Emerging Research and Novel Targeted Therapies for the Treatment of Advanced Gastric Cancer (Lawrenceville)

Lawrenceville, GA US
March 13, 2014

Remarkable advances have been made during the past several years in the management of gastric cancer with the advent of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) targeted agents. HER2 is overexpressed in 10–25% of gastric cancers. Although there is currently no approved second-line therapy for advanced cancers of the esophagus and stomach, a novel monoclonal antibody targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) shows potential for filling this treatment gap as it is the first single agent in clinical trials to show improvement in overall survival in gastric cancer. Many other targeted agents are also currently being investigated in clinical trials for first and second-line treatment. Clinicians need to stay abreast of an overwhelming amount of new and complex data offering additional treatment options for gastric cancer, making clinical decision-making more difficult. This series of grand rounds and webinars seeks to address these educational needs while bridging existing knowledge and performance gaps, and as a result help participants to make more informed treatment decisions and improve the clinical outcomes of patients with gastric cancer.

 

Target Audience

This activity is designed for medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, gastroenterologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, and other healthcare professionals involved in the treatment of patients with gastric cancer.

 

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the role of HER2 in gastric cancer and the importance of HER2 testing in selecting treatment for HER2-positive gastric cancer patients
  • Assess current evidence supporting the use of HER2-targeted agents for the treatment of gastric cancer
  • Evaluate recent trial data for novel targeted agents being explored for the first and second-line treatment of patients with gastric cancer
  • Describe how novel targeted agents may be integrated into treatment strategies for patients with advanced gastric cancer
  • Identify current clinical trials with novel targeted agents for gastric cancer
Additional information

Contact

Name: 
Linda Caples
Phone Number: 
+1 (414) 955-4900
Email: 
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
    AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
  • 1.00 Hours of Participation
    Hours of Participation credit.
Course opens: 
03/13/2014
Course expires: 
03/13/2014
Event starts: 
03/13/2014 - 8:00am CDT
Event ends: 
03/13/2014 - 9:00am CDT
Cost:
$0.00
Gwinnett Hospital System
1000 Medical Center Blvd
Lawrenceville, GA 30046
United States

Chairperson
Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH
Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA

Dr. Charles S. Fuchs is Director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He also leads the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center Gastrointestinal Malignancies Program and the DF/HCC SPORE Grant in Gastrointestinal Cancers, and he served as the extramural leader for the NCI-sponsored Genome-Wide Association Study in Pancreatic Cancer (PanScan). Dr. Fuchs splits his time between laboratory-based research, clinical research, and clinical care. His laboratory focuses on biochemical markers of gastrointestinal cancer risk, molecular predictors of patient prognosis in colorectal, gastric, and pancreatic cancers, and the discovery of novel targets for cancer therapy. Dr. Fuchs has also led numerous national and international clinical trials assessing novel targeted therapies for GI malignancies. Dr. Fuchs is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer and a cadre member of GI Committee for Alliance. He has over 400 scientific publications in such journals as The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cell, and Nature.

Faculty
J. Randolph Hecht, MDJ. Randolph Hecht, MD
UCLA School of Medicine
Los Angeles, CA

Dr. J. Randolph Hecht is a Professor of Clinical Medicine and the Carol and Saul Rosenzweig Chair for Cancer Therapies Development at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He is the Director of the UCLA GI Oncology Program, one of the largest such programs in the West. Having trained in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago and UCLA, and medical oncology at UCLA, his clinical and research interests have been exclusively the treatment of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Based on translational research from the UCLA Translational Oncology Research Laboratories, Dr. Hecht has developed and led trials with gene therapies, antiangiogenic drugs, growth factor inhibitors and other novel agents in esophageal, gastric, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. This includes leading and publishing the results of multiple large randomized studies with small molecule anti-VEGF-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors and anti-EGFR inhibitors in colorectal cancer. Dr. Hecht is currently the global principal investigator on an international randomized phase II trial for patients with second-line metastatic colorectal cancer using an antibody to LOXL2, an enzyme that is involved in the synthesis of collagen and elastin, which form a large part of the tumor stroma. Dr. Hecht is also on the medical advisory board and has spoken for the national colorectal cancer advocacy group Chris4Life. 

Click here for bio -  http://www.uclahealth.org/body.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=479&action=detail&ref=11416

Available Credit

  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
    AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
  • 1.00 Hours of Participation
    Hours of Participation credit.

Price

Cost:
$0.00
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