Despite the introduction of novel therapies that maximally decrease androgen-receptor (AR) signaling activity, metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) remains a lethal disease. Even ...though abiraterone and enzalutamide represent breakthroughs in the treatment of mCRPC and have demonstrated significant survival benefits, a significant proportion of patients have primary resistance to these agents and virtually all patients develop secondary resistance. While the mechanisms of resistance to these agents are not fully understood, many hypotheses of AR-dependent and AR-independent mechanisms are emerging, including upregulation of AR and cytochrome P450 17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase (CYP17), induction of AR splice variants, AR point mutations, upregulation of glucocorticoid receptor, activation of alternative oncogenic signaling pathways, neuroendocrine transformation, and immune evasion via programmed death-ligand 1 upregulation. The aim of this review is to summarize the most clinically relevant mechanisms of resistance to novel androgen-directed agents, focusing on escape from enzalutamide and abiraterone.
Oncologic surgical resection is the standard of care for extremity and truncal soft tissue sarcoma (STS), often accompanied by the addition of pre- or postoperative radiation therapy (RT). ...Preoperative RT may decrease the risk of joint stiffness and fibrosis at the cost of higher rates of wound complications. Hypofractionated, preoperative RT has been shown to provide acceptable outcomes in prospective trials. Proton beam therapy (PBT) provides the means to decrease dose to surrounding organs at risk, such as the skin, bone, soft tissues, and adjacent joint(s), and has not yet been studied in patients with extremity and truncal sarcoma.
Our study titled "PROspective phase II trial of preoperative hypofractionated protoN therapy for extremity and Truncal soft tissue sarcOma (PRONTO)" is a non-randomized, prospective phase II trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of preoperative, hypofractionated PBT for patients with STS of the extremity and trunk planned for surgical resection. Adult patients with Eastern Cooperative Group Performance Status ≤ 2 with resectable extremity and truncal STS will be included, with the aim to accrue 40 patients. Treatment will consist of 30 Gy radiobiological equivalent of PBT in 5 fractions delivered every other day, followed by surgical resection 2-12 weeks later. The primary outcome is rate of major wound complications as defined according to the National Cancer Institute of Canada Sarcoma2 (NCIC-SR2) Multicenter Trial. Secondary objectives include rate of late grade ≥ 2 toxicity, local recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival at 1- and 2-years, functional outcomes, quality of life, and pathologic response.
PRONTO represents the first trial evaluating the use of hypofractionated PBT for STS. We aim to prove the safety and efficacy of this approach and to compare our results to historical outcomes established by previous trials. Given the low number of proton centers and limited availability, the short course of PBT may provide the opportunity to treat patients who would otherwise be limited when treating with daily RT over several weeks. We hope that this trial will lead to increased referral patterns, offer benefits towards patient convenience and clinic workflow efficiency, and provide evidence supporting the use of PBT in this setting.
NCT05917301 (registered 23/6/2023).
Despite the introduction of novel therapies that maximally decrease androgen-receptor (AR) signaling activity, metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) remains a lethal disease. Even ...though abiraterone and enzalutamide represent breakthroughs in the treatment of mCRPC and have demonstrated significant survival benefits, a significant proportion of patients have primary resistance to these agents and virtually all patients develop secondary resistance. While the mechanisms of resistance to these agents are not fully understood, many hypotheses of AR-dependent and AR-independent mechanisms are emerging, including upregulation of AR and cytochrome P450 17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase (CYP17), induction of AR splice variants, AR point mutations, upregulation of glucocorticoid receptor, activation of alternative oncogenic signaling pathways, neuroendocrine transformation, and immune evasion via programmed death-ligand 1 upregulation. The aim of this review is to summarize the most clinically relevant mechanisms of resistance to novel androgen-directed agents, focusing on escape from enzalutamide and abiraterone.
Dasatinib is a second-generation multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that has activity against many imatinib-resistant BCR-ABL mutant forms, Src, and c-Kit tyrosine kinases. While skin ...hypopigmentation is a well recognized adverse effect of first generation TKIs; it has rarely been reported with dasatinib. We report a unique case of diffuse cutaneous hypopigmentation induced by dasatinib followed by hyperpigmentation occurring in the same patient. A 52-year-old African American female with a history of metastatic hemangiopericytoma was initiated on dasatinib as part of a clinical trial. After 2 months of treatment, she developed generalized skin hypopigmentation. Within 1 month of discontinuing the drug, the patient's skin pigmentation returned to normal. However, she then developed diffuse skin hyperpigmentation over the next couple of months. The hyperpigmentation was self-limited, and eventually resolved after several months.
Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS), an aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma of adults, has been characterized by low tumor mutational burden (TMB) and high copy number alterations. Clinical trials ...of programmed death-1 (PD-1) blockade in UPS have reported widely varying efficacy. We describe two patients with recurrent scalp UPS that experienced clinical benefit from PD-1 blockade. These tumors had high TMB with a UV-induced mutational pattern. Analysis of additional head and neck UPS cases identified five out of seven tumors with high TMB and an ultraviolet (UV) mutational signature. Head and neck UPS tumors also had increased programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression and CD8+ T cell infiltration as compared with UPS tumors arising from other sites. In summary, we found that UPS tumors of the head and neck, but not elsewhere, have a PD-L1+, T-cell-inflamed tumor microenvironment and high TMB, suggesting that these tumors represent a distinct genetic subgroup of UPS for which immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy might be effective.
AR-V7-positive metastatic prostate cancer is a lethal phenotype with few treatment options and poor survival.
The two-cohort nonrandomized Phase 2 study of combined immune checkpoint blockade for ...AR-V7-expressing metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (STARVE-PC) evaluated nivolumab (3 mg/kg) plus ipilimumab (1 mg/kg), without (Cohort 1) or with (Cohort 2) the anti-androgen enzalutamide. Co-primary endpoints were safety and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response rate. Secondary endpoints included time-to-PSA-progression-free survival (PSA-PFS), time-to-clinical/radiographic-PFS, objective response rate (ORR), PFS lasting greater than 24 weeks, and overall survival (OS).
Thirty patients were treated with ipilimumab plus nivolumab (N = 15, Cohort 1, previously reported), or ipilimumab plus nivolumab and enzalutamide (N = 15, Cohort 2) in patients previously progressing on enzalutamide monotherapy. PSA response rate was 2/15 (13%) in cohort 1 and 0/15 in cohort 2, ORR was 2/8 (25%) in Cohort 1 and 0/9 in Cohort 2 in those with measureable disease, median PSA-PFS was 3.0 (95% confidence interval CI: 2.1-NR) in cohort 1 and 2.7 (95% CI: 2.1-5.9) months in cohort 2, and median PFS was 3.7 (95% CI: 2.8-7.5) in cohort 1 and 2.9 (95% CI: 1.3-5.8) months in cohort 2. Three of 15 patients in cohort 1 (20%, 95% CI: 7.1%-45.2%) and 4/15 patients (26.7%, 95% CI: 10.5%-52.4%) in cohort 2 achieved a durable PFS lasting greater than 24 weeks. Median OS was 8.2 (95% CI: 5.5-10.4) in cohort 1 and 14.2 (95% CI: 8.5-NA) months in cohort 2. Efficacy results were not statistically different between cohorts. Grade-3/4 adverse events occurred in 7/15 cohort 1 patients (46%) and 8/15 cohort 2 patients (53%). Combined cohort (N = 30) baseline alkaline phosphatase and cytokine analysis suggested improved OS for patients with lower alkaline phosphatase (hazards ratio HR, 0.30; 95% CI: 0.11-0.82), lower circulating interleukin-7 (IL-7) (HR, 0.24; 95% Cl: 0.06-0.93) and IL-6 (HR, 0.13; 95% Cl: 0.03-0.52) levels, and higher circulating IL-17 (HR, 4.53; 95% CI: 1.47-13.93) levels. There was a trend towards improved outcomes in men with low sPD-L1 serum levels.
Nivolumab plus ipilimumab demonstrated only modest activity in patients with AR-V7-expressing prostate cancer, and was not sufficient to justify further exploration in unselected patients. Stratification by baseline alkaline phosphatase and cytokines (IL-6, -7, and -17) may be prognostic for outcomes to immunotherapy.
Despite the introduction of novel therapies that maximally decrease androgen-receptor (AR) signaling activity, metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) remains a lethal disease. Even ...though abiraterone and enzalutamide represent breakthroughs in the treatment of mCRPC and have demonstrated significant survival benefits, a significant proportion of patients have primary resistance to these agents and virtually all patients develop secondary resistance. While the mechanisms of resistance to these agents are not fully understood, many hypotheses of AR-dependent and AR-independent mechanisms are emerging, including upregulation of AR and cytochrome P450 17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase (CYP17), induction of AR splice variants, AR point mutations, upregulation of glucocorticoid receptor, activation of alternative oncogenic signaling pathways, neuroendocrine transformation, and immune evasion via programmed death-ligand 1 upregulation. The aim of this review is to summarize the most clinically relevant mechanisms of resistance to novel androgen-directed agents, focusing on escape from enzalutamide and abiraterone.
Purpose
Hedgehog (Hh) pathway signaling has been implicated in prostate cancer tumorigenesis and metastatic development and may be upregulated even further in the castration-resistant state. We ...hypothesized that antagonism of the Hh pathway with vismodegib in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) would result in pathway engagement, inhibition and perhaps induce measurable clinical responses in patients.
Methods
This is a single-arm study of oral daily vismodegib in men with mCRPC. All patients were required to have biopsies of the tumor and skin (a surrogate tissue) at baseline and after 4 weeks of therapy. Ten patients were planned for enrollment. The primary outcome was the pharmacodynamic assessment of Gli1 mRNA suppression with vismodegib in tumor tissue. Secondary outcomes included PSA response rates, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and safety.
Results
Nine patients were enrolled. Gli1 mRNA was significantly suppressed by vismodegib in both tumor tissue (4/7 evaluable biopsies, 57%) and benign skin biopsies (6/8 evaluable biopsies, 75%). The median number of treatment cycles completed was three, with a median PFS of 1.9 months (95% CI 1.3, NA), and a median OS of 7.04 months (95% CI 3.4, NA). No patient achieved a PSA reduction or a measurable tumor response. Safety data were consistent with the known toxicities of vismodegib.
Conclusions
Hh signaling, as measured by Gli1 mRNA expression in mCRPC tissues, was suppressed with vismodegib in the majority of patients. Despite this pharmacodynamic response that indicated target inhibition in some patients, there was no apparent signal of clinical activity. Vismodegib will not be developed further as monotherapy in mCRPC.
PDF
