Edelman, Martin J.

Abstract Background: Blood-based biomarkers (PSA, CEA, CA125) are used to track real-time progression of disease in parallel with imaging. However, while numerous blood biomarkers exist, they are specific to cancer type (i.e., PSA to prostate and CEA to colon) and may not appear in all diseased individuals. Recently, cancer-associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs), a circulating stromal cell subtype, were identified in various solid cancer types, which were observed increasing in size and in hyperploidy during progressive disease. To assess whether CAML enlargement is a biomarker of progression/response, we tracked CAML growth/shrinkage in a pilot study of patients (n=34). Blood was drawn from patients with lung, prostate, or breast cancers over a 3-month period, baseline through 2 treatment cycles, followed by continued monitoring for 2 years. These data suggest that morphologic assessment of CAMLs (growth/hyperploidy) appear to parallel cancer progression, or response to treatment, in multiple solid tumors. Methods: A prospective multi-institutional study used anonymized peripheral blood samples from 34 cancer patients undergoing therapy [stage I (n=2), II (n=3), III (n=8) & IV (n=21)] with breast (n=10), lung (n=16), & prostate (n=8). Samples were taken prior to therapy (BL), at 1 month (FU1) follow-up and a 3-month (FU2) follow-up, after induction of therapy. Blood was processed by the CellSieve™ microfiltration technique at 4 institutions and stained for cytokeratin 8, 18 and 19, CD14 and CD45. After identification and quantification, CAMLs were measured based on their hyperploidy and cell size. Results: CAMLs were found in 97% of cancer patients at BL, 97% at FU1 and 91% of FU2. Over the 2-year follow-up, 7 patients showed no signs of clinical disease progression, while 27 patients had observable progression. Of the 7 patients who did not progress, only two had CAMLs of ≥50µm at BL and at FU1, but whose CAMLs shrunk to <50 µm by FU2. Of the 27 patients who progressed, 22 patients had ≥50µm CAMLs at all time points, while 5 patients had small <50µm CAMLs at BL. Interestingly, CAMLs in these 5 patients had enlarged to ≥50µm by the FU2 time point. Conclusions: We show that increased polynucleation and CAML enlargement indicate shorter progression-free survival in a number of cancer types after baseline. By monitoring CAML changes over time for the 34 individual patients, we demonstrated correlation of ongoing progression, or response, in tumors to the enlargement or shrinkage in CAMLs at follow-up time points from treatment induction. This pilot study suggests that CAMLs have the potential to monitor the progression/regression of malignancy in real time and suggests the need for larger validation studies. Citation Format: Daniel L. Adams, Raymond Bergan, Martin J. Edelman, Stuart S. Martin, Rena Lapidus, Saranya Chumsri, Cha-Mei Tang, Steven H. Lin. Real-time monitoring of solid tumor progression by circulating stromal cells from early- to late-stage disease [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1560.

LBA7005 Background: In meta-analyses, platinum-based adjuvant (adj) chemotherapy (CT) in completely resected NSCLC increased cure rate by ∼5%. At BR.19 initiation, adj study results with third-generation agents were unavailable. Gefitinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, showed activity in monotherapy trials. We report a trial of adj gefitinib versus placebo after complete resection of NSCLC. Methods: Patients (pts) with stage IB-IIIA NSCLC were stratified by sex, stage, histology, post-op radiation, and after Jan 2003, adj CT. Pts were randomized to gefitinib 250 mg or placebo daily x 2 years. Study endpoints included overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS), toxicity, preplanned correlative studies. Study closed prematurely in Apr. 2005. Trial committee and NCIC CTG staff remained blinded to study drug. Results: 503 pts randomized (Sep 2002-Apr 2005); median age 67, males 54%, PS 0 54%; stage IB 49%, II 38%, III 13%; adenocarcinoma 59%, squamous 28%; ever smokers 89%; adj CT 17%; lobectomy 82%. Commonest grade 3/4 toxicities = fatigue 5%, rash 4% and diarrhea 5%. grade 3+ pneumonitis in 7 (1.4%) pts and led to death in 1. Median follow-up is 4.7 yrs; median treatment time is 4.8 mos. For gefitinib versus placebo, median DFS is 4.2 yrs versus not yet reached (NYR) HR1.22 (95% C.I. 0.93-1.61), p=0.15 and median OS 5.1 yrs versus NYR HR 1.24 (95% C.I. 0.94-1.64), p=0.14. In multivariate analysis, tumor size >4cm was predictive of poor DFS (p<0.0001) and never smoking for better OS with gefitinib (p=0.02). Results for KRAS and EGFR copy are available on 350 and 348 pts respectively. KRAS mutations were neither prognostic HR 1.12 (95% C.I. 0.67-1.86), p=0.66 nor predictive of gefitinib benefit (p = 0.16) on OS. EGFRcopy whether low/high polysomy or amplification was neither prognostic (p=0.77) nor predictive of OS benefit from gefitinib. Conclusions: Adjuvant gefitinib after complete resection of early stage NSCLC did not confer DFS or OS advantage in overall population. KRAS and EGFR copy were neither prognostic nor predictive of benefit from gefitinib. EGFR mutational analysis will be presented. [Table: see text]

Abstract Background: Blood-based biopsies can be used as a non-invasive method to recover both Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) and Circulating Cancer Associated Macrophage-Like cells (CAMLs) from the blood of cancer patients. CAMLs are a newly-defined circulating immune cell type, described as a subtype of circulating stromal cells, known to engulf tumor cells/debris. CAMLs are identified by their large size, 30-300 microns, and aberrant nuclear structure. We studied the peripheral blood of cancer patients to ascertain the prevalence, specificity and sensitivity of CAMLs in relation to their disease status at presentation, including a variety of benign and malignant diseases. We supply evidence that this previously unidentified circulating cell can be used as a screening tool to detect solid tumors in numerous malignancy subtypes in all disease stages. Methods: CellSieveTM microfilters were used to isolate CAMLs from 7.5 mL of whole peripheral blood. The pore size of CellSieveTM is 7 microns, capable of isolating both CTCs and CAMLs based on size. Collected cells were fixed, permeabilized, and stained with DAPI and antibodies against cytokeratin 8, 18 and 19, CD14, and CD45. CAMLs were defined as enlarged, multinuclear cells with diffuse cytoplasmic cytokeratin staining, and/or CD14+, and/or CD45+. CTCs were defined as filamentous cytokeratin cells that are CD45-. Study 1: Blinded peripheral blood samples from 61 cancer patients were tested, including Stage I-IV breast, pancreatic, lung and prostate cancers, and newly diagnosed, untreated patients. Non-blinded blood samples from 30 healthy volunteers served as controls. Study 2: Double blinded peripheral blood samples from 20 patients with abnormal mammogram results were drawn at time of tissue biopsy and screened. After analysis, unblinding showed a distribution of malignant breast disease (n = 10), benign (n = 8), or atypical hyperplasia (AH) (n = 2). Results: Study 1: CAMLs were found in 94% patients with Stage III/IV cancers, 87% with Stage I/II cancers, and 89% of all patients, regardless of cancer type. Specifically, CAMLs were found in 77% of prostate, 100% of pancreatic, 80% of lung, and 100% of breast patient samples. CAMLs were not found in healthy control samples (sensitivity: 84-96%, Specificity: 100%, PPV: 100%, NPV: 88-97%). Study 2: CAMLs were found in 8 patients with malignant disease, 2 with benign disease, and 2 with AH (sensitivity: 80%, Specificity: 75%, PPV: 80%, NPV: 75%) Conclusions: We present evidence that CAMLs can be used as a non-invasive blood based biopsy, to detect the anatomical presence of solid malignancies and potentially pre-malignant lesions. The presence of CAMLs in newly diagnosed patient samples suggests their use as a blood biomarker for early stage cancer screening in a broad population. Preliminary data from a double blind breast cancer study suggests that CAMLs may differentiate between benign and malignant breast diseases. Citation Format: Daniel Adams, Katherine Alpaugh, Massimo Cristofanilli, Stuart Martin, Saranya Chumsri, Raymond C. Bergen, Susan Tsai, Martin Edelman, Peixuan Zhu, Shuhong Li, Olga V. Makarova, Platte T. Amstutz, Cha-Mei Tang, Jeffrey R. Marks. Cancer associated macrophage-like cells as a blood-based biomarker for the screening of solid tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5165. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5165

Abstract Background: Overexpression of COX-2 has been associated with worse outcome in NSCLC. In C30203, we found that administration of the selective COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib in addition to chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC improved outcome (progression free and overall survival, PFS, OS) in pts with moderate to high COX-2 expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). C30801 was designed to prospectively confirm that finding. Patients and Methods: Pts with NSCLC (stage IIIb with pleural effusion, IV 6th ed) were pre-registered and biopsy specimens analyzed for COX-2 by IHC. Pts with COX-2 expression &gt; or = 2, PS 0-2 and normal organ function were eligible. Chemotherapy was determined by histology: carboplatin (AUC = 6), pemetrexed (500 mg/m2) d 1, q21 days for pts with non-squamous NSCLC; carboplatin(AUC=5.5) d1, gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2) d 1,8 for pts with squamous histology. Randomization was to celecoxib (400 mg bid) (Arm A) or placebo (Arm B). The primary endpoint was to demonstrate improvement in PFS in patients with COX-2 index &gt;=4 with hazard ratio of 0.645. Results: The study was halted by the DSMB for futility after 312 of the planned 322 pts were randomized. The current analysis is based upon the first 300 pts. There were no significant differences between the groups (Table). There was a possible harmful effect for COX-2 inhibition in the COX-2 2-3 subset (OS HR = 1.75, p =.0977). Toxicity was similar for both arms. Subset analyses evaluating histology, chemotherapy regimen, incremental COX-2 expression did not demonstrate any advantage for COX-2 inhibition. Conclusions: 1. COX-2 expression by IHC failed to select pts who could benefit from selective COX-2 inhibition. 2. COX-2 inhibition did not significantly increase toxicity associated with chemotherapy or increase cardiovascular morbidity. 3. We will evaluate other possible determinants of toxicity and response to COX-2 inhibition. OutcomeArm AArm BCOX-2 2-3 (n=37)COX-2 &gt; or = 4 (n=111)COX-2 2-3 (n=46)COX-2 &gt; or = 4 (n=106)PFS (months)4.404.934.606.11OS (months)9.0310.5814.8512.68 Citation Format: Martin J. Edelman, Xiaofei Wang, Lydia Hodgson, Richard T. Cheney, Maria Baggstrom, Thomas Sachdev, Ajeet Gajra, Erin Bertino, Karen Reckamp, Julian Molina, Joan Schiller, Kisha Mitchell-Richards, Paula Friedman, Jon Ritter, Everett Vokes, Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Phase III randomized, placebo controlled trial of COX-2 inhibition in addition to standard chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC):CALGB 30801 (Alliance). [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr CT238. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-CT238