The benefit of combination neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibition in patients with locally advanced, resectable gastric or gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma is ...unknown. We assess the antitumor activity of neoadjuvant and adjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced resectable gastric or gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma.
The KEYNOTE-585 study is a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, phase 3 study done at 143 medical centres in 24 countries. Eligible patients were aged 18 years or older with untreated, locally advanced, resectable gastric or gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma, and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0–1. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) by an interactive voice response system and integrated web response system to neoadjuvant pembrolizumab 200 mg intravenously or placebo (saline) plus cisplatin-based doublet chemotherapy (main cohort) every 3 weeks for 3 cycles, followed by surgery, adjuvant pembrolizumab or placebo plus chemotherapy for 3 cycles, then adjuvant pembrolizumab or placebo for 11 cycles. A small cohort was also randomly assigned (1:1) to pembrolizumab or placebo plus fluorouracil, docetaxel, and oxaliplatin (FLOT)-based chemotherapy (FLOT cohort) every 2 weeks for four cycles, followed by surgery, adjuvant pembrolizumab, or placebo plus FLOT for four cycles, then adjuvant pembrolizumab or placebo for 11 cycles. Patients were stratified by geographic region, tumour stage, and chemotherapy backbone. Primary endpoints were pathological complete response (reviewed centrally), event-free survival (reviewed by the investigator), and overall survival in the intention-to-treat population, and safety assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of study treatment. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03221426, and is closed to accrual.
Between Oct 9, 2017, and Jan 25, 2021, of 1254 patients screened, 804 were randomly assigned to the main cohort, of whom 402 were assigned to the pembrolizumab plus cisplatin-based chemotherapy group and 402 to the placebo plus cisplatin-based chemotherapy group, and 203 to the FLOT cohort, of whom 100 were assigned to the pembrolizumab plus FLOT group and 103 to placebo plus FLOT group. In the main cohort of 804 participants, 575 (72%) were male and 229 (28%) were female. In the main cohort, after median follow-up of 47·7 months (IQR 38·0–54·8), pembrolizumab was superior to placebo for pathological complete response (52 12·9%; 95% CI 9·8–16·6 of 402 vs eight 2·0%; 0·9–3·9 of 402; difference 10·9%, 95% CI 7·5 to 14·8; p<0·00001). Median event-free survival was longer with pembrolizumab versus placebo (44·4 months, 95% CI 33·0 to not reached vs 25·3 months, 20·6 to 33·9; hazard ratio HR 0·81, 95% CI 0·67 to 0·99; p=0·0198) but did not meet the threshold for statistical significance (p=0·0178). Median overall survival was 60·7 months (95% CI 51·5 to not reached) in the pembrolizumab group versus 58·0 months (41·5 to not reached) in the placebo group (HR 0·90, 95% CI 0·73 to 1·12; p=0·174). Grade 3 or worse adverse events of any cause occurred in 312 (78%) of 399 patients in the pembrolizumab group and 297 (74%) of 400 patients in the placebo group; the most common were nausea (240 60% vs 247 62%), anaemia (168 42% vs 158 40%), and decreased appetite (163 41% vs 172 43%). Treatment-related serious adverse events were reported in 102 (26%) and 97 (24%) patients. Treatment-related adverse events that led to death occurred in four (1%) patients in the pembrolizumab group (interstitial ischaemia, pneumonia, decreased appetite, and acute kidney injury n=1 each) and two (<1%) patients in the placebo group (neutropenic sepsis and neutropenic colitis n=1 each).
Although neoadjuvant and adjuvant pembrolizumab versus placebo improved the pathological complete response, it did not translate to significant improvement in event-free survival in patients with untreated, locally advanced resectable gastric or gastro-oesophageal cancer.
Merck Sharp & Dohme.
Summary Background An unmet medical need exists for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who have progressed on VEGF-targeted and mTOR-inhibitor therapies. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) ...pathway activation has been proposed as a mechanism of escape from VEGF-targeted therapies. Dovitinib is an oral tyrosine-kinase inhibitor that inhibits VEGF and FGF receptors. We therefore compared dovitinib with sorafenib as third-line targeted therapies in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Methods In this multicentre phase 3 study, patients with clear cell metastatic renal cell carcinoma who received one previous VEGF-targeted therapy and one previous mTOR inhibitor were randomly assigned through an interactive voice and web response system to receive open-label dovitinib (500 mg orally according to a 5-days-on and 2-days-off schedule) or sorafenib (400 mg orally twice daily) in a 1:1 ratio. Randomisation was stratified by risk group and region. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) assessed by masked central review. Efficacy was assessed in all patients who were randomly assigned and safety was assessed in patients who received at least one dose of study drug. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01223027. Findings 284 patients were randomly assigned to the dovitinib group and 286 to the sorafenib group. Median follow-up was 11·3 months (IQR 7·9–14·6). Median PFS was 3·7 months (95% CI 3·5–3·9) in the dovitinib group and 3·6 months (3·5–3·7) in the sorafenib group (hazard ratio 0·86, 95% CI 0·72–1·04; one-sided p=0·063). 280 patients in the dovitinib group and 284 in the sorafenib group received at least one dose of study drug. Common grade 3 or 4 adverse events included hypertriglyceridaemia (38 14%), fatigue (28 10%), hypertension (22 8%), and diarrhoea (20 7%) in the dovitinib group, and hypertension (47 17%), fatigue (24 8%), dyspnoea (21 7%), and palmar-plantar erythrodysaesthesia (18 6%) in the sorafenib group. The most common serious adverse event was dyspnoea (16 6% and 15 5% in the dovitinib and sorafenib groups, respectively). Interpretation Dovitinib showed activity, but this was no better than that of sorafenib in patients with renal cell carcinoma who had progressed on previous VEGF-targeted therapies and mTOR inhibitors. This trial provides reference outcome data for future studies of targeted inhibitors in the third-line setting. Funding Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
Genexol-PM is a novel Cremophor EL-free polymeric micelle formulation of paclitaxel. This single arm, multicenter phase II study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Genexol-PM in ...patients with histologically confirmed metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Forty-one women received Genexol-PM by intravenous infusion at 300 mg/m
2
over 3 h every 3 weeks without premedication until disease progression or intolerability. A total of 331 chemotherapy cycles were administered, with a median of 8 cycles per patient (range, 1–16). Overall response rate was 58.5% (95% CI: 43.5–72.3) with 5 complete responses and 19 partial responses. Thirty-seven patients who received Genexol-PM as a first-line therapy for their metastatic disease showed a response rate of 59.5% (95% CI: 43.5–73.7), and two responses were reported in four patients treated in the second-line setting for their metastatic disease. The median time to progression (TTP) for all patients was 9.0 months (range, 1.0–17.0+ months). Grade 3 non-hematologic toxicities included sensory peripheral neuropathy (51.2%), and myalgia (2.4%). Eight patients (19.5%) experienced hypersensitivity reactions, with grade 3 in two patients. Hematologic toxicities were grade 3 and 4 neutropenia (51.2 and 17.1%, respectively), and grade 1 and 2 thrombocytopenia (22.0%). Notably, no febrile neutropenia was observed. Genexol-PM appears a promising new paclitaxel in view of significant efficacies. Further trials with different dosing schedules, durations of delivery, or in combination with other drugs are warranted.
The PI3K/protein kinase B (AKT) pathway is commonly activated in several tumor types. Selective targeting of p110β could result in successful pathway inhibition while avoiding the on- and off-target ...effects of pan-PI3K inhibitors. GSK2636771 is a potent, orally bioavailable, adenosine triphosphate-competitive, selective inhibitor of PI3Kβ.
We evaluated the safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and antitumor activity of GSK2636771 to define the recommended phase II dose (RP2D). During the dose-selection and dose-escalation stages (parts 1 and 2), patients with
-deficient advanced solid tumors received escalating doses of GSK2636771 (25-500 mg once daily) using a modified 3+3 design to determine the RP2D; tumor type-specific expansion cohorts (part 3) were implemented to further assess tumor responses at the RP2D.
A total of 65 patients were enrolled; dose-limiting toxicities were hypophosphatemia and hypocalcemia. Adverse events included diarrhea (48%), nausea (40%), and vomiting (31%). Single- and repeat-dose exposure increased generally dose proportionally. GSK2636771 400 mg once daily was the RP2D. Phospho/total AKT ratio decreased with GSK2636771 in tumor and surrogate tissue. A castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patient harboring
amplification had a partial response for over a year; an additional 10 patients derived durable (≥24 weeks) clinical benefit, including two other patients with CRPC with
alterations (≥34 weeks). GSK2636771 400 mg once daily orally induced sufficient exposure and target inhibition with a manageable safety profile.
Genomic aberrations of
may be associated with clinical benefit from GSK2636771.
.
Aim
Much attention has been paid to conversion therapy for stage IV gastric cancer, however, its operative comorbidities and survival benefit have not yet been clarified. CONVO‐GC‐1, an international ...retrospective cohort study, was designed to investigate the role of conversion surgery in Japan, Korea, and China.
Methods
The rate of operative complications was the primary endpoint and the overall survival (OS), according to the four‐category criteria previously published (Gastric Cancer:19; 2016), was analyzed as the secondary endpoint.
Results
A total of 1206 patients underwent surgery after chemotherapy with curative intent. Operative complications were observed in 290 (24.0%) patients in all grades, including pancreatic fistula and surgical site infection. The median survival time (MST) of all resected patients was 36.7 mo (M) and those of R0, R1, and R2 resection were 56.6 M, 25.8 M, and 21.7 M, respectively. Moreover, the MST of R0 patients were 47.8 M, 116.7 M, 44.8 M in categories 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and not reached in category 4. Interestingly, the MST of P1 patients was as favorable as that of P0CY1 patients if R0 resection was achieved. The MST of patients with liver metastasis was also favorable regardless of the number of lesions, and the MST of patients with para‐aortic lymph node (LN) No 16a1/b2 metastasis was not inferior to that of patients with para‐aortic LN No 16a2/b1 metastasis.
Conclusion
Conversion therapy for stage IV gastric cancer is safe and could be a new therapeutic strategy to improve the survival of patients, especially those with R0 resection.
R0 resection of conversion therapy can be a new strategy for gastric cancer.
Summary
TAS-117 is a potent and selective allosteric pan-v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog (Akt) inhibitor. We conducted a single-arm single-center phase 2 study of TAS-117 in heavily ...treated patients with tumors refractory to systemic chemotherapy and harboring phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt mutations. Patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers were orally administered 16 mg TAS-117 daily, and those with non-GI tumors were administered 24 mg on a 4 days on/3 days off schedule. The primary endpoint was overall response rate (ORR). Secondary endpoints included disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), PFS ratio, safety, and tolerability. Thirteen patients were enrolled: eight with non-GI (breast, ovarian, endometrial, and non-small cell lung) and five with GI (colon, rectal, gastric, and gallbladder) cancers. Ten patients were treated with TAS-117 after
≥
4 lines of therapy. Twelve patients showed PIK3 catalytic subunit alpha (
PIK3CA
) mutations; one harbored an Akt1
E17K
mutation. The median treatment duration was 1.4 months; the median number of treatment cycles was 2. The ORR was 8 %, and DCR was 23 %. The median PFS and OS were 1.4 and 4.8 months, respectively. Grade 3–4 treatment-related adverse events were anorexia (grade 3, 8 %) and hyperglycemia (grade 3, 8 %; grade 4, 8 %).Grade 3–4 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 27 % of grade 3 anorexia (9 %) and hyperglycemia (grade 3, 8 %; grade 4, 9\%). TAS-117 showed limited antitumor activity and manageable toxicity. Clinical efficacy was observed in patients with ovarian cancer harboring
PIK3CA
E545K mutations and in patients with breast cancer harboring
PIK3CA
H1047R and Akt1
E17K
mutations.
Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered with ClinicalTrial.gov (NCT03017521 on January 11, 2017).
MicroRNAs (miRNA) play pivotal oncogenic and tumor-suppressor roles in several human cancers. We sought to discover novel tumor-suppressor miRNAs in gastric cancer (GC).
Using Agilent miRNA ...microarrays, we compared miRNA expression profiles of 40 primary gastric tumors and 40 gastric normal tissues, identifying miRNAs significantly downregulated in gastric tumors.
Among the top 80 miRNAs differentially expressed between gastric tumors and normals (false discovery rate < 0.01), we identified hsa-miR-486 (miR-486) as a significantly downregulated miRNA in primary GCs and GC cell lines. Restoration of miR-486 expression in GC cell lines (YCC3, SCH and AGS) caused suppression of several pro-oncogenic traits, whereas conversely inhibiting miR-486 expression in YCC6 GC cells enhanced cellular proliferation. Array-CGH analysis of 106 primary GCs revealed genomic loss of the miR-486 locus in approximately 25% to 30% of GCs, including two tumors with focal genomic losses specifically deleting miR-486, consistent with miR-486 playing a tumor-suppressive role. Bioinformatic analysis identified the secreted antiapoptotic glycoprotein OLFM4 as a potential miR-486 target. Restoring miR-486 expression in GC cells decreased endogenous OLFM4 transcript and protein levels, and also inhibited expression of luciferase reporters containing an OLFM4 3' untranslated region with predicted miR-486 binding sites. Supporting the biological relevance of OLFM4 as a miR-486 target, proliferation in GC cells was also significantly reduced by OLFM4 silencing.
miR-486 may function as a novel tumor-suppressor miRNA in GC. Its antioncogenic activity may involve the direct targeting and inhibition of OLFM4.
Background
Ramucirumab improves survival in gastric cancer patients. The efficacy and safety of ramucirumab outside of a clinical trial were evaluated using an expanded access program (EAP).
Methods
...Advanced gastric cancer patients treated with ramucirumab in combination with paclitaxel or with ramucirumab monotherapy in a Korean EAP were evaluated. Baseline characteristics were assessed for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and adverse events were evaluated according to the treatment regimen.
Results
Of 265 patients, 228 received ramucirumab plus paclitaxel, and 37 received ramucirumab monotherapy. Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia was more common with ramucirumab plus paclitaxel than with ramucirumab monotherapy (46.7 vs. 8.1%). Gastrointestinal (GI) perforation developed in seven patients (3.1%) in the ramucirumab plus paclitaxel group. The overall response and disease control rates were 16.6 and 66.3% in the ramucirumab plus paclitaxel group, and 5.4 and 37.8% in the ramucirumab monotherapy group, respectively. PFS and OS were 3.8 and 8.6 months in the ramucirumab plus paclitaxel group, and 1.8 and 6.4 months in the ramucirumab monotherapy group, respectively. In multivariate analysis, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were the independent prognostic factors for PFS, while albumin, NLR, number of metastatic sites, and large amount of ascites were independent prognostic factors for OS.
Conclusion
In the Korean EAP cohort, ramucirumab showed similar efficacy to the results of the previous trials for gastric cancer. However, the level of GI perforation was slightly increased in the ramucirumab plus paclitaxel group.
Summary Background The advent of targeted therapies in the past 7 years has extended median survival for metastatic renal-cell carcinoma. This improvement in clinical outcome has created a need for ...new, more accurate prognostic measures. We assessed the use of conditional survival—a measure that accounts for elapsed time since treatment initiation—for prognostication in patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma treated with first-line VEGF-targeted therapies. Methods We obtained data for patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma who were treated with a first-line VEGF-targeted therapy between April 7, 2003, and Oct 12, 2010, from our large multi-institutional International mRCC Database Consortium (centres in Canada, the USA, Singapore, Denmark, and South Korea). All histologies, performance statuses, and prognostic risk groups were included. The primary outcome was 2-year conditional survival, defined as the probability of surviving an additional 2 years from a given timepoint since the start of targeted therapy. Secondary analyses included 1-year and 3-year conditional survival, along with stratification of patients by Heng prognostic risk criteria and Karnofsky performance score, and conditional survival based on length of time on therapy. We used the Kaplan-Meier method and a landmark analysis to calculate conditional survival. Findings In the 1673 patients analysed, median follow-up for alive patients was 20·1 months (IQR 9·0–34·4). We recorded an increase in the 2-year conditional survival probability from 44% (95% CI 41–47) at 0 months to 51% (46–55) at 18 months since beginning targeted therapy. When stratified by the Heng prognostic risk criteria defined at therapy initiation, 2-year conditional survival changed little in the favourable and intermediate groups, but in the poor-risk group, 2-year conditional survival improved from 11% (8–15) at 0 months to 33% (18–48) after 18 months. When conditioned on time on targeted therapy from 0 months to 18 months, 2-year conditional survival improved from 44% (41–47) to 68% (60–75) in the overall population and from 74% (68–79) to 90% (77–96) in the favourable group, 49% (45–53) to 57% (45–67) in the intermediate group, and 11% (8–15) to 73% (43–89) in the poor risk group. Interpretation Conditional survival is a clinically useful prediction measure that adjusts prognosis of patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma on the basis of survival since treatment initiation or therapy duration. Conditional survival might be especially relevant to adjust prognosis for poor-risk patients. Funding The Trust Family Fund for Kidney Cancer Research.
In the phase 3 METEOR trial, cabozantinib improved progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and overall survival (OS) versus everolimus in patients with advanced renal cell ...carcinoma (RCC), after prior antiangiogenic therapy.
Outcomes were evaluated for subgroups defined by prior therapy with sunitinib or pazopanib as the only prior VEGFR inhibitor, or prior anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy.
For the prior sunitinib subgroup (N = 267), median PFS for cabozantinib versus everolimus was 9.1 versus 3.7 months (HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.32-0.59), ORR was 16% versus 3%, and median OS was 21.4 versus 16.5 months (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.47-0.93). For the prior pazopanib subgroup (N = 171), median PFS for cabozantinib versus everolimus was 7.4 versus 5.1 months (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.45-0.99), ORR was 19% versus 4%, and median OS was 22.0 versus 17.5 months (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.42-1.04). For prior anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy (N = 32), median PFS was not reached for cabozantinib versus 4.1 months for everolimus (HR 0.22, 95% CI 0.07-0.65), ORR was 22% versus 0%, and median OS was not reached versus 16.3 months (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.21-1.52).
Cabozantinib was associated with improved clinical outcomes versus everolimus in patients with advanced RCC, irrespective of prior therapy, including checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
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