Regorafenib plus FOLFIRINOX as first-line treatment for patients with RAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (FOLFIRINOX-R trial): a dose-escalation study.

PURPOSE: The combination of bevacizumab and FOLFIRINOX is used in patients with RAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (RASm-mCRC). Regorafenib, an oral multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has antiangiogenic properties, cytostatic effects and also true cytotoxic effects, unlike bevacizumab. The aim of this study was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) of the regorafenib-FOLFIRINOX combination in patients with RASm-mCRC. METHODS: The FOLFIRINOX-R trial was a phase 1/2 study where the dose-escalation part (3 + 3 design with three dose levels, DLs) was completed before its early termination. FOLFIRINOX (14-day cycle) included oxaliplatin (standard dose), folinic acid, fluorouracil and irinotecan (150 or 180 mg/m²). Regorafenib (120 or 160 mg daily) was given from day 4 to day 10 of each cycle. Dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) was studied in the first three cycles. Eligibility criteria included ECOG performance status ≤ 1 and not previously treated RASm-mCRC. RESULTS: Thirteen patients (median age: 65 years; min-max: 40-76) were enrolled. DLT could not be evaluated in one patient (DL3) due to poor observance. The median treatment duration and median follow-up were 6.2 (min-max: 2.3-10) and 13.4 (min-max: 3.8-18.0) months, respectively. Dose was modified in 12/13 (92%) patients. One grade 3 hypokalemia occurred at DL2. MTD was not reached at DL3. Grade 3 diarrhea was recorded in 7/13 patients (13 events) equally distributed in all DLs. CONCLUSION: The RP2D for this regorafenib-FFX combination could not be determined due to a high prevalence of grade 3 diarrhea related to treatment as advised by our Independent Data Monitoring Committee. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03828799.

GRECCAR 14 - a multicentric, randomized, phase II-III study evaluating the tailored management of locally advanced rectal carcinoma after a favourable response to induction chemotherapy: Study protocol.

AIM: Total neoadjuvant treatment (TNT) is becoming standard in patients with locally advanced rectal carcinoma (LARC). Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has proven side effects on bowel and genitourinary function. An early tumoral response to induction chemotherapy demonstrates its high prognostic value. Tailored management could be used as an alternative to systematic CRT. The GRECCAR 14 trial will attempt to personalize treatment strategy according to the patient's early tumour response to intensive chemotherapy with the aim of achieving the best toxicity-efficiency ratio. METHOD: GRECCAR 14 is a multicentric, randomized, two-arm, phase II-III noninferiority trial. Patients with mid or low LARC with a predictive circumferential resection margin ≤2 mm or T3c-d stage with extramural venous invasion will be included. Evaluation of the tumoral response will be performed after six courses of high-dose FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy. Good responders (GRs) will be defined by a 60% decrease in tumoral volume on magnetic resonance imaging. Patients will be randomized to CRT before surgery. The primary endpoints will be R0 resection for phase II and the 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) for phase III. RESULTS: Tailored management of LARC is becoming an exciting challenge for the modality of neoadjuvant treatment and for the type of surgery or its omission. Neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX has established efficacy, with a significant increase in the 3-year DFS. Better control of systemic disease must be accompanied by the same locoregional control, with the lowest morbidity. Our previous GRECCAR 4 trial demonstrated the high value of the early tumoral response after induction chemotherapy and the long-term safety of tailored management for GRs. CONCLUSION: If GRECCAR 14 demonstrates the ability to tailor TNT for LARC, this could lead to changes in clinical practice.

FOLFIRINOX-R study design: a phase I/II trial of FOLFIRINOX plus regorafenib as first line therapy in patients with unresectable RAS-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The chemotherapy triplet FOLFOXIRI combined to the anti-VEGF antibody bevacizumab is an option in selected patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. In this setting, RAS-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer do not benefit the same from treatment than RAS-wildtype metastatic colorectal cancer do. Together with its antiangiogenic properties, the tyrosine-kinase inhibitor regorafenib has also anti-proliferative activities whatever the RAS status is. The present trial aims at studying the safety and the efficacy of regorafenib in combination with FOLFIRINOX - a chemotherapy triplet using a different dosing schedule than FOLFOXIRI - in patients with RAS-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer. METHODS: FOLFIRINOX-R is a prospective, multicentric, non-randomised, dose-finding phase 1-2 trial. The primary endpoints are the determination of the maximum tolerated dose, the recommended phase 2 dose, and the proportion of patients achieving disease control at 48-weeks. Phase 1 follows a 3 + 3 design (12 to 24 patients to be included). Sixty nine patients will be necessary in phase 2, including 5% non-evaluable ones, with the following assumptions, one-stage Fleming design, α = 5%, ß = 20%, p0 = 35% and p1 = 50%. Key eligibility criteria include Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status of ≤1 and RAS-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer not amenable to surgery with curative intent and not previously treated for metastatic disease. FOLFIRINOX (oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2, folinic acid 400 mg/m2, irinotecan 150-180 mg/m2, 5-fluorouracil: 400 mg/m2 then 2400 mg/m2 over 46 h) is administered every 14 days. Regorafenib (80 to 160 mg, as per dose-level) is administered orally, once daily on days 4 to 10 of each cycle. DISCUSSION: FOLFIRINOX-R is the first phase I/II study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of regorafenib in combination with FOLFIRINOX as frontline therapy for patients with RAS-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer. TRIAL REGISTRATION: EudraCT: 2018-003541-42 ; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03828799 .

Inter-observer agreement between dermatologists and oncologists in assessing dermatological toxicities in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated by cetuximab-based chemotherapies: a pilot comparative study.

The aim of this study was to measure the inter-observer agreement between two teams of three dermatologists and oncologists in labelling and grading the cetuximab-induced dermatological toxicities from 98 photographs performed in a cohort of 15 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer receiving cetuximab-based chemotherapy. Kappa coefficient (κ) assessed inter-observer grading agreement. Both teams defined by the same terms eight of the 13 (62%) toxic effects reported together. Discrepancies concerned the labelling of rash desquamation, hand-foot syndrome and xerosis and the grading (different and often going in the opposite direction) of various toxicities such as paronychia, xerosis, desquamation and hand-foot syndrome (κ value less than 0.40). Acneiform eruption was recognised by both teams, but the grading allocated by oncologists was lower. Our results suggested the need for a real consensus between oncologists and dermatologists for labelling and grading these dermatological toxicities. Better training of oncologists by using a dermatological atlas would improve inter-observer agreement.

Gene expression signature in advanced colorectal cancer patients select drugs and response for the use of leucovorin, fluorouracil, and irinotecan.

PURPOSE: In patients with advanced colorectal cancer, leucovorin, fluorouracil, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) is considered as one of the reference first-line treatments. However, only about half of treated patients respond to this regimen, and there is no clinically useful marker that predicts response. A major clinical challenge is to identify the subset of patients who could benefit from this chemotherapy. We aimed to identify a gene expression profile in primary colon cancer tissue that could predict chemotherapy response. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Tumor colon samples from 21 patients with advanced colorectal cancer were analyzed for gene expression profiling using Human Genome GeneChip arrays U133. At the end of the first-line treatment, the best observed response, according to WHO criteria, was used to define the responders and nonresponders. Discriminatory genes were first selected by the significance analysis of microarrays algorithm and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. A predictor classifier was then constructed using support vector machines. Finally, leave-one-out cross validation was used to estimate the performance and the accuracy of the output class prediction rule. RESULTS: We determined a set of 14 predictor genes of response to FOLFIRI. Nine of nine responders (100% specificity) and 11 of 12 nonresponders (92% sensitivity) were classified correctly, for an overall accuracy of 95%. CONCLUSION: After validation in an independent cohort of patients, our gene signature could be used as a decision tool to assist oncologists in selecting colorectal cancer patients who could benefit from FOLFIRI chemotherapy, both in the adjuvant and the first-line metastatic setting.

Impact of RNA degradation on gene expression profiles: assessment of different methods to reliably determine RNA quality.

DNA microarray technology enables investigators to measure the expression of several 1000 mRNA species simultaneously in a biological specimen. However, the reliability of the microarray technology to detect transcriptional differences representative of the original samples is affected by the quality of the extracted RNA. Thus, it is of critical importance to standardize sample-handling protocols and to perform a quality assessment of RNA preparations. In this report, 59 human tissue samples were used to evaluate the relationships between RNA quality and gene expression. From Affymetrix GeneChip array data analysis of these samples, we compared the performance of the 28S/18S ratio, two computer methods (RIN and degradometer) and our in-house RNA quality scale (RQS) in assessing RNA quality. The optimal RNA reliability threshold was determined for each method using statistical discrimination measures. We showed that RQS, RIN and degradometer have a similar capacity to detect reliable RNA samples whereas the 28S/18S ratio leads to a misleading categorization. Furthermore, we developed a new approach, based on clustering analyses of full chip expression, to control RNA quality after hybridization experiments. The combination of these methods, allowing monitoring of RNA quality prior to and after the hybridization experiments, ensured reliable and reproducible microarray data.

Multicentre phase II study using increasing doses of irinotecan combined with a simplified LV5FU2 regimen in metastatic colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: Irinotecan at 180 mg/m2 combined with an infusional 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (5-FU/LV) regimen (FOLFIRI) is a standard first line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This phase II study aimed to assess whether increasing the irinotecan dose in the first line FOLFIRI regimen would benefit mCRC patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients received FOLFIRI every 2 weeks for up to six cycles, comprising a 5-FU/LV regimen combined with irinotecan at 180 mg/m2 (cycle 1), increasing to 220 mg/m2 (cycle 2) and 260 mg/m2 (cycle 3 and subsequent cycles) dependent on toxicity. Efficacy and safety were determined in the intention to treat (ITT) population and in patients able to receive irinotecan at 260 mg/m2 for at least four cycles [high-dose (HD) population]. RESULTS: Fifty-four eligible patients were included. Among them, 44 (81.5%) formed the HD population. The ITT objective response rate was 48% (90%CI: 36-60) with 25/26 of the responses in the HD population. The disease control rate was 76% (90%CI: 65-85) and median overall survival was 20.4 months (90%CI: 6.4-27.1). The main grade 3/4 toxicities (ITT/HD populations) were neutropenia (61%/59%), and diarrhoea (18%/11%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the feasibility of increasing the standard dose of the irinotecan component of FOLFIRI to 260 mg/m2, for more than 80% of patients but does not support a clear advantage of this strategy on unselected mCRC patients.