Objectives
Response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) remains limited to a subset of patients and predictive biomarkers of response remains an unmet need, limiting our ability to provide precision ...medicine. Using real-world data, we aimed to identify potential clinical prognosticators of ICI response in solid tumor patients.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective analysis of all solid tumor patients treated with ICIs at the Mount Sinai Hospital between January 2011 and April 2017. Predictors assessed included demographics, performance status, co-morbidities, family history of cancer, smoking status, cancer type, metastatic pattern, and type of ICI. Outcomes evaluated include progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), overall response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR). Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were constructed to test the association of predictors with outcomes.
Results
We identified 297 ICI-treated patients with diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (N = 81, 27.3%), melanoma (N = 73, 24.6%), hepatocellular carcinoma (N = 51, 17.2%), urothelial carcinoma (N = 51, 17.2%), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (N = 23, 7.7%), and renal cell carcinoma (N = 18, 6.1%). In multivariable analysis, good performance status of ECOG ≤ 2 (PFS, ORR, DCR and OS) and family history of cancer (ORR and DCR) associated with improved ICI response. Bone metastasis was associated with worse outcomes (PFS, ORR, and DCR).
Conclusions
Mechanisms underlying the clinical predictors of response observed in this real-world analysis, such as genetic variants and bone metastasis-tumor microenvironment, warrant further exploration in larger studies incorporating translational endpoints. Consistently positive clinical correlates may help inform patient stratification when considering ICI therapy.
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), a disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has become an unprecedented global health emergency, with fatal ...outcomes among adults of all ages throughout the world. There is a high incidence of infection and mortality among cancer patients with evidence to support that patients diagnosed with cancer and SARS-CoV-2 have an increased likelihood of a poor outcome. Clinically relevant changes imposed as a result of the pandemic, are either primary, due to changes in timing or therapeutic modality; or secondary, due to altered cooperative effects on disease progression or therapeutic outcomes. However, studies on the clinical management of patients with genitourinary cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic are limited and do little to differentiate primary or secondary impacts of COVID-19. Here, we provide a review of the epidemiology and biological consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in GU cancer patients as well as the impact of COVID-19 on the diagnosis and management of these patients, and the use and development of novel and innovative diagnostic tests, therapies, and technology. This article also discusses the biomedical advances to control the virus and evolving challenges in the management of prostate, bladder, kidney, testicular, and penile cancers at all stages of the patient journey during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a valuable prognostic and predictive biomarker in prostate cancer; however, the significance of PSA at or near the time of death is not well understood. This study ...aimed to characterize the significance of PSA at death in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).
The Mount Sinai Genitourinary Cancer Biorepository, an institutional review board–approved, single-institution database containing all consented genitourinary cancer patients seen between 2010 and 2018, was used to identify and stratify patients into the following cohorts based on their PSA at or near death: <100 ng/mL, 100–1000 ng/mL, and >1000 ng/mL. Analyses were performed to assess clinical characteristics of disease, treatment response, and outcomes.
We identified 1097 patients with prostate cancer, and 101 were confirmed to be deceased following a diagnosis of mCRPC. In patients with mCRPC, cohorts of higher PSA level at death were associated with lower Gleason score at diagnosis and a trend toward longer time to mCRPC and longer time from diagnosis to death, despite a higher burden of disease at death. Conversely, subgroup analysis of PSA < 10 ng/mL at death was associated with lower rates of imaging within 6 months of death, lower treatment rate, and worse clinical outcomes.
Cohorts of different PSA levels at death in mCRPC patients showed distinct patterns of disease characteristics and clinical outcomes, likely due to the underlying molecular phenotype differences. Imaging for the patient population with very low PSA levels may be underutilized and should be considered more routinely.
In this article, we characterize metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) based on the patients’ prostate-specific antigen at death through retrospective analysis (N = 101). We found distinct patterns of disease characteristics and clinical outcomes, likely due to the underlying molecular phenotype differences. Furthermore, it may be important to consider routine imaging, particularly for those exhibiting characteristics of neuroendocrine differentiation.
e16520
Background: Adrenergic receptors (ADR) have a well-established role in kidney physiology, suggesting a possible role of ADR signaling in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Preclinical studies have ...shown a possible anti-tumor effect of both alpha-adrenergic blockers (AB) and beta-adrenergic blockers (BB) on renal cancer cells. However, the literature is conflicting regarding the effect on clinical outcomes. In addition, there is no comprehensive analysis of what role these medications have specifically in RCC patients with metastatic disease. In this single health system retrospective study, we evaluate the effect of AB or BB prescription on cancer-specific outcomes in patients with metastatic RCC. Methods: Clinical data was abstracted from the electronic health record and the institutional cancer registry at The Mount Sinai Health System to include patients with RCC diagnosed with metastatic disease ( de novo or relapsed) between 2016-2020. Follow up data was recorded until a data lock of 4/1/2021. Multivariate Cox regression was used to evaluate the association of AB and BB prescription on overall survival (OS) for the entire cohort and progression free survival (PFS) for patients who received any first line therapy. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate association of these medications with overall response rate (ORR) of first line therapies with available data on initial response. Analyses were controlled for clinical risk factors including age at diagnosis, sex, race, treatment plan including immunotherapy, and medical history of benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypertension, or heart failure. Data was analyzed using R version 4.1.0. Results: 133 patients were identified for inclusion in the study. 61% of cases are de novo metastatic and 39% are relapsed from previously resected disease. 71% are clear cell histology, 3.8 % are papillary, and the rest are unspecified/other. 84 patients (63%) received at least a 1
st
line systemic therapy. AB or BB prescription alone is not associated with OS, PFS, or ORR. However, prescription of both AB and BB is associated with worse OS (HR 2.94 95% CI 1.13-7.68), worse PFS (HR 7.70 95% CI 1.80-33.0), and decreased odds of responding to 1
st
line therapy (OR 0.06 95% CI 0.00-0.55) on multivariate analysis. Conclusions: The data suggests that the concurrent use of both an AB and BB in patients with metastatic RCC leads to worse clinical outcomes. What remains unclear is if there is a negative synergistic effect of these medications on RCC pathophysiology or if the prescription of these medications is associated with another negative confounding clinical factor. Since these medications are commonly utilized for cardiovascular disease, multivariate analyses attempted to control for these comorbidities. Future studies may add to this data by cataloging the severity of heart failure and doses of AB and BB medications used in a RCC cohort.
Renal cell cancer (RCC) continues to be among the most lethal malignancies in the USA. Introduction of anti-vascular epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors over a decade ago ...resulted in improvement in disease outcomes, but further development of new therapies largely stagnated for many years. More recently, a better understanding of disease biology and treatment-resistance patterns has led to a second renaissance in drug development, with the anti-programmed cell death protein 1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, nivolumab, paving the way for additional therapies entering clinical trial testing in the treatment of RCC.
Abstract Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is a central hormone in mammalian reproductive biology. The FSH receptor (FSHR), which was previously believed to be expressed primarily in the ovary and ...testis, was recently found to be expressed in the tumor blood vessels of many solid tumor types, including prostate adenocarcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, and renal cell carcinoma. While the biologic significance of FSHR in tumor blood vessels has yet to be elucidated, FSHR may contribute to neoangiogenesis. FSHR has been reported to be expressed by prostate cancer cells and, thus, targeting FSHR in prostate cancer may be of particular utility. In this report, we discuss the finding of FSHR in tumor blood vessels and review the literature concerning FSHR in genitourinary malignancy. We also discuss the features that make FSHR an appealing target for therapeutic and imaging purposes and the potential utility of FSHR as a prognostic and/or predictive biomarker in genitourinary cancers.
Renal cancer ranks twelfth in incidence among cancers worldwide. Despite improving outcomes due to better therapeutic options and strategies, prognosis for those with metastatic disease remains poor. ...Current systemic therapeutic approaches include inhibiting pathways of angiogenesis, immune checkpoint blockade, and mTOR inhibition, but inevitably resistance develops for those with metastatic disease, and novel treatment strategies are urgently needed. Emerging molecular and epidemiological evidence suggests that quinazoline-based α1-adrenoceptor-antagonists may have both chemopreventive and direct therapeutic actions in the treatment of urological cancers, including renal cancer. In human renal cancer cell models, quinazoline-based α1-adrenoceptor antagonists were shown to significantly reduce the invasion and metastatic potential of renal tumors by targeting focal adhesion survival signaling to induce anoikis. Mechanistically these drugs overcome anoikis resistance in tumor cells by targeting cell survival regulators AKT and FAK, disrupting integrin adhesion (α5β1 and α2β1) and engaging extracellular matrix (ECM)-associated tumor suppressors. In this review, we discuss the current evidence for the use of quinazoline-based α1-adrenoceptor antagonists as novel therapies for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and highlight their potential therapeutic action through overcoming anoikis resistance of tumor epithelial and endothelial cells in metastatic RCC. These findings provide a platform for future studies that will retrospectively and prospectively test repurposing of quinazoline-based α1-adrenoceptor-antagonists for the treatment of advanced RCC and the prevention of metastasis in neoadjuvant, adjuvant, salvage and metastatic settings.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are being increasingly used across cancer types. Emergency room (ER) and inpatient (IP) care, common in patients with cancer, remain poorly defined in this ...specific population, and risk factors for such care are unknown.
We retrospectively reviewed charts for patients with solid tumors who received >1 ICI dose at 1 of 2 sites from January 1, 2011 to April 28, 2017. Demographics, medical history, cancer diagnosis/therapy/toxicity details, and outcomes were recorded. Descriptive data detailing ER/IP care at the 2 associated hospitals during ICI therapy (from first dose to 3 mo after last dose) were collected. The Fisher exact test and multivariate regression analysis was used to study differences between patients with versus without ER/IP care during ICI treatment.
Among 345 patients studied, 50% had at least 1 ER visit during ICI treatment and 43% had at least 1 IP admission. Six percent of ER/IP visits eventually required intensive care. A total of 12% of ER/IP visits were associated with suspected or confirmed immune-related adverse events. Predictors of ER care were African-American race (odds ratio OR: 3.83, P=0.001), Hispanic ethnicity (OR: 3.12, P=0.007), and coronary artery disease (OR: 2.43, P=0.006). Predictors of IP care were African-American race (OR: 2.38, P=0.024), Hispanic ethnicity (OR: 2.29, P=0.045), chronic kidney disease (OR: 3.89, P=0.006), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker medication use (OR: 0.44, P=0.009), and liver metastasis (OR: 2.32, P=0.003).
Understanding demographic and clinical risk factors for ER/IP care among patients on ICIs can help highlight disparities, prospectively identify high-risk patients, and inform preventive programs aimed at reducing such care.
Significant disparities in survival, incidence and possibly response to current therapies exist between black and white patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Recent genomic evidence to account ...for these disparities has been reported for clear cell RCC. However, racial disparities at the genomic level for papillary RCC (pRCC) which is a genetically distinct and less responsive histologic subtype of RCC have not been reported. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data, the present study assessed gene-level expression, somatic mutation and pathway differences between 58 black and 58 white patients with pRCC propensity matched on age, gender and pathologic T stage. Distinct tumor biology with differential expression patterns were observed in black vs. white patients with pRCC. Specifically, significance analysis of microarrays was applied to TCGA gene expression data and identified 163 genes and 120 genes overexpressed in black and white patients, respectively (FDR q<0.05). Gene Set Enrichment Analysis identified 62 gene sets enriched (p<0.10) in blacks. Enrichment of immune immune system pathways were noted in black patients. These included the B cell receptor signaling pathway, the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway and genes involved in defensins. The VEGF pathway was also more significant in black patients. CRYBB2, a gene associated with the WNT pathway was overexpressed in Black patients. While our data requires validation, these findings suggest that race may have implications for distinct immune responses to cancer and that the use of immunotherapies, and VEGFR inhibitors to target these pathways may improve survival in black patients with advanced pRCC.
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