Efficacy of chemotherapy containing bevacizumab in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer according to programmed cell death ligand 1

BACKGROUND Bevacizumab,an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)monoclonal antibody,inhibits angiogenesis and reduces tumor growth.Serum VEGF-C,lactate dehydrogenase,and inflammatory markers have been reported as predictive markers related to bevacizumab treatment.Programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-L1)could act upon VEGF receptor 2 to induce cancer cell angiogenesis and metastasis.AIM To investigate the efficacy of bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer(CRC)according to the expression of PD-L1.METHODS This analysis included CRC patients who received bevacizumab plus FOLFOX or FOLFIRI as first-line therapy between June 24,2014 and February 28,2022,at Samsung Medical Center(Seoul,South Korea).Analysis of patient data included evaluation of PD-L1 expression by the combined positive score(CPS).We analyzed the efficacy of bevacizumab according to PD-L1 expression status in patients with CRC.RESULTS A total of 124 patients was included in this analysis.Almost all patients were treated with bevacizumab plus FOLFIRI or FOLFOX as the first-line chemotherapy.While 77%of patients received FOLFOX,23%received FOLFIRI as backbone first-line chemotherapy.The numbers of patients with a PD-L1 CPS of 1 or more,5 or more,or 10 or more were 105(85%),64(52%),and 32(26%),respectively.The results showed no significant difference in progression-free survival(PFS)and overall survival(OS)with bevacizumab treatment between patients with PDL1 CPS less than 1 and those with PD-L1 CPS of 1 or more(PD-L1<1%vs PD-L1≥1%;PFS:P=0.93,OS:P=0.33),between patients with PD-L1 CPS less than 5 and of 5 or more(PD-L1<5%vs PD-L1≥5%;PFS:P=0.409,OS:P=0.746),and between patients with PD-L1 CPS less than 10 and of 10 or more(PD-L1<10%vs PD-L1≥10%;PFS:P=0.529,OS:P=0.568).CONCLUSION Chemotherapy containing bevacizumab can be considered as first-line therapy in metastatic CRC irrespective of PD-L1 expression.

Pulmonary metastasectomy for colorectal cancer: How many nodules, how many times?

Colorectal cancer(CRC)is one of the most common cancers worldwide,with 5%-15%of CRC patients eventually developing lung metastasis(LM).Despite doubts about the role of locoregional therapy in the management of systemic disease,many surgeons have performed pulmonary metastasectomy(PM)for CRC in properly selected patients.However,the use of pulmonary metastasectomy remains controversial due to the lack of randomized controlled studies.This article reviews the results of surgical treatment of pulmonary metastases for CRC,focusing on(1)current treatment guidelines and surgical techniques of PM in patients with LM from CRC;(2)outcomes of PM and its prognostic factors;and(3)controversial issues in PM,focusing on repeated metastasectomy,bilateral multiple metas-tases,and combined liver and lung metastasectomy.

Gastric leptomeningeal carcinomatosis: Multi-center retrospective analysis of 54 cases

AIM： To identify the clinical features and outcomes of infrequently reported leptomeningeal carcinomatosis （LMC） of gastric cancer.METHODS： We analyzed 54 cases of cytologically confirmed gastric LMC at four institutions from 1994 to 2007.RESULTS： The male-to-female ratio was 32：22, and the patients ranged in age from 28 to 78 years （median,48.5 years）. The majority of patients had advanced disease at initial diagnosis of gastric cancer. The clini-cal or pathologic tumor, node and metastasis stage ofthe primary gastric cancer wasin 38 patients （70%）.The median interval from diagnosis of the primarymalignancy to the diagnosis of LMC was 6.3 mo, rang-ing between 0 and 73.1 mo. Of the initial endoscopic f indings for the 45 available patients, 23 （51%） of the patients were Bormann typeand 15 （33%） patientswere Bormann type. Pathologically, 94% of cases proved to be poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas. Signet ring cell component was also observed in 40% of patients. Headache （85%） and nausea/vomiting （58%） were the most common presenting symptoms of LMC. A gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was conducted in 51 patients. Leptomeningeal enhancement was noted in 45 cases （82%）. Intrathecal （IT） chemotherapy was administered to 36 patients-primarily methotrexate alone （61%）, but also in combi-nation with hydrocortisone/± Ara-C （39%）. The median number of IT treatments was 7 （range, 1-18）. Concomitant radiotherapy was administered to 18 patients, and concomitant chemotherapy to seven patients. Sev-enteen patients （46%） achieved cytological negative conversion. Median overall survival duration from the diagnosis of LMC was 6.7 wk （95% CI： 4.3-9.1 wk）. In the univariate analysis of survival duration, hemoglobin, IT chemotherapy, and cytological negative conversion showed superior survival duration （P = 0.038, P = 0.010, and P = 0.002, respectively）. However, in our multivariate analysis, only cytological negative conversion was predictive of relatively longer survival duration （3.6, 6.7 and 14.6 wk, P = 0.03, RR： 0.415, 95% CI：0.188-0.918）.CONCLUSION： Although these patients had a fatal clinical course, cytologic negative conversion by IT chemotherapy may improve survival.

Weekly docetaxel and gemcitabine in previously treated metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

AIM: To assess the efficacy and safety of weekly docetaxel plus a fixed-dose rate(FDR) of gemcitabine in metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(SCC).METHODS: A multi-center, open-label, prospective phase Ⅱ study was designed.Thirty-three esophageal SCC patients with documented progression after fluoropyrimidine/platinum-based first-line chemotherapy were enrolled and treated with docetaxel 35 mg/m2 and gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 iv at a FDR(10 mg/m2 per minute) on days 1 and 8.Treatment was repeatedevery twenty-one days until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or consent withdrawal.The primary endpoint was response rate(RR), and secondary endpoints were safety, progression-free survival(PFS) and overall survival(OS).RESULTS: Combination of weekly docetaxel and FDR gemcitabine was well tolerated: the most common treatment-related adverse events were anemia(97%), fatigue(64%) and neutropenia(55%).One patient with multiple lung and lymph node metastases died of respiratory failure after receiving four cycles of chemotherapy, and the possibility of drug-induced pneumonitis could not be completely excluded.Disease control(objective response plus stable disease) in the ITT population was achieved in 88% of patients, and the overall RR was 30%(95%CI: 15%-46%).The median PFS and OS were 4.0(95%CI: 3.4-4.6) and 8.8 mo(95%CI: 7.8-9.8 mo), respectively.CONCLUSION: A combination of weekly docetaxel and FDR gemcitabine showed promising antitumor activity and tolerability in previously treated, metastatic esophageal SCC.

Comprehensive molecular analysis to predict the efficacy ofchemotherapy containing bevacizumab in patients with metastaticcolorectal cancer

Background:Although bevacizumab is an important treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer(CRC),not allpatients with CRC benefit from it;in unselected patient populations,only modest survival benefits have been reported.Methods:We evaluated clinical outcomes in 110 patients using comprehensive molecular characterization to identifybiomarkers for a response to bevacizumab-containing treatment.The molecular analysis comprised whole-exomesequencing,ribonucleic acid sequencing,and a methylation array on patient tissues.Results:Genomic and molecularcharacterization was successfully conducted in 103 patients.Six of 103 CRC samples were hypermutated,and none ofthe non-hypermutant tumors were microsatellite unstable.Among those 103 patients,89 had adenocarcinoma(ADC),15 were diagnosed with mucinous ADC,and six had signet-ring cell carcinoma(SRCC).Consensus molecular subtype(CMS)2 was unique to ADC.Of the four SRCCs,two were CMS1,one was CMS4,and the other was CMS3.APCmutation status was a significantly enriched factor in responders to bevacizumab treatment.Fibroblast growth factorreceptor(FGFR)1/2 signaling was upregulated in non-responders,whereas cell cycle,transfer ribonucleic acidprocessing,nucleotide excision repair,and oxidative phosphorylation pathways were enriched in responders.Inaddition,IGF1 was differentially expressed in non-responders(log2 fold change=−1.43,p=4.11×10^(−5),falsediscovery rate=0.098),and FLT1 was highly methylated in non-responders(p=7.55×10^(−3)).When the molecularpathways were reanalyzed separately according to the backbone chemotherapy(FOLFOX vs.FOLFIRI),thesignificance of the molecular pathways varied according to the backbone chemotherapy.Conclusions:This studysought a subset of CRC patients with a distinct clinical response to chemotherapy containing bevacizumab.Ourresults need to be validated in a large group of homogenous patient cohort and examined according to the differentchemotherapy backbones to create personalized therapeutic opportunities in CRC.

Tumor Response to Temsirolimus for Epithelioid Angiomyolipoma and Novel Mutation of <i>SMARCB1/INI1</i>Tumor Suppressor Gene

Epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML) is a rare morphologic variant of classic angiomyolipoma (AML), showing potentially malignant phenotype. AML is a benign mesenchymal tumor, which shows frequent inactivating mutations of?TSC1 (encodes harmartin) or?TSC2 (encodes tuberin) genes. Disruption of harmatin-tuberin complex and subsequent inappropriate activation of mTOR pathway is a distinct feature of AML. Thus, mTOR pathway inhibitors have shown significant clinical response in AML. Compared to the great success of mTOR inhibitors in AML, there is no standard therapy for EAML yet. Here, we present a patient with EAML who responded well to mTOR inhibitor (temsirolimus) but suffered rapid disease progression after cessation of temsirolimus. In addition, we performed Cancer Hotspot Panel (Ion AmpliSeqTM) analysis to identify novel tumorigenic properties of EAML. Of note, Cancer Hotspot Panel analysis revealed novel missense mutation in?SMARCB1 (c.1119-41G > A) tumor suppressor gene and subsequent immunohistochemistry analysis also revealed weak and partial losses ofSMARCB1/INI1 protein in nuclei of tumor cells. In this study, we suggest that mTOR inhibitors also can be effective against EAML. However, the long-term efficacy of mTOR inhibitors in EAML needs to be supported in further studies. Furthermore, we speculate that the newly found missense mutation ofSMARCB1/INI1 gene can be the possible novel tumorigenic properties of EAML and highlights the possibility of further novel targeted therapy beyond mTOR inhibitors in EAML.