Cabozantinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with activity against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and MET that has demonstrated clinical activity in advanced solid tumors. This ...open-label, phase II trial evaluated cabozantinib in patients with recurrent or refractory glioblastoma (GBM).
Patients were initially enrolled at a starting dose of 140 mg/day, but the starting dose was amended to 100 mg/day because of toxicity. Treatment continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was objective response rate assessed by an independent radiology facility using modified Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology criteria. Additional endpoints included duration of response, 6-month and median progression-free survival, overall survival, and safety.
Among 152 patients naive to prior antiangiogenic therapy, the objective response rate was 17.6% and 14.5% in the 140 mg/day and 100 mg/day groups, respectively, which did not meet the predefined statistical target for success. The proportions of patients alive and progression free at 6 months were 22.3% and 27.8%, respectively. Median progression-free survival was 3.7 months in both groups, and median overall survival was 7.7 months and 10.4 months, respectively. The incidence of grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs) was 79.4% and 84.7% in the 140 mg/day and 100 mg/day groups, respectively, and dose reductions due to AEs were experienced by 61.8% and 72.0%, respectively. Common grade 3/4 AEs included fatigue, diarrhea, and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome.
Cabozantinib showed evidence of clinical activity in patients with recurrent GBM naive to antiangiogenic therapy, although the predefined statistical target for success was not met. At the starting doses assessed, AEs were frequently managed with dose reductions.
NCT00704288 (https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00704288).
Identification of genetic changes in CNS tumors is important for the appropriate clinical management of patients. Our objective was to develop a next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay for ...simultaneously detecting the various types of genetic alterations characteristic for adult and pediatric CNS tumors that can be applied to small brain biopsies.
We report an amplification-based targeted NGS assay (GlioSeq) that analyzes 30 genes for single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and indels, 24 genes for copy number variations (CNVs), and 14 types of structural alterations in BRAF, EGFR, and FGFR3 genes in a single workflow. GlioSeq performance was evaluated in 54 adult and pediatric CNS tumors, and the results were compared with fluorescence in-situ hybridization, Sanger sequencing, and reverse transcription PCR.
GlioSeq correctly identified 71/71 (100%) genetic alterations known to be present by conventional techniques, including 56 SNVs/indels, 9 CNVs, 3 EGFRvIII, and 3 KIAA1549-BRAF fusions. Only 20 ng of DNA and 10 ng of RNA were required for successful sequencing of 100% frozen and 96% formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens. The assay sensitivity was 3%-5% of mutant alleles for SNVs and 1%-5% for gene fusions. The most commonly detected alterations were IDH1, TP53, TERT, ATRX. CDKN2A, and PTEN in high-grade gliomas, followed by BRAF fusions in low-grade gliomas and H3F3A mutations in pediatric gliomas.
GlioSeq NGS assay offers accurate and sensitive detection of a wide range of genetic alterations in a single workflow. It allows rapid and cost-effective profiling of brain tumor specimens and thus provides valuable information for patient management.
2001 Background: Systemic treatments are limited for patients with meningiomas that have progressed after surgery and/or radiation. Loss of NF2and CDKN2A/Bare common in higher grade meningiomas and ...promote meningioma progression in preclinical models. We evaluated the efficacy of abemaciclib, a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor, as part of Alliance umbrella trial A071401, a genomically driven phase II study in recurrent or progressive meningiomas. Methods: Eligible patients (pts) with grade 2/3 tumors and NF2 mutations or CDK pathway alterations were treated with abemaciclib 200 mg orally twice daily until progressive disease. Two co-primary endpoints were used: progression-free survival at 6 months (PFS6) and response rate (RR) by Macdonald criteria; the trial would be declared positive if either endpoint was met. Twenty-four evaluable pts provided >85% power to detect a PFS6 >41.5% (vs. null 15%; alpha =0.02). The threshold for promising results for PFS6 was 8+/24 pts. For RR, 24 evaluable pts provided >89% power to detect RR >20% (vs. null 2.5%; alpha = 0.021). The threshold for promising results for RR was 3+/24 pts. Results: Of 83 pts screened while the abemaciclib arm was open between September 15, 2021 and October 3, 2022, 36 eligible pts received treatment. The mean number of treatment cycles administered was 7 and median follow-up since start of treatment was 11 months. The first 24 pts that met eligibility criteria and began treatment were considered evaluable for the primary endpoint analysis. Of the 24 pts evaluated, 58% were female and the median age was 62 years. The observed PFS6 rate was 54% (13/24 pts, 95% confidence interval 33-75%), thus the study met PFS6 endpoint. No objective responses were observed. Of the 36 pts who started treatment, eight had a grade 3 and two had a grade 4 adverse event at least possibly related to treatment. Grade 3 toxicities included anemia (2), neutropenia (2), leukopenia (1), blurry vision (1), diarrhea (2), fatigue (2), ALT elevation (1), dehydration (1), hyperkalemia (1), hyponatremia (1), dizziness (1), acute kidney injury (1), and thromboembolic event (1). Grade 4 toxicities included ALT elevation (1), AST elevation (1) and vomiting (1). Conclusions: Abemaciclib was well tolerated and resulted in an improved PFS6. The overall trial endpoint was met. Abemaciclib warrants further investigation for the treatment of patients with progressive grade 2/3 meningiomas. Support: U10CA180821, U10CA180882; UG1CA189867 (NRG Oncology); Eli Lilly; https://acknowledgments.alliancefound.org . Clinical trial information: NCT02523014 .
2005 Background: GBM AGILE (NCT03970447) is a phase 2/3 Bayesian adaptive registration platform trial testing multiple therapies efficiently against a common control (C) with a primary endpoint of ...overall survival (OS). VAL-083 (VAL) is a DNA targeting agent that, independent of O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase promoter methylation status, targets the N7 position of guanine residues and facilitates inter-strand DNA crosslinks, leading to DNA double-strand breaks and cell death. It entered the trial in January 2021, and it is the 2 nd arm (of 6) to complete its evaluation. Methods: Patient subtypes considered in GBM AGILE are newly diagnosed methylated (NDM), ND unmethylated (NDU), & recurrent disease (RD). C is temozolomide (in ND) & lomustine (in RD). Arms open to all 3 subtypes are evaluated in 5 prospectively defined signatures (sig): NDU, NDM, RD, all ND and All. Randomization to C is 20% in each subtype. Exp arms in GBM AGILE have 1 or 2 stages. Efficacy is based on OS hazard ratio (HR) of arm/C. Efficacy goal is a final Bayesian probability ≥ 98% for HR <1.00 in combined Stages 1 & 2. Arms stop accruing in Stage 1 if they reach max sample size (N) or drop for futility or safety. Exp arms in Stage 1 are adaptively randomized with allocation being proportional to an arm’s current probability of having ≥ 30% benefit in OS, P(HR <0.70). In stage 1, exp arms are evaluated monthly, and arms showing Bayesian predictive power (PP) ≥ 0.8, graduate into Stage 2 with fixed randomization in one sig. For all exp arms, follow up continues for 12 mos after accrual stops (clinical cutoff). Arms are declared futile at any monthly analysis when PP is <0.25 for all sigs. Open to all 3 subtypes, VAL entered as the 1 st arm in NDM and was randomized 1:1 to C in this subtype until additional arms entered. The target max N for VAL in its Stages 1 & 2 were 150 and 50, resp. Results: At the interim after VAL reached max sample size in Stage 1, the PP for all signatures was <0.8 and >0.25 for at least one sig. Thus, VAL did not graduate nor drop for futility, but accrual stopped for maximum N in Stage 1 (see table). Final results will be presented at the meeting. Columns 2-5 show results at the interim after which VAL stopped for max N. Columns 6-8 show near final results. Conclusions: GBM AGILE is an efficient & effective model for phase 3 drug development. VAL did not increase OS compared to C in any glioblastoma subtype. GBM AGILE evaluated this agent in less time, at lower cost, & with fewer patients than typical registration trials & is currently evaluating several other arms. Clinical trial information: NCT03970447 . Table: see text
Panobinostat is a histone deacetylase inhibitor with antineoplastic and antiangiogenic effects in glioma that may work synergistically with bevacizumab. We conducted a multicenter phase II trial of ...panobinostat combined with bevacizumab in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma (HGG).
Patients with recurrent HGG were treated with oral panobinostat 30 mg 3 times per week, every other week, in combination with bevacizumab 10 mg/kg every other week. The primary endpoint was a 6-month progression-fee survival (PFS6) rate for participants with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). Patients with recurrent anaplastic glioma (AG) were evaluated as an exploratory arm of the study.
At interim analysis, the GBM arm did not meet criteria for continued accrual, and the GBM arm was closed. A total of 24 patients with GBM were accrued prior to closure. The PFS6 rate was 30.4% (95%, CI 12.4%-50.7%), median PFS was 5 months (range, 3-9 months), and median overall survival (OS) was 9 months (range, 6-19 months). Accrual in the AG arm continued to completion, and a total of 15 patients were enrolled. The PFS6 rate was 46.7% (range, 21%-73%), median PFS was 7 months (range, 2-10 months), and median OS was 17 months (range, 5 months-27 months).
This phase II study of panobinostat and bevacizumab in participants with recurrent GBM did not meet criteria for continued accrual, and the GBM cohort of the study was closed. Although it was reasonably well tolerated, the addition of panobinostat to bevacizumab did not significantly improve PFS6 compared with historical controls of bevacizumab monotherapy in either cohort.
B‐cell lymphoma of the central nervous system (CNS) is a rare malignancy with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) variant being most common. Although DLBCL has a high propensity to relapse locally ...within the CNS, only a few cases of cutaneous metastasis have been described in the literature. We present a unique case of cutaneous metastasis of a primary DLBCL of the CNS in a 79‐year‐old man who was in clinical remission for 4 years until presenting with a lesion in the left adrenal gland and cutaneous nodules on the left flank. Skin biopsy specimen revealed a diffuse dermal infiltrate of atypical B‐cell lymphocytes with expression of CD20, BCL‐2, BCL‐6, and MUM‐1, suggestive of DLBCL. For differentiation between another primary or a recurrent process, immunoglobulin kappa (IgK) light chain gene rearrangement was performed and demonstrated that the DLBCL of the skin and CNS were of the same clonal origin. Restaging computerized tomography after initiating chemotherapy and daily ibrutinib showed complete resolution of the left adrenal mass and resolving cutaneous lesions. Our case demonstrates the rare, late cutaneous metastasis of DLBCL of the CNS and highlights the importance of genetic testing for the distinction between the primary and secondary lesions.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Therapies for glioblastoma recurrence after surgery and chemoradiation are warranted. TRC102 (methoxyamine), a small molecule DNA base-excision repair (BER) inhibitor, reverses ...temozolomide (TMZ) resistance in preclinical glioma models. We had investigated efficacy of TRC102+TMZ for recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) through a multicenter trial. This work sought to report translational findings from RNA sequencing performed on patients with available tumor tissue. METHOD: A two-arm, two-stage, non-randomized, Phase II trial of TRC102+TMZ for adults with rGBM named BERT was conducted. Arm 1 included bevacizumab-naive patients at first recurrence, with primary aim of estimating response rates using RANO criteria. If sufficient activity was identified, arm 2 was planned in bevacizumab-refractory patients. Secondary aims were to determine overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), 6-month PFS, and toxicity. Exploratory aims were correlating clinical outcomes with MPG expression and MGMT methylation. Differential gene expression profiling was analyzed using DESeq2 GSVA (RRID:SCR_015687) and transformed into enrichment scores for 'hallmark of DNA repair' pathways from Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB, RRID:SCR_016863) to assign mechanistic signatures of therapeutic vulnerability.
RESULTS
Arm 1 enrolled 19 patients with median of two treatment cycles, but objective responses were not observed. Hence, arm 2 did not open. Median OS was 11.1 months (95%CI 8.2-17.9). Median PFS was 1.9 months (95%CI 1.8-3.7). MGMT promoter was unmethylated in 14/19 patients, and MPG expression was present in 8/14 cases with available tumor tissue. MGMT methylation and MPG non-expression were associated with better OS and PFS. However, two ‘exceptional responders’ had PFS ≥11 months, with MGMT methylated and MPG expressed. RNA sequencing of their tumor tissue demonstrated significant enrichment for DNA damage response (DDR) pathways (MSigDB), chromosomal instability gene signatures (CIN70, CIN25), and proliferative gene signatures (PCNA25).
CONCLUSION
rGBM patients with elevated levels of MPG and DDR molecular signature may have impaired BER and respond better to TRC102+TMZ.
INTRODUCTION: Therapies for glioblastoma recurrence after surgery and chemoradiation are warranted. TRC102 (methoxyamine), a small molecule DNA base-excision repair (BER) inhibitor, reverses ...temozolomide (TMZ) resistance in preclinical glioma models. We had investigated efficacy of TRC102+TMZ for recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) through multicenter trial. METHODS: A two-arm, two-stage, non-randomized, Phase II trial of TRC102+TMZ for adults with rGBM was conducted. Arm 1 included bevacizumab-naive patients at first recurrence, with primary aim of estimating response rates using RANO criteria. If sufficient activity was identified, arm 2 was planned in bevacizumab-refractory patients. Secondary aims were to determine overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), PFS at six months, and toxicity using CTCAE v4.0. Exploratory aims were correlating clinical outcomes with MPG expression and MGMT methylation. Differential gene expression profiling was analyzed using DESeq2 GSVA (RRID:SCR_015687) and transformed into enrichment scores for 'hallmark of DNA repair' pathways from Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB, RRID:SCR_016863) to assign mechanistic signatures of therapeutic vulnerability. RESULTS: Arm 1 enrolled 19 patients with median of two treatment cycles, but objective responses were not observed. Hence, arm 2 did not open. Median OS was 11.1 months (95%CI 8.2-17.9). Median PFS was 1.9 months (95%CI 1.8-3.7). MGMT promoter was unmethylated in 14/19 patients, and MPG expression was present in 8/14 cases with available tumor tissue. MGMT methylation and MPG non-expression were associated with better OS and PFS. However, two ‘exceptional responders’ had PFS = 11 months, with MGMT methylated and MPG expressed. RNA sequencing of their tumor tissue demonstrated significant enrichment for DNA damage response (DDR) pathways (MSigDB), chromosomal instability gene signatures (CIN70,CIN25), and proliferative gene signatures (PCNA25). CONCLUSIONS: rGBM patients with elevated levels of MPG and DDR molecular signature may have impaired BER and respond better to TRC102+TMZ.