IGNYTE-ESO: A master protocol to assess safety and activity of letetresgene autoleucel (lete-cel; GSK3377794) in HLA-A*02+ patients with synovial sarcoma or myxoid/round cell liposarcoma (Substudies 1 and 2).
TPS11582 Background: Letetresgene autoleucel (lete-cel; GSK3377794) is an autologous T-cell product using a genetically modified T-cell receptor to target cancer cells expressing the cancer testis antigen New-York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma 1 (NY-ESO-1). Lete-cel is currently being investigated alone and in combination in multiple tumor types [1,2]. NY-ESO-1 is expressed in 70‒80% of synovial sarcoma (SS) and 80‒90% of myxoid/round cell liposarcoma (MRCLS) tumors [3,4], suggesting these tumors may be prime lete-cel targets. This master protocol design (IGNYTE-ESO; NCT03967223) enables evaluation of multiple cell therapies in multiple tumor types and treatment stages in separate substudies, beginning with lete-cel in Substudies 1 and 2 for SS and MRCLS. Methods: Substudy 1 is a single-arm study assessing lete-cel in treatment-naïve patients (pts; ie, anthracycline therapy-naïve for metastatic disease) with advanced (metastatic/unresectable) NY-ESO-1+ SS or MRCLS as a first line of therapy (n=10 planned). Substudy 2 is a pivotal, single-arm study assessing lete-cel in pts with NY-ESO-1+ SS or MRCLS who progressed after anthracycline therapy (n=70 planned). Key eligibility criteria are age ≥10 y and NY-ESO-1 and HLA-A*02 positivity. Exclusion criteria include prior NY-ESO-1–specific/gene therapy, allogeneic stem cell transplant, and central nervous system metastases. Screened pts undergo leukapheresis for lete-cel manufacture, lymphodepletion, lete-cel infusion, and follow-up (FU). Long-term FU (15 y) may be done under a separate protocol. The Substudy 2 primary endpoint is overall response rate (ORR) per RECIST v1.1 assessed by central independent review. Substudy 1 is not testing any formal hypotheses; statistical analysis will be descriptive. Substudy 2 is comparing ORR with the historical control assuming at least 90% power with 0.025 one-sided type I error. Secondary endpoints include efficacy (time to/duration of response, disease control rate, progression-free survival), safety (adverse event [AE] frequency/severity, serious AEs, AEs of special interest), and pharmacokinetic (maximum transgene expansion [Cmax], time to Cmax, area under the time curve from zero to time t as data permit). Enrollment began in December 2019. References: 1. Reckamp KL, et al. Ann Oncol 2019;30(Suppl_5):v602–v660. 2. Rapoport A, et al. J Clin Oncol 2020 38:15_suppl, TPS8555. 3. D’Angelo SP, et al. Cancer Discov 2018;8(8):944–957. 4. D’Angelo SP, et al. J Clin Oncol 2018 36:15_suppl, 3005. Funding: GSK. Editorial support was provided by Eithne Maguire, PhD, of Fishawack Indicia, part of Fishawack Health, and funded by GSK. Previously presented at BSG 2021 (P914542). Clinical trial information: NCT03967223.
Safety and efficacy of tazemetostat, a first-in-class EZH2 inhibitor, in patients (pts) with epithelioid sarcoma (ES) (NCT02601950).
11003 Background: ES is a rare soft tissue sarcoma that metastasizes in approximately 30% to 50% of cases. More than 90% of ES tumors lack expression of INI1, an important component of epigenetic regulation. Loss of INI1 function allows another epigenetic modifier, EZH2, to become an oncogenic driver in tumor cells. Tazemetostat, a first-in-class, selective, oral inhibitor of EZH2, has demonstrated tumor regression and favorable safety in phase 1/2 trials. Methods: Data from a phase 2 open-label, multicenter trial of pts with locally advanced or metastatic ES are reported. Efficacy was assessed with primary and secondary endpoints including objective response rate (ORR) by RECIST 1.1, disease control rate (DCR; objective confirmed response of any duration or stable disease [SD] lasting ≥32 weeks), duration of response (DOR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS); safety and tolerability were also evaluated. Results: As of September 17, 2018, 62 INI1-negative ES pts were enrolled and treated with tazemetostat 800 mg BID. The median number of prior lines of therapy was 1 (range: 0-9). There were 9/62 (15%) confirmed partial responses (PRs) with an ORR of 15% and DCR of 26%. The DOR ranged from 7.1+ weeks to 103.0+ weeks (median: not reached) with a median OS of 82.4 weeks (95% CI: 47.4, not estimable) for all 62 pts. Tazemetostat was generally well tolerated. Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were generally mild to moderate with the most commonly reported adverse events (AEs; ≥10% incidence) regardless of attribution being fatigue (24/62; 39%), nausea (22/62; 35%), and cancer pain (20/62; 32%). Any treatment-related TEAEs of grade ≥3 were reported in 10/62 (16%) pts. TEAEs grade ≥3 reported in ≥2 pts included anemia (6%) and decreased weight (3%). There were no drug-related deaths and a low discontinuation rate (1.7%). Conclusions: In the largest prospective clinical trial of ES to date, tazemetostat achieved disease control in 26% of pts with advanced ES who entered this study. Durable clinical response of the drug was documented. Tazemetostat demonstrated favorable safety with few pts with treatment-related AEs grade ≥3. Clinical trial information: NCT02601950.
Phase 2 multicenter study of the EZH2 inhibitor tazemetostat in adults with INI1 negative epithelioid sarcoma (NCT02601950).
11058 Background: Epithelioid sarcoma (ES) is a rare soft tissue sarcoma (STS) typically seen in young adults accounting for < 1% of all STS. While local disease may be indolent, ES can rapidly spread and patients (pts) with distant metastasis are often resistant to systemic treatment with 1 year survival of < 50%. The defining molecular feature of ES is the absence of tumor expression of INI1, a SWI/SNF subunit member involved in chromatin remodeling. Tazemetostat, a potent and selective EZH2 inhibitor, has demonstrated tumor regressions in INI1 negative preclinical malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRT) models and phase 1 clinical activity in MRT and ES pts. The proposed mechanism of tazemetostat sensitivity is INI1 loss inducing compromised SWI/SNF activity and tumor dependence on PRC2 activity (of which EZH2 is the catalytic subunit). Preliminary phase 2 safety and efficacy of tazemetostat in ES pts is reported here. Methods: This is a phase 2 multicenter open-label single arm study of tazemetostat (800 mg po BID) in adult pts with ES whose tumors harbor evidence of INI1 loss. Pts enroll into 1 of 5 cohorts of different tumor types with INI1 loss/reduction, up to 30 pts each, using a 2-stage Green-Dahlberg design. For the ES cohort, primary endpoint is disease control rate (DCR) defined as objective response of any duration or stable disease (SD) lasting ≥32 wks. Success at stage 2 required DCR in ≥5/30 treated pts. Key secondary endpoints include safety/tolerability, ORR, PFS, OS, PK and response biomarkers e.g. H3K27me3. Results: In 31 ES pts with a median of 1 prior systemic therapy, stage 2 DCR criteria was surpassed with a RECIST confirmed PR (4 pts) and SD ≥32 wks (2 pts) observed to date. 13 pts are still on treatment therefore DCR and ORR will be updated. Tazemetostat was well tolerated with grade 1/2 fatigue (39%), nausea (26%) and vomiting (19%) as the most frequently reported AEs regardless of attribution. Conclusions: In the largest prospective clinical trial of ES to date, tazemetostat monotherapy shows promising antitumor activity, including confirmed responses and long-term SD, with favorable safety/tolerability in ES. Enrollment has been expanded to 60 ES pts given the clinical activity described here. Clinical trial information: NCT02601950.
Optimizing Treatment Outcomes With Regorafenib: Personalized Dosing and Other Strategies to Support Patient Care
Abstract Regorafenib is an oral multikinase inhibitor that inhibits several kinases relevant to tumor biology in several cancers, including colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). In phase III trials, regorafenib significantly improved overall survival versus placebo in patients with metastatic CRC progressing after all available standard therapies, and significantly prolonged progression-free survival in patients with advanced GIST in whom at least imatinib and sunitinib had failed. Thus, this agent holds promise as a new standard of care for CRC and GIST patients after disease progression following all other approved therapies. The clinical trials reported to date show that this new treatment has a consistent adverse event profile that is quite different from that of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapies. The most common adverse events of regorafenib include dermatologic and mucosal toxicities (especially hand-foot skin reaction, rash, and oral mucositis), constitutional symptoms (e.g., fatigue, nausea, and weight loss), vascular effects (especially hypertension), and gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., diarrhea). To help health care professionals anticipate and manage the adverse events associated with regorafenib, we describe our experiences in clinical trials and show that such toxicities can be effectively managed with close observation of patients from initiation of dosing, along with prompt appropriate interventions, including dose modifications, if necessary.
Pathologic and Molecular Features Correlate With Long-Term Outcome After Adjuvant Therapy of Resected Primary GI Stromal Tumor: The ACOSOG Z9001 Trial
Purpose The ACOSOG (American College of Surgeons Oncology Group) Z9001 (Alliance) study, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, demonstrated that 1 year of adjuvant imatinib prolonged recurrence-free survival (RFS) after resection of primary GI stromal tumor (GIST). We sought to determine the pathologic and molecular factors associated with patient outcome. Patients and Methods There were 328 patients assigned to the placebo arm and 317 to the imatinib arm. Median patient follow-up was 74 months. There were 645 tumor specimens available for mitotic rate or mutation analysis. Results RFS remained superior in the imatinib arm (hazard ratio, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.75; Cox model–adjusted P < .001). On multivariable analysis of patients in the placebo arm, large tumor size, small bowel location, and high mitotic rate were associated with lower RFS, whereas tumor genotype was not significantly associated with RFS. Multivariable analysis of patients in the imatinib arm yielded similar findings. When comparing the two arms, imatinib therapy was associated with higher RFS in patients with a KIT exon 11 deletion of any type, but not a KIT exon 11 insertion or point mutation, KIT exon 9 mutation, PDGFRA mutation, or wild-type tumor, although some of these patient groups were small. Adjuvant imatinib did not seem to alter overall survival. Conclusion Our findings show that tumor size, location, and mitotic rate, but not tumor genotype, are associated with the natural history of GIST. Patients with KIT exon 11 deletions assigned to 1 year of adjuvant imatinib had a longer RFS.