Citations

Abstract Background: PD-L1 blockade with durvalumab (D) is approved as second-line therapy in platinum-refractory metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC). Adding CTLA-4 blockade with tremelimumab (T) may improve responses, particularly in pts with low PD-L1 expression. Here we report safety and efficacy in the mUC cohort of the dose-expansion phase of a phase I, multicenter, open-label study of D+T in pts with advanced solid tumors (NCT02261220). Methods: Pts with platinum-refractory mUC received D 20 mg/kg + T 1 mg/kg Q4W for 4 months, followed by D 10 mg/kg Q2W for a total of 12 months of treatment. The primary objectives were safety in the mUC cohort and antitumor activity in the subgroup with tumor cell and immune cell PD-L1 expression <25% (assessed by SP263 IHC assay). Secondary objectives included antitumor activity per RECIST v1.1 in other subgroups. Results: As of Oct 20 2017, 168 pts received treatment and had ≥24 weeks' follow-up. Median age was 65.5 yr (range, 35-85), 78.0% were male, 81.0% had visceral metastases (32.1% liver metastases) and 32.1% had received >1 prior line of chemotherapy. Median duration of follow-up was 11.6 mo. Treatment-related AEs occurred in 75.6% of pts and were Grade 3-4 in 28.6%. One pt died due to a treatment-related AE (pulmonary hemorrhage). Treatment-related AEs led to discontinuation of therapy in 11.9% of pts. Confirmed objective response rate (ORR) was 35/168 (20.8%) including 4 CRs. Responses occurred early (median 1.8 mo) and are durable (median DOR not reached, range 1.9-24.9 mo). At 6 months, the PFS rate was 25.4% and the OS rate was 60.9%. Median PFS was 1.9 mo and median OS was 9.5 mo. Clinical activity was seen regardless of PD-L1 status, but patients with either tumor or immune cell expression ≥25% had numerically higher response rates (29.4% vs 15.1%) and 6-month OS rates than those with <25% expression (Table). Conclusions: D+T had a manageable safety profile and encouraging antitumor activity and survival rate in previously treated mUC regardless of PD-L1 status. Response and survivalPD-L1 ≥25% (n=68)PD-L1 <25% (n=86)PD-L1 unknown (n=14)Total (N=168)Confirmed ORR (CR+PR)(95% CI), %29.4 (19.0-41.7)15.1 (8.3-24.5)14.3 (1.8-42.8)20.8 (15.0-27.8)Ongoing ORR, %60.092.310074.3Disease control rate (CR+PR+SD≥24 weeks) (95% CI), %32.4 (21.5-44.8)24.4 (15.8-34.9)42.9 (17.7-71.1)29.2 (22.4-36.7)Median PFS, months (95% CI)3.5 (1.9-3.7)1.8 (1.8-1.9)4.9 (1.8-NE)1.9 (1.8-3.4)PFS 6-month rate, %26.122.638.525.4Median OS, months (95% CI)*18.9 (8.1-NE)8.0 (4.8-10.0)16.4 (7.3-16.4)9.5 (8.1-18.9)OS 6-month rate, %66.451.991.760.9NE, not estimable *Should be interpreted with caution due to limited follow-up at data cutoff Citation Format: Arjun V. Balar, Amit Mahipal, Enrique Grande, Victor M. Villalobos, Sebastien Salas, Taek Won Kang, Se Hyun Kim, Thomas Powles, Frank Tsai, Aung Naing, Albiruni Razak, Yohann Loriot, Ji Youl Lee, Sang Joon Shin, Rafael Morales-Barrera, Natasha Angra, Feng Xiao, Shaad Abdullah, Michiel S. Van der Heijden. Durvalumab + tremelimumab in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer [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 CT112.

Abstract Background: We previously demonstrated that cancer associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) are cancer specific giant polyploid cells circulating in the blood of patients with solid tumors. Building on our initial discovery, others have shown that these hyperploidy cells are an innate immune response that is associated with decreased survival. However to date, no studies have been done to elucidate their clinical significance as in relation to the various stages of malignant disease. We established a 4 year prospective study of 315 patients from a variety of solid tumors (breast, prostate, lung, renal cell, pancreas, and esophageal) comparing the morphological properties of CAMLs in both early and late stage disease as they relate to progression free and overall survival (PFS/OS). These data suggest that CAML size appears have a strong negative correlation with progression and survival of cancer patients, irregardless of stage of disease, indicating their possible use as a non-invasive blood based biomarker in solid tumors. Methods: A prospective multi-institutional study used anonymized peripheral blood from 315 cancer patients [stage I (n=62), stage II (n=72), stage III (n=69) & stage IV (n=106)] from subjects with breast (n=59), esophageal (n=27), lung (n=59), renal cell carcinoma (n=37), prostate (n=74), pancreas cancers (n=59). CAMLs were isolated by the CellSieve™ microfiltration technique at 5 institutions and stained for cytokeratin 8, 18, & 19, CD14 and CD45. After imaging, a size based threshold ≥50µm was used to separate the patient cohorts, based on previously published assessments. Results: At least one CAML was found in 92% of cancer patients (n=289/315), with the lowest sensitivity in stage 1 (86%), followed by stage 2 (90%), stage 3 (97%) and stage 4 (95%). The property of CAML size was then evaluated. Overall, CAMLs of <50µm in size had superior PFS (HR: 3.8; 95% CI 2.8-5.3; p<0.001) and OS (HR=3.8; 95% CI 2.6-5.7;p<0.001) than those with ≥50 µm CAMLs. By each stage individually, stage 1 (PFS HR=7.5; 95% CI 3.2-17.7; p<0.001), stage II (PFS; HR=4.1; 95% CI 1.9-8.8; p<0.001), stage III (PFS HR=3.1; 95% CI 1.7-5.7; p=0.007), and stage IV (PFS HR=2.7; 95% CI 1.6-4.4; p<0.001). Conclusions: In this first large scale prospective study of the clinical utility of CAMLs, it appears that they are present in every stages of invasive solid tumor malignancies, with prevalence increasing with stage. Interestingly decreased CAML size was found to be associated with improved outcome and longer PFS. These data suggest that CAML detection and size assessment constitute a new real time predictor of progression, and survival in both early and late stage disease indicating the need for additional validation studies. Citation Format: Daniel L. Adams, Steven H. Lin, R. Katherine Alpaugh, Thai Ho, Jeffrey R. Marks, Stuart S. Martin, Susan Tsai, Saranya Chumsri, Cha-Mei Tang, Massimo Cristofanilli, Raymond Bergan. Cancer associated macrophage-like (CAMLs) cells in blood predict progression and survival for all stages of solid tumors [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 2631.

Abstract Quantifying lymph nodes in vascularized lymph node transfer (VLNT) has been performed using preoperative percutaneous ultrasound. The higher resolution and accuracy of intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) over transcutaneous ultrasound has been demonstrated in the radiology literature for the identification and characterization of finer structures including hepatic lesions, pancreatic lesions, and biliary or pancreatic ducts. We hypothesize that IOUS during VLNT would be a superior method to quantify and map lymph nodes in our flaps. A prospectively collected database of patients undergoing VLNT over 3 years (October 2014 to October 2017) was reviewed. Patients who underwent IOUS during flap harvest, before pedicle ligation to simultaneously map and quantify the number of lymph nodes were included in the study. Twenty-one patients with an average age of 58.7 years and a mean BMI of 32.3 underwent VLNT with IOUS for chronic lymphedema during the study period. Extremity lymphedema was classified as Campisi IB (n = 7), IIA (n = 7), IIB (n = 5), and IIIA (n = 2). There were 14 superficial circumflex iliac artery flaps, including 4 performed concomitantly with a deep inferior epigastric perforator flap, 1 transverse cervical artery flap, and 6 omental flaps. The average number of lymph nodes transferred per IOUS was 4.3 for superficial circumflex iliac artery flaps, 4 for the transverse cervical artery flap, and 5.2 for the omental flaps. Intraoperative ultrasound allows the lymphatic surgeon to precisely map the location of lymph nodes which can guide intraoperative decision making. As there is no data correlating the number of lymph nodes transferred and outcomes after VLNT, developing a precise intraoperative quantification method is important.

BACKGROUND As the number of cutaneous surgeries continues to increase, it is important to evaluate the safety of dermatologic surgery in the outpatient setting. OBJECTIVE The authors sought to determine postoperative bleeding, infection, dehiscence, and necrosis rates in office-based dermatologic surgery using large flap, large graft, and interpolation flap repairs. The authors evaluated the relationship between these complications and surgical site, closure type, repair size, antibiotic use, and antithrombotic use. METHODS Eligible patients were identified through searching the electronic medical records from one Mohs micrographic surgeon at University Hospitals Medical Center. Patient information, surgery characteristics, and complication information were collected. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to reveal associations between each complication and closure type, repair size, repair site, antithrombotic use, and antibiotic use. RESULTS Three hundred and thirty-one reconstruction procedures after Mohs micrographic surgery and excision qualified for the study. The rates of postoperative infection, hemorrhage, hematoma, necrosis, and dehiscence were 5%, 0.3%, 2.4%, 3%, and 0.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION Complications were infrequent and non–life-threatening. The authors' results indicate that dermatologic surgery using large flaps, interpolation flaps, and large grafts is safe in the office setting.

SummaryBackgroundHepatitis B virus (HBV) is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. It remains incompletely understood in the real world how anti‐viral therapy affects survival after HCC diagnosis.MethodsThis was an international multicentre cohort study of 2518 HBV‐related HCC cases diagnosed between 2000 and 2015. Cox proportional hazards models were utilised to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% (CI) for anti‐viral therapy and cirrhosis on patients' risk of death.ResultsApproximately, 48% of patients received anti‐viral therapy at any time, but only 17% were on therapy at HCC diagnosis (38% at US centres, 11% at Asian centres). Anti‐viral therapy would have been indicated for >60% of the patients not on anti‐viral therapy based on American criteria. Patients with cirrhosis had lower 5‐year survival (34% vs 46%; P < 0.001) while patients receiving anti‐viral therapy had increased 5‐year survival compared to untreated patients (42% vs 25% with cirrhosis and 58% vs 36% without cirrhosis; P < 0.001 for both). Similar findings were seen for other patient subgroups by cancer stages and cancer treatment types. Anti‐viral therapy was associated with a decrease in risk of death, whether started before or after HCC diagnosis (adjusted HR 0.62 and 0.79, respectively; P < 0.001).ConclusionsAnti‐viral therapy improved overall survival in patients with HBV‐related HCC across cancer stages and treatment types but was underutilised at both US and Asia centres. Expanded use of anti‐viral therapy in HBV‐related HCC and better linkage‐to‐care for HBV patients are needed.

Abstract Purpose: Currently, no genomic signature exists to distinguish men most likely to progress on adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) after radical prostatectomy for high-risk prostate cancer. Here we develop and validate a gene expression signature to predict response to postoperative ADT. Experimental Design: A training set consisting of 284 radical prostatectomy patients was established after 1:1 propensity score matching metastasis between adjuvant-ADT (a-ADT)-treated and no ADT–treated groups. An ADT Response Signature (ADT-RS) was identified from neuroendocrine and AR signaling–related genes. Two independent cohorts were used to form three separate data sets for validation (set I, n = 232; set II, n = 435; set III, n = 612). The primary endpoint of the analysis was postoperative metastasis. Results: Increases in ADT-RS score were associated with a reduction in risk of metastasis only in a-ADT patients. On multivariable analysis, ADT-RS by ADT treatment interaction term remained associated with metastasis in both validation sets (set I: HR = 0.18, Pinteraction = 0.009; set II: HR = 0.25, Pinteraction = 0.019). In a matched validation set III, patients with Low ADT-RS scores had similar 10-year metastasis rates in the a-ADT and no-ADT groups (30.1% vs. 31.0%, P = 0.989). Among High ADT-RS patients, 10-year metastasis rates were significantly lower for a-ADT versus no-ADT patients (9.4% vs. 29.2%, P = 0.021). The marginal ADT-RS by ADT interaction remained significant in the matched dataset (Pinteraction = 0.035). Conclusions: Patients with High ADT-RS benefited from a-ADT. In combination with prognostic risk factors, use of ADT-RS may thus allow for identification of ADT-responsive tumors that may benefit most from early androgen blockade after radical prostatectomy. We discovered a gene signature that when present in primary prostate tumors may be useful to predict patients who may respond to early ADT after surgery. Clin Cancer Res; 24(16); 3908–16. ©2018 AACR.

Abstract Background Treatment-induced neuroendocrine prostate cancer (tNEPC) is an aggressive variant of late-stage metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer that commonly arises through neuroendocrine transdifferentiation (NEtD). Treatment options are limited, ineffective, and, for most patients, result in death in less than a year. We previously developed a first-in-field patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model of NEtD. Longitudinal deep transcriptome profiling of this model enabled monitoring of dynamic transcriptional changes during NEtD and in the context of androgen deprivation. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) are implicated in cancer where they can control gene regulation. Until now, the expression of lncRNAs during NEtD and their clinical associations were unexplored. Results We implemented a next-generation sequence analysis pipeline that can detect transcripts at low expression levels and built a genome-wide catalogue (n = 37,749) of lncRNAs. We applied this pipeline to 927 clinical samples and our high-fidelity NEtD model LTL331 and identified 821 lncRNAs in NEPC. Among these are 122 lncRNAs that robustly distinguish NEPC from prostate adenocarcinoma (AD) patient tumours. The highest expressed lncRNAs within this signature are H19, LINC00617, and SSTR5-AS1. Another 742 are associated with the NEtD process and fall into four distinct patterns of expression (NEtD lncRNA Class I, II, III, and IV) in our PDX model and clinical samples. Each class has significant (z-scores &gt;2) and unique enrichment for transcription factor binding site (TFBS) motifs in their sequences. Enriched TFBS include (1) TP53 and BRN1 in Class I, (2) ELF5, SPIC, and HOXD1 in Class II, (3) SPDEF in Class III, (4) HSF1 and FOXA1 in Class IV, and (5) TWIST1 when merging Class III with IV. Common TFBS in all NEtD lncRNA were also identified and include E2F, REST, PAX5, PAX9, and STAF. Interrogation of the top deregulated candidates (n = 100) in radical prostatectomy adenocarcinoma samples with long-term follow-up (median 18 years) revealed significant clinicopathological associations. Specifically, we identified 25 that are associated with rapid metastasis following androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Two of these lncRNAs (SSTR5-AS1 and LINC00514) stratified patients undergoing ADT based on patient outcome. Discussion To date, a comprehensive characterization of the dynamic landscape of lncRNAs during the NEtD process has not been performed. A temporal analysis of the PDX-based NEtD model has for the first time provided this dynamic landscape. TFBS analysis identified NEPC-related TF motifs present within the NEtD lncRNA sequences, suggesting functional roles for these lncRNAs in NEPC pathogenesis. Furthermore, select NEtD lncRNAs appear to be associated with metastasis and patients receiving ADT. Treatment-related metastasis is a clinical consequence of NEPC tumours. Top candidate lncRNAs FENDRR, H19, LINC00514, LINC00617, and SSTR5-AS1 identified in this study are implicated in the development of NEPC. We present here for the first time a genome-wide catalogue of NEtD lncRNAs that characterize the transdifferentiation process and a robust NEPC lncRNA patient expression signature. To accomplish this, we carried out the largest integrative study that applied a PDX NEtD model to clinical samples. These NEtD and NEPC lncRNAs are strong candidates for clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets and warrant further investigation.