Maintenance chemotherapy after 6 cycles of platinum-doublet regimen in anthracycline-and taxane-pretreated metastatic breast cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Sequential monotherapy is recommended for anthracycline-and taxane-resistant metastatic breast cancer (MBC), but combination chemotherapy is considered in patients with visceral crisis. Cisplatin-doublet chemotherapy is a combination regimen for MBC, but prolonged treatment is challenging because of toxicity. We analyzed the role of single-agent maintenance chemotherapy after cisplatin-doublet chemotherapy for MBC. METHODS: From January 2011 to December 2017, 96 anthracycline- and taxane- resistant MBC patients were retrospectively reviewed, and 49 patients with a sustained clinical benefit during the initial 6 cycles of cisplatin-doublet chemotherapy were enrolled for study. Patients were treated with gemcitabine-cisplatin (gemcitabine, 1,250 mg/m2, intravenously [IV], days 1 to 8; cisplatin 60 mg/m2, IV, day 1) or capecitabine-cisplatin (capecitabine 2,500 mg/m2, orally, days 1 to 14; cisplatin 60 mg/m2, IV, day 1) during the induction period. After 6 cycles, 16 patients were switched to single-maintenance treatment (gemcitabine or capecitabine) and the doublet regimen was continued in 24 patients. Survival outcomes (progression- free survival [PFS] and overall survival [OS]) were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 49 patients who showed a clinical benefit during cisplatin- doublet therapy, 24 were maintained on the doublet regimen, 16 were switched to single-maintenance treatment, and chemotherapy was suspended until disease progression in nine patients. The single-maintenance chemotherapy group showed superior survival than the chemotherapy holiday and doublet regimen groups (median PFS 15.43 months vs. 8.37 and 10.67 months, respectively, p = 0.008; median OS 43.67 months vs. 22.17 and 22.33 months, respectively, p = 0.014). CONCLUSION: Patients showing a clinical benefit during 6 cisplatin-doublet chemotherapy cycles may have a sustained survival benefit from single-maintenance chemotherapy.

Expression of EEF1A1 Is Associated with Prognosis of Patients with Colon Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic role of the translational factor, elongation factor-1 alpha 1 (EEF1A1), in colon cancer is unclear. OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the expression of EEF1A in tissues obtained from patients with stage II and III colon cancer and analyze its association with patient prognosis. METHODS: A total of 281 patients with colon cancer who underwent curative resection were analyzed according to EEF1A1 expression. RESULTS: The five-year overall survival in the high-EEF1A1 group was 87.7%, whereas it was 65.6% in the low-EEF1A1 expression group (hazard ratio (HR) 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.38-4.44, p = 0.002). The five-year disease-free survival of patients with high EEF1A1 expression was 82.5%, which was longer than the rate of 55.4% observed for patients with low EEF1A1 expression (HR 2.94, 95% CI 1.72-5.04, p < 0.001). Univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that age, preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level, adjuvant treatment, total number of metastatic lymph nodes, and EEF1A1 expression level were significant prognostic factors for death. In multivariate analysis, expression of EEF1A1 was an independent prognostic factor associated with death (HR 3.01, 95% CI 1.636-5.543, p < 0.001). EEF1A1 expression was also an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival in multivariate analysis (HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.459-4.434, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that high expression of EEF1A1 has a favorable prognostic effect on patients with colon adenocarcinoma.

Changes in PD-L1 expression according to tumor infiltrating lymphocytes of acquired EGFR-TKI resistant EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUNDS: EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that developed acquired resistance to EGFR-tyrosine kinase (TKI) are potential candidates for programmed death 1 (PD1) inhibitor. RESULTS: TPS≥1% for PD-L1 and low CD8 + TIL in post-TKI tumor showed a trend for a lower PFS of EGFR-TKIs (14.2 vs 9.9 months; P = 0.060) (cohort A). Only 2 of 22 specimens (9.1%) with an acquired EGFR exon 20 T790M mutation exhibited in post-TKI TPS≥50% for PD-L1. The degree in post-TKI tumor of PD-L1 expression was varied in 19 patients (40.5%), with 10 (21.2%) showing higher levels in the resistant biopsy (cohort B). Among the post-TKI high TPS groups, median PFS with low post- TKI CD8 + TIL scores treated with EGFR-TKIs (6.6 months) was significantly lower than that for the other patients (14.2 months; P = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: The change of PD-L1 expression was accompanied by dynamic change in CD8 + TILs and might reflect diverse mechanism of resistance to EGFR-TKI therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We identified 69 patients (cohort A) with sufficient post-TKI tumor tissues and 47 patients (cohort B) with paired tumor tissues available. TPS for PD-L1 expression of tumor cells and CD8 + TILs score in tumor specimens were determined by immunohistochemistry.