Claudin-18.2 Inhibitors for First-Line Treatment of Patients With Gastroesophageal Cancer
At Great Debates and Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies in New York, New York, Samuel Cytryn, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, discussed first-line use of claudin-18.2 inhibitors for the treatment of patients with gastroesophageal cancers.
Transcript:
My name is Sam Cytryn, I'm an assistant attending GI oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Here at Great Debates for GI oncology I participated in a debate discussing first-line therapy for gastroesophageal cancers, PD-1 inhibitors versus claudin(-18.2) inhibitors, and I took the side of claudin inhibitors.
I think we're very lucky to be able to have this debate because of the randomized phase 3 studies that show that zolbetuximab improved progression-free and overall survival in combination with chemotherapy, the SPOTlight and GLOW trials. I took the position of using claudin inhibitors in the front-line space because in the 17 to 20 percent of patients who have claudin high and PD-1 high expressing tumors, we think that these actually have a different tumor microenvironment that may not be as responsive to PD-1 inhibition as those with PD-L1 high and claudin low tumors, and and these are tumors in which we know zolbetuximab to be effective.
It's really exciting all of the newer claudin directed therapies that we see coming through those pipeline with antibody drug conjugates, more specific and more efficacious antibodies, as well as cellular therapies.
Source:
Cytryn S. Debate: Best targeted therapy for first-line gastroesophageal cancer: PD-1 inhibitors or claudin-18.2 (CLDN18.2)? Presented at Great Debates and Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies. May 17-18, 2024. New York, NY.
