Buffalo, N.y. And San Diego: The work of researchers at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center will be featured at the 2026 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in San Diego, California, April 17-22. The event brings together more than 21,000 professionals from the oncology field, as well as patients, survivors and advocates, to share and learn about recent discoveries.
Among the highlights of the meeting are an invited talk comparing patient outcomes on targeted therapy or standard chemotherapy as treatment for an aggressive subtype of metastatic colorectal cancer; work from a Roswell Park team that is assessing a new strategy to treat p53-mutated solid tumors; and a late-breaking abstract detailing promising translational findings on a prospective new combination therapy for metastatic breast cancer.
How Does Targeted Therapy Stack Up Against Standard Chemo in HER2-Amplified Metastatic Colorectal Cancer?
A retrospective study led by Roswell Park investigators reports that trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd/Enhertu), a targeted therapy, enhances five-year overall survival in patients with HER2-positive, microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer, an aggressive subtype with limited response to chemotherapy.
While clinical trials previously showed promising activity in trastuzumab deruxtecan, several variables — including patients’ general functioning and other existing medical conditions, prior treatments and the order in which the treatments were given — have made it difficult to assess the treatment’s true effectiveness outside the context of a clinical trial. This real-world study fills the knowledge gap by tracking overall survival in patients treated with trastuzumab deruxtecan versus standard chemotherapy.
The study’s co-first author, Zunairah Shah, MBBS, Fellow in Hematology and Medical Oncology, will present her team’s findings in abstract 1303, “Real-world overall survival with trastuzumab deruxtecan versus standard chemotherapy in HER2-amplified MSS metastatic colorectal cancer” during a minisymposium on Sunday, April 19, from 3:35-3:50 p.m., Room 17, Mezzanine Level of the Convention Center. Sheheryar Kabraji, BMBCh, Chief of Breast Medicine, and Kannan Thanikachalam, MD, Assistant Professor of Oncology, Department of Medicine, are co-senior authors.
Novel Therapy Targets DNA Damage Response in p53-Mutant Cancers
The tumor-suppressor gene TP53 is frequently mutated in most solid-tumor cancers, including colorectal and pancreatic cancers, driving tumor progression and metastasis. Research by a Roswell Park-led team of investigators shows that a triple-drug regimen they developed achieves strong tumor suppression without detectable toxicity in p53-mutant, patient-derived xenograft models of colorectal cancer. Andrei Bakin, PhD, Associate Professor of Oncology in Cancer Genetics and Genomics, is senior author of abstract 6762, “A novel therapeutic approach for targeting p53-mutant cancers by leveraging DNA damage response vulnerabilities.” The regimen combines the chemotherapy trifluridine/tipiracil (TAS102/Lonsurf) with talazoparib (Talzenna), a targeted therapy called a PARP inhibitor, and a G2-checkpoint kinase inhibitor, which together result in uncontrolled DNA damage to and cell death of p53-mutant cancer cells.
First author Mohammed Alruwaili, PhD, ASCP, who previously trained at Roswell Park and now is with Northern Border University in Arar, Saudi Arabia, will present the findings during a minisymposium on Targeted Therapy: Data Driven Approaches and Novel Drugs, Tuesday, April 21, 3:35-3:50 p.m. in Room 31, Upper Level of the Convention Center.
Late-Breaking Abstract Describes Promising Combination Therapy for Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Preclinical research by Gokul Das, PhD, Professor of Oncology and Co-Director of the Breast Translational Research Group, and colleagues has revealed a novel combination therapy with the potential to make inroads against metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC), an aggressive and hard-to-treat subtype. Dr. Das, first and presenting author, will share the findings in the late-breaking abstract LB058/11, “Clinically actionable drug synergy drives transcriptomic and metabolic reprogramming to induce ferroptosis and apoptosis in triple negative breast cancer” Sunday, April 19, 2-5 p.m., in Section 52 of the Convention Center.
