Highlights from the Fourth Annual CCA Summit

December 2022, Vol 3, No 4
Milind M. Javle, MD
Hubert L. and Olive Stringer Professor
Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology
Division of Cancer Medicine
The University of Texas
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX
Chair, NCI Task Force: Hepatobiliary Cancers

Dear Readers,

We have recently concluded the 4th Annual CCA Summit, which was held on October 13-15, 2022, in Denver, Colorado. This was our largest summit thus far with 167 attendees, which brought together healthcare providers, scientists, and industry leaders. This summit was extremely successful, thanks to the efforts of the Conference Chair Rachna Shroff, MD, MS; colleagues from the Amplity Group; and several conference sponsors.

The Summit began with a session on early detection and screening of high-risk populations headlined by Steven Lin, MD, PhD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center, who described a novel exosome-based platform. Also speaking in this session was Greg Gores, MD, from Mayo Clinic, who spoke on early detection programs, and Yujin Hoshida, MD, PhD, from UT Southwestern at Dallas, who described the role of molecular biomarkers.

The conference focused on multidisciplinary management and included a session on surgical management, chaired by Flavio Rocha, MD, from Oregon Health & Science University, and Laleh Melstrom, MD, MS, from City of Hope. Surgical approaches need to be tailored to the patient and may include neoadjuvant therapy, as proposed by Shishir Maithel, MD, from Emory. Robotic resection was discussed by Hop Tran Cao, MD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center. Skye Mayo, MD, MPH, from Oregon Health & Science University, spoke in this session about hepatic arterial infusion therapy, and Maria Majella Doyle, MD, MBA, FRCS, from Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, presented on liver transplant.

We are looking forward to novel agents and new approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Promising therapies include new IDH1, PARP, and Her2/neu-pathway–directed agents, as discussed by Angela Lamarca, MD, PhD, MSc (Fundación Jiménez Díaz University); Vaibhav Sahai, MBBS, MS (University of Michigan Health); and Gentry King, MD (Fred Hutch Cancer Center). Other pathways that are currently being targeted in clinical trials include KRAS, MDM2, MTAP loss, and vascular endothelial growth factor/Delta-like 4. Jennifer Knox, MSc, MD, from Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, headlined an insightful discussion on therapy integration, sequencing, and toxicity, which included presentations from Sunyoung Lee, MD, PhD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Daniel Ahn, DO, from Mayo Clinic.

A new feature incorporated in this meeting was the “cross-fire” medical debates: the role of immunotherapy in CCA was explored in a lively discussion with Teresa Macarulla, MD, PhD, from Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, and Mark Yarchoan, MD, from Johns Hopkins. This was followed by a debate on the role of yttrium-90 in the initial management of CCA. These debates were popular and attracted robust audience participation.

Toxicity of novel agents, including recently approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immunotherapy, can be limiting. Aung Naing, MD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center, and his team provided practical guidelines, including web-based portals that can guide management. Nipun Merchant, MD, of the University of Miami Health System, presented on managing postoperative complications and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach at high-volume centers.

The conference concluded with an instructive discussion led by Ardaman Shergill, MD, from University of Chicago Medicine, on supportive care and management of complications of biliary tract cancer. We were excited to see a strong participation from fellows and trainees, with a productive poster session led by Midhun Malla, MD, MS, from West Virginia University. Finally, kudos to Emily Hemmer, BSN-RN, and her nominating physician colleague, Ryan Fields, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, for the ONE (Oncology Nurses of Excellence) Award. We are grateful for all that you do for your patients!

Sincerely,

Milind M. Javle, MD

Related Items

Annual CCA Summit Is Now a Key Scientific Meeting in BTCs
By Milind M. Javle, MD
December 2023, Vol 4, No 4
The 5th annual CCA Summit, held October 19-21, 2023, in Scottsdale, AZ, was a very successful meeting by all measures and has gradually become one of the key scientific meetings in biliary tract cancers.
Advances in the Management of Patients With Biliary Cancer
By Milind M. Javle, MD
September 2023, Vol 4, No 3
As we approach the fall season, it is wonderful to reflect on some of the amazing research presented this year, most recently at the ASCO 2023 annual meeting. One of the major highlights of ASCO this year included the results of HER2/neu-directed novel therapies in biliary cancer. Shubham Pant, MD, MBBS, from MD Anderson Cancer Center, presented the results of the HERIZON-1 clinical trial of the bispecific antibody zanidatamab in HER2/neu-expressing biliary cancers.
Annual CCF Conference Brings Together All Stakeholders
By Milind M. Javle, MD
June 2023, Vol 4, No 2
This issue of CCA News highlights the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation (CCF) 10th Annual Conference held in April. This meeting was chaired by Dr Chiara Branconi, a Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Reader at the University of Glasgow and a medical oncologist with Beatson Cancer Centre; and Dr Laura Goff, medical director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s Hematology and Oncology Division.
Exciting New Abstracts from the ASCO GI Cancers Symposium
By Milind M. Javle, MD
March 2023, Vol 4, No 1
Dr Javle provides his perspective on important abstracts presented at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held January 19-21, 2023, in San Francisco, CA.
New Standard of Care Emerging for Treatment of BTCs
By Milind M. Javle, MD
September 2022, Vol 3, No 3
On September 2, 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration approved durvalumab in combination with gemcitabine/cisplatin for advanced biliary tract cancers (BTCs) on the basis of the TOPAZ-1 study.
Rapid Trajectory of Clinical Research in Biliary Tract Cancers
By Milind M. Javle, MD
March 2022, Vol 3, No 1
The 2022 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium clearly highlighted the rapid trajectory of clinical research in biliary tract cancers. One of the most eagerly anticipated studies, TOPAZ-1, was presented by Do-Youn Oh, MD, PhD, from Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea. This phase 3 clinical trial enrolled 685 patients and investigated the addition of the PD-L1–directed agent durvalu­mab to gemcitabine and cisplatin chemotherapy backbone versus these chemotherapies alone. The results demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in overall survival (OS), overall response rate (ORR), and progression-free survival (PFS), without dose-limiting toxicities.
Hot Topics at ASCO-GI 2022
By Milind M. Javle, MD
Videos
Dr Milind Javle provides his perspectives on key presentations on cholangiocarcinoma and biliary tract cancer at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
Cholangiocarcinoma Research Continues to Thrive
By Milind M. Javle, MD
December 2021, Vol 2, No 4
The Third CCA Summit was held on October 21-22, 2021 in New Orleans. For the majority of the cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) community, this was their first “live” meeting since the pandemic.

Subscribe Today!

To sign up for our newsletter or print publications, please enter your contact information below.

I'd like to receive: