Pembrolizumab as First-line Therapy in Cisplatin-ineligible Advanced Urothelial Cancer (KEYNOTE-052): Outcomes in Older Patients by Age and Performance Status.

BACKGROUND: Patients with treatment-naive advanced urothelial cancer (UC) ineligible for cisplatin-based chemotherapy are typically older and have comorbidities, representing a difficult-to-treat population. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and antitumor activity of first-line pembrolizumab in subgroups of cisplatin-ineligible older patients (aged ≥65 and ≥75 yr) with advanced UC in KEYNOTE-052 (NCT02335424), including those with poor performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score 2 [ECOG PS2]). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Patients were cisplatin ineligible, had treatment-naive, histologically/cytologically confirmed, locally advanced/metastatic UC with measurable disease (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 [RECIST v1.1]), and had ECOG PS0-2. Patient subgroups analyzed were aged ≥65yr (n = 302), ≥75 yr (n = 179), ≥65yr with ECOG PS2 (≥65yr+ECOG PS2; n = 119), and ≥75 yr+ECOG PS2 (n = 78). INTERVENTION: All patients received pembrolizumab 200mg intravenously every 3 wk until confirmed progression, intolerable toxicity, patient withdrawal, or 24 mo of therapy. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) as per RECIST v1.1. The key secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), duration of response (DOR), and safety. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: ORRs for the ≥65yr, ≥75 yr, ≥65yr+ECOG PS2, and ≥75 yr+ECOG PS2 subgroups were 29%, 27%, 29%, and 31%, respectively; rates of complete and partial responses were similar across subgroups (9%, 5%, 6%, and 6%, and 20%, 22%, 23%, and 24%, respectively). Median DOR and OS were also consistent across the ≥65yr and ≥65yr+ECOG PS2 subgroups and the ≥75 yr and ≥75 yr+ECOG PS2 subgroups. Study limitations included open-label design, lack of a comparator group, and nature of post hoc exploratory analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical benefit of pembrolizumab in advanced UC appeared to be consistent regardless of age and/or poor performance status. PATIENT SUMMARY: This study looked at whether older age and poorer performance status affect how well patients with previously untreated advanced urothelial cancer ineligible for standard-of-care treatment respond to pembrolizumab. Outcomes with pembrolizumab were not affected by older age or poorer performance status, making it an effective option.

Prospective study to define the clinical utility and benefit of Decipher testing in men following prostatectomy.

BACKGROUND: Genomic classifiers (GC) have been shown to improve risk stratification post prostatectomy. However, their clinical benefit has not been prospectively demonstrated. We sought to determine the impact of GC testing on postoperative management in men with prostate cancer post prostatectomy. METHODS: Two prospective registries of prostate cancer patients treated between 2014 and 2019 were included. All men underwent Decipher tumor testing for adverse features post prostatectomy (Decipher Biosciences, San Diego, CA). The clinical utility cohort, which measured the change in treatment decision-making, captured pre- and postgenomic treatment recommendations from urologists across diverse practice settings (n = 3455). The clinical benefit cohort, which examined the difference in outcome, was from a single academic institution whose tumor board predefined "best practices" based on GC results (n = 135). RESULTS: In the clinical utility cohort, providers' recommendations pregenomic testing were primarily observation (69%). GC testing changed recommendations for 39% of patients, translating to a number needed to test of 3 to change one treatment decision. In the clinical benefit cohort, 61% of patients had genomic high-risk tumors; those who received the recommended adjuvant radiation therapy (ART) had 2-year PSA recurrence of 3 vs. 25% for those who did not (HR 0.1 [95% CI 0.0-0.6], p = 0.013). For the genomic low/intermediate-risk patients, 93% followed recommendations for observation, with similar 2-year PSA recurrence rates compared with those who received ART (p = 0.93). CONCLUSIONS: The use of GC substantially altered treatment decision-making, with a number needed to test of only 3. Implementing best practices to routinely recommend ART for genomic-high patients led to larger than expected improvements in early biochemical endpoints, without jeopardizing outcomes for genomic-low/intermediate-risk patients.

A Woman with Black Beads in Her Stomach: Severe Gastric Ulceration Caused by Yttrium-90 Radioembolization.

Radioembolization (RE) is a selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) delivering targeted, high-dose, intra-arterial radiation directly to the vascular supply of liver tumors. Complications can occur due to aberrant deposition or migration of radiation microspheres into nontarget locations, including normal hepatic parenchyma, lungs, pancreas, and upper gastrointestinal (UGI) tract. We report a case of gastric ulcers due to yttrium-90 (90Y) seed migration to the stomach to alert clinicians to this rare cause of gastric injury. A 57-year-old woman with stage IV breast cancer with liver and lung metastases presented to the hospital with 2 months of worsening nausea and vomiting. Two months prior, she had received SIRT with 90Y microspheres without complications. Upper GI endoscopy showed diffuse gastritis and extensive antral ulceration. Biopsies revealed black, spherical foreign bodies, consistent with 90Y microspheres, documenting radiation injury. Radiation-induced UGI ulceration is caused by direct radiation injury from beta-radiation. Delay in diagnosis may be due to the nonspecificity of symptoms and temporal delay of symptom onset from SIRT, which was 2 months in our patient. Also, complaints may be attributed erroneously to adjuvant chemotherapy or widespread metastatic disease. Clinicians must consider radiation-associated toxicity in any SIRT-treated patient developing abdominal symptoms.

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: What Line of Therapy and How to Choose?

OPINION STATEMENT: Immunotherapy is now an established part of the treatment paradigm for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but the line of therapy and the sequence of agents are still in flux. In this time when much is to be learned, the optimal therapy for most patients in both the first-line and previously treated settings is in the context of a clinical trial. For standard therapy, however, there are good data to support the practice of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) testing in the front-line advanced setting and to use pembrolizumab as first-line therapy for those with ≥50% PD-L1 expression. In those who have progressed after receiving platinum-based chemotherapy in the first-line, multiple PD-1/PD-L1 agents are available and currently approved, including nivolumab, pembrolizumab, and atezolizumab. There are no data to suggest that one agent is more efficacious than the others, but pembrolizumab should be reserved for patients with PD-L1 expression ≥1%. Prescribers and patients must be cognizant of the toxicity profile of these agents, as severe immune-related adverse events can occur with therapy. At this time, this practice pattern for immunotherapy in the first- and second-line can be considered the standard of care, but new data are likely to impact the role of immunotherapy as monotherapy or in combination in the near future.