pembrolizumab

Sacituzumab Tirumotecan plus Pembrolizumab in PD-L1-Negative Advanced NSCLC.

Zhou Fei F, Meng Xiangjiao X, Ding Qingqing Q, Zhang Peng P et al.

Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy with a platinum-based agent and pemetrexed is a widely used standard first-line treatment option for patients with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-negative advanced nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without targetable genomic alterations, but outcomes remain suboptimal. In this phase 3, open-label, randomized trial, we evaluated sacituzumab tirumotecan plus pembrolizumab in patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC without targetable genomic alterations and a PD-L1 tumor proportion score of less than 1%. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive sacituzumab tirumotecan plus pembrolizumab or chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab. The primary end point was progression-free survival as assessed by blinded independent central review. Overall survival was a secondary end point. This report presents the results of the prespecified interim analysis. A total of 455 patients were randomly assigned to receive sacituzumab tirumotecan plus pembrolizumab (229 patients) or chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab (226 patients). After a median follow-up of 9.7 months, the median progression-free survival was significantly longer with sacituzumab tirumotecan plus pembrolizumab than with chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab (15.0 months vs. 5.7 months; hazard ratio for disease progression or death, 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.36 to 0.65; P<0.001). An objective response occurred in 50.2% and 47.3% of the patients, respectively, and the median duration of response was 13.6 months and 6.8 months. Overall survival data were immature; the hazard ratio for death was 0.58 (95% CI, 0.38 to 0.88). Adverse events of grade 3 or higher that occurred after the start of treatment were reported in 47.6% of the patients assigned to receive sacituzumab tirumotecan plus pembrolizumab and in 60.6% of those assigned to receive chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab. Stomatitis was common with sacituzumab tirumotecan plus pembrolizumab, but the events were predominantly grade 1 or 2. Among patients with PD-L1-negative advanced nonsquamous NSCLC without targetable genomic alterations, first-line treatment with sacituzumab tirumotecan plus pembrolizumab led to significantly longer progression-free survival than chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab. (Funded by Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical; OptiTROP-Lung06 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT06711900.).

Stem Cell-Based Therapies in Companion Animals: Molecular Mechanisms, Clinical Applications, and Translational Perspectives.

Liu Weina W, Wang Yu Y, An Wei W, Wang Zhenlong Z et al.

Stem cell-based therapies, as regenerative and immunomodulatory strategies, show substantial potential in companion animals through tissue repair, functional recovery, and immune modulation. Despite advances in human stem cell research, veterinary clinical translation remains constrained by small sample sizes, short follow-up periods, and non-standardized cell dosing regimens and delivery protocols. The expanding repertoire of stem cell-based modalities and technologies-including mesenchymal stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, extracellular vesicles, and tissue engineering-provides promising avenues for clinical application. This review summarizes recent progress in stem cell-based therapies across multiple disease systems in dogs and cats, with particular attention to the molecular mechanisms underlying regenerative and immunomodulatory effects, cross-species translational strategies, current challenges, and combinatorial therapeutic approaches in companion animals. By examining mechanistic findings alongside preclinical and early clinical evidence, this review highlights the limitations of current knowledge and identifies research priorities for evaluating the safety and efficacy of stem cell-based therapies in dogs and cats.

Immunotherapy in Liver Transplant Recipients with Advanced Solid Malignancies: A Three-Patient Case Series.

Jiao Belinda B, Rajadurai Charles Vincent CV, Benizri Nissim N, Sabbah Arielle A et al.

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) after liver transplantation (LT) remains controversial, because immune activation may cause allograft rejection. Evidence in non-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) malignancies is limited. We retrospectively reviewed three LT recipients treated with pembrolizumab for advanced non-HCC malignancies at the McGill University Health Centre; treatment began between May 2020 and January 2025, and follow-up was censored on 31 January 2026. A patient with PD-L1-negative non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) achieved stable disease for approximately seven months, whereas a patient with PD-L1-high NSCLC achieved a durable partial response with progression-free survival of approximately 36 months. A third patient with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma achieved a near-complete radiologic and metabolic response after two cycles. Pembrolizumab was held after this response; subsequent liver-test abnormalities raised concern for graft injury, but biopsy showed no histologic rejection and supported treatment resumption. No clinical or biochemical evidence of rejection was observed in Cases 1 and 2. At cutoff, Case 3 was alive and receiving pembrolizumab after seven cycles. These cases support a cancer-specific, individualized risk-benefit assessment in which expected oncologic benefit, alternatives, graft history, immunosuppression, and acceptance of graft-loss risk guide multidisciplinary treatment and close graft surveillance.

First mRNA Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Phase III Trial.

Adding the mRNA-based individualized neoantigen vaccine intismeran autogene to the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab following surgery for melanoma reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 42%, according to the results of the phase III INTerpath-0001 trial. The data were presented at the ESMO Congress 2026, held October 23-27, in Madrid, Spain.