Several expression array studies identified molecular apocrine breast cancer (BC) as a subtype that expresses androgen receptor (AR) but not estrogen receptor α. We carried out a multicentre ...single-arm phase II trial in women with AR-positive, estrogen, progesterone receptor and HER2-negative (triple-negative) metastatic or inoperable locally advanced BC to assess the efficacy and safety of abiraterone acetate (AA) plus prednisone.
Patients with a metastatic or locally advanced, centrally reviewed, triple-negative and AR-positive (≥10% by immunohistochemistry, IHC) BC were eligible. Any number of previous lines of chemotherapy was allowed. AA (1000 mg) was administered once a day with prednisone (5 mg) twice a day until disease progression or intolerance. The primary end point was clinical benefit rate (CBR) at 6 months defined as the proportion of patients presenting a complete response (CR), partial response (PR) or stable disease (SD) ≥6 months. Secondary end points were objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS) and safety.
One hundred and forty-six patients from 27 centres consented for IHC central review. Of the 138 patients with sufficient tissue available, 53 (37.6%) were AR-positive and triple-negative, and 34 of them were included from July 2013 to December 2014. Thirty patients were eligible and evaluable for the primary end point. The 6-month CBR was 20.0% 95% confidence interval (CI) 7.7%–38.6%, including 1 CR and 5 SD ≥6 months, 5 of them still being under treatment at the time of analysis (6.4+, 9.2+, 14.5+, 17.6+, 23.4+ months). The ORR was 6.7% (95% CI 0.8%–22.1%). The median PFS was 2.8 months (95% CI 1.7%–5.4%). Fatigue, hypertension, hypokalaemia and nausea were the most common drug-related adverse events; the majority of them being grade 1 or 2.
AA plus prednisone treatment is beneficial for some patients with molecular apocrine tumours and five patients are still on treatment.
NCT01842321.
Treatment strategies for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have made great strides over the past 10 years. Real-world data allow us to evaluate the actual benefit of new treatments. ESME ...(Epidemio-Strategy-Medico-Economical)-MBC, a nationwide observational cohort (NCT03275311), gathers data of all consecutive MBC patients who initiated their treatment in 18 French Cancer Centres since 2008.
We evaluated overall survival (OS) in the whole cohort (N = 20 446) and among subtypes: hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor 2 negative (HR+/HER2−; N = 13 590), HER2+ (N = 3919), and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC; N = 2937). We performed multivariable analyses including year of MBC diagnosis as one of the covariates, to assess the potential OS improvement over time, and we described exposure to newly released drugs at any time during MBC history by year of diagnosis (YOD).
The median follow-up of the whole cohort was 65.5 months (95% CI 64.6-66.7). Year of metastatic diagnosis appears as a strong independent prognostic factor for OS Year 2016 HR 0.89 (95% CI 0.82-0.97); P = 0.009, using 2008 as reference. This effect is driven by the HER2+ subcohort, where it is dramatic Year 2016 HR 0.52 (95% CI 0.42-0.66); P < 0.001, using 2008 as reference. YOD had, however, no sustained impact on OS among patients with TNBC Year 2016 HR 0.93 (95% CI 0.77-1.11); P = 0.41, using 2008 as reference nor among those with HR+/HER2– MBC Year 2016 HR 1.02 (95% CI 0.91-1.13); P = 0.41, using 2008 as reference. While exposure to newly released anti-HER2 therapies appeared very high (e.g. >70% of patients received pertuzumab from 2016 onwards), use of everolimus or eribulin was recorded in less than one-third of HR+/HER2– and TNBC cohorts, respectively, whatever YOD.
OS has dramatically improved among HER2+ MBC patients, probably in association with the release of several major HER2-directed therapies, whose penetrance was high. This trend was not observed in the other subtypes, but the impact of CDK4/6 inhibitors cannot yet be assessed.
•OS of HER2+ MBC patients keeps improving over time Year 2016 HR 0.52 (95% CI 0.42-0.66); P < 0.001, using 2008 as reference.•This effect seems timely related to the release of drugs demonstrated to improve survival in clinical trials.•OS gains observed in real life among HER2+ MBC patients are at least equivalent to those observed in clinical trials.•YOD had no sustained impact on OS among patients with TNBC and luminal MBC.•The impact of CDK4/6 inhibitors cannot yet be assessed in this cohort.
In the phase III LUX-Head & Neck 1 (LUX-H&N1) trial, second-line afatinib significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) versus methotrexate in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and ...neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC). Here, we evaluated association of prespecified biomarkers with efficacy outcomes in LUX-H&N1.
Randomized patients with R/M HNSCC and progression following ≥2 cycles of platinum therapy received afatinib (40 mg/day) or methotrexate (40 mg/m2/week). Tumor/serum samples were collected at study entry for patients who volunteered for inclusion in biomarker analyses. Tumor biomarkers, including p16 (prespecified subgroup; all tumor subsites), EGFR, HER2, HER3, c-MET and PTEN, were assessed using tissue microarray cores and slides; serum protein was evaluated using the VeriStrat® test. Biomarkers were correlated with efficacy outcomes.
Of 483 randomized patients, 326 (67%) were included in the biomarker analyses; baseline characteristics were consistent with the overall study population. Median PFS favored afatinib over methotrexate in patients with p16-negative 2.7 versus 1.6 months; HR 0.70 (95% CI 0.50–0.97),EGFR-amplified 2.8 versus 1.5 months; HR 0.53 (0.33–0.85), HER3-low 2.8 versus 1.8 months; HR 0.57 (0.37–0.88), and PTEN-high 1.6 versus 1.4 months; HR 0.55 (0.29–1.05) tumors. Afatinib also improved PFS in combined subsets of patients with p16-negative andEGFR-amplified tumors 2.7 versus 1.5 months; HR 0.47 (0.28–0.80), and patients with p16-negative tumors who were EGFR therapy-naïve 4.0 versus 2.4 months; HR 0.55 (0.31–0.98). PFS was improved in afatinib-treated patients who were VeriStrat ‘Good’ versus ‘Poor’ 2.7 versus 1.5 months; HR 0.71 (0.49–0.94), but no treatment interaction was observed. Afatinib improved tumor response versus methotrexate in all subsets analyzed except for those with p16-positive disease (n = 35).
Subgroups of HNSCC patients who may achieve increased benefit from afatinib were identified based on prespecified tumor biomarkers (p16-negative,EGFR-amplified, HER3-low, PTEN-high). Future studies are warranted to validate these findings.
NCT01345682.
Efficacy of endocrine therapy in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer could differ depending on the presence of BRCA1/2 germline mutation.
The ESME metastatic breast cancer platform (NCT03275311) is a ...French real world database. Multivariable models including a time-varying approach and landmark analyses assessed the association between time-dependent gBRCA status (categorised as gBRCAm, gBRCAwt (wild type), and untested), overall survival (OS), and first-line progression-free survival (PFS1).
A total of 170 patients were gBRCAm carriers, 676 gBRCAwt, and 12,930 were untested at baseline. In the multivariable analysis, gBRCAm carriers overall had a lower OS compared to gBRCAwt (adjusted HR 95% CI 1.26 1.03-1.55). gBRCAm patients treated with front-line endocrine therapy had lower adjusted OS (adjusted HR 95% CI = 1.54 1.03-2.32) and PFS1 (adjusted HR 95% CI 1.58 1.17-2.12) compared to gBRCAwt patients. However, for patients who received frontline chemotherapy, neither OS nor PFS1 differed between gBRCAm carriers and the other groups (HR versus gBRCAwt for OS: 1.12 0.88-1.41, p = 0.350; PFS1: 1.09 0.90-1.31, p = 0.379).
In this large cohort of HR+/HER2- MBC patients treated in a pre-CDK4/6 inhibitors era, gBRCAm status was associated with a lower OS and lower PFS following first-line endocrine therapy, but not following first-line chemotherapy.
Approximately 2–5 % of patients with breast cancer (BC) develop leptomeningeal metastasis (LM). 103 consecutive patients with BC were diagnosed with LM and initially treated with intra-CSF liposomal ...cytarabine from 2007 to 2011 at a single institution. Correlations were determined with respect to patient characteristics and BC subtype with regard to overall survival (OS). At LM diagnosis, 61 % of patients had a 0–2 performance status (PS), the remaining 39 % were severely neurologically impaired. Regardless of PS, all patients received intra-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) liposomal cytarabine as first-line treatment. Systemic treatment and radiotherapy were also given in 58 and 17 % of patients respectively as clinically appropriate. Second- (intra-CSF thiotepa) and third-line (intra-CSF methotrexate) treatment was administered in 24 and 6 patients respectively. Median OS was 3.8 months (range 1 day–2.8 years). In multivariate analysis, an initial combined treatment, a second-line treatment with intra-CSF thiotepa, an initial clinical response, and a non-‘ER/PR/HER2 negative’ BC were significantly associated with a better OS. Median OS in this heterogeneous retrospective case series was similar to that of previously observed BC patients treated with intra-CSF methotrexate suggesting intra-CSF liposomal cytarabine is a reasonable first choice therapy of BC-related LM.
The estimated rate of de novo metastatic breast cancer (dnMBC) at the time of diagnosis is between 5 to 12%. International guidelines recommend metastatic work-up (MWU) only in women with advanced ...breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics and prognosis of patients with dnMBC diagnosed without an initial indication for MWU.
We conducted a retrospective, comparative study in dnMBC patients selected from the ESME-MBC cohort. Patients were treated in France between 2008 and 2016. We compared two populations: patients in whom dnMBC was diagnosed by staging although not indicated by guidelines (non-guideline staging NGS) and those in whom dnMBC was diagnosed by guideline staging (GS).
During the study period, 22,463 patients with MBC were included in the ESME cohort. Among them, 6698 were dnMBC patients. In 247 of these patients (6% of dnMBC and 1% of the overall population), dnMBC was diagnosed by non-guideline staging. Women in this group were significantly younger (57 vs. 59 years, p = 0.02) and had fewer metastatic sites at diagnosis than dnMBC-GS patients. The two groups were not significantly different in terms of the other characteristics. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were better in the dnMBC-NGS group than in the dnMBC-GS group. The impact on survival was confirmed by univariate and multivariate analysis (HR 1.83 1.31–2.57, p < 0.01).
This study provides the first description of a very specific population. These patients with dnMBC-NGS were younger and more likely to have oligometastatic disease with a better prognosis.
•T1/T2 N0 de novo metastatic breast cancer (MBC) represented 6% of all de novo MBC.•Metastatic diagnosis in this population implied an unrecommended workup.•These patients were younger with oligometastatic disease and had a better prognosis.•Locoregional therapy prior to diagnosis in this population did not change survival.
The Time to First Metastatic Recurrence (TFMR) could be considered as an indirect reflection of the tumour growth kinetics which plays an important role in cancer. Molecular subtypes such as ...expression of estrogen receptor are known predictive factors of TFMR. The CinéBreast study aimed to identify predictive factors of the time to TFMR.
The French Epidemiological Strategy and Medical Economics (ESME) Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Database (NCT03275311) was used, which contains data from a cohort of metastatic breast cancer patients from 2008 to 2016 using retrospective data collection. It is a national multi-centre database. The impact of TFMR on overall survival (OS) since first metastasis was also evaluated.
Among 16 702 patients recorded in the ESME MBC database, 10 595 had an initially localised breast cancer with hormone receptor (HR) and HER2 status available, with a metastatic recurrence. Median follow up was 56 months. Median TFMR was 59 months (<24: 20%, 24–60: 31%, 60–120: 25%, >120: 24%). HER2+ and TNBC were respectively 4 times and 12 times (p < 0.0001) more likely to have a recurrence within 2 years when compared to the luminal subgroup. Short TFMR and HR-/HER2-subtype significantly correlated with a poor OS in multivariate analysis.
Some patients with MBC (20% in HER2+, 10% in ER+/HER2-and <5% in the ER-/HER2-) were long-term survivors in all 3 subgroups.
In this large-scale real-life data study, patients with a TNBC metastatic recurrence had a shorter TFMR. Short TFMR significantly correlated with worse overall survival.
•ESME is a large-scale real-life database of 16 702 metastatic breast cancer patients.•A short time to first metastatic recurrence is associated with poor overall survival.•Triple-negative tumours were more likely to recur early than HR+ and HER2+ tumours.
Talazoparib (1 mg/day) exhibited promising efficacy and safety in patients with advanced breast cancer during ABRAZO (NCT02034916); this study evaluated patient-reported outcomes (PROs).
ABRAZO is a ...two-cohort, two-stage, phase 2 study of talazoparib in patients with advanced breast cancer after a response to prior platinum-based therapy (cohort 1 C1, n = 49) or ≥3 platinum-free cytotoxic-based regimens (cohort 2 C2, n = 35). PROs were assessed on day 1 (baseline), every 6 weeks for an initial 24 weeks, and every 12 weeks thereafter until progression, using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) and its breast cancer module, QLQ-BR23.
Global health status/quality of life (GHS/QoL) was maintained from baseline across all time points for both C1 and C2. For C1 and C2, median time to deterioration (TTD) of GHS/QoL (95% confidence interval CI) was 2.8 (2.1, 3.0) and 5.5 (4.2, 5.7) months, respectively. Median TTD for all QLQ-C30 functional scales for C1 and C2 ranged 2.1–3.1 months and 4.2–5.6 months, respectively; median TTD for all QLQ-BR23 symptom scales ranged 2.6–4.0 months and 4.2–5.6 months, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in estimated overall change from baseline in the GHS/QoL scale for both cohorts (C1: −2.6 95% CI, −7.8, 2.5; C2: 1.2 95% CI, −5.5, 8.0). Significant overall improvements in the breast symptoms and arm symptoms and the future perspective of patients in C1 and C2 were observed, despite the statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall deterioration among patients regarding their role functioning (in C1) and dyspnoea symptoms (in C2).
Despite the statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall deterioration among patients regarding their role functioning (in C1) and dyspnoea symptoms (in C2), patients in both C1 and C2 reported significant overall improvements in their breast symptoms, arm symptoms and future perspective, and their GHS/QoL was maintained from baseline.
•ABRAZO is a two-cohort, two-stage, phase 2 study of talazoparib in advanced breast cancer/germline BRCA mutation.•Patient-reported global health status/quality of life (GHS/QoL) was maintained from baseline among talazoparib patients.•These findings are the first-ever detailed patient-reported outcomes for talazoparib in advanced breast cancer patients.•The encouraging efficacy achieved with talazoparib is accompanied by maintaining patient-reported GHS/QoL.
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