Evolution of Angiogenic Factors in Pregnant Patients with Breast Cancer Treated with Chemotherapy

Factors angiogènics; Quimioteràpia; EmbaràsFactores angiogénicos; Quimioterapia; EmbarazoAngiogenic factors; Chemotherapy; PregnancyHigh prevalence of placental-derived complications, such as preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction, has been reported in women with breast cancer (BC) treated with chemotherapy during pregnancy (PBC-CHT). Aim: To ascertain whether PBC-CHT is associated with an imbalance of angiogenic factors, surrogate markers for placental insufficiency, that could explain perinatal outcomes. Methods: Prospective study between 2012 and 2016 in a single institution. Soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase (sFlt-1), placental growth factor (PlGF), and soluble endoglin (sEng) in maternal blood were assessed throughout pregnancy in 12 women with BC and 215 controls. Results: Cancer patients were treated with doxorubicin-based regimes and with taxanes. Ten PBC-CHT (83%) developed obstetrical complications. At the end of the third trimester, significantly higher levels of sFlt-1; sFlt-1/PGF ratio, and sEng levels were observed in BC women as compared to controls. Moreover; there was a significant correlation between plasma levels of sFlt-1 and the number of chemotherapy cycles administered. Besides, more chemotherapy cycles correlated with lower birthweight and head circumference at birth. Conclusions: Women with BC treated during pregnancy showed an antiangiogenic state compatible with placental insufficiency. Angiogenic factors could be useful in the clinical obstetric management of these patients; although further studies will be required to guide clinical decision-making.This study was funded by the Spanish Research Project in Health funded by ISCIII, the state plan for scientific and technical research and innovation 2015–2018, and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ref. PI15/02252. This study was also supported in part by RETICS ‘Maternal and Child Health and Development Network’ (SAMID Network), funded by the PN I + D + i 2008–2016 (Spain), ISCIII-Sub-Directorate General for Research Assessment and Promotion, and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ref. RD12/0026 and RD16/0022. O.S. was supported by SAMID Network (RD12/0026/0016 and RD16/0022/0015) and S.M. was supported by “Paseico de la mama”

Genomic heterogeneity and efficacy of PI3K pathway inhibitors in patients with gynaecological cancer

Malignitats ginecològiques; Fracció al·lel mutant; PI3KNeoplasias ginecológicas; Fracción alélica mutante; PI3KGynecologic malignancies; Mutant allele fraction; PI3KObjectives Aberrant PI3K/AKT/mTOR activation is common in gynaecological malignancies. However, predictive biomarkers of response to PI3K pathway inhibitors (PAMi) have yet to be identified. Methods We analysed the outcomes of patients with advanced gynaecological cancer with available genomic data, treated with PAMi as single agents or in combination in phase I clinical trials. Clinical relevance of the PIK3CA mutant allele fraction (MAF) was investigated. MAF of each variant was normalised for tumour purity in the sample (adjMAFs) to infer clonality of PIK3CA mutations, defined as clonal (≥0.4) or subclonal (<0.4). Results A total of 50 patients with gynaecological cancer (24 ovarian; 15 endometrial; 11 cervical) with available targeted mutation profiling were selected. PAMi therapy was matched to PIK3CA/PTEN mutation in 30 patients (60%). The overall response rate, median time to progression (mTTP) and clinical benefit rate (CBR) of the entire population were 10% (N=5), 3.57 months (2.57–4.4) and 40% (N=18), respectively. Genotype-matched therapy did not lead to a favourable CBR (OR 0.91, p=1 (0.2–3.7)) or mTTP (3.57 months (2.6–4.4) vs 3.73 months (1.9–13.2); HR 1.41; p=0.29). We did not detect differences in mTTP according to therapy or PIK3CA codon mutation (HR 1.71, p=0.24). Overall, 41% of patients had a TTP ratio (TTP PAMi/TTP on immediately prior or subsequent palliative chemotherapy) ≥1.3, without statistically significant differences according to tumour type (p=0.39), molecular alteration status (p=0.13) or therapy (p=0.54). In univariate analysis, genotype-matched therapy in patients with PIK3CA clonal events was associated with improved mTTP (HR 3.6; p=0.03). Conclusions Our study demonstrates that patients with advanced gynaecological cancer, refractory to standard therapies, achieved meaningful clinical benefit from PAMi. The impact of PI3KCA clonality on response to selected PAMi in patients with gynaecological cancer deserves further investigation

Targeted multiplex proteomics for molecular prescreening and biomarker discovery in metastatic colorectal cancer

Biomarcadores del cáncer; Cáncer metástico colorrectal; Terapias experimentalesCancer biomarkers; Colorectal metastatic cancer; Experimental therapiesBiomarcadors del càncer; Càncer metastàtic colorrectal; Teràpies experimentalsProtein biomarkers are widely used in cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction of treatment response. Here we introduce the use of targeted multiplex proteomics (TMP) as a tool to simultaneously measure a panel of 54 proteins involved in oncogenic, tumour suppression, drug metabolism and resistance, in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). TMP provided valuable diagnostic information by unmasking an occult neuroendocrine differentiation and identifying a misclassified case based on abnormal proteins phenotype. No significant differences in protein levels between unpaired primary and metastatic samples were observed. Four proteins were found differentially expressed in KRAS-mutant as compared to wild-type tumours (overexpressed in mutant: KRAS, EGFR; overexpressed in wild-type: TOPO1, TOP2A). Survival analyses revealed the association between mesothelin expression and poor overall survival, whereas lack of PTEN protein expression associated with lower progression-free survival with anti-EGFR-based therapy in the first-line setting for patients with RAS wild-type tumour. Finally, outlier analysis identified putative targetable proteins in 65% of patients lacking a targetable genomic alteration. Our data show that TMP constitutes a promising, novel molecular prescreening tool in mCRC to identify protein expression alterations that may impact on patient outcomes and more precisely guide patient eligibility to clinical trials with novel targeted experimental therapies

A retrospective validation of CanAssist Breast in European early-stage breast cancer patient cohort

Hormone-receptor positive; Chemotherapy; Early-stage breast cancerReceptor de hormonas positivo; Quimioterapia; Cáncer de mama en fase inicialReceptor d'hormones positiu; Quimioteràpia; Càncer de mama en fase inicialCanAssist Breast (CAB), a prognostic test uses immunohistochemistry (IHC) approach coupled with artificial intelligence-based machine learning algorithm for prognosis of early-stage hormone-receptor positive, HER2/neu negative breast cancer patients. It was developed and validated in an Indian cohort. Here we report the first blinded validation of CAB in a multi-country European patient cohort. FFPE tumor samples from 864 patients were obtained from-Spain, Italy, Austria, and Germany. IHC was performed on these samples, followed by recurrence risk score prediction. The outcomes were obtained from medical records. The performance of CAB was analyzed by hazard ratios (HR) and Kaplan Meier curves. CAB stratified European cohort (n = 864) into distinct low- and high-risk groups for recurrence (P 50 years (HR: 2.93 (1.44–5.96), P = 0.0002). CAB had an HR of 2.57 (1.26–5.26), P = 0.01) in women with N1 disease. CAB stratified significantly higher proportions (77%) as low-risk over IHC4 (55%) (P < 0.0001). Additionally, 82% of IHC4 intermediate-risk patients were stratified as low-risk by CAB. Accurate risk stratification of European patients by CAB coupled with its similar performance inIndian patients shows that CAB is robust and functions independent of ethnic differences. CAB can potentially prevent overtreatment in a greater number of patients compared to IHC4 demonstrating its usefulness for adjuvant systemic therapy planning in European breast cancer patients

A comprehensive biomarker analysis of microsatellite unstable/mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer cohort treated with immunotherapy

The search for immunotherapy biomarkers in Microsatellite Instability High/Deficient Mismatch Repair system (MSI-H/dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is an unmet need. Sixteen patients with mCRC and MSI-H/dMMR (determined by either immunohistochemistry or polymerase chain reaction) treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors at our institution were included. According to whether the progression-free survival with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors was longer than 6 months or shorter, patients were clustered into the IT-responder group (n: 9 patients) or IT-resistant group (n: 7 patients), respectively. In order to evaluate determinants of benefit with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, we performed multimodal analysis including genomics (through NGS panel tumour-only with 431 genes) and the immune microenvironment (using CD3, CD8, FOXP3 and PD-L1 antibodies). The following mutations were more frequent in IT-resistant compared with IT-responder groups: B2M (4/7 versus 2/9), CTNNB1 (2/7 versus 0/9), and biallelic PTEN (3/7 versus 1/9). Biallelic ARID1A mutations were found exclusively in the IT-responder group (4/9 patients). Tumour mutational burden did not correlate with immunotherapy benefit, neither the rate of indels in homopolymeric regions. Of note, biallelic ARID1A mutated tumours had the highest immune infiltration and PD-L1 scores, contrary to tumours with CTNNB1 mutation. Immune microenvironment analysis showed higher densities of different T cell subpopulations and PD-L1 expression in IT-responders. Misdiagnosis of MSI-H/dMMR inferred by discordances between immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction was only found in the IT-resistant population (3/7 patients). Biallelic ARID1A mutations and Wnt signalling activation through CTNNB1 mutation were associated with high and low T cell immune infiltrates, respectively, and deserve special attention as determinants of response to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. The non-MSI-H phenotype in dMMR is associated with poor benefit to immunotherapy. Our results suggest that mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy are multi-factorial

A Comprehensive Biomarker Analysis of Microsatellite Unstable/Mismatch Repair Deficient Colorectal Cancer Cohort Treated with Immunotherapy

Biomarkers; Colorectal cancer; ImmunotherapyBiomarcadors; Càncer colorectal; ImmunoteràpiaBiomarcadores; Cáncer colorrectal; InmunoterapiaThe search for immunotherapy biomarkers in Microsatellite Instability High/Deficient Mismatch Repair system (MSI-H/dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is an unmet need. Sixteen patients with mCRC and MSI-H/dMMR (determined by either immunohistochemistry or polymerase chain reaction) treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors at our institution were included. According to whether the progression-free survival with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors was longer than 6 months or shorter, patients were clustered into the IT-responder group (n: 9 patients) or IT-resistant group (n: 7 patients), respectively. In order to evaluate determinants of benefit with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, we performed multimodal analysis including genomics (through NGS panel tumour-only with 431 genes) and the immune microenvironment (using CD3, CD8, FOXP3 and PD-L1 antibodies). The following mutations were more frequent in IT-resistant compared with IT-responder groups: B2M (4/7 versus 2/9), CTNNB1 (2/7 versus 0/9), and biallelic PTEN (3/7 versus 1/9). Biallelic ARID1A mutations were found exclusively in the IT-responder group (4/9 patients). Tumour mutational burden did not correlate with immunotherapy benefit, neither the rate of indels in homopolymeric regions. Of note, biallelic ARID1A mutated tumours had the highest immune infiltration and PD-L1 scores, contrary to tumours with CTNNB1 mutation. Immune microenvironment analysis showed higher densities of different T cell subpopulations and PD-L1 expression in IT-responders. Misdiagnosis of MSI-H/dMMR inferred by discordances between immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction was only found in the IT-resistant population (3/7 patients). Biallelic ARID1A mutations and Wnt signalling activation through CTNNB1 mutation were associated with high and low T cell immune infiltrates, respectively, and deserve special attention as determinants of response to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. The non-MSI-H phenotype in dMMR is associated with poor benefit to immunotherapy. Our results suggest that mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy are multi-factorial.This research was funded by Merck Research Grants (Call 2018) in the Area of Colorectal Cancer Clinical Investigation

Analysis of mutant allele fractions in driver genes in colorectal cancer - biological and clinical insights

Sequencing of tumors is now routine and guides personalized cancer therapy. Mutant allele fractions (s, or the 'mutation dose') of a driver gene may reveal the genomic structure of tumors and influence response to targeted therapies. We performed a comprehensive analysis of s of driver alterations in unpaired primary and metastatic colorectal cancer () at our institution from 2010 to 2015 and studied their potential clinical relevance. Of 763 samples, 622 had detailed annotation on overall survival in the metastatic setting (met) and 89 received targeted agents matched to ( inhibitors), ( inhibitors), or 3 mutations (3K pathway inhibitors). s of each variant were normalized for tumor purity in the sample (adjs). We found lower adjs for 600E and 3 than for , , and non-V600 variants. 53 and 600E adjs were higher in metastases as compared to primary tumors, and high adjs were found in metastases of patients with wild-type primary tumors previously exposed to antibodies. Patients with - or 600E -mutated tumors, irrespective of adjs, had worse met. There was no significant association between adjs and time to progression on targeted therapies matched to , , or 3 mutations, potentially related to the limited antitumor activity of the employed drugs (overall response rate of 4.5%). In conclusion, the lower 600E and 3 adjs in subsets of primary tumors indicate subclonality of these driver genes. Differences in adjs between metastases and primary tumors suggest that approved therapies may result in selection of 600E - and -resistant clones and an increase in genomic heterogeneity with acquired 53 alterations. Despite significant differences in prognosis according to mutations in driver oncogenes, adjs levels did not impact on survival and did not help predict benefit with matched targeted agents in the metastatic setting

El tiempo de supervivencia medio restringido: una medida alternativa al hazard ratio en estudios de supervivencia

El hazard ratio (HR) es considerado una medida apropiada para cuantificar la efectividad de un nuevo tratamiento dentro de ensayos clínicos, en especial en el ámbito de la oncología. Sin embargo, para que el HR reportado tenga sentido se ha de cumplir la condición de proporcionalidad de riesgos (PH), hecho que no siempre sucede. A esto se añade la dificultad de interpretar correctamente el HR por parte de la comunidad médica. En este trabajo se evalúa la media restringida (RMST) como alternativa al HR. Su interpretación y estimación sencillas junto con sus mínimos requerimientos estructurales (por ejemplo, no asume PH) la convierten en una medida a tener en cuenta. Para ilustrar la estimación, aplicación e interpretación del RMST frente al HR se utiliza un conjunto de datos retrospectivos de pacientes de cáncer de colon tratados en el Hospital Vall d Hebron durante los años 1999 y 2015

El tiempo de supervivencia medio restringido: una medida alternativa al hazard ratio en estudios de supervivencia

El hazard ratio (HR) es considerado una medida apropiada para cuantificar la efectividad de un nuevo tratamiento dentro de ensayos clínicos, en especial en el ámbito de la oncología. Sin embargo, para que el HR reportado tenga sentido se ha de cumplir la condición de proporcionalidad de riesgos (PH), hecho que no siempre sucede. A esto se añade la dificultad de interpretar correctamente el HR por parte de la comunidad médica. En este trabajo se evalúa la media restringida (RMST) como alternativa al HR. Su interpretación y estimación sencillas junto con sus mínimos requerimientos estructurales (por ejemplo, no asume PH) la convierten en una medida a tener en cuenta. Para ilustrar la estimación, aplicación e interpretación del RMST frente al HR se utiliza un conjunto de datos retrospectivos de pacientes de cáncer de colon tratados en el Hospital Vall d Hebron durante los años 1999 y 2015

El tiempo de supervivencia medio restringido: una medida alternativa al hazard ratio en estudios de supervivencia

El hazard ratio (HR) es considerado una medida apropiada para cuantificar la efectividad de un nuevo tratamiento dentro de ensayos clínicos, en especial en el ámbito de la oncología. Sin embargo, para que el HR reportado tenga sentido se ha de cumplir la condición de proporcionalidad de riesgos (PH), hecho que no siempre sucede. A esto se añade la dificultad de interpretar correctamente el HR por parte de la comunidad médica. En este trabajo se evalúa la media restringida (RMST) como alternativa al HR. Su interpretación y estimación sencillas junto con sus mínimos requerimientos estructurales (por ejemplo, no asume PH) la convierten en una medida a tener en cuenta. Para ilustrar la estimación, aplicación e interpretación del RMST frente al HR se utiliza un conjunto de datos retrospectivos de pacientes de cáncer de colon tratados en el Hospital Vall d Hebron durante los años 1999 y 2015