A multidisciplinary consensus on the morphological and functional responses to immunotherapy treatment

The implementation of immunotherapy has radically changed the treatment of oncological patients. Currently, immunotherapy is indicated in the treatment of patients with head and neck tumors, melanoma, lung cancer, bladder tumors, colon cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, Merkel cell carcinoma, liver cancer, leukemia and lymphomas. However, its efficacy is restricted to a limited number of cases. The challenge is, therefore, to identify which subset of patients would benefit from immunotherapy. To this end, the establishment of immunotherapy response criteria and predictive and prognostic biomarkers is of paramount interest. In this report, a group of experts of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), the Spanish Society of Medical Radiology (SERAM), and Spanish Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SEMNIM) provide an up-to-date review and a consensus guide on these issues

Avelumab-cetuximab-radiotherapy versus standards of care in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (LA-SCCHN): Randomized phase III GORTEC-REACH trial

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A single-arm multicentre phase II trial of doxorubicin in combination with trabectedin in the first-line treatment for leiomyosarcoma with long-term follow-up and impact of cytoreductive surgery

International audienceBackground: Uterine leiomyosarcomas (U-LMSs) and soft tissue leiomyosarcomas (ST-LMSs) are rare tumours with poor prognosis when locally advanced or metastatic, and with moderate chemosensitivity. In 2015 we reported very encouraging results of the LMS-02 study (NCT02131480) with manageable toxicity. Herein, we report the updated and long-term results of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).Patients and methods: Patients received 60 mg/m2 intravenous doxorubicin followed by trabectedin 1.1 mg/m2 as a 3-h infusion on day 1 and pegfilgrastim on day 2, every 3 weeks, up to six cycles. Surgery for residual disease was permitted. Patients were stratified into U-LMS and ST-LMS groups.Results: One-hundred and eight patients were enrolled, mainly with metastatic disease (85%), and 20 patients (18.5%) had surgical resection of metastases after chemotherapy. With a median follow-up of 7.2 years [95% confidence interval (CI) 6.9-8.2 years], the median PFS was 10.1 months (95% CI 8.5-12.6 months) in the whole population, and 8.3 months (95% CI 7.4-10.3 months) and 12.9 months (95% CI 9.2-14.1 months) for U-LMSs and ST-LMSs, respectively. The median OS was 34.4 months (95% CI 26.9-42.7 months), 27.5 months (95% CI 17.9-38.2 months), and 38.7 months (95% CI 31.0-52.9 months) for the whole population, U-LMSs, and ST-LMSs, respectively. The median OS of the patients with resected metastases was not reached versus 31.6 months in the overall population without surgery (95% CI 23.9-35.4 months).Conclusions: These updated results confirm the impressive efficiency of the doxorubicin plus trabectedin combination given in first-line therapy for patients with locally advanced/metastatic LMS in terms of PFS and OS. Results of the LMS04 trial (NCT02997358), a randomized phase III study comparing the doxorubicin plus trabectedin combination versus doxorubicin alone in first-line therapy in metastatic LMSs, are pending

A phase II study of Monalizumab in patients with recurrent/metastatic (RM) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN): results of the I1 cohort of the EORTC-HNCG-1559 trial (UPSTREAM).

Background Patients (pts) with RM SCCHN progressing after platinum have a median overall survival (OS) of 7-8 months with nivolumab or pembrolizumab. No other drug has shown meaningful activity in this setting. HLA-E is a non-classical MHC molecule that is highly expressed in 70% of SCCHN. By binding to the NKG2A receptor expressed on NK cells and T-lymphocytes, HLA-E inhibits their cytotoxic function. Monalizumab (mona) is a human IgG4 antibody targeting the NKG2A receptor. Methods The UPSTREAM trial is a biomarker-driven umbrella trial of several targeted therapies and immunotherapy for RM SCCHN (post platinum, ECOG 0-1, measurable disease). The immunotherapy 1 (I1) cohort was a phase II, single arm, proof-of-concept substudy evaluating the efficacy of single agent mona. Non-eligible pts for the biomarker-driven cohorts were included in the I1 cohort. Mona was given as an infusion (10 mg/kg) on day 1 of each cycle (14 days). The primary endpoint was objective response rate (RECISTv1.1) during the first 16 weeks. A two-stage Simon design was used (H1 15%, H0 3%, α 8%, power 90%) with planned interruption of accrual if no response was seen after 25 pts. Secondary endpoints included toxicity (CTCAEv4.03), progression-free survival (PFS), response duration and OS. Results 27 RM SCCHN pts were included in the 1st stage (median age: 62 yrs, oral cavity (26%), oropharynx (41%), hypopharynx (26%), larynx (7%)). 16 (59%) were pretreated with anti-PD(-L)1 compounds. No objective response was recorded. Stable disease was observed in 6 pts (22%). Disease progression was recorded in all but one patient and the median PFS was 7.4 wks (95% CI: 6.6-7.9 wks). Based on 16/27 deaths currently recorded, median OS was 27.7 wks (95% CI: 13-53.9 wks). Mona showed a favorable safety profile: 59% pts reported grade 3 adverse events, none of them treatment-related. The final results of these preliminary data will be presented at ESMO. Conclusion The substudy of mona in monotherapy did not meet its primary objective and was closed at interim for futility. Median PFS was 7.4 wks. Mona has a favorable safety profile and is under investigation in combination with durvalumab within the UPSTREAM trial

Patterns of care and outcomes of 417 patients with METAstatic SYNovial sarcoma (METASYN): real-life data from the French Sarcoma Group (FSG)

International audienceBackground: Synovial sarcoma (SS) occurs in both adult and pediatric patients. The primary aim of this study is to describe the outcomes, prognostic factors, and treatment of patients with metastatic SS within a nationwide cohort.Patients and methods: All pediatric and adult patients with metastatic SS are registered in the French Sarcoma Group database. Data were collected from the national database https://conticabase.sarcomabcb.org/ up to March 2020. Descriptive and comparative analyses were conducted using SAS 9.4 and Stata Special Edition 16.1 software.Results: Between January 1981 and December 2019, 417 patients with metastatic SS from 17 French sarcoma centers were included, including 64 (15.3%) under the age of 26 years. Median age was 42.5 years (range 9-87 years). The metastases were synchronous (cohort 1) or metachronous (cohort 2) in 18.9% (N = 79) and 81.1% (N = 338) patients, respectively. Median overall survival (OS) from the date of metastasis was 22.3 months (95% confidence interval 19.7-24.1 months). First-line chemotherapy without ifosfamide and/or doxorubicin was unfavorable for progression-free survival and OS (P 12 months, local therapy, and ifosfamide in the first metastatic line were independent favorable prognostic factors.Conclusions: The outcome of patients with metastatic SS is influenced by local treatment, management in reference centers, and cytotoxic treatments given in the perioperative and metastatic setting

A phase II study of monalizumab in patients with recurrent/metastatic (RM) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) : results of the I1 cohort of the EORTC-HNCG-1559 trial (UPSTREAM)

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Final Safety and Health-Related Quality of LIfe Results of the Phase 2/3 Act.In.Sarc Study With Preoperative NBTXR3 Plus Radiation Therapy Versus Radiation Therapy in Locally Advanced Soft-Tissue Sarcoma

Purpose: Act.In.Sarc (NCT02379845) demonstrated that the first-in-class radioenhancer NBTXR3, activated by preoperative radi-ation therapy (RT), doubled the rate of pathologic complete response after resection compared with preoperative RT alone in adult patients with locally advanced soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity or trunk wall (16.1% vs 7.9%, P = .045), and more patients achieved R0 resections (77.0% vs 64.0%, P = .042). These are the toxicity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) results.Methods and Materials: Act.In.Sarc randomized eligible patients 1:1 to either NBTXR3 (single intratumoral injection, vol-ume equivalent to 10% of baseline tumor volume, at 53.3 g/L) activated by external-beam RT (arm A) or external-beam RT alone (arm B) (50 Gy in 25 fractions), followed by surgery in both arms. Here, we report the safety analyses in the all-treated population with a long-term follow-up of at least 2 years, and HRQoL in the intention-to-treat full analysis set.Results: During the on-treatment period, serious adverse events (SAEs) of all grades related to NBTXR3 occurred in 10.1% (9/89) of patients (arm A), and SAEs related to RT occurred in 5.6% (5/89) (arm A) versus 5.6% (5/90) (arm B); postsurgery hospitalization owing to SAEs occurred in 15.7% (14/89) (arm A) versus 24.4% (22/90) (arm B). During the follow-up period, posttreatment SAEs (regardless of relationship) occurred in 13.5% (12/89) (arm A) versus 24.4% (22/90) (arm B). NBTXR3 did not negatively affect HRQoL; during the follow-up period, there was an improvement in most mean Toronto extremity salvage, EuroQoL 5-dimension (EQ-5D), EQ5D02-EQ visual analog scale, reintegration to normal living index, and musculoskeletal tumor rating scale scores.Conclusions: NBTXR3 did not negatively affect safety or HRQoL. Long-term safety results reinforce the favorable benefit -risk ratio of NBTXR3 plus RT. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Molecular tumour pathology - and tumour geneticsMTG

NBTXR3, a first-in-class radioenhancer hafnium oxide nanoparticle, plus radiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone in patients with locally advanced soft-tissue sarcoma (Act. In. Sarc): a multicentre, phase 2-3, randomised, controlled trial

Background Pathological complete response to preoperative treatment in adults with soft-tissue sarcoma can be achieved in only a few patients receiving radiotherapy. This phase 2-3 trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of the hafnium oxide (HfO2) nanoparticle NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone as a pre-operative treatment in patients with locally advanced soft-tissue sarcoma.Methods Act. In. Sarc is a phase 2-3 randomised, multicentre, international trial. Adults (aged = 18 years) with locally advanced soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremity or trunk wall, of any histological grade, and requiring preoperative radiotherapy were included. Patients had to have a WHO performance status of 0-2 and a life expectancy of at least 6 months. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) by an interactive web response system to receive either NBTXR3 (volume corresponding to 10% of baseline tumour volume at a fixed concentration of 53.3 g/L) as a single intratumoural administration before preoperative external-beam radiotherapy (50 Gy in 25 fractions) or radiotherapy alone, followed by surgery. Randomisation was stratified by histological subtype (myxoid liposarcoma vs others). This was an open-label study. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with a pathological complete response, assessed by a central pathology review board following European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer guidelines in the intention-to-treat population full analysis set. Safety analyses were done in all patients who received at least one puncture and injection of NBTXR3 or at least one dose of radiotherapy. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02379845, and is ongoing for long-term follow-up, but recruitment is complete.Findings Between March 3, 2015, and Nov 21, 2017, 180 eligible patients were enrolled and randomly assigned and 179 started treatment: 89 in the NBTXR3 plus radiotherapy group and 90 in the radiotherapy alone group. Two patients in the NBTXR3 group and one patient in the radiotherapy group were excluded from the efficacy analysis because they were subsequently discovered to be ineligible; thus, a total of 176 patients were analysed for the primary endpoint in the intention-to-treat full analysis set (87 in the NBTXR3 group and 89 in the radiotherapy alone group). A pathological complete response was noted in 14 (16%) of 87 patients in the NBTXR3 group and seven (8%) of 89 in the radiotherapy alone group (p=0.044). In both treatment groups, the most common grade 3-4 treatment-emergent adverse event was postoperative wound complication (eight [9%] of 89 patients in the NBTXR3 group and eight [9%] of 90 in the radiotherapy alone group). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events related to NBTXR3 administration were injection site pain (four [4%] of 89) and hypotension (four [4%]) and the most common grade 3-4 radiotherapy-related adverse event was radiation skin injury in both groups (five [6%] of 89 in the NBTXR3 group and four [4%] of 90 in the radiotherapy alone group). The most common treatment-emergent grade 3-4 adverse event related to NBTXR3 was hypotension (six [7%] of 89 patients). Serious adverse events were observed in 35 (39%) of 89 patients in the NBTXR3 group and 27 (30%) of 90 patients in the radiotherapy alone group. No treatment-related deaths occurred.Interpretation This trial validates the mode of action of this new class of radioenhancer, which potentially opens a large field of clinical applications in soft-tissue sarcoma and possibly other cancers. Copyright (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Molecular tumour pathology - and tumour geneticsMTG