The advent of immune checkpoint‐inhibitors (CPI) has transformed treatment for several cancer types. This review was performed to assess the rate of adverse events (AEs) associated with the use of ...CPI, alone or in combinations. A review of AEs reporting quality was also performed. All publications of Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) assessing CPI published before December 2017 were included. To investigate the quality of AEs reporting, a set of items was defined based on the 2004 CONSORT harms extension statement. Rates of Grade 5, serious, and study‐withdrawal related AEs were collected in each treatment category. Specific immune related AEs (irAEs) were also collected when available. Pooled estimates of adverse event rates were calculated by using generalized linear mixed model. A total of 35 RCTs including 16,485 patients were included. The overall quality of AEs reporting was satisfactory, but items pertaining to methods of data collection and analysis were infrequently reported. Grade ≥ 3 AEs were reported for 14% (95% CI 12–16) of patients treated with PD(L)‐1 inhibitors, 34% (95% CI 27–42) of patients treated with CTLA‐4 inhibitors, 55% (95% CI 51–59) of patients on CPI combinations and 46% (95% CI 40–53) of patients on immunotherapy‐chemotherapy combination. The profile of irAEs was different among the treatment categories. The use of CPI, especially in combination, is associated with significant rates of Grade ≥ 3 AEs. Healthcare planning should anticipate the expected high number of patients presenting with irAEs in the future.
What's new?
Even the most promising therapies are of little value in the clinic if they're too toxic. With the advent of new immunotherapies, evaluating benefit vs. risk has become more complex than for standard chemotherapies. In this analysis, the authors found that treatment with immune checkpoint‐inhibitors (CPI) is associated with significant rates of adverse events (AEs) of Grade≥3, especially when used in combination with other types of therapy. Healthcare planning should anticipate an increased number of patients presenting with immune‐related and other AEs in the future.
Antibodies targeting PD-1 or its ligand 1 PD-L1 such as atezolizumab, have great efficacy in a proportion of metastatic urothelial cancers
. Biomarkers may facilitate identification of these ...responding tumors
. Neoadjuvant use of these agents is associated with pathological complete response in a spectrum of tumors, including urothelial cancer
. Sequential tissue sampling from these studies allowed for detailed on-treatment biomarker analysis. Here, we present a single-arm phase 2 study, investigating two cycles of atezolizumab before cystectomy in 95 patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02662309). Pathological complete response was the primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints focused on safety, relapse-free survival and biomarker analysis. The pathological complete response rate was 31% (95% confidence interval: 21-41%), achieving the primary efficacy endpoint. Baseline biomarkers showed that the presence of preexisting activated T cells was more prominent than expected and correlated with outcome. Other established biomarkers, such as tumor mutational burden, did not predict outcome, differentiating this from the metastatic setting. Dynamic changes to gene expression signatures and protein biomarkers occurred with therapy, whereas changes in DNA alterations with treatment were uncommon. Responding tumors showed predominant expression of genes related to tissue repair after treatment, making tumor biomarker interpretation challenging in this group. Stromal factors such as transforming growth factor-β and fibroblast activation protein were linked to resistance, as was high expression of cell cycle gene signatures after treatment.
Models using Cattaneo and Vernotte hyperbolic heat equation or derived from it (Double Phase Lag model and their various versions) are very common in the present thermal literature, especially for ...simulating heat transfer at the meso scale, such as in bio heat transfer. Such papers refer to so-called experimental validations made in several previous articles. We show in this short review that the corresponding experiments were biased, because of a deficient methodological approach based on too simple assumptions or on poor data reduction techniques.
•Non-Fourier models that are used for heat transfer at the meso space/time scales are now quite present literature.•Paper using these models, Cattaneo-Vernotte or the different versions of the double phase lag model, refer to so-called validations described in several earlier experimental papers.•The corresponding experiments were either based on too simple assumptions or relied on poor data reduction techniques.•The flaws and methodological biases in 6 experiments of the literature are detailed here.•A Fourier-based model has already been derived for one-dimensional thermal diffusion in materials composed of non-homogeneous inner structure.
The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidance was extended in 2004 to provide a set of 10 specific and comprehensive guidelines regarding adverse event (AE) reporting in ...randomized clinical trials (RCTs). Limited data exist regarding adherence to these guidelines in publications of oncology RCTs.
All phase III RCTs published between 2007 and 2011 were reviewed using a 16-point AE reporting quality score (AERQS) based on the 2004 CONSORT extension. Multivariable linear regression was used to identify features associated with improved reporting quality.
A total of 325 RCTs were reviewed. The mean AERQS was 10.1 on a 16-point scale. The most common items that were poorly reported were the methodology of AE collection (adequately reported in only 10% of studies), the description of AE characteristics leading to withdrawals (15%), and whether AEs are attributed to trial interventions (38%). Even when reported, the methods of AE collection and analysis were highly heterogeneous. The multivariable regression model revealed that industry funding, intercontinental trials, and trials in the metastatic setting were predictors of higher AERQS. The quality of AE reporting did not improve significantly over time and was not better among articles published in journals with a high impact factor.
Our findings show that some methodologic aspects of AE collection and analysis were poorly reported. Given the importance of AEs in evaluating new treatments, authors should be encouraged to adhere to the 2004 CONSORT guidelines regarding AE reporting.
Heat transfer by conduction in the walls of mini–micro-channels can get a quite multidimensional character. The wall heat flux density, for small Reynolds numbers, can become strongly non-uniform: ...most of the flux is transferred to the fluid flow at the entrance of the mini–micro-channel. Two analytical models of channel between parallel plates are proposed. It is shown that inverting experimental measurements using a one-dimensional model, for small flow rates, may lead to an underestimation of heat transfer coefficients. Another conclusion is that axial conduction in the walls of a mini–micro counter-flow heat exchanger yields a loss of efficiency: an optimal wall conductivity that maximises this efficiency exists. A new non-dimensional number quantifying the part of axial conduction in walls is proposed.
Malignant peritoneal mesotheliomas (MPM) are rare, accounting for approximately 8% of cases of mesothelioma in France. We performed comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) on frozen MPM samples using ...the Agilent Human Genome CGH 180 K array. Samples were taken from a total of 33 French patients, comprising 20 men and 13 women with a mean (range) age of 58.4 (17–76) years. Asbestos exposure was reported in 8 patients (24.2%). Median (range) overall survival (OS) was 39 (0–119) months. CGH analysis demonstrated the presence of chromosomal instability in patients with MPM, with a genomic pattern that was similar to that described for pleural mesothelioma, including the loss of chromosomal regions 3p21, 9p21 and 22q12. In addition, novel genomic copy number alterations were identified, including the 15q26.2 region and the 8p11.22 region. Median OS was associated with a low peritoneal cancer index (PCI) (P = .011), epithelioid subtype (P = .038) and a low number of genomic aberrations (P = .015), all of which constitute good prognosis factors for MPM. Our results provide new insights into the genetic and genomic background of MPM. Although pleural and peritoneal mesotheliomas have different risk factors, different therapeutics and different prognosis, these data provide support to combine pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma in same clinical assays.
Malignant mesothelioma is a deadly disease that is strongly associated with asbestos exposure. Peritoneal mesotheliomas account for 10% of all the cases. BRCA1 associated protein 1 (BAP1) is a ...deubiquitinating hydrolase that plays a key role in various cellular processes. Germline and somatic inactivation of BRCA1 associated protein 1 gene (BAP1) is frequent in pleural mesothelioma; however, little is known about its status in peritoneal mesothelioma.
Taking advantage of the extensive French National Network for the Diagnosis of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma and Rare Peritoneal Tumors and the French National Network for the Treatment of Rare Peritoneal Surface Malignancies, we collected biological material and clinical and epidemiological data for 46 patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. The status of BAP1 was evaluated at the mutational and protein expression levels and combined with our previous data on copy number alterations assessed in the same samples.
We detected mutations in 32% of the malignant peritoneal mesotheliomas analyzed. In addition, we have previously reported that copy number losses occurred in 42% of the samples included in this series. Overall, 73% of the malignant peritoneal mesotheliomas analyzed carried at least one inactivated BAP1 allele, but only 57% had a complete loss of its protein nuclear expression. Better overall survival was observed for patients with BAP1 mutations (p = 0.04), protein expression loss (p = 0.016), or at least one of these alterations (p = 0.007) independently of tumor histological subtype, age, and sex.
As in pleural mesothelioma, inactivation of BAP1 is frequent in peritoneal mesotheliomas. We found that BAP1 protein nuclear expression is a good prognostic factor and a more reliable marker for the complete loss of BAP1 activity than mutation or copy number loss.
Renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for 2% of cancer diagnoses and deaths worldwide. Clear-cell RCCs represent the vast majority (85%) of kidney cancers and are considered morphologically and ...genetically as immunogenic tumors. Indeed, the RCC tumoral microenvironment comprises T cells and myeloid cells in an immunosuppressive state, providing an opportunity to restore their activity through immunotherapy. Standard first-line systemic treatment for metastatic patients includes immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting PD1, in combination with either another ICI or with antiangiogenic targeted therapy. During the past few years, several combinations have been approved with an overall survival benefit and overall response rate that depend on the combination. Interestingly, some patients achieve prolonged complete responses, raising the question of whether these metastatic RCC patients can be cured. This review will focus on recent therapeutic advances in RCC and the clinical and biological aspects underpinning the potential for healing.
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents around 2% of cancer-related deaths worldwide per year. RCC is an immunogenic malignancy, and treatment of metastatic RCC (mRCC) has greatly improved since the ...advent of the new immunotherapy agents, including immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). However, it should be stressed that a large proportion of patients does not respond to these therapies. There is thus an urgent need to identify predictive biomarkers of efficacy or resistance associated with ICIs or ICI/Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) combinations; this is a major challenge to achieve precision medicine for mRCC in routine practice. To identify potential biomarkers, it is necessary to improve our knowledge on the biology of immune checkpoints. A lot of efforts have been made over the last decade in the field of immuno-oncology. We summarize here the main data obtained in this field when considering mRCC. As for clinical biomarkers, clinician and scientific experts of the domain are facing difficulties in identifying such molecular entities, probably due to the complexity of immuno-oncology and the constant adaptation of tumor cells to their changing environment.
The majority of patients with prostate cancer who later develop lethal metastatic disease have high-risk localized disease at presentation, emphasizing the importance of effective treatment ...strategies at this stage. Multimodal treatment approaches that combine systemic and local therapies offer a promising strategy for improving the clinical outcomes of patients with high-risk localized prostate cancer. Combinations of neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or chemohormonal therapy are considered to be the standard of care in most solid tumours and should be investigated in the future for the treatment of prostate cancer to improve patient outcomes. However, although the combination of androgen deprivation therapy and radiotherapy is a standard of care in high-risk localized or locally advanced prostate cancer, the benefit of chemotherapy or chemohormonal therapy has yet to be demonstrated outside of the metastatic setting. Moreover, the benefit of neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant systemic therapies in combination with radical prostatectomy has not been proved. The development of next-generation hormonal agents, which have been approved for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer, offers further therapeutic possibilities that are being assessed in early-phase clinical trials.
PDF
