A phase 1 study of oral ridaforolimus in pediatric patients with advanced solid tumors

PURPOSE: Ridaforolimus is an investigational, potent, selective mTOR inhibitor. This study was conducted to determine the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D), maximum tolerated dose, safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity of oral ridaforolimus in children with advanced solid tumors. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: In this phase 1, multicenter, open-label study in children aged 6 to <18 years with advanced solid tumors, ridaforolimus was administered orally for 5 consecutive days/week in 28-day cycles until progression, unacceptable toxicity, or consent withdrawal. Dose started at 22 mg/m2 and increased to 28 mg/m2 and 33 mg/m2, followed by expansion at the RP2D. RESULTS: Twenty patients were treated; 18 were evaluable for dose-limiting toxicities. One dose-limiting toxicity (grade 3 increased alanine aminotransferase) occurred in 1 patient at 33 mg/m2. Dose escalation concluded at 33 mg/m2; the maximum tolerated dose was not determined. The most common treatment-related adverse events (frequency ≥40%) were manageable grade 1-2 stomatitis, thrombocytopenia, hypertriglyceridemia, increased alanine aminotransferase, fatigue, hypercholesterolemia, anemia, and increased aspartate aminotransferase. Ridaforolimus exposure at 28 mg/m2 and 33 mg/m2 exceeded adult target levels. The RP2D for oral ridaforolimus in children was defined as 33 mg/m2. Four patients received at least 4 cycles; 2 with pineoblastoma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma had stable disease for 12 and 46 cycles, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Ridaforolimus is orally bioavailable and well tolerated in children with advanced solid tumors. The RP2D (33 mg/m2, 5 days/week) exceeds the adult RP2D. The favorable toxicity and pharmacokinetic profiles may allow for combination therapy, a promising therapeutic option in pediatric malignancies

Investigation of the Role of Dinutuximab Beta-Based Immunotherapy in the SIOPEN High-Risk Neuroblastoma 1 Trial (HR-NBL1)

To explore the effects of immunotherapy in the International Society of Paediatric Oncology Europe Neuroblastoma Group SIOPEN high-risk neuroblastoma 1 trial (HR-NBL1 trial), two cohorts were studied: one prior to and one after the introduction of dinutuximab beta. All patients received standard induction and high-dose therapy (HDT) with autologous stem cell rescue (ASCR); the local control comprised surgery and radiotherapy to the primary tumour site, followed by isotretinoin. A landmark timepoint of 109 days, resulting from the median time between ASCR and initiation of immunotherapy, was used to define patients’ eligibility in the pre-immunotherapy analysis cohort. Median follow-up was 5.8 years (inter-quartile range (IQR): 4.2–8.2 years) for 844 eligible patients balanced for risk factors, such as age, sex, stage 4, MYCN amplification and response prior to HDT. The five-year event-free and overall survival (95% confidence interval (CI) of 466 patients not receiving immunotherapy was 42% (38–47%) and 50% (46–55%) but was 57% (51–62%) and 64% (59–69%) for 378 patients receiving immunotherapy (p 1 metastatic compartment at diagnosis (p < 0.001, HR 2.665) as risk factors for relapse or progression. Results suggest an important role for dinutuximab beta-based immunotherapy within the treatment concepts applied in HR- NBL1/SIOPEN

Outcome of children and adolescents with central nervous system tumors in phase I trials

Central nervous system (CNS) tumors are a leading cause of death in pediatric oncology. New drugs are desperately needed to improve survival. We evaluated the outcome of children and adolescents with CNS tumors participating in phase I trials within the Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC) consortium. Patients with solid tumors aged < 18 years at enrollment in their first dose-finding trial between 2000 and 2014 at eight ITCC centers were included retrospectively. Survival was evaluated using univariate/multivariate analyses. Overall, 114 patients were included (109 evaluable for efficacy). Median age was 10.2 years (range 1.0-17.9). Main diagnoses included: medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumors (32.5%) and high-grade gliomas (23.7%). Complete/partial responses (CR/PR) were reported in 7.3% patients and stable disease (SD) in 23.9%. Performance status of 90-100%, school/work attendance, normal ALT/AST and CR/PR/SD correlated with better overall survival (OS) in the univariate analysis. No variables assessable at screening/enrollment were associated with OS in the multivariate analysis. Five patients (4.5%) were discontinued from study due to toxicity. No toxic deaths occurred. Median OS was 11.9 months with CR/PR, 14.5 months with SD and 3.7 months with progressive disease (p < 0.001). The enrollment of children and adolescents with CNS tumors in phase I trials is feasible, safe and offers potential benefit for the patients. Sustained disease stabilization has a promising role as a marker of anti-tumor activity in children with CNS tumors participating in phase I trials

Age-dependency of the prognostic impact of tumor genomics in localized resectable MYCN non-amplified neuroblastomas Report from the SIOPEN Biology Group on the LNESG Trials

BACKGROUND: Biology based treatment reduction, i.e. surgery alone also in case of not totally resected tumors, was advised in neuroblastoma patients with localized resectable disease without MYCN amplification. However, whether the genomic background of these tumors may influence outcome was unknown and therefore scrutinized in a meta-analysis comprising two prospective therapy studies and a ‘validation’ cohort. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Diagnostic samples were derived from 406 INSS stages 1/2A/2B tumors from three cohorts: LNESGI/II and COG. Genomic data were analyzed in two age groups (cut-off: 18 months) and quality controlled by the SIOPEN Biology Group. RESULTS: In both patient age groups stage 2 tumors led to similarly reduced event-free survival (5y-EFS: 83+3% versus 80+4%), but overall survival was only decreased in patients >18m (5y-OS: 97+1% versus 87+4%; p=0.001). In the latter age subgroup, only tumors with SCA led to relapses, with 11q loss as the strongest marker (5y-EFS: 40+15% versus 89+5%; p18m but not <18m. CONCLUSION: The tumor genomic make-up of resectable non-MYCN amplified stage 2 neuroblastomas has a distinct age-dependent prognostic impact in neuroblastoma patients. While in the younger age group tumors with unfavourable (SCA) and favorable genetics showed relapses, both without worsening OS, in the older age group only tumors with unfavorable genetics led to relapses and decreased OS.N/

Stage 4 neuroblastoma: sequential hemi-body irradiation or high-dose chemotherapy plus autologous haemopoietic stem cell transplantation to consolidate primary treatment

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two consecutive nonrandomised treatment programs applied between 1989 and 1999 at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan in an unselected cohort of 59 children over the age of one with stage 4 neuroblastoma. Both treatment programs consisted of two phases, the induction of the remission phase and the consolidation phase. The induction of the remission phase consisted of intensive chemotherapy, and remained the same throughout the study period. The consolidation phase consisted of sequential hemi-body irradiation (HBI) (10 Gy per session, 6 weeks apart) in the first period (1988–June 1994) and sequential high-dose cyclophosphamide, etoposide, mitoxantrone+L-PAM and autologous haemopoietic stem cell transplantation in the second (July 1994–1999). Intention-to-treat analysis revealed a significantly better outcome for patients treated with the second program, the 5-year event-free survival probability being 0.12 for program 1 and 0.31 for program 2 (P=0.03). This finding led us to conclude that sequential HBI is useless as consolidation treatment. The high-dose chemotherapy adopted in the second program enabled a proportion of patients to obtain long-term survival but, since the clinical results remain unsatisfactory, new treatment strategies are warranted