The annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is one of the key events allowing the medical world to summarize the most important observations and conclusions from ongoing research on oncological diseases.

This year, the ASCO conference, which has gathered several thousand specialists from around the world every year, took place in a unique, virtual form. Between 29-31 May 2020, although not personally, with no less commitment, the results were presented and research and development directions were discussed.

Among the more than 5.5 thousand publications presented in various forms on all types of cancers, there were also over 150 concerning gliomas, and we want to focus on them in this summary.

In the main session on central nervous system cancers, Professor Eva Galanis from the Mayo clinic first presented the results of CNS lymphoma, and in the second part the results of low-grade gliomas in newly diagnosed patients with IDH mutation, which showed that they use of temozolomide (TMZ) ) may lead to hypermutation. The results of other drugs related to IDH mutations: Vorasidenib and Olutasidenib were also presented. Both showed good tolerance and clinical benefit.

The topic of low-grade gliomas also appeared in the main session on novelty in pediatric oncology. Dr. Steven DuBois from the children’s oncology hospital Dana-Farber presented promising results of treatment with Trametinib and Dabrafenib.

ONC-201 – a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist (DRD2), which showed effectiveness in penetrating the blood-brain barrier, had the largest number of publications this year. Conclusions from up to five different studies were presented in which this drug was tested on different patient groups. Its clinical effectiveness and safety of use have been confirmed. What’s more, the publication of a newer generation drug: ONC-206, which has a similar mechanism of action to ONC-201, was also presented.

Most of the drugs presented this year have obtained positive results from the early stages of clinical trials – well-tolerated doses have been established and some clinical benefits have been observed; some of the drugs have gone moved to further stages of research. At the same time, there is still no scientific breakthrough for patients with gliomas. Patients need therapeutic treatment that would give hope for a successful recovery. For now, the effect that the presented drugs allow to achieve is a longer time with as good as possible patient comfort, depending on the side effects observed. Therefore, we are still waiting for a breakthrough, listening carefully to the development directions presented.