•Among 67 children with relapsed/refractory HL treated with ASCT and brentuximab vedotin consolidation, the 3-year PFS was 85%.•Brentuximab vedotin consolidation in pediatric patients with ...relapsed/refractory HL is associated with a favorable safety profile.
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Outcomes for children and adolescents with relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are poor, with ∼50% of patients experiencing a subsequent relapse. The anti-CD30 antibody–drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin improved progression-free survival (PFS) when used as consolidation after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in adults with high-risk relapsed/refractory HL. Data on brentuximab vedotin as consolidative therapy after ASCT in pediatric patients with HL are extremely limited, with data of only 11 patients reported in the literature. We performed a retrospective analysis of 67 pediatric patients who received brentuximab vedotin as consolidation therapy after ASCT for the treatment of relapsed/refractory HL to describe the experience of this regimen in the pediatric population. This is the largest cohort reported to date. We found that brentuximab vedotin was well tolerated with a safety profile similar to that of adult patients. With a median follow-up of 37 months, the 3-year PFS was 85%. These data suggest a potential role for the use of brentuximab vedotin as consolidation therapy after ASCT for children with relapsed/refractory HL.
Children with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) may relapse despite response to radioactive iodine (RAI). Two children with multiply relapsed PTC underwent whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing. ...A
fusion was identified in one tumor, with outlier
expression compared to the TCGA thyroid cancer compendium and to Illumina BodyMap normal thyroid. This patient demonstrated resolution of multiple pulmonary nodules without toxicity on oral TRK inhibitor therapy. A
fusion was identified in the second tumor, another potentially actionable finding. Identification of oncogenic drivers in recurrent pediatric PTC may facilitate targeted therapy while avoiding repeated RAI.
The purpose of this work was to develop an optimized liposomal formulation of topotecan for use in the treatment of patients with neuroblastoma. Drug exposure time studies were used to determine that ...topotecan (Hycamtin) exhibited great cytotoxic activity against SK‐N‐SH, IMR‐32 and LAN‐1 neuroblastoma human cell lines. Sphingomyelin (SM)/cholesterol (Chol) and 1,2‐distearoyl‐sn‐glycero‐3‐phosphocholine (DSPC)/Chol liposomes were prepared using extrusion methods and then loaded with topotecan by pH gradient and copper‐drug complexation. In vitro studies showed that SM/Chol liposomes retained topotecan significantly better than DSPC/Chol liposomes. Decreasing the drug‐to‐lipid ratio engendered significant increases in drug retention. Dose‐range finding studies on NRG mice indicated that an optimized SM/Chol liposomal formulation of topotecan prepared with a final drug‐to‐lipid ratio of 0.025 (mol: mol) was better tolerated than the previously described DSPC/Chol topotecan formulation. Pharmacokinetic studies showed that the optimized SM/Chol liposomal topotecan exhibited a 10‐fold increase in plasma half‐life and a 1000‐fold increase in AUC0–24 h when compared with Hycamtin administered at equivalent doses (5 mg/kg). In contrast to the great extension in exposure time, SM/Chol liposomal topotecan increased the life span of mice with established LAN‐1 neuroblastoma tumors only modestly in a subcutaneous and systemic model. The extension in exposure time may still not be sufficient and the formulation may require further optimization. In the future, liposomal topotecan will be assessed in combination with high‐dose radiotherapy such as 131I‐metaiodobenzylguanidine, and immunotherapy treatment modalities currently used in neuroblastoma therapy.
The manuscript presents the development of a liposomal formulation of topotecan as a treatment for high‐risk neuroblastoma. The liposomal formulation exhibited improved therapeutic activity compared to two‐times the dose of the current clinically available topotecan (Hycamtin) in a subcutaneous as well as in a systemic neuroblastoma mouse model. This is the first report assessing the therapeutic activity of copper based liposomal topotecan in animal models of neuroblastoma.
IMPORTANCE: Pediatric cancers are epigenetic diseases; therefore, considering tumor gene expression information is necessary for a complete understanding of the tumorigenic processes. OBJECTIVE: To ...evaluate the feasibility and utility of incorporating comparative gene expression information into the precision medicine framework for difficult-to-treat pediatric and young adult patients with cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study was conducted as a consortium between the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative and clinical genomic trials. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data were obtained from the following 4 clinical sites and analyzed at UCSC: British Columbia Children’s Hospital (n = 31), Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University (n = 80), CHOC Children’s Hospital and Hyundai Cancer Institute (n = 46), and the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (n = 24). The study dates were January 1, 2016, to March 22, 2017. EXPOSURES: Participants underwent tumor RNA-Seq profiling as part of 4 separate clinical trials at partner hospitals. The UCSC either downloaded RNA-Seq data from a partner institution for analysis in the cloud or provided a Docker pipeline that performed the same analysis at a partner institution. The UCSC then compared each participant’s tumor RNA-Seq profile with more than 11 000 uniformly analyzed tumor profiles from pediatric and young adult patients with cancer, downloaded from public data repositories. These comparisons were used to identify genes and pathways that are significantly overexpressed in each patient’s tumor. Results of the UCSC analysis were presented to clinical partners. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Feasibility of a third-party institution (UCSC Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative) to obtain tumor RNA-Seq data from patients, conduct comparative analysis, and present analysis results to clinicians; and proportion of patients for whom comparative tumor gene expression analysis provided useful clinical and biological information. RESULTS: Among 144 samples from children and young adults (median age at diagnosis, 9 years; range, 0-26 years; 72 of 118 61.0% male 26 patients sex unknown) with a relapsed, refractory, or rare cancer treated on precision medicine protocols, RNA-Seq–derived gene expression was potentially useful for 99 of 144 samples (68.8%) compared with DNA mutation information that was potentially useful for only 34 of 74 samples (45.9%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study’s findings suggest that tumor RNA-Seq comparisons may be feasible and highlight the potential clinical utility of incorporating such comparisons into the clinical genomic interpretation framework for difficult-to-treat pediatric and young adult patients with cancer. The study also highlights for the first time to date the potential clinical utility of harmonized publicly available genomic data sets.
Abstract
Inherited genetic variation has important implications for cancer screening, early diagnosis, and disease prognosis. A role for germline variation has also been described in shaping the ...molecular landscape, immune response, microenvironment, and treatment response of individual tumors. However, there is a lack of consensus on the handling and analysis of germline information that extends beyond known or suspected cancer susceptibility in large-scale cancer genomics initiatives. As part of the Personalized OncoGenomics program in British Columbia, we performed whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing in paired tumor and normal tissues from advanced cancer patients to characterize the molecular tumor landscape and identify putative targets for therapy. Overall, our experience supports a multidisciplinary and integrative approach to germline data management. This includes a need for broader definitions and standardized recommendations regarding primary and secondary germline findings in precision oncology. Here, we propose a framework for identifying, evaluating, and returning germline variants of potential clinical significance that may have indications for health management beyond cancer risk reduction or prevention in patients and their families.
Abstract BACKGROUND Larotrectinib is the first-in-class, highly selective TRK inhibitor approved for tumor-agnostic use in patients with TRK fusion cancer. We report data on larotrectinib-treated ...pediatric patients with TRK fusion primary CNS tumors. METHODS Patients aged <18 years with TRK fusion primary CNS tumors enrolled in two clinical trials (NCT02637687, NCT02576431) were included. Responses were independent review committee (IRC)-assessed per RANO. Patients were permitted to stop larotrectinib in the absence of on-treatment progression (wait-and-see) and remain on trial. RESULTS As of July 2023, 38 patients were eligible for efficacy analyses by IRC, including 11 patients with only non-measurable disease at baseline. Median age at enrollment was 7 years (range 0–17). Tumor histologic groups included: high-grade glioma (HGG; n=18), low-grade glioma (LGG; n=12), and other (n=8). Eleven (29%) patients had received ≥2 prior systemic therapies. Overall response rate was 37% (95% CI 22–54): three complete response, 11 partial response, 17 stable disease, five progressive disease, and two not evaluable. The 24-week disease control rate was 74% (95% CI 57–87). Medians for duration of response, progression-free survival, and overall survival (OS) were 17.2 months (95% CI 5.7–not estimable NE), 19.8 months (95% CI 11.1–50.8), and not reached (95% CI 32.7–NE), respectively. The 48-month OS rate was 60%. At data cutoff, one patient with HGG and four with LGG entered wait-and-see; median duration of the first wait-and-see period was 20.2 months (range 4–29). One patient with LGG resumed treatment following wait-and-see. Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were predominantly Grade 1/2. No patients discontinued treatment due to TRAEs. CONCLUSION Larotrectinib demonstrated rapid, durable responses and a manageable safety profile in pediatric patients with TRK fusion primary CNS tumors. This supports the wider adoption of next-generation sequencing panels that include NTRK gene fusions when testing pediatric patients with CNS tumors.
Infants with KMT2A rearranged (KMT2Ar) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have a poor prognosis with an event-free-survival (EFS) of 33.6-36.9% on recent Children's Oncology Group and Interfant ...trials. In preclinical studies, we identified bortezomib and vorinostat as novel active agents in primary KMT2Ar infant ALL specimens that have not been included in infant regimens to date. Total therapy for infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia I (TINI) evaluated this novel combination in a multi-institutional pilot trial for infants with de novo ALL. In this study, bortezomib and vorinostat were incorporated into an ALL chemotherapy backbone containing dexamethasone, mitoxantrone, and pegasparaginase during induction and reinduction chemotherapy cycles. A run-in dose escalation evaluated 3 dose levels of vorinostat which was then followed by a dose expansion phase. The primary endpoint of the study was tolerability; secondary endpoints included minimal residual disease (MRD), 3-year EFS and overall survival (OS). Fifty patients enrolled between 2017-2021. Median follow up was 3.4 years (range 1.6-6.8 years). The six patients in the dose escalation phase had no dose-limiting toxicities. Forty-four patients received vorinostat at the third dose level (DL3) of 180 mg/m 2/dose. 68% of patients treated at DL3 had CNS involvement at diagnosis. 68% of DL3 patients carried a KMT2Ar. The most frequent KMT2A partner genes were AFF1 (40%), MLLT1 (20%), and MLLT3 (13%). The most frequent grade 3-4 non-hematologic adverse events during induction include neutropenic fever (45%), hypertension (43%), infection (40%), anorexia (32%), diarrhea (18%) and perineal skin ulceration (16%). There were 3 episodes of sepsis and 1 induction death due to parainfluenza pneumonia. Fewer events and no deaths or proven sepsis occurred during reinduction, with only grade 3 hypertriglyceridemia exceeding 10% of patients affected (18%). 79% of all patients and 69% of KMT2Ar patients became MRD negative by flow cytometry on day 22 of induction following our investigational block. Following induction intensification with cyclophosphamide, cytarabine, and mercaptopurine, 77% and 66% of all patients and KMT2Ar patients respectively were MRD negative at the time of count recovery. Eight of the forty-four patients, all KMT2Ar, underwent stem cell transplant in first remission due to persistent MRD positivity at the end of consolidation. The 3-year EFS and OS probabilities (SE) of all forty-four DL3 patients were 56.5% (8.0) and 70.5% (7.3), respectively. The 3-year cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) with death considered a competing event was 29.3% (6.9) and the cumulative incidence of death (CID) as a first event was 8.9% (4.5). Patients lacking a KMT2Ar had superior outcomes with 85.7% (9.4) EFS and 92.9% (6.9) OS. The EFS and OS of KMT2Ar patients were 44.8% (9.5) and 62% (9.1) respectively. CIR and CID for KMT2Ar patients was 43.5% (9.6) and 7.2% (5) respectively. KMT2Ar patients ≥90 days at diagnosis had superior outcomes compared to their younger counterparts with 59.1% (10.5) EFS and 77.3% (8.9) OS. End of induction MRD was predictive of an event in this subgroup, with 85.6% (9.4) EFS for MRD negative patients and 14.3% (13.2) EFS for MRD positive patients. In contrast, KMT2Ar patients < 90 days of age at diagnosis had poor outcomes irrespective of MRD with 12.5% (11.7) EFS and 25% (15.3) OS. Notably KMT2Ar patients < 90 days who were MRD negative at the end of induction had a median time to relapse of 600 days (range 282-969 days), a late time point for this malignancy that typically relapses within a year from initial diagnosis. This suggests the regimen effectively reduced tumor burden leading to an extended duration of remission but failed to sufficiently eradicate disease to prevent relapse. We conclude that the incorporation of bortezomib and vorinostat for treatment of infants with ALL was well tolerated. MRD responses in KMT2Ar patients were robust. Although the study was not powered to evaluate outcomes, EFS and OS in KMT2Ar patients suggest a clinical signal worth pursuing given the low proportion of patients transplanted in first remission. The successor study, TINI 2 (NCT05848687), will build upon the bortezomib/vorinostat backbone by incorporating 2 cycles of blinatumomab and the menin inhibitor ziftomenib in combination with chemotherapy during reinduction.
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