The addition of pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy led to a significantly higher percentage of patients with early triple-negative breast cancer having a pathological complete response ...(defined as no invasive cancer in the breast and negative nodes) at definitive surgery in an earlier analysis of this phase 3 trial of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy. The primary results regarding event-free survival in this trial have not been reported.
We randomly assigned, in a 2:1 ratio, patients with previously untreated stage II or III triple-negative breast cancer to receive neoadjuvant therapy with four cycles of pembrolizumab (at a dose of 200 mg) or placebo every 3 weeks plus paclitaxel and carboplatin, followed by four cycles of pembrolizumab or placebo plus doxorubicin-cyclophosphamide or epirubicin-cyclophosphamide. After definitive surgery, patients received adjuvant pembrolizumab (pembrolizumab-chemotherapy group) or placebo (placebo-chemotherapy group) every 3 weeks for up to nine cycles. The primary end points were pathological complete response (the results for which have been reported previously) and event-free survival, defined as the time from randomization to the date of disease progression that precluded definitive surgery, local or distant recurrence, occurrence of a second primary cancer, or death from any cause. Safety was also assessed.
Of the 1174 patients who underwent randomization, 784 were assigned to the pembrolizumab-chemotherapy group and 390 to the placebo-chemotherapy group. The median follow-up at this fourth planned interim analysis (data cutoff, March 23, 2021) was 39.1 months. The estimated event-free survival at 36 months was 84.5% (95% confidence interval CI, 81.7 to 86.9) in the pembrolizumab-chemotherapy group, as compared with 76.8% (95% CI, 72.2 to 80.7) in the placebo-chemotherapy group (hazard ratio for event or death, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.48 to 0.82; P<0.001). Adverse events occurred predominantly during the neoadjuvant phase and were consistent with the established safety profiles of pembrolizumab and chemotherapy.
In patients with early triple-negative breast cancer, neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab after surgery, resulted in significantly longer event-free survival than neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone. (Funded by Merck Sharp and Dohme, a subsidiary of Merck; KEYNOTE-522 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03036488.).
Palbociclib is a CDK4/6 inhibitor with demonstrated efficacy and safety in combination with endocrine therapy in advanced luminal breast cancer (LBC). We evaluated the respective efficacy and safety ...of chemotherapy and letrozole–palbociclib (LETPAL) combination as neoadjuvant treatment in patients with high-risk LBC.
NeoPAL (UCBG10/4, NCT02400567) is a randomised, parallel, non-comparative phase II study. Patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative, Prosigna®-defined luminal B, or luminal A and node-positive, stage II–III breast cancer, not candidate for breast-conserving surgery, were randomly assigned to either letrozole (2.5 mg daily) and palbociclib (125 mg daily, 3 weeks/4) during 19 weeks, or to FEC100 (5FU 500 mg/m2, epirubicin 100 mg/m2, cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2)×3 21-day courses followed by docetaxel 100 mg/m2×3 21-day courses. Primary end point was residual cancer burden (RCB 0–I rate). Secondary end points included clinical response, proliferation-based markers, and safety.
Overall, 106 patients were randomised median Prosigna® ROR Score 71 (22–93). RCB 0–I was observed in four and eight patients in LETPAL 7.7% (95% CI 0.4–14.9) and chemotherapy 15.7% (95% CI 5.7–25.7) arms, respectively. Pathological complete response rates were 3.8% and 5.9%. Clinical response (75%) and breast-conserving surgery rates (69%) were similar in both arms. Preoperative Endocrine Prognostic Index 0 scores (breast cancer-specific survival) were observed in 17.6% and 8.0% of patients in LETPAL and chemotherapy arms, respectively. Safety profile was as expected, with 2 versus 17 serious adverse events (including 11 grade 4 serious AEs in the chemotherapy arm).
LETPAL combination was associated with poor pathological response but encouraging clinical and biomarker responses in Prosigna®-defined high-risk LBC. Contemporary chemotherapy regimen was associated with poor pathological and biomarker responses, with a much less favourable safety profile. LETPAL combination might represent an alternative to chemotherapy in early high-risk LBC.
NCT02400567.
Abstract Aim Women of reproductive age with breast cancer generally receive gonadotoxic chemotherapy. Fertility issues are of great concern for them. However, little is known on ovarian damage during ...chemotherapy and its evolution during long-term follow-up. The aim of this study was to provide a detailed description of serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) evolution during chemotherapy and 24-month follow-up. Methods This prospective cohort study was conducted in 250 patients, aged 18–39 years, diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with adjuvant/neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Each patient underwent blood AMH measurement at each chemotherapy cycle, and at 6, 12 and 24 months after chemotherapy. Menses occurrence was also recorded. Results Mean basal AMH level was 4.19 ± 4.84 ng/mL, and was negatively correlated with age. Serum AMH level rapidly decreased in all patients after each chemotherapy cycle to undetectable levels in most of them, and slowly increased in 45% of the patients during the 24-month follow-up. AMH decrease was significantly associated with age and basal AMH level, but not with cyclophosphamide dose and tamoxifen use. The prevalence of chemotherapy-related amenorrhoea was 92.4% at the end of chemotherapy; women with amenorrhoea being significantly older and having lower basal AMH than women who resumed menses. Conclusions Our study confirms rapid and deep ovarian reserve alteration in young women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer, and shows moderate AMH recovery in some patients. Although AMH cannot alone predict fertility potential, these new data emphasise the need for post-treatment ovarian insufficiency follow-up, strongly support the use of fertility preservation strategies and may provide new tools for improved counselling.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous group of tumors for some of which the epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway may play an important role. We investigated the efficacy ...and toxicity of an anti-EGFR antibody (panitumumab) combined with a standard neoadjuvant anthracycline–taxane-based chemotherapy in patients with operable, stage II–III, TNBC.
Treatment in this multicentric neoadjuvant pilot study consisted of panitumumab (9mg/kg) for eight cycles q.3 weeks combined with four cycles of 5-fluorouracil, epidoxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC100: 500/100/500mg/m2) q.3 weeks, followed by four cycles of docetaxel (T: 100mg/m2) q.3 weeks. Following therapy, all patients underwent surgical resection. Pathologic complete response (pCR) in assessable patients was the main end point while clinical response, toxicity and ancillary studies were secondary end points. Paraffin-embedded and frozen tumor samples were systematically collected with the aim to identify predictive biomarkers of efficacy and resistance in order to select biologically defined subpopulations for potential further clinical development of the anti-EGFR antibody.
Sixty patients were included with 47 assessable for pathologic response. The pCR rates were 46.8% 95% confidence interval (CI): 32.5% to 61.1% and 55.3% 95% CI: 41.1% to 69.5% according, respectively, to Chevallier and Sataloff classifications. The complete clinical response (cCR) rate was 37.5%. Conservative surgery was carried out in 87% of cases. Toxicity was manageable. The association of high EGFR and low cytokeratin 8/18 expression in tumor cells on one hand and high density of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes on the other hand were significantly predictive of pCR.
Panitumumab in combination with FEC100 followed by docetaxel appears efficacious, with acceptable toxicity, as neoadjuvant therapy of operable TNBC. Several biomarkers could help define large subsets of patients with a high probability of pCR, suggesting a potential interest to further develop this combination in biologically defined subgroups of patients with TNBC.
NCT00933517.
Bevacizumab combined with paclitaxel as first-line chemotherapy for patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC) has led to mixed results in randomized trials, with an improvement in ...progression-free survival (PFS) but no statistically significant overall survival (OS) benefit. Real-life data could help in assessing the value of this combination.
This study aimed to describe the outcome following first-line paclitaxel with or without bevacizumab in the French Epidemiological Strategy and Medical Economics (ESME) database of MBC patients, established in 2014 by Unicancer. The primary and secondary end points were OS and PFS, respectively.
From 2008 to 2013, 14 014 MBC patient files were identified, including 10 605 patients with a HER2-negative status. Of these, 3426 received paclitaxel and bevacizumab (2127) or paclitaxel (1299) as first-line chemotherapy. OS adjusted for major prognostic factors was significantly longer in the paclitaxel and bevacizumab group compared with paclitaxel hazard ratio (HR) 0.672, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.601–0.752; median survival time 27.7 versus 19.8 months. Results were consistent in all supportive analyses (using a propensity score for adjustment and as a matching factor for nested case–control analyses) and sensitivity analyses. Similar results were observed for the adjusted PFS, favoring the combination (HR 0.739, 95% CI 0.672–0.813; 8.1 versus 6.4 months).
In this large-scale, real-life setting, patients with HER2-negative MBC who received paclitaxel plus bevacizumab as first-line chemotherapy had a significantly better OS and PFS than those receiving paclitaxel. Despite robust methodology, real-life data are exposed to important potential biases, and therefore, results need to be treated with caution. Our data cannot therefore support extension of current use of bevacizumab in MBC.
Systemic therapy for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is mostly based upon chemotherapy. Epithelial Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in around 50% of TNBC and may play a role in its ...pathogenesis. Consequently, we performed a multicentric pilot Phase II neoadjuvant trial of cetuximab (anti‐EGFR antibody) combined with docetaxel for patients with operable, Stage II–III TNBC. Therapy consisted of weekly cetuximab (first infusion: 400 mg/m2, then 250 mg/m2) combined with six cycles of docetaxel (T: 100 mg/m2) q.3 weeks. Subsequently, all patients underwent surgery. The primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) while clinical response, toxicity and ancillary studies were secondary endpoints. Paraffin‐embedded and frozen tumor samples were systematically collected in order to identify predictive biomarkers of efficacy and resistance. From a total of 35 accrued patients, 25 were assessable for pathologic response. The pCR rate was 24% 95% CI: 7.3–40.7. Complete clinical response rate (cCR) was observed in 22% of cases. Conservative surgery was performed in 75% of patients. Toxicity, mostly cutaneous and hematologic, was manageable. The pre‐therapy ratio between CD8+ and FOXP3+ tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes equal or higher than 2.75 was predictive of pCR: 43% versus 0%, p = 0.047. Cetuximab in combination with docetaxel displays a modest activity, but acceptable toxicity as neoadjuvant therapy of operable TNBC. Similarly to previous observations using panitumumab, another anti‐EGFR antibody, the immune component of the tumor microenvironment may play an important role in predicting TNBC response to the neoadjuvant therapy.
What's new?
Systemic therapy for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is mostly based upon chemotherapy. Epithelial Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is however overexpressed in around 50% of TNBC and may play a role in its pathogenesis. Here, the authors performed a multicentric pilot phase II neoadjuvant trial of cetuximab (anti‐EGFR antibody) combined with docetaxel for patients with operable, stage II‐III TNBC. In this first trial of docetaxel plus cetuximab in neoadjuvant therapy, the combination appears modestly efficacious, but manageable in terms of toxicity. The immunologic component of the tumor environment may potentially be used as a predictor of the therapy efficacy.
We present a pooled analysis of predictive and prognostic values of circulating tumour cells (CTC) and circulating endothelial cells (CEC) in two prospective trials of patients with inflammatory ...breast cancer (IBC) treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with neoadjuvant and adjuvant bevacizumab.
Nonmetastatic T4d patients were enrolled in two phase II multicentre trials, evaluating bevacizumab in combination with sequential neoadjuvant chemotherapy of four cycles of FEC followed by four cycles of docetaxel in HER2-negative tumour (BEVERLY-1) or docetaxel and trastuzumab in HER2-positive tumour (BEVERLY-2). CTC and CEC were detected in 7.5 and 4ml of blood, respectively, with the CellSearch System.
From October 2008 to September 2010, 152 patients were included and 137 were evaluable for CTC and CEC. At baseline, 55 patients had detectable CTC (39%). After four cycles of chemotherapy, a dramatic drop in CTC to a rate of 9% was observed (P<0.01). Pathological complete response (pCR) rate was 40%. No correlation was found between CTC or CEC levels and pCR rate. Median follow-up was 43 months. CTC detection (≥1 CTC/7.5ml) at baseline was associated with shorter 3-year disease-free survival (39% versus 70% for patients without CTC, P<0.01, HR 2.80) and shorter 3-year overall survival (OS) (P<0.01). In multivariate analysis, independent prognostic parameters for shorter survival were absence of hormonal receptors, no pCR and CTC detection at baseline. CEC level at baseline or variations during treatment had no prognostic value.
In this pooled analysis of two prospective trials in nonmetastatic IBC, detection rate of CTC was 39% with a strong and independent prognostic value for survival. Combination of pCR after neoadjuvant treatment with no CTC detection at baseline isolated a subgroup of IBC with excellent OS (94% 3-year OS), suggesting that CTC count could be part of IBC stratification in prospective trials.
Purpose
Older cancer patients are underrepresented in clinical trials. We aimed to evaluate the enrollment of older women aged 70 years old (yo) or over with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in ...clinical trials.
Methods
We used the national Epidemio-Strategy and Medical Economics MBC Data Platform, a French multi-center real-life database. We selected MBC women over 70yo, without central nervous system metastases, with at least one line of systemic treatment, between January 1st, 2008 and December 31st, 2016, and had no other cancer in the 5 years before MBC. The primary objective was to evaluate the proportion of patients enrolled in clinical trials according to their age. Secondary objective was to identify variables associated with enrollment in older ones.
Results
5552 women were aged ≥ 70 (median 74yo; IQR 72–77). 14,611 were less than 70. Of the older ones, 239 (4%) were enrolled in a clinical trial during first line of treatment, compared with 1529 (10.5%) for younger ones. Multivariable analysis of variables predicting for enrollment during first line of treatment in older patients were younger age (OR 0.50 95%CI 0.33–0.76 for the 80–85yo class; OR 0.17 95%CI 0.06–0.39 for the 85yo and more class), good ECOG Performance Status (PS 0–1) (OR 0.15 95%CI 0.08–0.27 for the PS 2–4 class), HER2 + disease (OR 1.78 95%CI 1.27–2.48), type of treatment (chemotherapy/targeted therapy/immunotherapy OR 5.01 95%CI 3.13–8.18), and period (OR 1.65 95%CI 1.22–2.26 for 2012–2016, compared to 2008–2011).
Conclusion
In this large database, few older MBC patients were enrolled in a trial compared with younger ones.
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.
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