EPIC: an evaluation of the psychological impact of early-phase clinical trials in cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression in patients with cancer is associated with decreased quality of life and increased morbidity and mortality. However, these are often overlooked and untreated. Early-phase clinical trials (EPCTs) recruit patients with advanced cancers who frequently lack future treatment options, which may lead to increased anxiety and depression. Despite this, EPCTs do not routinely consider psychological screening for patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective observational study explored levels of anxiety and depression alongside impact of trial participation in the context of EPCTs. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Brief Illness Perceptions Questionnaire were completed at the point of EPCT consent, the end of screening and at pre-specified time points thereafter. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients (median age 56 years; median Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 1) were recruited. At consent, 57 patients returned questionnaires; 39% reported clinically relevant levels of anxiety whilst 18% reported clinically relevant levels of depression. Sixty-three percent of patients experiencing psychological distress had never previously reported this. Males were more likely to be depressed (P = 0.037) and females were more likely to be anxious (P = 0.011). Changes in anxiety or depression were observed after trial enrolment on an individual level, but not significant on a population level. CONCLUSIONS: Patients on EPCTs are at an increased risk of anxiety and depression but may not seek relevant support. Sites offering EPCTs should consider including psychological screening to encourage a more holistic approach to cancer care and consider the sex of individuals when tailoring psychological support to meet specific needs.

Genomic context of NTRK1/2/3 fusion-positive tumours from a large real-world population.

Neurotrophic tropomyosin receptor kinase (NTRK) gene fusions are rare oncogenic drivers in solid tumours. This study aimed to interrogate a large real-world database of comprehensive genomic profiling data to describe the genomic landscape and prevalence of NTRK gene fusions. NTRK fusion-positive tumours were identified from the FoundationCORE® database of >295,000 cancer patients. We investigated the prevalence and concomitant genomic landscape of NTRK fusions, predicted patient ancestry and compared the FoundationCORE cohort with entrectinib clinical trial cohorts (ALKA-372-001 [EudraCT 2012-000148-88]; STARTRK-1 [NCT02097810]; STARTRK-2 [NCT02568267]). Overall NTRK fusion-positive tumour prevalence was 0.30% among 45 cancers with 88 unique fusion partner pairs, of which 66% were previously unreported. Across all cases, prevalence was 0.28% and 1.34% in patients aged ≥18 and <18 years, respectively; prevalence was highest in patients <5 years (2.28%). The highest prevalence of NTRK fusions was observed in salivary gland tumours (2.62%). Presence of NTRK gene fusions did not correlate with other clinically actionable biomarkers; there was no co-occurrence with known oncogenic drivers in breast, or colorectal cancer (CRC). However, in CRC, NTRK fusion-positivity was associated with spontaneous microsatellite instability (MSI); in this MSI CRC subset, mutual exclusivity with BRAF mutations was observed. NTRK fusion-positive tumour types had similar frequencies in FoundationCORE and entrectinib clinical trials. NTRK gene fusion prevalence varied greatly by age, cancer type and histology. Interrogating large datasets drives better understanding of the characteristics of very rare molecular subgroups of cancer and allows identification of genomic patterns and previously unreported fusion partners not evident in smaller datasets.

Intrapatient comparisons of efficacy in a single-arm trial of entrectinib in tumour-agnostic indications.

BACKGROUND: Entrectinib is a tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) fusion-positive solid tumours based on single-arm trials. Traditional randomised clinical trials in rare cancers are not feasible; we conducted an intrapatient analysis to evaluate the clinical benefit of entrectinib versus prior standard-of-care systemic therapies. METHODS: Patients with locally advanced/metastatic NTRK fusion-positive tumours enrolled in the global phase II, single-arm STARTRK-2 trial were grouped according to prior systemic therapy and response. The key analysis used growth modulation index [GMI; ratio of progression-free survival (PFS) on entrectinib to time to discontinuation (TTD) on the most recent prior therapy]; ratio ≥1.3 indicated clinically meaningful efficacy. Additional analyses investigated TTD and objective response rate (ORR) for entrectinib and prior therapies. RESULTS: Seventy-one patients were included; 51 received prior systemic therapy. In 38 patients who progressed on prior therapy, ORR was 60.5% (23/38) with entrectinib and 15.8% (6/38) with the most recent prior therapy. Median PFS [11.2 months; 95% confidence interval (CI) 6.7-not estimable] for entrectinib exceeded median TTD (2.9 months; 95% CI 2.0-4.9) for most recent prior therapy. From the intrapatient analysis of GMI, 65.8% had a ratio ≥1.3 and median GMI was 2.53. Consistent results were observed at more stringent GMI thresholds; 60.5% of patients had GMI ≥1.5 or ≥1.8 and 57.9% had GMI ≥2.0. CONCLUSIONS: ORR was high and PFS was longer on entrectinib versus TTD on prior therapy. Furthermore, 65.8% of patients experienced clinically meaningful benefit based on GMI. This intrapatient analysis demonstrates comparative effectiveness of entrectinib in a rare, heterogeneous adult population.

The paradox-breaking panRAF plus SRC family kinase inhibitor, CCT3833, is effective in mutant KRAS-driven cancers.

BACKGROUND: KRAS is mutated in ∼90% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, ∼35% of colorectal cancers and ∼20% of non-small-cell lung cancers. There has been recent progress in targeting G12CKRAS specifically, but therapeutic options for other mutant forms of KRAS are limited, largely because the complexity of downstream signaling and feedback mechanisms mean that targeting individual pathway components is ineffective. DESIGN: The protein kinases RAF and SRC are validated therapeutic targets in KRAS-mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, colorectal cancers and non-small-cell lung cancers and we show that both must be inhibited to block growth of these cancers. We describe CCT3833, a new drug that inhibits both RAF and SRC, which may be effective in KRAS-mutant cancers. RESULTS: We show that CCT3833 inhibits RAF and SRC in KRAS-mutant tumors in vitro and in vivo, and that it inhibits tumor growth at well-tolerated doses in mice. CCT3833 has been evaluated in a phase I clinical trial (NCT02437227) and we report here that it significantly prolongs progression-free survival of a patient with a G12VKRAS spindle cell sarcoma who did not respond to a multikinase inhibitor and therefore had limited treatment options. CONCLUSIONS: New drug CCT3833 elicits significant preclinical therapeutic efficacy in KRAS-mutant colorectal, lung and pancreatic tumor xenografts, demonstrating a treatment option for several areas of unmet clinical need. Based on these preclinical data and the phase I clinical unconfirmed response in a patient with KRAS-mutant spindle cell sarcoma, CCT3833 requires further evaluation in patients with other KRAS-mutant cancers.

EPAC-lung: pooled analysis of circulating tumour cells in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

INTRODUCTION: We assessed the clinical validity of circulating tumour cell (CTC) quantification for prognostication of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by undertaking a pooled analysis of individual patient data. METHODS: Nine European NSCLC CTC centres were asked to provide reported/unreported pseudo-anonymised data for patients with advanced NSCLC who participated in CellSearch CTC studies from January 2003 to March 2017. We used Cox regression models, stratified by centres, to establish the association between CTC count and survival. We assessed the added value of CTCs to prognostic clinicopathological models using likelihood ratio (LR) statistics and c-indices. RESULTS: Seven out of nine eligible centres provided data for 550 patients with prognostic information for overall survival. CTC counts of ≥2 and ≥ 5 per 7·5 mL were associated with reduced progression-free survival (≥2 CTCs: hazard ratio [HR] = 1.72, p < 0·001; ≥5 CTCs: HR = 2.21, p < 0·001) and overall survival (≥2 CTCs: HR = 2·18, p < 0·001; ≥5 CTCs: HR = 2·75, p < 0·001), respectively. Survival prediction was significantly improved by addition of baseline CTC count to LR clinicopathological models (log-transformed CTCs p < 0·001; ≥2 CTCs p < 0·001; ≥5 CTCs p ≤ 0·001 for both survival end-points), whereas moderate improvements were observed with the use of c-index models. There was some evidence of between-centre heterogeneity, especially when examining continuous counts of CTCs. CONCLUSIONS: These data confirm CTCs as an independent prognostic indicator of progression-free survival and overall survival in advanced NSCLC and also reveal some evidence of between-centre heterogeneity. CTC count improves prognostication when added to full clinicopathological predictive models.

Vistusertib (dual m-TORC1/2 inhibitor) in combination with paclitaxel in patients with high-grade serous ovarian and squamous non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: We have previously shown that raised p-S6K levels correlate with resistance to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer. We hypothesised that inhibiting p-S6K signalling with the dual m-TORC1/2 inhibitor in patients receiving weekly paclitaxel could improve outcomes in such patients. Patients and methods: In dose escalation, weekly paclitaxel (80 mg/m2) was given 6/7 weeks in combination with two intermittent schedules of vistusertib (dosing starting on the day of paclitaxel): schedule A, vistusertib dosed bd for 3 consecutive days per week (3/7 days) and schedule B, vistusertib dosed bd for 2 consecutive days per week (2/7 days). After establishing a recommended phase II dose (RP2D), expansion cohorts in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) and squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC) were explored in 25 and 40 patients, respectively. Results: The dose-escalation arms comprised 22 patients with advanced solid tumours. The dose-limiting toxicities were fatigue and mucositis in schedule A and rash in schedule B. On the basis of toxicity and pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) evaluations, the RP2D was established as 80 mg/m2 paclitaxel with 50 mg vistusertib bd 3/7 days for 6/7 weeks. In the HGSOC expansion, RECIST and GCIG CA125 response rates were 13/25 (52%) and 16/25 (64%), respectively, with median progression-free survival (mPFS) of 5.8 months (95% CI: 3.28-18.54). The RP2D was not well tolerated in the SqNSCLC expansion, but toxicities were manageable after the daily vistusertib dose was reduced to 25 mg bd for the following 23 patients. The RECIST response rate in this group was 8/23 (35%), and the mPFS was 5.8 months (95% CI: 2.76-21.25). Discussion: In this phase I trial, we report a highly active and well-tolerated combination of vistusertib, administered as an intermittent schedule with weekly paclitaxel, in patients with HGSOC and SqNSCLC. Clinical trial registration: ClinicialTrials.gov identifier: CNCT02193633.