The PURE-01 study (NCT02736266) evaluated the use of pembrolizumab before radical cystectomy (RC) in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).
To evaluate the ability of molecular signatures to predict ...the pathological complete response (CR: ypT0N0) and progression-free survival (PFS) after pembrolizumab and RC.
We analyzed the expression data from patients with T2–4aN0M0 MIBC enrolled in the PURE-01 study (N=84) and from patients of a retrospective multicenter cohort treated with cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC; N=140).
Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab or NAC and RC.
Immune signatures and molecular subtyping (The Cancer Genome Atlas, consensus model, and genomic subtyping classifier GSC) were evaluated in relation to CR and PFS. Multivariable logistic regression analyses for CR were used, adjusting for gender and clinical T stage.
The Immune190 signature was significant for CR on multivariable logistic regression analyses (p= 0.02) in PURE-01, but not in the NAC cohort (p= 0.7). Hallmark signatures for interferon gamma (IFNγ; p= 0.004) and IFNα response (p= 0.006) were also associated with CR for PURE-01, but not for NAC (IFNγ: p= 0.9 and IFNα: p= 0.8). In PURE-01, 93% of patients with the highest Immune190 scores (>1st quartile) had 2-yr PFS versus 79% of those with lower scores; no difference was observed in NAC patients, as well as for the other hallmarks in both groups. The neuroendocrine-like subtype had the worst 2-yr PFS in all three subtyping models (33%) and the GSC claudin-low subtype had the best, with no recurrences in 2 yr. Basal subtypes (across classifications) with higher Immune190 scores showed 100% 2-yr PFS after pembrolizumab therapy (p = 0.04, compared with basal-Immune190 low). Statistical analyses are limited by the small number of events and short follow-up.
Higher RNA-based immune signature scores were significantly associated with CR and numerically improved PFS outcomes after pembrolizumab, but not after NAC. These data emphasize that RNA profiling is a potential tool for personalizing neoadjuvant therapy selection.
We used gene expression profiling to evaluate the association between immune gene expression and response to neoadjuvant immunotherapy, compared with standard chemotherapy, in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). We found a significant association between immune gene expression and response to pembrolizumab, but not chemotherapy. We conclude that gene expression profiling has the potential to guide personalized neoadjuvant therapy in MIBC.
By using gene expression profiling of transurethral bladder tumor resection samples from patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), we reported a significant association between pre-existing immune gene expression and response to neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, but not to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Different outcomes were also obtained according to the molecular subtype. Gene expression profiling has the potential to guide personalized neoadjuvant therapy in MIBC.
Standard treatment for high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer is transurethral resection of bladder tumour followed by intravesical BCG immunotherapy. However, despite high initial responses ...rates, up to 50% of patients have recurrence or become BCG-unresponsive. PD-1 pathway activation is implicated in BCG resistance. In the KEYNOTE-057 study, we evaluated pembrolizumab, a PD-1 inhibitor, in BCG-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
We did this open-label, single-arm, multicentre, phase 2 study in 54 sites (hospitals and cancer centres) in 14 countries. In cohort A of the trial, adults aged 18 years or older with histologically confirmed BCG-unresponsive carcinoma in situ of the bladder, with or without papillary tumours, with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–2, and who were ineligible for or declined radical cystectomy were enrolled. All enrolled patients were assigned to receive pembrolizumab 200 mg intravenously every 3 weeks for up to 24 months or until centrally confirmed disease persistence, recurrence, or progression; unacceptable toxic effects; or withdrawal of consent. The primary endpoint was clinical complete response rate (absence of high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer or progressive disease), assessed by cystoscopy and urine cytology approximately 3 months after the first dose of study drug. Patient follow-ups were done every 3 months for the first 2 years and every 6 months thereafter for up to 5 years. Efficacy was assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of the study drug and met BCG-unresponsive criteria. Safety was assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of the study drug. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02625961, and is ongoing.
Between Dec 9, 2015, and April 1, 2018, we screened 334 patients for inclusion. 186 patients did not meet inclusion criteria, and 47 patients were assigned to cohort B (patients with BCG-unresponsive high grade Ta or any grade T1 papillary disease without carcinoma in situ; results will be reported separately). 101 eligible patients were enrolled and assigned to receive pembrolizumab. All 101 patients received at least one dose of the study drug and were included in the safety analysis. Five patients had disease that did not meet the US Food and Drug Administration definition of BCG-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer and were therefore not included in the efficacy analysis (n=96). Median follow-up was 36·4 months (IQR 32·0–40·7). 39 (41%; 95% CI 30·7–51·1) of 96 patients with BCG-unresponsive carcinoma in situ of the bladder with or without papillary tumours had a complete response at 3 months. Grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 13 (13%) patients; the most common were arthralgia (in two 2% patients) and hyponatraemia (in three 3% patients). Serious treatment-related adverse events occurred in eight (8%) patients. There were no deaths that were considered treatment related.
Pembrolizumab monotherapy was tolerable and showed promising antitumour activity in patients with BCG-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer who declined or were ineligible for radical cystectomy and should be considered a a clinically active non-surgical treatment option in this difficult-to-treat population.
Merck Sharp & Dohme.
Abstract Context In patients with advanced and metastatic urological cancers, clinical outcome may be improved by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Objective To systematically review relevant ...literature on efficacy and safety of ICIs in patients with advanced and metastatic urothelial cell cancer (UCC), renal cell cancer (RCC), and prostate cancer. Evidence acquisition Relevant databases, including Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, were searched up to March 16, 2017. A narrative review of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) was performed. Evidence synthesis Six RCTs were included for the systematic review. In platinum-pretreated UCC, efficacy of pembrolizumab was superior to chemotherapy, with longer median overall survival (OS; 10.3 vs 7.4 mo), a higher objective response rate (ORR; 21.1% vs 11.4%, p = 0.001), and a lower adverse event rate (60.9% vs 90.2%). Three RCTs assessed the safety and efficacy of nivolumab in advanced RCC. The median OS (25.0 vs 19.6 mo) and the ORR (25% vs 5%) were higher in patients treated with nivolumab compared with second-line everolimus. In all three studies, the safety profile of nivolumab was favorable. In patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, two RCTs were identified, which did not show significant benefits for ipilimumab over placebo. In UCC and RCC, there was no conclusive association between programmed cell death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in tumor tissue and clinical outcome during pembrolizumab and nivolumab treatment, respectively. Conclusion In metastatic UCC and RCC, pembrolizumab and nivolumab have superior efficacy and safety to second-line chemotherapy and everolimus, respectively. No beneficial effect of ipilimumab was observed in prostate cancer patients. PD-L1 expression status is currently not suitable as a predictive marker for treatment outcome. Patient summary Immune checkpoint inhibitors are able to reactivate the immune system against tumor cells. In second-line setting, pembrolizumab and nivolumab are safe and confer survival benefit in advanced urothelial cell and renal cell cancer, respectively.
After cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), 60% of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) still have residual invasive disease at radical cystectomy. The NAC-induced biological ...alterations in these cisplatin-resistant tumors remain largely unstudied.
Radical cystectomy samples were available for gene expression analysis from 133 patients with residual invasive disease after cisplatin-based NAC, of whom 116 had matched pre-NAC samples. Unsupervised consensus clustering (CC) was performed and the consensus clusters were investigated for their biological and clinical characteristics. Hematoxylin & Eosin and IHC on tissue microarrays were used to confirm tissue sampling and gene expression analysis.
Established molecular subtyping models proved to be inconsistent in their classification of the post-NAC samples. Unsupervised CC revealed four distinct consensus clusters. The CC1-Basal and CC2-Luminal subtypes expressed genes consistent with a basal and a luminal phenotype, respectively, and were similar to the corresponding established pretreatment molecular subtypes. The CC3-Immune subtype had the highest immune activity, including T-cell infiltration and checkpoint molecule expression, but lacked both basal and luminal markers. The CC4-Scar-like subtype expressed genes associated with wound healing/scarring, although the proportion of tumor cell content in this subtype did not differ from the other subtypes. Patients with CC4-Scar-like tumors had the most favorable prognosis.
This study expands our knowledge on MIBC not responding to cisplatin by suggesting molecular subtypes to understand the biology of these tumors. Although these molecular subtypes imply consequences for adjuvant treatments, this ultimately needs to be tested in clinical trials.
Abstract Background An early report on the molecular subtyping of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) by gene expression suggested that response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) varies by subtype. ...Objective To investigate the ability of molecular subtypes to predict pathological downstaging and survival after NAC. Design, setting, and participants Whole transcriptome profiling was performed on pre-NAC transurethral resection specimens from 343 patients with MIBC. Samples were classified according to four published molecular subtyping methods. We developed a single-sample genomic subtyping classifier (GSC) to predict consensus subtypes (claudin-low, basal, luminal-infiltrated and luminal) with highest clinical impact in the context of NAC. Overall survival (OS) according to subtype was analyzed and compared with OS in 476 non-NAC cases (published datasets). Intervention Gene expression analysis was used to assign subtypes. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis Receiver-operating characteristics were used to determine the accuracy of GSC. The effect of GSC on survival was estimated by Cox proportional hazard regression models. Results and limitations The models generated subtype calls in expected ratios with high concordance across subtyping methods. GSC was able to predict four consensus molecular subtypes with high accuracy (73%), and clinical significance of the predicted consensus subtypes could be validated in independent NAC and non-NAC datasets. Luminal tumors had the best OS with and without NAC. Claudin-low tumors were associated with poor OS irrespective of treatment regimen. Basal tumors showed the most improvement in OS with NAC compared with surgery alone. The main limitations of our study are its retrospective design and comparison across datasets. Conclusions Molecular subtyping may have an impact on patient benefit to NAC. If validated in additional studies, our results suggest that patients with basal tumors should be prioritized for NAC. We discovered the first single-sample classifier to subtype MIBC, which may be suitable for integration into routine clinical practice. Patient summary Different molecular subtypes can be identified in muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Although cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves patient outcomes, we identified that the benefit is highest in patients with basal tumors. Our newly discovered classifier can identify these molecular subtypes in a single patient and could be integrated into routine clinical practice after further validation.
Organ-sparing treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer by maximal transurethral removal of the tumor (TURB) followed by chemoradiation (CRT) has shown promising results in recent studies, and is ...therefore considered to be an acceptable alternative for the standard of radical cystectomy (RC) in selected patients. We report on outcomes in a single-center, retrospective CRT cohort in comparison to a RC and radiotherapy only (RT) cohort.
The patient population included n = 84 CRT patients, n = 93 RC patients, and n = 95 RT patients. Primary endpoints were local control (LC) up to 2 years and overall survival (OS) up to 5 years. Cox regression was performed to determine risk factors for LC and OS in the CRT group. Acute genito-urinary (GU) and gastro-intestinal (GI) toxicity were scored with CTCAE version 4 for the RT and CRT cohort. Logistic regression was used to determine risk factors for toxicity. We followed the EQUATOR guidelines for reporting, using the STROBE checklist for observational research.
Baseline characteristics were different between the treatment groups with in particular worse comorbidity scores and higher age in the RT cohort. The CRT schedule was completed by 96% of the patients. LC at 2 years was 83.4% (90% CI 76.0-90.8) for CRT vs. 70.9% (62.2-79.6) for RC and 67.0% (56.8-77.2) for RT. OS at 5 years was 48.9% (38.4-59.4) for CRT vs. 46.6% (36.4-56.8) for RC, and 27.6% (19.4-35.8) for RT. High T stage was significantly associated with worse LC and OS in the CRT group. GU/GI toxicity grade ≥2 occurred in 43 (48.3%) RT patients and 38 (45.2%) CRT patients.
The organ-preserving strategy with CRT was feasible and tolerable in this patient population, and the achieved LC and OS were satisfactory in comparison to the RC cohort and literature.
Patients with clinical stage I (CS I) seminoma testis with large primary tumours and/or rete testis invasion (RTI) might have an increased risk of relapse. In recent years, these risk factors have ...frequently been employed to decide on adjuvant treatment.
To systematically review the literature on tumour size and RTI as risk factors for relapse in CS I seminoma testis patients under surveillance.
Relevant databases including Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched up to November 2016. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs, prospective observational studies with controls, retrospective matched-pair studies, and comparative studies from well-defined registries/databases were included. The primary outcome was the rate of relapse and relapse-free survival (RFS). The risk of bias was assessed by the Quality in Prognosis Studies tool.
After assessing 3068 abstracts and 80 full-text articles, 20 studies met the inclusion criteria. Although evidence to justify a cut-off of 4cm for size was lacking, it was the most frequently studied. The reported hazard ratio (HR) for the RFS for tumours >4cm was 1.59–2.8. Accordingly, the reported 5-yr RFS ranged from 86.6% to 95.5% and from 73.0% to 82.6% for patients having tumours ≤4 and >4cm, respectively. For tumours with RTI present, the reported HR was 1.4–1.7. The 5-yr RFS ranged from 86.0% to 92.0% and 74.9% to 79.5% for patients without versus those with RTI present, respectively. A meta-analysis was considered inappropriate due to data heterogeneity.
Primary tumour size and RTI are associated with the risk of relapse in CS I seminoma testis patients during surveillance. However, in the presence of either risk factor, the vast majority of patients are cured by orchiectomy alone and will not relapse. Furthermore, the evidence on the prognostic value of size and RTI has significant limitations, so prudency is warranted on their routine use in clinical practice.
Primary testicular tumour size and rete testis invasion are considered to be important prognostic factors for the risk of relapse in patients with clinical stage I seminoma testis. We systematically reviewed all the literature on the prognostic value of these two postulated risk factors. The outcome is that the prognostic power of these factors in the published literature is too low to advocate their routine use in clinical practice and to drive the choice on adjuvant treatment in clinical stage I seminoma testis patients.
The evidence on the prognostic value of primary testicular tumour size and rete testis invasion in clinical stage I seminoma testis patients is too weak to justify their use for clinical decision making on adjuvant treatment in routine clinical practice.
Bladder cancer (urothelial carcinoma) is a common malignancy characterized by high recurrence rates and intense clinical follow-up, indicating the necessity for more effective therapies. Current ...treatment regimens include intra-vesical administration of mitomycin C (MMC) for non-muscle invasive disease and systemic cisplatin for muscle-invasive or metastatic disease. Hyperthermia, heating a tumor to 40-44°C, enhances the efficacy of these chemotherapeutics by various modes of action, one of which is inhibition of DNA repair via homologous recombination. Here, we explore whether ex vivo assays on freshly obtained bladder tumors can be applied to predict the response towards hyperthermia.
The cytochrome C release assay (apoptosis) and the RAD51 focus formation assay (DNA repair) were first established in the bladder cancer cell lines RT112 and T24 as measurements for hyperthermia efficiency, and subsequently tested in freshly obtained bladder tumors (n = 59).
Hyperthermia significantly increased the fraction of apoptotic cells after cisplatin or MMC treatment in both RT112 and T24 cells and in most of the bladder tumors (8/10). The RAD51 focus formation assay detected both morphological and numerical changes of RAD51 foci upon hyperthermia in the RT112 and T24 cell lines. In 64% of 37 analyzed primary bladder tumor samples, hyperthermia induced similar morphological changes in RAD51 foci.
The cytochrome C assay and the RAD51 focus formation assay are both feasible on freshly obtained bladder tumors, and could serve to predict the efficacy of hyperthermia together with cytotoxic agents, such as MMC or cisplatin.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) improve overall survival in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC), but therapeutic success at the individual patient level varies significantly. Here we ...identify predictive markers of response, based on whole-genome DNA (n = 70) and RNA-sequencing (n = 41) of fresh metastatic biopsy samples, collected prior to treatment with pembrolizumab. We find that PD-L1 combined positivity score does not, whereas tumor mutational burden and APOBEC mutagenesis modestly predict response. In contrast, T cell-to-stroma enrichment (TSE) score, computed from gene expression signature data to capture the relative abundance of T cells and stromal cells, predicts response to immunotherapy with high accuracy. Patients with a positive and negative TSE score show progression free survival rates at 6 months of 67 and 0%, respectively. The abundance of T cells and stromal cells, as reflected by the TSE score is confirmed by immunofluorescence in tumor tissue, and its good performance in two independent ICI-treated cohorts of patients with mUC (IMvigor210) and muscle-invasive UC (ABACUS) validate the predictive power of the TSE score. In conclusion, the TSE score represents a clinically applicable metric that potentially supports the prospective selection of patients with mUC for ICI treatment.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) prior to radical cystectomy (RC) in patients with nonmetastatic muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) confers an absolute survival benefit of 5%-10%. There is evidence ...that molecular differences between tumors may impact response to therapy, highlighting a need for clinically validated biomarkers to predict response to NAC.
Four bladder cancer cohorts were included. Inverse probability weighting was used to make baseline characteristics (age, sex and clinical tumor stage) between NAC-treated and untreated groups more comparable. Molecular subtypes were determined using a commercial genomic subtyping classifier. Survival rates were estimated using weighted Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the primary and secondary study end points of overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival, respectively.
A total of 601 patients with MIBC were included, of whom 247 had been treated with NAC and RC, and 354 underwent RC without NAC. With NAC, the overall net benefit to OS and cancer-specific survival at 3 years was 7% and 5%, respectively. After controlling for clinicopathological variables, nonluminal tumors had greatest benefit from NAC, with 10% greater OS at 3 years (71% vs 61%), while luminal tumors had minimal benefit (63% vs 65%) for NAC vs non-NAC.
In patients with MIBC, a commercially available molecular subtyping assay revealed nonluminal tumors received the greatest benefit from NAC, while patients with luminal tumors experienced a minimal survival benefit. A genomic classifier may help identify patients with MIBC who would benefit most from NAC.
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