overseeing the Penn GI clinical research portfolio. She is the Penn institutional principal investigator for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG-ACRIN) and serves as the Director of the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) for the Abramson Cancer Center. She has served as principal investigator for multiple phase I/II/III clinical trials, including as the national study chair for multiple cooperative group trials. She has served on the National Clinical Cancer Network (NCCN) neuroendocrine tumors guidelines committee, is a former member of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) Board of Directors and is currently on the Board of Scientific Advisors for the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF). In 2022, she was named as the ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator of the Year.

TOP TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT NEN TREATMENTS:

1. What is immunotherapy? How does it work? 

2. How does immunotherapy differ from other treatments? 

3. When is immunotherapy used? Which neuroendocrine cancers are they used for? 

4. What are the various immunotherapy drugs used for neuroendocrine cancer and how do they work? What are immune checkpoint inhibitors?

5. What is CAR-T therapy?

6. What is DLL3?

7. What is vaccine therapy?

8. What side effects might someone have when taking immunotherapy? How does it make me look (will I lose my hair)? How will it make me feel (will I be able to work)? Does immunotherapy cause someone to be immunocompromised? What monitoring needs to be done while on immunotherapy?

9. How do you decide when to use immunotherapy, which to use, and for what patient?

10. What do you see as the future of immunotherapy in neuroendocrine cancer treatment? 

RESOURCES

Immunotherapy Trials for NENs

Clinical trials mentioned in this episode:

• CHM-2101 CAR-T cell for GI Cancers

• DAREON™- 5: DLL-3 BiTE for Neuroendocrine Cancers

• DAREON™-9: DLL-3 BiTE + Topotecan in Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)

• SWOG S2012: Immunotherapy (Atezolizumab) + Standard Platinum

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LACNETS Podcasts are created for educational purposes only and do not substitute for medical advice. The views shared in this Podcast are the personal opinions of the experts and do not necessarily reflect the views of LACNETS. Please contact your medical team with questions or concerns about your individual care or treatment.

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