Latest Advances in Oncology: Gustave Roussy at the AACR Congress

From April 17 to 22, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is holding its annual congress — one of the three leading global scientific conferences dedicated to oncology — in San Diego, United States. More than 20,000 cancer specialists, both clinicians and researchers, from nearly one hundred countries are expected to present and discuss the latest advances in oncology. Gustave Roussy's experts took part in 52 presentations this year. This figure confirms the excellence of the research conducted at the Institute, as well as its recognition on the international stage.

Organised annually by the American Association for Cancer Research, the congress focuses on the latest discoveries in fundamental and translational oncology research. This year, the presentations involving Gustave Roussy's experts cover a wide range of topics, from liquid biopsy to the use of artificial intelligence to predict the efficacy of certain therapies. The Institute's physician-researchers contributed notably to ten oral presentations — three in plenary sessions and seven in mini-symposia — as well as to 39 posters and three educational sessions. Among all these presentations, one oral presentation is delivered by Prof. Fabrice Barlesi, Chief Executive Officer of Gustave Roussy.

An innovative triple therapy in localised lung cancers

In operable non-small cell lung cancers, the current standard of care involves administering a perioperative treatment in order to optimise surgical outcomes. This treatment is based on a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy, which already enables complete therapeutic responses in certain patients. In order to increase the proportion of patients who could benefit from this approach, the authors of the phase II MATISSE study propose adding a third drug, IPH5201, to enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy. Prof. Barlesi, Chief Executive Officer of Gustave Roussy, will present the advances achieved in this study in a plenary oral session: https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21436/presentation/11994

Gustave Roussy's physician-researchers are also co-authors of two further studies being presented in plenary oral sessions:

• Dr. Antoine Hollebecque participated in a study evaluating the efficacy of a new targeted treatment for certain non-small cell lung cancers carrying a specific mutation known as KRAS G12C, including in patients who had already received this type of targeted therapy without achieving lasting benefit.
• Prof. Benjamin Besse led a study seeking to better understand why certain patients with operable non-small cell lung cancer do not respond to pre-operative immunotherapy, by combining several molecular and cellular analysis approaches to identify the biological mechanisms underlying this resistance.

Finally, Dr. Barbara Pistilli will co-chair two sessions: a first one on antibody-drug conjugates, and a second entitled "Minisymposium: late-breaking research," featuring clinical trials whose results are eagerly awaited by the scientific community.