Investigational New Drugs

Correction to: Eribulin, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab as first-line therapy for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: a phase II, multicenter, collaborative, open-label, single-arm clinical trial The authors would like to note the replacement of Fig. 2b, for which Fig. 2a was placed erringly, with appropriate Fig. 2b.

Correction to: Phase II study of sunitinib in Japanese patients with unresectable or metastatic, well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor In the original publication of this article, the license subtype should be CC BY and not CC BY-NC.

HER-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors enhance response to trastuzumab and pertuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer Summary Despite trastuzumab and pertuzumab improving outcome for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, the disease remains fatal for the majority of patients. This study evaluated the anti-proliferative effects of adding anti-HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) to trastuzumab and pertuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer cells. Afatinib was tested alone and in combination with trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer cell lines. TKIs (lapatinib, neratinib, afatinib) combined with trastuzumab and/or pertuzumab were tested in 3 cell lines, with/without amphiregulin and heregulin-1β. Seven of 11 HER2-positive cell lines tested were sensitive to afatinib (IC50 < 80 nM). Afatinib plus trastuzumab produced synergistic growth inhibition in eight cell lines. In trastuzumab-sensitive SKBR3 cells, the TKIs enhanced response to trastuzumab. Pertuzumab alone did not inhibit growth and did not enhance trastuzumab-induced growth inhibition or antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Pertuzumab enhanced response to trastuzumab when combined with lapatinib but not neratinib or afatinib. In two trastuzumab-resistant cell lines, the TKIs inhibited growth but adding trastuzumab and/or pertuzumab did not improve response compared to TKIs alone. Amphiregulin plus heregulin-1β stimulated proliferation of SKBR3 and MDA-MB-453 cells. In the presence of the growth factors, neither antibody inhibited growth and the TKIs showed significantly reduced activity. The triple combination of trastuzumab, pertuzumab and a TKI showed the strongest anti-proliferative activity in all three cell lines, in the presence of exogenous growth factors. In summary, addition of anti-HER2 TKIs to combined anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody therapy results in enhanced anticancer activity. These data contribute to the rationale for studying maximum HER2 blockade in the clinic.

Clinical outcomes of patients with G1/G2 neuroendocrine tumors arising from foregut or hindgut treated with somatostatin analogs: a retrospective study Summary Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are rare tumors for which somatostatin analogs (SSA) are used not only for symptom control due to a functioning tumor, but also for the disease control of unresectable NET. The efficacy of SSA for midgut NET has been verified by previous studies, but insufficient evidence exists for SSA treatment of NET in the foregut and hindgut (F/H-NET). The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy of SSA for unresectable F/H-NET. Patients with unresectable F/H-NET treated with SSA between February 2011 and August 2017 at our hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Parameters of efficacy were progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival, objective response rate (ORR), and adverse events. Twelve cases with unresectable F/H-NET were extracted from our database. With a median follow-up time of 25.9 months, the median PFS was 13.6 months. Two- and 3-year survival rates were 87.5 and 62.5%, respectively. The ORR was 8.3%, and the disease control rate was 75%. Serious adverse events were not observed. Subgroup analysis, including G1/G2, and hepatic tumor load, which is the volume of NET liver metastases, did not reveal a difference in PFS. The efficacy and safety of SSA for F/H-NET seemed similar to that found in the PROMID study, highlighting its relevance for the treatment of this disease.

The metronomic all-oral DEVEC is an effective schedule in elderly patients with diffuse large b-cell lymphoma Summary Metronomic-chemotherapy (M-CHT) has been rarely assessed in non-Hodgkin-lymphoma (NHL). Therefore, in 2011 we started experimenting a new all-oral M-CHT schedule termed DEVEC (Deltacortene®, etoposide, vinorelbine, cyclophosphamide, +/-Rituximab) in diffuse-large-B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. Methods Patients with stage Ib-IV were enrolled as follows: 1) treatment-naïve, frail ≥65y, or unfit ≥85y; and 2)relapsed/refractory (R/R) ≥55y. Data were prospectively collected from six Italian centres and compared for efficacy to two reference groups, treated with established iv Rituximab-CHT in 1st and 2nd line respectively. Results from April-2011 to March-2018, 17/51(33%) naïve, 21/51(41%) refractory and 13/51(25.5%) relapsed patients started DEVEC; 39/51(76.5%) were de-novo DLBCL; 10/51(19.6%) transformed-DLBCL and 2/51(3.9%) unclassifiable-DLBCL/classical-Hodgkin-lymphoma. The median age was 85y (range=77-93) and 78y (range=57-91) in naïve and R/R respectively and overall the DEVEC patients had very poor features compared to the reference. The rate of grade≥3 haematological-AEs was 43%(95CI=29-58%): G3-neutropenia was the most frequent; grade≥3 extra-haematological-AEs was 13.7% (95%CI=5.4-25.9%), the most frequent was infection. One-year OS and PFS were 67% and 61% for naive, 60% and 50% for reference-naïve respectively; Cox proportional hazard ratio (Cox-PH-ratio) for OS and PFS were 0.69 (95%CI=0.27-1.76;p=.441) and 0.68 (95%CI=0.28-1.62;p=.381) respectively. One-year OS and PFS were 48% and 39% in the R/R, 36% and 17% in the reference-R/R respectively; Cox-PH-ratio for OS and PFS, were 0.76 (95%CI=0.42-1.40; p=.386) and 0.48 (95%CI=0.28-0.82; p=.007) respectively. Conclusion The favourable activity of DEVEC compared to a real-life series and the convenience of an oral administration, may possibly lay the groundwork for a paradigm-shift in the treatment of elderly DLBCL.

Phase 1 trial of enzalutamide in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer Summary Background Androgens were shown to play a key role in the growth and progression of pancreatic cancer. We evaluated the safety and tolerability of the combination of enzalutamide, a novel androgen receptor (AR) antagonist with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel as a first-line treatment in advanced pancreatic cancer. Methods We used the standard 3 + 3 dose escalation design with cohort expansion to evaluate 2 dose levels of enzalutamide: 80 mg and 160 mg/day orally (phase 1a) in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients. In the expansion phase (phase 1b), AR+ was a pre-requisite criterion. We also evaluated the full pharmacokinetic (PK) profile for nab-paclitaxel and enzalutamide. Results We enrolled 24 patients, 12 patients in phase 1a and 12 patients in phase 1b. The median age was 68 (range, 32–84) years. No DLTs were observed. Grade 3/4 treatment related adverse events included neutropenia (44%), anemia (40%), leukopenia (24%), nausea and vomiting (20%), diarrhea (16%), infections (12%), thrombocytopenia (8%), thromboembolic event (8%), hypertension (8%), hypokalemia (8%), hyponatremia (8%), and ALT elevation (8%). Median overall survival and progression-free survival was 9.73 [95%CI:9.73–13.5] and 7.53 (95%CI:6.05–12.8) months, respectively. PK analysis suggests that the combination therapy does not impact the kinetics of either drug evaluated. Enzalutamide reached steady-state levels between day 22 and 29 and the mean half-life of nab-paclitaxel was 19.6 ± 4.7 h. Conclusions Enzalutamide 160 mg daily in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel can be safely administered with no unexpected toxicities. We also noticed preliminary signals of efficacy with this combination.

Pharmacological effects of the simultaneous and sequential combinations of trifluridine/tipiracil (TAS-102) and 5-fluorouracil in fluoropyrimidine-sensitive colon cancer cells Summary The aim of this study was to investigate possible synergistic effects in vitro of trifluridine/tipiracil (TAS-102) and 5-fluoruracil (5-FU) on fluoropyrimidine-sensitive colon cancer cell lines of different mutational status in order to build a rational basis for the future use of this combination therapy in adjuvant settings or as a first-line treatment for metastatic disease. Proliferation assays were performed on HT-29 (B-raf mutated), SW-620 (ras mutated), and Caco-2 (wild type) colon cancer cell lines exposed to 120-h treatments of 5-FU, TAS-102 and their different combination schedules (simultaneous, sequential and reverse) at equimolar and non-equimolar ratios. The synergistic, additive and antagonistic effects of 5-FU and TAS-102 were determined by the combination index (CI) and dose reduction index (DRI). Our preclinical in vitro results may suggest an apparently counterintuitive but strongly synergistic combination of 5-FU and TAS-102 in fluoropyrimidine-sensitive colon cancer cells allowing a marked theoretical reduction in the administered doses of both drugs. In particular, this association seems to be highly effective in wild-type colon cancer cells, both in sequential and simultaneous schedules. Together, these data may build a rational basis for the future use of TAS-102 combined with 5-FU in adjuvant settings, or as a first-line treatment for metastatic disease.

Combination treatment of cancer cells with pan-Akt and pan-mTOR inhibitors: effects on cell cycle distribution, p-Akt expression level and radiolabelled-choline incorporation Summary Signal transduction pathways, which regulate cell growth and survival, are up-regulated in many cancers and there is considerable interest in their pharmaceutical modulation for cancer treatment. However inhibitors of single pathway components induce feedback mechanisms that overcome the growth moderating effect of the inhibitor. Combination treatments have been proposed to provide a more complete pathway inhibition. Here the effect of dual treatment of cancer cells with a pan-Akt and a pan-mTOR inhibitor was explored. Breast (SKBr3 and MDA-MB-468) and colorectal (HCT8) cancer cells were treated with the pan-Akt inhibitor MK2206 and pan-mTOR inhibitor AZD8055. Cytotoxic effect of the two drugs were determined using the MTT assay and the Combination Index and isobolomic analysis used to determine the nature of the interaction of the two drugs. Flow cytometry and western blot were employed to demonstrate drug effects on cell cycle distribution and phosph-Aktser473 expression. Radiolabelled ([methyl-3H]) Choline uptake was measured in control and drug-treated cells to determine the modulatory effects of the drugs on choline incorporation. The two drugs acted synergistically to inhibit the growth rate of each cancer cell line. Flow cytometry demonstrated G0/G1 blockade with MK2206 and AZD8055 which was greater when cells were treated with both drugs. The incorporation of [methyl-3H] choline was found be decreased to a greater extent in cells treated with both drugs compared with cells treated with either drug alone. Conclusions Pan-mTOR and pan-Akt inhibition may be highly effective in cancer treatment and measuring changes in choline uptake could be useful in detecting efficacious drug combinations.

Eribulin, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab as first-line therapy for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: a phase II, multicenter, collaborative, open-label, single-arm clinical trial Summary Purpose To examine the efficacy and safety of triple therapy with eribulin, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) who never received any prior therapy in the first-line metastatic/advanced setting. Methods Eribulin 1.4 mg/m2 (days 1 and 8), trastuzumab 8 mg/kg over 90 min and 6 mg/kg over 30 min, and pertuzumab 840 mg/body over 60 min and 420 mg/body over 30 min were administered intravenously in 21-day cycles. Results 25 women (median age, 57 years [range, 41–75 years]) received a median of 10 cycles (range, 0–34 cycles); 24 had performance status (PS) 0, 1 PS 1, 8 stage IV breast cancer, and 17 recurrence. Lung and liver metastases occurred in 9 and 9 patients, respectively. Median time to treatment failure with eribulin was 9.1 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.3–13.9 months), and median progression-free survival was 23.1 months (95% CI, 14.4–31.8 months). The overall response rate (complete response [CR] + partial response [PR]) was 80.0% (95% CI, 59.3–93.2%), and the clinical benefit rate (CR + PR + stable disease ≥24 weeks) was 84.0% (95% CI, 63.9–95.5%). The most common treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were alopecia (92.0%), fatigue (68.0%), and sensory peripheral neuropathy (60.0%). Grade 3/4 TEAEs occurred in 11 patients (44.0%). The only grade 4 TEAE was neutrophil count decreased (16.0%). Neither grade 4 peripheral neuropathy nor febrile neutropenia occurred. Conclusions ETP therapy showed acceptable efficacy and safety and is a potential first-line therapy for patients with HER2-positive MBC.

Phase I/II study of everolimus combined with mFOLFOX-6 and bevacizumab for first–line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer Summary Background This phase I/II trial evaluated toxicity and antitumor activity of everolimus plus mFOLFOX6 + bevacizumab for first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Methods A phase I, modified 3 + 3 Fibonacci schema determined the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of everolimus, followed by phase II dose expansion. The phase II primary objective was progression-free survival at 6 months (PFS-6 m). Results The everolimus MTD was 10 mg daily with mFOLFOX6 + bevacizumab based on safety from phase I (n = 22). Twenty-five patients were treated in the phase II at 10 mg everolimus daily. Frequent grade 3–4 adverse events were neutropenia (64%), leukopenia (28%) and hypokalemia (26%). Grade 2 stomatitis was observed in 62% of patients. Two dose-limiting toxicities were observed with one attributed to everolimus 10 mg daily (grade 3 diarrhea, hypokalemia, and anorexia) and grade 3 coronary vasospasm attributed to fluorouracil. The objective response rate was 53% and was higher (86%) in those with PTEN deficiency. PFS-6 m was 96% (95% CI 89–99.9%) at the MTD (n = 35). The everolimus recommended phase II dose of this regimen is 7.5 mg daily due to frequent stomatitis and dose reductions. Conclusions Everolimus plus mFOLFOX-6 + bevacizumab is tolerable and demonstrated preliminary efficacy for first-line mCRC. Further studies are warranted in PTEN deficiency.

Alexandros Sfakianakis
Anapafseos 5 . Agios Nikolaos
Crete.Greece.72100
2841026182

6948891480

alsfakia@gmail.com