Hassan, Fatima

Background: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a major risk factor for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). We investigated biliary and fecal microbiota to determine whether specific microbes in the bile or stool are associated with PSC or CCA. Methods: Bile was obtained from 32 patients with PSC, 23 with CCA with PSC, 26 with CCA without PSC, and 17 controls. Over 90% of bile samples were from patients with perihilar CCA. Stool was obtained from 31 patients with PSC (11 were matched to bile), 16 with CCA with PSC (10 matched to bile), and 11 with CCA without PSC (6 matched to bile). Microbiota composition was assessed using 16SrRNA-marker-based sequencing and was compared between groups. Results: Bile has a unique microbiota distinguished from negative DNA controls and stool. Increased species richness and abundance of Fusobacteria correlated with duration of PSC and characterized the biliary microbiota in CCA. Stool microbiota composition showed no significant differences between groups. Conclusions: We identified a unique microbial signature in the bile of patients with increased duration of PSC or with CCA, suggesting a role for microbiota-driven inflammation in the pathogenesis and or progression to perihilar CCA. Further studies are needed to test this hypothesis.

INTRODUCTION: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, fibroinflammatory, cholestatic liver disease of unknown etiopathogenesis which is recognized as a major risk factor for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). We aimed to investigate the roles of the biliary and intestinal microflora in the inflammatory process of PSC and to determine if the microflora is associated with progression to CCA. METHODS: We studied the bile and stool microbiomes in samples obtained from patients with PSC (31 stool and 35 bile samples), sporadic CCA (11 stool and 26 bile samples), and PSC coexisting with CCA (16 stool and bile 17 samples). Control bile was obtained from patients with cholelithiasis or choledocholithiasis (n = 17). DNA extraction was followed by amplification and high-throughput next generation sequencing (MiSeq) of the 16S rDNA (V3-V5) region to identify the microbiota present. We performed: 1. analysis of the stool microbiome between PSC and CCA patients; 2. analysis of the biliary microbiome in PSC and CCA patients; 3. comparison of the biliary microbiome collected before and after biliary stent placement. RESULTS: Although bile samples from study patients had significantly lower sequencing depths than stool, their sequencing depths were much higher than bile from negative controls. The microbiomes of stool and bile samples from the same patients were significantly correlated ( P = 0.022). CCA bile samples had significant difference of alpha diversity from control bile samples with less Streptococcaceae and Desulfovibrionaceae (FDR < 10%) than PSC whereas no significant change of stool microbiome was identified between CCA and PSC. Fusobacterium and Gemella were correlated to PSC duration. An increased abundance of Fusobacteria after stent placement was revealed. Fusobacteria, which is inflammation-promoting, was also increased with the number of stents in the bile duct. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that the bile microbiome is potentially a more distinctive biomarker than the stool microbiome for PSC and CCA development. There is increased inhabitance of inflammation-promoting bacteria in the bile of CCA patients and after biliary stent placement. Increased PSC duration also increases the microbial burden in the bile, which may also promote CCA development. We further detected specific bile microbes statistically associated with CCA or stent presence in the bile ducts, which raises the possibility of their role in the CCA progression or stent obstruction. Additional analyses with more samples are needed.

452 Background: Surgical resection is the only curative treatment for patients with gallbladder cancer, despite surgical advances many patients ultimately develop recurrent disease. Management of resected gallbladder cancer mostly relies on single-arm trials and retrospective observations. The purpose of our study is to assess the role of adjuvant therapy in stage I-III gallbladder cancer patients who have undergone surgical resection. Methods: Clinical data were collected on 251 patients who underwent surgical resection for stage I-III gallbladder cancer and presented to Mayo clinic from January 2000-December 2015. Patients were then classified into adjuvant treatment group and surveillance only group. Overall survival and recurrence were compared between the two groups. Results: 78 (31.1%) patients received adjuvant therapy while 173 patients were observed only. Patients who received adjuvant tended to be younger (63.0[SD 11] vs 66.2 [SD 13.1]), have higher stage, and underwent extended surgery. Most patients received chemoradiotherapy (55) with 5-Fluorouracil (67.3%) and capecitabine (25.5%) as radiosensitizing agents. 21 patients received additional adjuvant chemotherapy. 27% of patients received chemotherapy as the sole adjuvant treatment. The most common chemo regimens included gemcitabine (52.3%) and gemcitabine plus cisplatin combination (23.8%). On multivariate analysis patients > 65 years(HR 1.53 [1.07-2.19], p = 0.02), males (HR 1.7 [1.2-2.4], p = 0.003), positive margins (2.77 [1.69-4.38], p < 0.01), and stage III (HR 1.91 [1.35-2.70], p < 0.01) had worse overall survival. Patients who underwent extended radical resection (HR 0.73 [0.51-1.05], p = 0.09) had better overall survival. Adjuvant therapy had no statistical significant effect on overall survival (HR 1.10 [0.75-1.59], p = 0.63 or disease free survival (HR 1.05 [0.69-1.59], p = 0.81) on overall population. However, in stage IIIB, patients receiving adjuvant therapy had better overall survival (HR 0.51 [0.25-1.01], p = 0.05) and disease free survival (HR 0.45 [0.19-1.09], p = 0.06). Conclusions: In our study, adjuvant treatment, especially chemoradiation therapy, was only beneficial in patients with stage IIIb gallbladder cancer patients.

450 Background: The standard treatment for patients with gallbladder cancer is a combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin based on ABC-02 trial. However, there are no guidelines regarding treatment after first-line therapy. We retrospectively analyzed the efficacy and overall survival of different second-line regimens. Methods: We identified 203 patients with advanced gallbladder cancer who received palliative treatment between January 2000 and December 2015 at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. RECIST criteria was used to assess response. Results: 68 patients received second-line chemotherapy. Median age was 63 years (range: 32-86) and majority were males (60.6%). The median time from the diagnosis to the start of the second line chemotherapy was 8 (1-120) months. The most common used second-line chemotherapy were FOLFOX (14), gemcitabine alone (10), single agent fluoropyrimidine (11), gemcitabine with capecitabine (5), and capecitabine with oxaliplatin (4). There were 30 patients that received 5-fluorouracil based regimens, 20 patients received gemcitabine-based regimen, 3 patients received taxane-based regimen, and 15 patients received other types of chemotherapy. Median progression free survival and overall survival was 2.1 (1.8-2.7) and 16.7 (13.2-21.3) months respectively. There were 10 (52%), 11 (37%), 2 (67%), 5 (33%) with partial response and stable disease in 5-fluorouracil-based, gemcitabine-based, taxane-based, and others, respectively. There were no difference in PFS, with median PFS of 2.5, 2.0, 2.8 and 2.3 months, respectively (p=0.43). The overall survival were 15.7 (8.9-40.2), 15.0 (10.7-21.3), 40.3 (22.0-47.0), and 20.4 (9.2-30.7) months, respectively (p=0.83). There were 27 patients that received single agent chemotherapy and 41 patients that received combined regimen. There were 17 (42%) patients and 13 (48%) patients with partial response or stable disease in single and combined regimen. There were no differences in progression free survival and overall survival between single and multi agent chemotherapy. Conclusions: In this largest single institution study, second-line chemotherapy regimens for gallbladder cancer provided benefit in select patients and there is an urgent need to develop more active therapeutic regimens.

Abstract Background: The GALAD score is a serum biomarker–based model that predicts the probability of having hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic liver disease. We aimed to assess the performance of the GALAD score in comparison with liver ultrasound for detection of HCC. Methods: A single-center cohort of 111 HCC patients and 180 controls with cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B and a multicenter cohort of 233 early HCC and 412 cirrhosis patients from the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) phase II HCC Study were analyzed. Results: The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the GALAD score for HCC detection was 0.95 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.93–97], which was higher than the AUC of ultrasound (0.82, P &lt;0.01). At a cutoff of −0.76, the GALAD score had a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of 85% for HCC detection. The AUC of the GALAD score for early-stage HCC detection remained high at 0.92 (95% CI, 0.88–0.96; cutoff −1.18, sensitivity 92%, specificity 79%). The AUC of the GALAD score for HCC detection was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.85–0.91) in the EDRN cohort. The combination of GALAD and ultrasound (GALADUS score) further improved the performance of the GALAD score in the single-center cohort, achieving an AUC of 0.98 (95% CI, 0.96–0.99; cutoff −0.18, sensitivity 95%, specificity 91%). Conclusions: The performance of the GALAD score was superior to ultrasound for HCC detection. The GALADUS score further enhanced the performance of the GALAD score. Impact: The GALAD score was validated in the United States.