Citations

Abstract Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a promising candidate blood-based biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis and prognostication. The timing of its disease-associated changes, its clinical correlates, and biofluid-type dependency will influence its clinical utility. We evaluated plasma, serum, and CSF GFAP in families with autosomal dominant AD (ADAD), leveraging the predictable age at symptom onset to determine changes by stage of disease. Plasma GFAP elevations appear a decade before expected symptom onset, after β-amyloid accumulation and prior to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Plasma GFAP distinguished β-amyloid-positive from β-amyloid-negative ADAD participants and showed a stronger relationship with β-amyloid load in asymptomatic than symptomatic ADAD. Higher plasma GFAP was associated with the degree and rate of neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. Serum GFAP showed similar relationships, but these were less pronounced for CSF GFAP. Our findings support a role for plasma GFAP as a clinical biomarker for β-amyloid-associated cognitive deterioration in AD.

Abstract Background: While most EGFR-mutant NSCLC tumors are resistant to checkpoint inhibitors, a small subset has durable responses. Certain molecular subtypes of EGFR may be more responsive. There is a lack of clarity on the genomic and immune profiles of EGFR subtypes, and further elucidation of this may assist in optimally identifying those likely to respond to immune-based therapies. Methods: Profiles of 5,510 lung adenocarcinoma specimens were obtained utilizing next-generation sequencing of 592 genes (Caris Life Sciences) and categorized by EGFR subtype. PD-L1 expression (Ab: 22c3), tumor mutational burden (TMB), immune cell type fractions, and co-mutations in TP53 were assessed by EGFR subtype and compared to wild-type (WT) tumors. Results: Of the total cohort, 791 (14.4%) were EGFR-mutant (Table). Among EGFR-mutant tumors, exon 19 deletions were most common (49.7%), followed by L858R, (32.9%), exon 20 insertions (13.0%), L861Q (2.9%), and G719X (1.5%). PD-L1 positivity of each EGFR subtype as compared to WT did not vary, except for L858R tumors which had a significantly lower percentage of PD-L1 positive cases. Exon 19 deletion, L858R, and exon 20 insertion tumors were significantly less likely to have high PD-L1 or high TMB compared to WT. Among the EGFR subtypes, L861Q and G719X tumors had the greatest percentage with high TMB. TP53 co-mutations were frequent in EGFR tumors, especially among L861Q and G719X tumors. Exon 19 deletion and L858R tumors had significantly less CD8+ and greater CD4+ T cell fractions compared to WT. Neutrophil and M2 macrophage cell fractions were significantly higher in exon 19 deletion, L858R, and exon 20 insertion tumors compared to WT. Conclusions: Most subtypes of EGFR have profiles consistent with decreased immunogenicity; however L861Q and C719X tumors have a greater percentage with high TMB or TP53 co-mutations. Such features in uncommon EGFR subtypes may correlate with responsiveness to immune-based therapies and warrant further study. Tumor Characteristic EGFR WT(n=4719) Exon 19 del(n=393) L858R(n=260) Exon 20 ins(n=103) L861Q(n=23) G719X(n=12) PD-L1 positive (≥1%) 57.7% 51.0% 49.0% a 49.5% 47.8% 50.0% PD-L1 high (≥50%) 30.6% 19.7% a 18.8% a 14.4% a 21.7% 16.7% TMB high (≥10 mut/Mb) 35.3% 1.0% a 3.7% a 1.0% a 9.5% 18.2% TP53 co-mutation 53.9% 61.7% 63.6% a 59.2% a 69.6% a 83.3% a Median % cell fraction CD8+ 0.7 0.3 a 0.4 a 0.3 0.6 0.2 CD4+ 0.0 0.6 a 0.8 a 1.3 a 1.7 1.1 Neutrophils 5.5 8.0 a 7.3 a 7.8 a 7.4 6.4 M2 macrophages 5.5 6.4a 6.9a 6.7a 5.8 4.3 aq-value < 0.05 when compared to EGFR WT (corrected for multiple comparisons) Citation Format: J. Nicholas Bodor, Joanne Xiu, Vinicius Ernani, Supreet Kaur, Hirva Mamdani, Pavel Brodskiy, Sai-Hong I. Ou, Patrick C. Ma, Margie L. Clapper, W. Michael Korn, Joseph Treat. Genomic and immune characteristics of EGFR subtypes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 4119.

Abstract Introduction: Individuals with cancer may be at higher risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, sufficient data are lacking in AF risk among breast cancer survivors, especially for the mid-to long-term risk of AF and the impact of cancer treatment on this association. We aimed to investigate the risk of incident AF in women diagnosed with breast cancer and evaluate the association by length of follow-up and breast cancer treatment. Methods: Using the Korean Health Insurance Service database, we studied 96,476 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer (aged≥20 years) without prior history of AF and breast cancer and underwent breast cancer surgery between January 2007 and December 2013. They were matched 1:3 to a cancer-free population (n=289,428) based on birth year and sex and were followed to the end of 2018. Using ICD-10 codes (I48.0 to I48.4, I.48.9), AF was defined when it was a discharge diagnosis or was verified more than twice in an outpatient clinic. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of AF associated with breast cancer relative to the cancer-free population, adjusting for age, income, and comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Results: During a median follow-up of 6.8 years, AF developed in 2,105 women with breast cancer (3.2 per 1,000 person-years). Mean age at baseline among participants was 49.6 years. Having breast cancer was associated with increased risk of AF (HR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.93-2.15). This association was stronger for women aged <50 years (HR, 3.98; 95% CI, 3.59-4.40). When we repeated analyses with lag periods of two years to explore the possibility of reverse causation and mid-to long-term risk of AF (n=91,370), the association was largely attenuated but remained significant (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.09-1.28 for total women and HR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.38-1.86 for women aged <50 years). However, no increased risk of AF was observed in women with breast cancer aged >65 years. Compared with no use of anthracyclines and taxanes, respectively, ever use of anthracyclines and taxanes was associated with increased risk of AF after further adjusting for other cancer treatment modalities including use of trastuzumab, radiotherapy, and endocrine treatment (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.12-1.40 and HR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.23-1.53, respectively). This association persisted only among women with breast cancer ever treated with anthracyclines when analysis was limited to those with two year-lag periods (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.04-1.45). Conclusions: In this large-scale nationwide cohort study in South Korea, women with breast cancer had an elevated risk of incident AF, especially for women with breast cancer younger than 50 years, regardless of the length of follow-up. Our findings also suggest that cardiotoxic side effects of cancer treatment such as use of anthracyclines might increase both short-term and mid-to long-term risk of AF among women with breast cancer. Citation Format: Yong-Moon ("Mark") Park, Wonyoung Jung, Yohwan Yeo, Sang Hyun Park, Ronda Henry-Tillman, Hong Seok Lee, Tasneem Z. Naqvi, Kyungdo Han, Dong Wook Shin. Risk of atrial fibrillation among women diagnosed with breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 3214.

Abstract Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) plays a critical role in cellular metabolism and as such has been an active target for cancer drug therapy. NAMPT inhibition, via small molecule NAMPT inhibitors, disrupts cellular energy metabolism as well as other NAD+-dependent processes and has been shown to suppress cancer cell proliferation. The early clinical translation of NAMPT inhibitors has been hindered by toxicity, therefore the successful development of newer classes of NAMPT inhibitors will depend on identifying cancers with unique sensitivity to, and molecular biomarkers of susceptibility to NAMPT inhibition. Through our pan-cancer screens using several different NAMPT inhibitors on molecularly characterized cancer cell line panels, we have identified specific cancer types and subtypes that are consistently sensitive to NAMPT inhibition. In order to determine the efficacy of NAMPT inhibitors in different cancer cells, we performed proliferation assays on a large and fully characterized panel of human cancer cell lines (n=496) for response to several NAMPT inhibitors including FK866, KPT9274 and LSN3154567. Briefly, cells were treated with six dilutions of these inhibitors in duplicate, counted following a 6-day treatment window and IC50 values were determined for each cell line. Reverse-phase protein array (RPPA) analysis, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), point mutation and RNAseq data for each cell line were then queried for correlation with NAMPT sensitivity/resistance. Proliferation assays indicate a strong correlation between sensitive and resistant cancer cell types to all three compounds despite their different mechanisms of action. Most notably, acute myeloid leukemia (AML), ovarian cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma and small cell lung cancer cells (SCLC) consistently demonstrated sensitivity to treatment with NAMPT inhibitors. Additional analysis revealed several baseline genomic and proteomic markers that were strongly associated with response to NAMPT inhibition. Our screening process provides a comprehensive overview of the cancer types and subtypes that demonstrate sensitivity to NAMPT inhibition. Furthermore, the molecular predictors of response identified in our screen may ultimately be useful in developing diagnostic tools for enrollment in biomarker-enriched clinical trials aimed at determining the potential use of NAMPT inhibitors. These results suggest the inhibitors’ therapeutic potential in patient populations presenting with AML, ovarian cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma and SCLC all of which currently have high unmet needs. Citation Format: Jenny J. Hong, Martina S. McDermott, Jewel K. Ng, Prita Pandya, Dennis J. Slamon. Pan-cancer analysis of NAMPT inhibitors reveals unique sensitivities to multiple NAMPT inhibitors in several cancer types [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2336.

Abstract Background: Gastric carcinogenesis has been found to be associated with intragastric microbiome, gastric mucosal gene expression, and immune cells comprising the tumor microenvironment separately in independent studies. However, to date, there has been no multi-omic investigations analyzing these biological traits simultaneously. Thus, there is a paucity in our understanding of the intricate relationship between intragastric microbes and the host in gastric disease. To address this gap, we aimed to comprehensively investigate the microbiome, host gene expression, and immune cells in the stomach across a range of different states along the gastric carcinogenesis pathway. Methods: Gastric biopsy samples were obtained from healthy individuals or patients with gastritis or gastric cancer (biopsy cohort, n=30). Surgical samples (of cancer and adjacent severe gastritis tissues) were obtained from gastric cancer patients (surgery cohort, n=40). Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, RNA-seq, and cell-type enrichment analysis of each participant’s biospecimens, we identified associations between the microbiome and host transcriptome or inferred immune cell types. Results: Microbiome composition and gene expression patterns showed significant differences between disease states (healthy, gastritis, or cancer). Expression of ‘Cell cycle’ pathway genes was enriched in gastric cancer in both biopsy and surgery cohorts. In the biopsy cohort, Helicobacteraceae, which was abundant in gastritis, was highly correlated with FAM3D, which was previously found to be involved in gastrointestinal inflammation. In the surgery cohort, Lachnospiraceae, which was abundant in gastric cancer, was highly correlated with UBD, which is known to regulate mitosis and reduce cell cycle time. Cell-type enrichment analysis revealed lower B cell infiltration in gastric cancer than in gastritis (both cohorts). Tissue-infiltrating B cells were associated with Helicobacteraceae. Conclusions: Associations between the intragastric microbiome, human gene expression, and tissue-infiltrating immune cells are unique to gastric disease state. The findings herein may aid the discovery of novel biomarkers or therapeutic targets of gastric cancer. Citation Format: Chan Hyuk Park, Changjin Hong, A-reum Lee, Jaeyun Sung, Tae Hyun Hwang. Integrated analysis of intragastric microbiome and human gene expression uncovers genetic, microbial, and immunological associations in gastritis and gastric cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5013.

Abstract B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is the most common leukemia in adults with CD19-targeting CAR T-cell therapy showing an excellent initial curative response. However, 10-20% of patients who receive anti-C19 CAR T-cell treatment experience relapse due to CD19 antigen loss. B-cell activating factor receptor (BAFF-R) that is expressed on the surface of normal and neoplastic B cells mediates the survival of mature peripheral B cells along with the B-cell receptor. Since B-CLL is characterized by apoptotic disruption and subsequent accumulation of mature B cells, BAFF-R is a logical, novel target for CAR T-cell therapy directed against B-CLL, especially if CD19 antigen loss occurs. In this study, we first manufactured BAFF-R CAR T-cells by infecting healthy donor Tnaïve/memory (Tn/mem) cells with BAFF-R CAR lentivirus before evaluating the antitumor activity of BAFF-R CAR T-cells on wild type MEC-1 (a B-CLL cell line), modified MEC-1, and primary cell lines. Antigen-specific cytotoxicity and activation of the BAFF-R CAR T-cells or control CD19 CAR T-cells were determined upon incubation with B-CLL cell lines and patient-derived primary B-CLL by measuring degranulation and IFN-γ release, respectively. BAFF-R CAR T-cells demonstrated substantial cytotoxicity against MEC-1, CD19-deficient MEC-1, and primary B-CLL cell lines; CD19 CAR T-cells showed no effect on CD19-deficient MEC-1 cells but did show effects with primary B-CLL and MEC-1 cells. Similarly, the release of IFN-γ was greater when BAFF-R CAR T-cells were co-cultured with CD19-deficient MEC-1 or primary B-CLL compared to CD19 CAR T-cells co-cultured with CD19-deficient MEC-1. In summary, BAFF-R CAR T-cells exert significant antitumor properties not only on patient-derived primary B-CLL cells but also on a CD19-deficient B-CLL cell line. We, therefore, assert BAFF-R-targeting CAR T-cells to be a novel therapeutic avenue for patients newly diagnosed with B-CLL and patients experiencing relapsed B-CLL after anti-CD19 therapy. Citation Format: Yan Luo, Kaihin Lui, Tommy T. To, Andrew liu, Farah Yassine, Mohamed A. Kharfan Dabaja, Martha E. Gadd, Hong Qin. Antitumor activity of BAFF-R targeting CAR T-cells on chronic lymphocytic leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2855.

Background TAILOR‐PCI (Tailored Antiplatelet Initiation to Lessen Outcomes due to decreased Clopidogrel Response After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) studied genotype‐guided selection of antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention versus conventional therapy with clopidogrel. The presence of CYP2C19 loss‐of‐function alleles in patients treated with clopidogrel may be associated with increased risk for ischemic events. We report a prespecified sex‐specific analysis of genotyping and associated cardiovascular outcomes from this study. Methods and Results Associations between sex and major adverse cardiac events (MACE: cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, stent thrombosis, and severe recurrent ischemia) and Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) bleeding at 12 months were analyzed using Cox proportional‐hazards models. Among 5276 randomized patients, loss‐of‐function carriers were observed in ≈36% of both sexes, and >80% of carriers were heterozygotes. At 12 months, after adjustment for baseline differences, risks of MACE (HR , 1.28 [0.97 to 1.68]; P =0.088) and BARC bleeding (hazard ratio [HR], 1.36 [0.91 to 2.05]; P =0.14) were comparable among women and men. There were no significant interactions between sex and treatment strategy for MACE interaction P value ( P int =0.59) or BARC bleeding ( P int =0.47) nor for sex and genotype (MACE P int =0.15, and BARC bleeding P int =0.60). Conclusions CYP2C19 loss‐of‐function alleles were present in ≈1 in 3 women and men. Women had similar adjusted risks of MACE and bleeding as men following percutaneous coronary intervention. Genotype‐guided therapy did not significantly reduce the risk of MACE or bleeding relative to conventional therapy for both sexes. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT01742117.

Abstract Objective: Controversy remains regarding the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. To clarify and extend the existing data, we prospectively evaluated the association between self-reported type 2 DM (onset at >30 years of age) and incident CRC, overall and by anatomic subsite, among postmenopausal women in the Iowa Women's Health Study (n = 35,230). Methods: After 14 years of follow-up, a total of 870 incident CRC cases were identified through annual linkage to the Iowa Cancer Registry. DM was analyzed as reported at baseline and as a time-dependent variable using information obtained during follow-up. CRC risks were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: After adjusting for age, body mass index and other potential confounding variables, the relative risk (RR) for women with DM versus women without DM was modestly increased at 1.4 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.1-1.8]. By anatomic subsite, the RR for proximal colon cancer was statistically significantly increased (RR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.3-2.6), whereas the RRs for distal colon (RR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.6-1.8) and rectal cancer (RR, 0.8; 95% CI, 0.4-1.6) were not statistically different from unity. Analyses that included DM ascertained at baseline and follow-up yielded similar results. Conclusion: In this large, prospective study of postmenopausal women, the association between DM and incident CRC was found to be subsite specific. If confirmed by others, this finding implies that CRC prevention strategies among type 2 DM patients should include examination of the proximal colon.

After a 1-y absence due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the 26th Annual Congress of the International Liver Transplantation Society was held from May 15 to 18, 2021, in a virtual format. Clinicians and researchers from all over the world came together to share their knowledge on all the aspects of liver transplantation (LT). Apart from a focus on LT in times of coronavirus disease 2019, featured topics of this year’s conference included infectious diseases in LT, living donation, machine perfusion, oncology, predictive scoring systems and updates in anesthesia/critical care, immunology, radiology, pathology, and pediatrics. This report presents highlights from invited lectures and a review of the select abstracts. The aim of this report, generated by the Vanguard Committee of International Liver Transplantation Society, is to provide a summary of the most recent developments in clinical practice and research in LT.