Dr. Hong on the Potential Clinical Implications of the SURPASS Trial in Gastric/GEJ Cancer

David S. Hong, MD, deputy chair, Department of investigational Cancer Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the potential clinical implications of the phase 1 SURPASS trial (NCT04044859) in gastric/gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer.

The ongoing SURPASS trial is evaluating the safety and tolerability of ADP-A2M4CD8 T-cell therapy in patients with appropriate human leukocyte antigen-A2–positive, MAGE-A4–positive tumors. Initial findings from the study, which were presented during the 2020 SITC Annual Meeting, showed that ADP-A2M4CD8 SPEAR T cells induced early efficacy signals and a manageable safety profile among this patient population.

Notably, 3 of the 5 patients who responded had GEJ or esophageal cancer. Currently, patients with gastric or GEJ cancer have limited options beyond standard chemotherapy or immunotherapy, if the patient has high PD-L1 expression, says Hong. Novel cellular therapies, such as ADP-A2M4CD8, have the potential to offer breakthrough therapies to this population who may progress quickly on all available options. Although ADP-A2M4CD8 is in the early stages of clinical development, initial responses appear promising and have the potential to offer long-term benefit for patients in this space, concludes Hong.