Are there differences by sex in lung cancer characteristics at diagnosis? -a nationwide study.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer causes approximately 25% of all cancer deaths. Despite its relevance, few studies have analyzed differences by sex at the time of diagnosis in terms of symptoms, stage, age or smoking status. We aim to assess if there are differences between men and women on these characteristics at diagnosis. METHODS: We analyzed the Thoracic Tumour Registry (TTR), sponsored by the Spanish Lung Cancer Group using a case-series design. This is a nationwide registry of lung cancer cases which started recruitment in 2016. For each case included, clinicians fulfilled an electronic record registering demographic data, symptoms, exposure to lung cancer risk factors, and treatment received in detail. We compared men and women using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: A total of 13,590 participants took part in this study, 25.6% women. Women were 4 years younger than men (64 vs. 69), and men had smoked more frequently. Adenocarcinoma was the most frequent histological type in both sexes. Stage IV at diagnosis was 50.8% in women compared to 43.6% in men. Weight loss/anorexia/asthenia was the most frequent symptom in both sexes and there were no differences in the number of symptoms at diagnosis. There were no relevant differences in the frequency or number of symptoms by sex when non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) were analyzed separately. Smoking status did not appear to cause different lung cancer presentation in men compared to women. CONCLUSIONS: There seems to be no differences in lung cancer characteristics by sex at the time at diagnosis on stage, specific symptoms or number of symptoms.

Efficacy and safety of Nivolumab in older patients with pretreated lung cancer: A subgroup analysis of the Galician lung cancer group.

BACKGROUND: Nivolumab is an anti PD1 immunotherapy drug approved for advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients who previously received at least one prior line of treatment. Older patients are often not represented in clinical trials and drugs with acceptable safety profiles are necessary. We aim to report the efficacy and safety profile of Nivolumab in the real-world older subgroup of the Galician lung cancer group study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 188 advanced NSCLC patients treated with at least one prior therapy. We collected data from patients who were ≥70 years old treated with Nivolumab in second or subsequent lines. Patient characteristics, treatment efficacy (overall survival, progression-free survival, and response rate), and safety profile were reported. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients aged ≥70 years were included in the subgroup analysis. The median age was 74.5 years, a high percentage of patients were males (95%), most had a Performance Status of 1 (79%) and only 13% were non-smokers. The predominant histology was adenocarcinoma (53%), and 18% of patients received 2 or more lines. The median Progression-Free Survival was 7.53 months (CI 4.3-17.3, p = 0.15) and the median Overall Survival was 14.85 months (CI 10.5-20.7, p = 0.44). The objective response rate was 42%. No new adverse events were reported in comparison to a global population. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy and safety profile of Nivolumab in advanced NSCLC patients treated with at least one prior therapy and age ≥70 years old can be overlapped to a global population. Further prospective trials are needed to define and confirm these results.

Antitumor activity of lurbinectedin in second-line small cell lung cancer patients who are candidates for re-challenge with the first-line treatment.

INTRODUCTION: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend re-challenge with the first-line treatment for relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with chemotherapy-free interval (CTFI)≥180 days. A phase II study (NCT02454972) showed remarkable antitumor activity in SCLC patients treated with lurbinectedin 3.2 mg/m2 1 -h intravenous infusion every 3 weeks as second-line therapy. We report results for the pre-planned subset of patients with CTFI ≥ 180 days. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty patients aged ≥18 years with pathologically proven SCLC diagnosis, pretreated with only one prior platinum-containing line, no CNS metastases, and with CTFI ≥ 180 days were evaluated. The primary efficacy endpoint was the overall response rate (ORR) assessed by the Investigators according to RECIST v1.1. RESULTS: ORR was 60.0 % (95 %CI, 36.1-86.9), with a median duration of response of 5.5 months (95 %CI, 2.9-11.2) and disease control rate of 95.0 % (95 %CI, 75.1-99.9). Median progression-free survival was 4.6 months (95 %CI, 2.6-7.3). With a censoring of 55.0 %, the median overall survival was 16.2 months (95 %CI, 9.6-upper level not reached). Of note, 60.9 % and 27.1 % of patients were alive at 1 and 2 years, respectively. The most common grade 3/4 adverse events and laboratory abnormalities were hematological disorders (neutropenia, 55.0 %; anemia; 10.0 % thrombocytopenia, 10.0 %), fatigue (10.0 %) and increased liver function tests (GGT, 10 %; ALT and AP, 5.0 % each). No febrile neutropenia was reported. CONCLUSION: Lurbinectedin is an effective treatment for platinum-sensitive relapsed SCLC, especially in patients with CTFI ≥ 180 days, with acceptable safety and tolerability. These encouraging results suggest that lurbinectedin can be another valuable therapeutic option rather than platinum re-challenge.

Lurbinectedin as second-line treatment for patients with small-cell lung cancer: a single-arm, open-label, phase 2 basket trial.

BACKGROUND: Few options exist for treatment of patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) after failure of first-line therapy. Lurbinectedin is a selective inhibitor of oncogenic transcription. In this phase 2 study, we evaluated the acti and safety of lurbinectedin in patients with SCLC after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. METHODS: In this single-arm, open-label, phase 2 basket trial, we recruited patients from 26 hospitals in six European countries and the USA. Adults (aged ≥18 years) with a pathologically proven diagnosis of SCLC, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 or lower, measurable disease as per Response Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1, absence of brain metastasis, adequate organ function, and pre-treated with only one previous chemotherapy-containing line of treatment (minimum 3 weeks before study initiation) were eligible. Treatment consisted of 3·2 mg/m2 lurbinectedin administered as a 1-h intravenous infusion every 3 weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with an overall response (complete or partial response) as assessed by the investigators according to RECIST 1.1. All treated patients were analysed for activity and safety. This study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02454972. FINDINGS: Between Oct 16, 2015, and Jan 15, 2019, 105 patients were enrolled and treated with lurbinectedin. Median follow-up was 17·1 months (IQR 6·5-25·3). Overall response by investigator assessment was seen in 37 patients (35·2%; 95% CI 26·2-45·2). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events (irrespective of causality) were haematological abnormalities-namely, anaemia (in nine [9%] patients), leucopenia (30 [29%]), neutropenia (48 [46%]), and thrombocytopenia (seven [7%]). Serious treatment-related adverse events occurred in 11 (10%) patients, of which neutropenia and febrile neutropenia were the most common (five [5%] patients for each). No treatment-related deaths were reported. INTERPRETATION: Lurbinectedin was active as second-line therapy for SCLC in terms of overall response and had an acceptable and manageable safety profile. Lurbinectedin could represent a potential new treatment for patients with SCLC, who have few options especially in the event of a relapse, and is being investigated in combination with doxorubicin as second-line therapy in a randomised phase 3 trial. FUNDING: Pharma Mar.

Evaluation of the lung immune prognostic index in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients under nivolumab monotherapy.

The lung immune prognostic index (LIPI) has been proposed as a new categorical blood-based biomarker to select advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients for anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) or programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) therapy. In this study, we investigate for the first time to the best of our knowledge the prognostic and predictive utility of the LIPI in a multicenter nivolumab monotherapy-based cohort. We retrospectively analyzed the influence of the baseline LIPI on overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), disease control rate (DCR), and overall response rate (ORR) among 153 patients of a cohort of 188 advanced NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab in the second line of therapy or beyond. Worse LIPI was significantly associated with shorter OS in univariate [hazard ratio (HR) =3.12, 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.12-4.60; P<0.0001] and multivariate (HR =3.67, 95% CI, 1.96-6.86; P<0.0001) analyses. Worse LIPI was associated with shorter PFS (HR =1.45, 95% CI, 1.05-2.03; P=0.03), but this correlation did not reach statistical significance in multivariate analysis (HR =1.49, 95% CI, 0.94-2.38; P=0.09). Worse LIPI was associated with lower DCR in univariate [odds ratio (OR) =0.41, 95% CI, 0.24-0.70; P=0.001] and multivariate (OR =0.44, 95% CI, 0.25-0.78; P=0.005) analyses. This study confirms the utility of the LIPI in prognostication and disease control prediction in advanced NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab in the second line of therapy or beyond.

Real world data of nivolumab for previously treated non-small cell lung cancer patients: a Galician lung cancer group clinical experience.

BACKGROUND: Recently, immunotherapy has changed the standard of treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Outside clinical trials, data of real life is lacking. This is an observational study that represents the real world experience with nivolumab in pretreated NSCLC. METHODS: Eligibility criteria included, histologically confirmed NSCLC, stage IIIB and IV, evaluable disease and at least one prior therapy. Patients received nivolumab until progressive disease (PD) or unacceptable toxicity. The main aim of the study was to report the efficacy and safety profile of Nivolumab in pretreated patients with advanced NSCLC of our everyday clinical practice. The secondary aim was to perform subgroup analysis by clinical features. RESULTS: From August of 2015 to January of 2017, 188 patients were enrolled. The patients demographics were: median age 58 years, 144 male; 17 never smoker and 171 former/current smoker; 112 adenocarcinoma, 66 squamous-cell carcinoma and 10 not otherwise specified (NOS); 61 stage IIIB and 127 stage IV; 15 performance status (PS) 0, 154 PS 1 and 19 PS 2; 5 epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and 1 anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK); 42 with central nervous system (CNS) metastases; and 71 received 2 or more prior therapy lines. Of the 188 patients enrolled, 25 (13.3%) were not evaluated, 3 (1.6%) had complete response (CR), 45 (23.9%) partial response (PR), 48 (25.5%) disease stabilization (DS) and 67 (35.6%) PD. The median of progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.83 months (95% CI, 3.6-5.9) and overall survival (OS) was 12.85 months (95% CI, 9.07-16.62). The subgroup analysis revealed statistical significance in OS for patients with CNS metastases 14.8 months (95% CI, 11.5-17.3) vs. 5.09 months (95% CI, 0.3-9.8) and also PS 0 [not reached (NR)] vs. PS 1 11.7 months vs. PS 2 3.4 months (95% CI, 2.3-4.4). The safety profile was in accordance with the literature data. CONCLUSIONS: This study represents the real word experience with nivolumab and the results are consistent with previously reported in clinical trials. PS 2 and the presence of CNS metastases are associated with poor prognosis.

Bladder aspergillosis detected by urine cytology.

Bladder aspergillosis is an unusual infection. We report the case of a 79-year-old man with clinical records of transitional cell carcinoma diagnosed 5 years ago. The presence of a fruiting body and septate hyphae in urine cytological smears were the key for a final diagnosis of fungal bladder infection caused by Aspergillus niger.

Black-pigmented sputum.

Black-pigmented sputum, also called "melanoptysis," is a symptom that may be observed in certain pathologies such us coal workers' pneumoconiosis (anthracosis). The cavitation and liquefaction of a fibrosed mass by an infectious process (tuberculosis, infections by anaerobes, etc.) or by ischemic necrosis may cause expectoration of a blackish secretion. We report the case of a patient with labor precedents as a coal worker, from whom abundant black sputum was obtained in the course of an incidental expectoration. Cyto-histological findings are shown and a differential diagnosis is established.