IOncology

At the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, two studies in the field of targeted therapy for gastric cancer drew significant attention. The world’s first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors (Abstract 4003) reported positive results, demonstrating both superior efficacy and manageable safety for Claudin 18.2-targeted CAR-T therapy compared to standard treatment regimens. Meanwhile, the Phase III randomized DESTINY-Gastric04 trial (Abstract LBA 4002) compared trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) with the current standard second-line regimen of ramucirumab plus paclitaxel (RAM+PTX) for patients with HER2-positive unresectable/metastatic gastric cancer, showing promising efficacy and safety outcomes.

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) has a relatively high incidence (1.8–3.0 per 100,000 person-years) and prevalence (17 per 100,000), with a substantial proportion of patients experiencing refractory or relapsed disease. Nearly 50% of patients relapse multiple times despite receiving first-line glucocorticoids, second-line CD20 monoclonal antibodies, and multiple conventional immunosuppressants, often becoming dependent on long-term drug therapy. As a result, patients with this otherwise benign disease frequently face a poor quality of life, complicated by thrombotic events, severe infections, and avascular necrosis of the femoral head, with disability or death occurring in 10–30% of cases. There is an urgent clinical need for innovative therapies capable of achieving durable, drug-free remissions.

In this comprehensive presentation, Prof. Qi Tang shared the construction, organization, and future roadmap of the UTUC subspecialty team at Peking University First Hospital. The presentation highlighted the integration of…

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly heterogeneous clonal malignancy, accounting for approximately 15–20% of pediatric leukemia cases. The current standard first-line induction regimen, known as "3+7," achieves complete remission (CR) rates of approximately 70%. However, about 25% of pediatric patients eventually progress to relapsed/refractory AML (R/R AML), associated with poor prognosis.

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by antibody-mediated platelet destruction and impaired platelet production, resulting in an increased risk of bleeding. In children, the annual incidence of ITP is approximately 1.9 to 6.4 per 100,000, making it the most common cause of acquired thrombocytopenia in pediatric patients. While most children achieve spontaneous remission either without treatment or following initial therapy, a subset of patients experience recurrent relapses requiring second-line interventions, including rituximab, thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RAs), splenectomy, and immunosuppressive agents. Due to the lack of prospective clinical trial data in children, selecting optimal second-line therapies remains a considerable clinical challenge.

In recent years, growing understanding of the structural and immune microenvironmental features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has placed immunotherapy at the forefront of HCC research and treatment. The emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and adoptive cell therapy (ACT) has opened new avenues of hope for patients with HCC. ACT, in particular, is a promising approach that involves the infusion of ex vivo activated and expanded autologous or allogeneic immune effector cells, and has shown potential in the treatment of infections, autoimmune disorders, and malignancies.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major global health burden and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Curative hepatectomy is often not feasible due to advanced disease or insufficient liver function. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) remains the standard treatment for patients in the intermediate stage, and in some guidelines, even for advanced stages. However, the landscape has evolved with the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). While these therapies have shown clinical efficacy individually or in dual combinations, the benefit of combining all three modalities—TACE, TKIs, and ICIs—as a "triple conversion therapy" had not been validated in large, real-world cohorts until the GUIDANCE001 study.

Editor’s Note At the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, the ANCHOR study, led by Professor Kefeng Ding from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, was presented as a Late-Breaking Abstract (LBA), marking a significant breakthrough in the treatment landscape of advanced colorectal cancer.