Inhibition of EGFR, HER2, and HER3 signaling with AZD8931 in combination with anastrozole as an anticancer approach: Phase II randomized study in women with endocrine-therapy-naïve advanced breast cancer.

PURPOSE: AZD8931 is an orally bioavailable, reversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor of EGFR, HER2, and HER3 signaling. The Phase II MINT study (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01151215) investigated whether adding AZD8931 to endocrine therapy would delay development of endocrine resistance in patients with hormone-sensitive advanced breast cancer. METHODS: Patients were randomized 1:1:1 to receive daily anastrozole (1 mg) in combination with AZD8931 20 mg twice daily (bid), AZD8931 40 mg bid, or placebo. The primary objective was evaluation of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients treated with combination AZD8931 and anastrozole versus anastrozole alone. Secondary objectives included assessment of safety and tolerability, objective response rate, and overall survival. RESULTS: At the interim analysis, 359 patients were randomized and received anastrozole in combination with AZD8931 20 mg (n = 118), 40 mg (n = 120), or placebo (n = 121); 39 % of patients (n = 141) had a progression event. Median PFS (HR; 95 % CI vs placebo) in the AZD8931 20, 40 mg, and placebo arms was 10.9 (1.37; 0.91-2.06, P = 0.135), 13.8 (1.16; 0.77-1.75, P = 0.485), and 14.0 months, respectively. No indication of clinical benefit was observed following treatment with AZD8931 for the secondary endpoints. Safety findings showed a greater incidence of diarrhea (40, 51, and 12 % for AZD8931 20, 40 mg, and placebo, respectively), rash (32, 48, and 12 %), dry skin (19, 25, and 2 %), and acneiform dermatitis (16, 28, and 2 %) in patients treated with AZD8931 versus placebo. CONCLUSIONS: AZD8931, in combination with endocrine therapy, does not appear to enhance endocrine responsiveness and is associated with greater skin and gastrointestinal toxicity.

Comparison of mutation landscapes of pretreatment versus recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity: The possible mechanism of resistance to standard treatment.

BACKGROUND: A high recurrent rate of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a major concern in head and neck cancer treatment. The study of the genetic mutation landscape in recurrent OSCC may provide information on certain mutations associated with the pathobiology and treatment response of the OSCC. AIM: We investigated the mutation landscape of matched pretreatment and recurrent tumors to understand the influence of genetic mutations on the pathobiology and clinical outcomes in OSCC. METHODS AND RESULTS: We sequenced 33 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) recurrent tumors, primary tumors, and primary tumors before recurrence that matched the recurrent tumors collected from Rajavithi Hospital during 2019-2021. We identified recurrent mutations from these samples by the Oncomine Ion Torrent-based next-generation sequencing on the 517 cancer-associated gene panel. From the results, we found that the most commonly mutated gene in the cohort is a histone methyltransferase KMT2D (54.55%), implicating that aberrance in epigenetic regulation may play a role in oral cancer tumorigenesis. Functional protein association network analysis of the gene frequently mutated in the recurrent tumors showed enrichment of genes that regulate the cancer cell cycle, that is, MRE11A, CDKN2A, and CYLD. This finding was confirmed in the primary-recurring matched pair. We found that recurrent tumors possess a small but recurring group of genes, with presumably the subclonal mutations driving the recurrence of the tumor, suggesting that the recurrent disease originated from a small fraction of the cancer cell that survives standard treatment. These genes were absent in the primary tumor with a good response to the standard treatment. On the other hand, we found an enrichment of DNA repair genes, namely ATR, BRCA1, BRCA2, RAD50, and MUTYH, in nonrecurrent tumors suggesting that the mutations in the DNA repair pathway may at least partially explain the different response to the standard treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our pilot study identified pathways of carcinogenesis in oral cancer and specific gene sets that indicate treatment responses and prognoses in this group of patients.

Apoptosis inhibitor showed a significant prognostic marker of relapsed oral cavity cancer after the curative resection surgery.

BACKGROUND: Recurrence of oral cavity cancer after curative resection remains a major problem. Pathologic markers, which include positive margins, extracapsular nodal extension, lymphovascular invasion, and perineural invasion, predict likelihood of recurrence. However, there currently are no biomarkers that can be used to follow patients following the curative resection. Survivin, the anti-apoptotic protein is up-regulated in many types of cancer and is associated with poor prognosis and recurrence of cancer. We explored whether this biomarker predicted disease recurrence after curative resection of oral cancers. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Retrospective study of 47 patients with oral cancers who underwent curative surgery. Cases were assigned into two groups for analysis, with or without loco-regional recurrence/distant metastases. The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the National Cancer Institute. Biopsy sections both at tumor and margin were studied for expression of survivin and the tumor marker, CD44v6 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique. RESULTS: By using a scoring system, the surgical margin of the recurrent group showed a higher survivin score than nonrecurrent group (p = 0.003). Interestingly, the primary tumor of the recurrent group showed a markedly higher survivin score than the non-recurrent group (p< 0.001). By contrast, the CD44v6 scores of the primary and the margins showed no significant difference between either group. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that monitoring the survivin expression at the surgical margin may serve as a biomarker to evaluate the adequacy of the surgical margin and may serve to provide information to prepare a better preoperative plan for oral cancer surgery in order to improve the curative outcome.

A Phase I/II Multicenter Study of Single-Agent Foretinib as First-Line Therapy in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Purpose: This phase I/II single-arm study evaluated the safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and activity of foretinib, an oral multikinase inhibitor of MET, ROS, RON, AXL, TIE-2, and VEGFR2, in the first-line setting in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients.Experimental Design: In the phase I part, advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients were dose escalated on foretinib (30-60 mg) every day using the standard 3+3 design. Once the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was determined, an additional 32 patients were dosed at the MTD in the phase II expansion cohort for assessment of efficacy and safety. Exploratory analyses were conducted to assess potential biomarkers that might correlate with clinical efficacy and survival.Results: The MTD of foretinib was established as 30 mg every day. The most frequent adverse events were hypertension, decreased appetite, ascites, and pyrexia. When dosed at 30 mg every day in the first-line setting, foretinib demonstrated promising antitumor activity. According to the modified mRECIST, the objective response rate was 22.9%, the disease stabilization rate 82.9%, and the median duration of response 7.6 months. The median time to progression was 4.2 months and the median overall survival (OS) was 15.7 months. Fifteen candidate biomarkers whose levels in the circulation were significantly altered in response to foretinib treatment were elucidated. Multivariate analyses identified IL6 and IL8 as independent predictors of OS.Conclusions: Foretinib demonstrated promising antitumor activity and good tolerability in the first-line setting in Asian advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Baseline plasma levels of IL6 or IL8 might predict the response to foretinib. Clin Cancer Res; 23(10); 2405-13. ©2016 AACR.

Cost-utility analysis of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage III colon cancer in Thailand.

BACKGROUND: In Thailand, there has been no economic evaluation study of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer patients after resection. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the cost-utility of all chemotherapy regimens currently used in Thailand compared with the adjuvant 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (5-FU/LV) plus capecitabine as the first-line therapy for metastatic disease in patients with stage III colon cancer after resection. METHODS: A cost-utility analysis was performed to estimate the relevant lifetime costs and health outcomes of chemotherapy regimens based on a societal perspective using a Markov model. RESULTS: The results suggested that the adjuvant 5-FU/LV plus capecitabine as the first-line therapy for metastatic disease would be the most cost-effective chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: The adjuvant FOLFOX and FOLFIRI as the first-line treatment for metastatic disease would be cost-effective with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 299,365 Thai baht per QALY gained based on a societal perspective if both prices of FOLFOX and FOLFIRI were decreased by 40%.