Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Anticipating the Future of Hodgkin Lymphoma May 21, 2019

Show notes

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article "PET Score Has Greater Prognostic Significance Than Pre-Treatment Risk Stratification in Early-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma in the UK NCRI RAPID Study" by Barrington et al. My name is Brue Cheson, and I am at Georgetown University Hospital, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. My Hematologic-oncologic specialty is Lymphoma.

Hodgkin lymphoma is clearly one of the most dramatic success stories in modern oncology. More than 90% of patients with limited disease and about 85% with advanced disease are cured using conventional chemotherapy regimens. As a consequence, current clinical trials are focusing on augmenting or modifying treatment for those at higher risk and decreasing the intensity or duration of therapy for those at a lower risk of treatment failure.

One important question has been: how best to distinguish those disparate groups? Over the years, various prognostic scoring systems have been devised. The International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) differentiated patients into 6 groups using 7 clinical and laboratory factors. However, only 7% of patients are in both the most and least favorable groups. The German Hodgkin study Group (GHSG) and the EORTC each published criteria slightly different from each other for treatment selection. Nevertheless, it is not clear that any of these schemas remains relevant in the context of current Hodgkin regimens. More importantly, they do not reliably dictate how to treat patients, nor do they offer therapeutic targets.

FDG-PET scanning has revolutionized our management of patients with lymphoma. In 2005 we first demonstrated that integration of PET into standard response assessment improved the ability to distinguish between residual tumor and fibrosis in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, leading to a revision of standardized response criteria. More recent studies have confirmed this observation in Hodgkin lymphoma and other histologies. Patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma can be distinguished into high and low risk groups based on PET scan results after 2 cycles of standard ABVD chemotherapy, regardless of their pretreatment IPSS score. In a number of studies, reacting to the positive interim scan by intensifying therapy achieved outcomes markedly improved over expected.

In the paper that accompanies this podcast, Sally Barrington and her colleagues performed a secondary analysis of the RAPID trial to evaluate the role of pre-treatment risk factors and PET results in predicting outcome of patients with early stage Hodgkin lymphoma. This study accrued 602 patients who were treated with standard ABVD and underwent PET scanning after the third cycle. Those with a negative scan (a Deauville score of 1-2) were randomized to no further treatment vs involved field radiotherapy. Despite a failure to demonstrate non-inferiority of progression-free survival in this cohort, the overall survival was the same, thus sparing 90% of patients unnecessary radiotherapy. Those with a positive scan (defined as a Deauville score of 3-5), the primary focus of the current manuscript, received an additional cycle of ABVD plus radiotherapy. Only the 21 patients with a Deauville score of 5, defined as an SUV at least 3 times greater than that of the liver, had an inferior time to progression or greater risk of Hodgkin-related death. Importantly, this finding was independent of pretreatment prognostic factors using either the GHSG or EORTC scores. Whether this observation can be extrapolated to patients with features not eligible for the RAPID study, such as those with bulky mediastinal disease or B-symptoms, is presently unknown. Nonetheless, these data support the role of metabolic imaging over standard clinical and laboratory risk factors.

But we are clearly doing this all wrong. Why do we treat all patients the same and then wait until the disease has demonstrated resistance before we alter therapy? Several recent papers support the notion that anticipatory, biologically-based, risk-adapted approaches may be feasible. Pre-treatment total metabolic tumor volume (defined as the sum total of all metabolically active lesions) can predict outcome in Hodgkin lymphoma as well as follicular, diffuse large B-cell and primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. High heterogeneity of intratumoral FDG uptake distribution on PET-CT may be a marker of chemoresistance in solid tumors as well as various lymphoma histologies. Unfortunately, those tests do not provide a target against which to direct a specific agent. In contrast, a number of investigators have demonstrated a correlation between bcl-2, p53, FOXP3, CD68, STAT1, pattern of PD-1 expression, mutational patterns derived from next generation sequencing, and other factors in pre-treatment Hodgkin node biopsies and outcome. Thus, if we are able to predict outcome prior to treatment, why do we expose patients to drugs to which we know they will not benefit? The goal of treatment should be anticipatory, risk-adapted strategies whereby patients with a high likelihood of benefit may receive standard of care, unless there is another clinical question being addressed. On the other hand, those unlikely to benefit as determined prior to therapy should be spared the waste of time and toxicity and treated with novel regimens directed at specific targets. Both groups should be monitored during treatment for the emergence of mutations, with treatment altered accordingly. Yes, we may be a long way from having the appropriate tools for such an approach. But, to quote the geneticist, molecular engineer and chemist George M. Church, "The best way to predict the future is to change it". Anticipatory, risk-adapted strategies could do just that.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

An Advance for the Treatment of Osteosarcoma Apr 23, 2019

Show notes

This podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article "Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase II Study of Regorafenib in Patients with Metastatic Osteosarcoma" by Davis et al. My name is Brian Van Tine, and I am an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine. My oncologic specialty is sarcoma.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of primary malignant bone cancer, frequently occurring in children and adolescents. It can also be found in older adults around the age of 70, but unfortunately, though rare, can be found in patients of any age. Thus, Osteosarcoma is a disease that not only do pediatric oncologists need to know about, but also adult oncologists. Osteosarcoma occurs primarily at the metaphysis of the bone, in regions of rapid bone growth, in bone-forming cells called osteoblasts. Various risk factors for the development of osteosarcoma include underlying bone pathologies, such as Paget's Disease, prior radiation treatment, and genetic predisposition due to mutations, such as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, caused by mutations to TP53, or in retinoblastoma mutation patients.

Currently, in the curative setting, OS is treated with chemotherapy with cisplatin, doxorubicin, and high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX), followed by surgical resection of the tumor. Patients who relapse with metastatic disease have limited options, regiments such as ifosfamide with etoposide and gemcitabine with docetaxel are used with an expected 4-month PFS of only 12%, but the standard of care for osteosarcoma has not changed in 30 years.

This is where the Sarcoma Alliance for Research and Collaboration, or SARC for short, comes in. SARC is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and support of research for the prevention, treatment and cure of sarcoma. It is a collaborative group comprised of leading sarcoma physicians dedicated to performing clinical trials in rare diseases. It is their 24th trial and is the subject of the JCO article that accompanies this podcast, where Dr. Lara Davis and colleagues report their findings of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase II Study of Regorafenib in Patients with Metastatic Osteosarcoma.

This trial took place across 12 US centers between 2014 and 2018 and enrolled 42 patients between the ages of 18 and 76. Once again, the age distribution highlights that osteosarcoma is not just a pediatric disease, and that there is a dedication to rare disease researchers to accrue to rare disease clinical trials at SARC. In this trial, patients were randomized one to one to either Regorafenib or placebo on a 28-day cycle and responses were assessed using RECIST version 1.1 every 8 weeks. At the time of progression on placebo, patients were allowed to crossover to Regorafenib.

Following the release of the European REGOBONE trial, a study of similar design that showed a significant benefit of regorafenib in osteosarcoma patients, an independent Data Safety and Monitoring Committee (DSMC) was convened by SARC due to concerns regarding continuing to enroll on a placebo-controlled study. The committee recommended closing the study after enrollment of 42 or the 48 planned patients.

Here is what they found. At the time of analysis, they found a progression free survival of 3.6 months for Regorafenib and 1.7 months for placebo with a hazard ratio of = 0.42; a 95% confidence interval of 0.21-0.85, and a p=0.017. Given the crossover design, there was no overall survival seen with a p-value of 0.62. In addition, no new safety concerns with regorafenib treatment were identified during SARC024 and adverse events were generally manageable with dose reductions. Notably, the median dose at the end of blind treatment was 120 mg. Taken together, this makes this the second trial to clearly show benefit for the use of single agent Regorafenib for the treatment of Osteosarcoma

Highlighting the issues with using RECIST to evaluate tumors that make bone in their matrix, only 3 patients on Regorafenib achieved a partial response. Whether this is a cytostatic response to Regorafenib or part of the bone biology of osteosarcoma will need to be determined in future work.

There are a number of meaningful observations that come from this trial. First, and most obviously, Regorafenib is active for the treatment of osteosarcoma and it is oral. While at this time, it is not listed in the NCCN guidelines, this publication makes the second randomized trial supporting its use. I would hope the guidelines change to reflect these publications soon.

Next, there was a very important paper published in JCO in 2016 by senior author Katy Janeway. It was a summary of seven negative phase II trials from the Children's Oncology Group (COG) that established the natural history of unresectable osteosarcoma to have an event free survival (EFS) of 12% at 4 months. They concluded that, "This evaluation provides a baseline for disease progression in a population of children and young adults with recurrent/refractory osteosarcoma that can be used as comparison for the design of future phase II trials in osteosarcoma." In the current trial and the REGOBONE trial, the placebo arms of this trial and the REGOBONE study demonstrate similar rapid progression: 10% in 16-week PFS in SARC024 and 0% in 12-week PFS in REGOBONE. These become the 8th and 9th trials with a placebo arm that supports the data of the 2016 JCO publication that stated that the progression free survival of placebo for the treatment of osteosarcoma is well established. To be fair to the authors and to be clear, SARC24 was started two years before the Janeway publication, but are supportive of stopping placebo controls in phase II trials of osteosarcoma in future trial designs.

Once again, the authors are to be congratulated on their findings, which I find practice changing. Their dedication to rare cancer research is benefitting patients that agree to participate in clinical trials. Working together they have identified an active agent for the treatment of osteosarcoma. It will be interesting to see what the next steps are for the SARC team, as they have proposed combination studies based on Regorafenib in their discussion.

Finally, rare disease research and clinical trials in sarcoma are desperately needed to improve the outcomes of our patients. Thank you to JCO for highlighting the work from Lara Davis and colleges and the Sarcoma Alliance for Research and Collaboration. This national organization has sites across the country where sarcoma patients can enroll on clinical trials. A list of adult and pediatric sarcoma referral centers and the clinical trials that are available in sarctrials.org.

This concludes this JCO podcast. Thank you for listening.

The Heartbreak of Cancer Treatment: The Latest in Late Cardiac Toxicity Mar 13, 2019

Show notes

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article "Therapy-Related Cardiac Risk in Childhood Cancer Survivors: An Analysis of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study" by Bates et al. My name is Joseph Carver, and I am the Chief of Staff at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My specialty is cardio-oncology.

It is universally accepted that therapeutic radiotherapy and/or anthracycline-based chemotherapy have a significant impact on the heart resulting in cardiac morbidity and mortality. High risk groups are now defined on the basis of a doxorubicin-equivalent anthracycline dose of ≥250 mg/m2 and/or total radiation dose of ≥30 Gy when the heart is in the treatment field. It is universally accepted that therapeutic radiotherapy and/or anthracycline-based chemotherapy have a significant impact on the heart resulting in cardiac morbidity and mortality. High risk groups are now defined on the basis of a doxorubicin-equivalent anthracycline dose of ≥250 mg/m2 and/or total radiation dose of ≥30 Gy when the heart is in the treatment field. Total dose delivered does not reflect specific cardiac exposure. This has led to report the mean heart dose that is the percent cardiac volume within the radiation fields. For most treated patients, discovery of anthracycline cumulative dosing is easily abstracted and straightforward. For modern therapeutic radiation, however, historical mean heart dose or other cardiac dosimetric parameters have not been traditionally reported and may be more difficult to obtain. This has led to a lack of consensus about the cardiovascular risk when the total dose is <30 Gy,

In the article that accompanies this podcast, Bates et al1 enhance our understanding of the association between cardiac volume exposure to different radiation therapy doses and rates of serious cardiac conditions among long term survivors of pediatric cancer and reaffirms the association of cumulative anthracycline dose and subsequent risk for cardiomyopathy.

With data from the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Study, they determined the rates of self-reported grade 3-5 cardiac conditions as defined by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.03 in 24,214 >5-year survivors who were treated for a variety of cancers at a median age of 7 years. Evaluation occurred at a median follow-up of 20.3 years with a median attained age of 27.5 years. Late cardiac risk was compared to 5,046 untreated siblings. For each survivor, radiation fields were reconstructed on age-specific phantoms to calculate estimated mean heart dose and the percent of heart volume receiving at least 5 Gy (low dose) and 20 Gy (higher dose). Doxorubicin-equivalent doses were similarly abstracted.

Toxicity parameters were any cardiac disease, coronary artery disease and heart failure. They found a cumulative incidence of cardiac disease, 30 years from diagnosis of 4.8% (95% CI 4.3-5.2). There was a dose relationship between mean heart dose and all parameters. Both low-moderate doses (5-19.9 Gy) to a large volume of the heart (>50%) and higher doses (≥20Gy) to small cardiac volumes (0.1-29.9%) were associated with an increased risk of cardiac disease. Heart failure drove the risk of high doses to small volumes while CAD drove the risk of low doses to large volumes.

Similarly, they reconfirm the relationship between cumulative anthracycline dosing and any cardiac disease with an increased risk for those treated at a younger age (≤ 13 years of age). An increased relative risk for any cardiac disease was also present with any anthracycline exposure (0.1-

This study shows that low-moderate dose RT to a large volume of the heart and higher-dose RT to a small volume of the heart increase the risk of late cardiac disease. It also reconfirms the association of cumulative anthracycline dosing and cardiac risk, especially in patients who were treated at

What are the take-home points of this study?

In spite of modern techniques to deliver therapeutic radiation and avoid the heart, a "safe" cardiac dose has not been well-defined. Two large retrospective, phantom-based studies have shown an increased risk of coronary heart disease of 7.4% per 1 Gy MHD in breast cancer and lymphoma patients. These studies have not only alerted radiation oncologists to the potential risk of even "low" radiation doses to the heart but have also driven them to push RT planning algorithms to optimize one parameter, mean heart dose. The problem with this single metric is that two treatment plans with vastly different dose maps can have the same mean heart dose: 1) low dose spread out to a large volume such as in an intensity modulated radiotherapy plan; or 2) high dose to a small volume (that may include the left anterior coronary artery) with almost no dose to the rest of the heart such as in breast tangents or a proton therapy plan. Even with current image-driven treatment planning algorithms that prioritize a low mean heart dose, it is still possible to deliver higher doses of radiation to cardiac substructures. The results from this paper have major implications for treatment planning and delivery, informing us to be wary of low dose generic mean heart dose metrics and makes a case for universal adaptation of the quantification of structure-specific dose exposure and attention to the "low-dose cloud" in the rest of the heart.

For survivorship and surveillance, there are implications for guideline development evolving one step beyond binary "high risk/low risk" stratification to understand that any exposure to anthracyclines and/or therapeutic radiation is part of a continuum of risk: low risk is not no risk. This continuum informs health care providers to a proactive management approach for the late survivor population that includes aggressive management of cardiac risk factors present at initial evaluation and those that emerge over the decades of survivorship.

It is equally as important to reiterate that the late cardiac toxicity due to therapeutic radiation and anthracyclines pales in comparison to the risk associated with untreated traditional cardiac risk factors: (obesity, cigarette smoking, sedentary life style, diabetes, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome) and when they are present in this population, they magnify the 4.8% cardiac event risk defined by Bates.

This study also provides additional rationale for the field of cardio-oncology- for greater collaboration between medical and radiation oncologists and cardiologists at every step of the cancer treatment continuum.

I congratulate Bates and colleagues for this potentially paradigm changing contribution and am optimistic that further enhancements in radiotherapy planning and delivery will reduce late cardiac toxicity and improve survival.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

Programmed Cell Death-1 Pathway Inhibitors Enter Center Stage as First-Line Treatment of Advanced Merkel Cell Carcinoma Mar 08, 2019

Show notes

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article Durable Tumor Regression and Overall Survival in Patients with Advanced Merkel Cell Carcinoma Receiving Pembrolizumab as First-Line Therapy by Paul Nghiem, MD, PhD et al. My name is Reed Drews, and I am a member of the Cutaneous Oncology Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. My oncologic specialty is non-melanoma skin cancers.

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare, aggressive neuroendocrine skin malignancy with high propensity for local recurrence and regional lymph node and systemic metastases. Its incidence rises exponentially with aging and is 10-fold higher in chronically immunosuppressed patients. When Merkel cell carcinoma is advanced and/or unresectable, historical 5-year overall survival rates are low, from 14 to 27%. Cytotoxic chemotherapies, like platinum plus etoposide used in other high-grade neuroendocrine malignancies, have not yielded durable response rates.

The cutaneous cell (or cells) of origin in Merkel cell carcinoma remains controversial. Nevertheless, scientists have identified 2 pathogenetic pathways leading to Merkel cell carcinoma. In 80% of cases, clonal integration of a polyomavirus leads to Merkel cell polyoma virus-positive Merkel cell carcinoma. In the other 20% of cases, ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage leads to polyoma virus-negative Merkel cell carcinoma. Polyoma virus-negative Merkel cell tumors display predominant cytosine to thymine transitions, a signature of DNA damage from UV light, and they have a 100-fold greater mutational burden than virus-positive Merkel cell cancers. For both subtypes, loss of immune surveillance, as with aging or chronic immunosuppression, contributes to Merkel cell carcinoma development, with diminished non-self-antigen recognition of UV-induced neo-antigens in virus-negative tumors and viral oncoproteins in Merkel cell polyoma virus-positive tumors.

Given these factors, investigators have recently studied whether immune checkpoint inhibitors might hold promise for managing advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. To date, 3 antibody inhibitors of the programmed cell death-1 pathway (abbreviated PD-1), including anti-PD-ligand-1 avelumab, anti-PD-1 nivolumab and anti-PD-1 pembrolizumab, have been tested in patients with chemotherapy-refractory and/or treatment naïve Merkel cell carcinoma. The 62% objective response rate from avelumab in treatment-naïve Merkel cell carcinoma was nearly twice that observed in chemotherapy-refractory disease. In 2017 avelumab became the first immune checkpoint inhibitor approved by the FDA for advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. Nivolumab yielded similar results, as did pembrolizumab according to a 2016 report from Nghiem and colleagues of a multicenter, phase 2, non-controlled study with 26 patients.

As reported in this JCO publication, Nghiem and colleagues have now increased their cohort to 50 patients through the multicenter expanded phase 2, Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network-09/Keynote-017 trial. They administered pembrolizumab 2 mg/kg intravenously every 3 weeks for up to 2 years. Median follow-up time was 14.9 months, with a range from 0.4 to 36.4 months. This represents the longest follow-up to date of any anti-PD-1 pathway inhibitor for first-line treatment of advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. The 50-patient cohort included 43 patients with (stage IV) distant metastatic disease and 7 with stage IIIB recurrent locoregional disease not amenable to definitive surgery or radiation therapy. All patients had normal organ and bone marrow function and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 to 1. Key exclusion criteria were previous systemic therapy for unresectable Merkel cell carcinoma, immunodeficiency or systemic immunosuppressive therapy, active autoimmune disease, concurrent second cancer, and active central nervous system metastases.

The median age of enrolled patients was 70.5 years, with 80% age 65 or older. 64% of patients had Merkel cell polyoma virus-positive tumors. For previous management of their primary Merkel cell carcinoma, 42 patients had had surgery, and 35 patients had had radiation treatment. While no patient had previously received systemic therapy for advanced Merkel cell carcinoma, 3 patients had received adjuvant chemotherapy greater than 6 months prior to study enrollment.

Patients received a median of 10.5 doses of pembrolizumab – range 1 to 35 doses—and the median treatment duration was 6.6 months – range 1 day to 23.6 months. Radiographic responses were assessed centrally per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, version 1.1. Responses were generally rapid and durable with 2.8 months as the median time to response – range 1.5 to 9.7 months. The objective response rate to pembrolizumab was 56%, with complete and partial responses of 24% and 32%, respectively; 10% had stable disease; and 32% had progressive disease.

At time of data analysis, 20 of 28 responses were on-going, and the median durability of response had not been reached. The Kaplan-Mier estimation of response durability at 24 months was 79.1%. Median progression free survival was 16.8 months, and the Kaplan-Mier estimation of progression free survival at 24 months was 48.3%. Median overall survival had not yet been reached. The Kaplan-Mier estimation of overall survival rate at 24 months was 68.7%.

Tumor viral status, as determined by small T-antigen specific antibodies in serum or large T-antigen expression in tumor biopsies by immunohistochemistry, did not correlate with any study outcomes, such as progression free survival or overall survival. However, a trend towards improvement of these outcomes appeared in patients with PD-L1-positive tumors, as defined by cell-surface PD-L1 expression on at least 1% of tumor or immune cells.

The safety profile of pembrolizumab in advanced Merkel cell carcinoma was similar to that in other studies of anti-PD-1 pathway inhibitors: 28% of patients had grade 3 or greater treatment-related adverse events, causing 14% of patients to discontinue treatment. A 73-year old male patient with widely metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma and pre-existing atrial fibrillation died after developing pericardial and pleural effusions 1 day after one infusion of pembrolizumab. Other adverse events were generally manageable and typical of complications of anti-PD-1 pathway inhibitors, including adrenal insufficiency, colitis, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, infusion-related reaction, myocarditis, pancreatitis, pneumonitis, maculopapular rash and thyroiditis.

With such impressive rates of durable tumor regression and overall survival, on December 19, 2018, the FDA granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab for treating patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma. Today's standard of care for advanced Merkel cell carcinoma is an anti-PD-1 pathway inhibitor, and the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology in 2018 recommended avelumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab as preferred first-line therapy for advanced Merkel cell carcinoma, ahead of cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Future studies must determine what role anti-PD-1 pathway inhibitors will play in the neo-adjuvant and adjuvant settings when managing early stage Merkel cell carcinoma with high-risk features. Prior to immune check point inhibitors, neo-adjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy were considered case-by-case, absent strong evidence for benefit. However, now with impressive results from anti-PD-1 pathway inhibitors in advanced Merkel cell carcinoma, adjuvant nivolumab and avelumab are being evaluated in 2 randomized phase II trials. Nivolumab is also undergoing study in the neoadjuvant setting, and researchers presented promising preliminary results of a phase I/II study at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. We look to Nghiem, his colleagues and other investigators to keep us informed regarding future advances, including insights into mechanisms of resistance to the immune checkpoint inhibitors.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

Potential for Parenthood After Childhood Cancer: Perceptions and Reality Feb 27, 2019

Show notes

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article Gonadal Functioning and Perceptions of Infertility Risk among Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Report from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study by Lehmann et al. My name is Leslie Schover, and I am retired from the faculty of MD Anderson Cancer Center and currently Founder of Will2Love.com a digital health company in Houston, Texas. My oncologic specialty is cancer-related problems with reproductive health, i.e. sexual function and fertility.

Damaged fertility is unfortunately quite common in survivors of childhood cancer. A variety of chemotherapy drugs, as well as surgery affecting parts of the reproductive system or radiation therapy focused on the pelvis or brain, can damage spermatogenesis, reduce ovarian reserve, or interfere with uterine function. In general, males are more at risk than females for cancer-related infertility. Some survivors do not undergo puberty without hormonal support. For others, fertility may recover over time. However, many young women who have menstrual cycles in their teens or twenties are at risk for premature ovarian failure, leaving a narrowed window of time to become pregnant. Men do not know whether they have normal sperm counts, motility, or form unless they have had a recent semen analysis. People diagnosed with cancer before puberty may never have been counseled about fertility. Even survivors treated as teens or young adults typically do not know their fertility status unless they have consulted an expert in reproductive endocrinology or andrology. Surveys of young survivors suggest that the majority want to have children, particularly those who are childless.

A number of studies have documented markers of infertility or reduced rates of offspring in survivors of cancer, but little has been known about their perceptions of their fertility status. In the paper that accompanies this podcast, Lehmann and colleagues present novel data about the risk perceptions for infertility compared to indicators of actual gonadal function in over a thousand long-term survivors of childhood cancer participating in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort. None of the participants already had children or a previous pregnancy. The mean age of the sample was 29, with a mean follow-up of 22 years since cancer diagnosis. 85% were white and 32% had at least a 4-year college degree. 52% were married or in a relationship. Only 10% of men and 16% of women had been tested for infertility outside of the study.

Gonadal function was measured by a semen analysis in 56% of men and by a panel of hormones in the others. In women under age 40, status as fertile vs. sub-fertile was assigned by chart review based on menstruation, diagnosed premature ovarian failure, or hormonal assays. Perception of risk for infertility was based on one question with a Likert scale of 5 response options, comparing one's own fertility to that of peers who had not had cancer. Answers were dichotomized into two categories: perceived at risk for fertility or perceived normal fertility.

62% did perceive themselves as at risk for infertility. Those who perceived their fertility as damaged had characteristics that would indicate potentially more knowledge about cancer and fertility, including being older, white, in a relationship, having a college education, a history of gonadotoxic treatment, having tried unsuccessfully to conceive, or having sexual dysfunction.

In actuality, 24% of women and 56% of men had evidence of impaired gonadal function. However, actual medical status had no significant relationship to perceptions of risk. The most common discordance was that the survivor believed him or herself to have damaged fertility when medical tests appeared normal. This included 20% of men and 44% of women. Inaccurate perceptions were more common in respondents who were white, had more education, had more gonadotoxic cancer therapy, were very concerned about their fertility, and had sexual dysfunction. In contrast only 16% of men and 5% of women overestimated their fertility potential.

In terms of clinical implications, it is common for young survivors to overestimate their risk of infertility. Such beliefs can diminish quality of life. A young person who feels like "damaged goods" may be distressed about the future and perhaps reluctant to date or to enter into a committed relationship. For women, risky drinking was another factor associated with overestimating fertility risk. Risky drinking, and the notion that pregnancy is impossible, may contribute to findings in other studies of excess rates of unintended pregnancies and failure to use consistent contraception in young adult female survivors. Those unaware of their damaged fertility maybe in for distress and disappointment if they try for a pregnancy. Clearly a greater effort should be made to inform young survivors about risks to fertility and to refer them for testing at intervals of fertility status.

It appears that women are much more likely than men to perceive themselves as potentially infertile, despite the fact that men are more likely to be infertile. However, the measures of gonadal function used in women were not sensitive enough to predict the likelihood of diminished ovarian reserve in the future. Many young survivors of cancer can conceive in their teens or twenties, yet have a steeper than normal drop-off in ovarian reserve with aging, so that their menopause occurs far before the average age of 51. In fact, women's fears in this study that they will have trouble getting pregnant in the future may be more accurate than they appear. Age at first pregnancy has steadily increased in our society, with women postponing childbearing until they have completed educational goals or established a working life. More cancer survivors are likely to run out of time before they are ready to have a child. One solution may be commercial egg banking before age 25-30, if fertility preservation was not accomplished before starting cancer treatment. Egg banking is expensive, however, and does not guarantee a future pregnancy.

This survey adds to our knowledge of the informational needs of survivors of cancer in childhood or teen years. Both medical and counseling support should be more readily available. Survivors with lower health literacy would be particularly good targets for such services.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

How Should We Interpret Indeterminate Pulmonary Nodules at Diagnosis in Children With Rhabdomyosarcoma? Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

This JCO podcast provides observations and commentaries on the JCO article entitled "Indeterminate Pulmonary Nodules at diagnosis in Rhabdomyosarcoma: Are they clinically significant?" A report from the European Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group by Bas Vaarwerk, MD et al.

My name is Alberto Pappo and I am the head of the division of solid tumors at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. My oncology specialty is pediatric oncology.

In this report, Bas Vaarwerk, and investigators from the European Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group evaluated the significance of indeterminate pulmonary nodules at diagnosis in children with rhabdomyosarcoma defined as the presence of less than 5 pulmonary nodules measuring less than 5mm or 1 pulmonary nodule that measured between 5 and 9 millimeters.

This analysis included 316 patients who were enrolled on the EpSSG RMS 2005 study for non-metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma from September 2005 through December 2013 and for whom chest computed tomography scans were obtained at diagnosis and were available for review. Treatment in the EpSSG RMS 2005 study was stratified according to risk group, pathology, post-surgical stage, site, nodal involvement, size and age. All patients received multi agent chemotherapy with ifosfamide (except for low risk patients), vincristine and actinomycin D (IVA chemotherapy). High risk patients were randomized to IVA or IVA with doxorubicin and after 9 courses if in complete remission, were eligible for a second randomization between end of therapy and additional maintenance therapy with 6 courses of vinorelbine and cyclophosphamide

Local control was determined by risk group, tumor site, age and response to therapy and radiotherapy was given at week 13 in doses ranging from 36 to 51.4Gy. All chest computed tomography scans were reviewed by the local radiologist at the treating center. Data was obtained and recorded using case report forms. All computed tomography scans were performed with minimum slice thickness of 3 to 5 mm.

The median age at diagnosis for the 316 eligible patients was 5.4 years and the median follow up time for the cohort was 75 months. There were 249 (78%) patients who did not have a pulmonary nodule and 67 (21%) who had at least one indeterminate pulmonary nodule. Patient and treatment characteristics were similar between the 2 groups; 80% of the patients presented with Group III unresectable disease, 54% had high risk disease, and 71% had favorable histology tumors such as embryonal histology tumors. Twenty four percent of patients received maintenance chemotherapy and 77% were treated with local radiotherapy

A total of 100 nodules were identified in the 67 patients. Nodules ranged in size from 1 to 8 mm. 69% of the patients presented with one pulmonary nodule, 92% of the patients had nodules that measured less than 5 mm 85% of the nodules were unilateral. The 5-year event-free survival for patients with indeterminate pulmonary nodules was 77% and for those without nodules 73.2%. These differences were not statistically significant with a p value of 0.68. The 5-year overall survival rates were 82% for patients with indeterminate pulmonary nodules and 80.8% for those without nodules. The differences between these 2 groups were not statistically significant with a p value of 0.76. There were no significant differences in outcomes based on the number or size of the nodules. Similarly, there were no differences in clinical outcome based on histology, fusion status, age and type of chemotherapy received. Lung metastases developed in 3% of patients with indeterminate pulmonary nodules and in 1.6% of patients without nodules a value that was not statistically significant. The authors conclude that the presence of indeterminate pulmonary nodules in newly diagnosed children with rhabdomyosarcoma as defined in this report does not adversely affect the outcome of these patients and these children can be adequately treated with non-metastatic risk-based clinical protocols.

This report highlights the challenges of assigning risk and therapy based on the presence of a limited number of small pulmonary nodules in children with newly diagnosed rhabdomyosarcoma when they are detected using newer imaging modalities such as thin cut computed tomography of the chest. The authors have successfully demonstrated in this retrospective study that newly diagnosed patients with rhabdomyosarcoma who present with indeterminate oligometastatic disease to the lung which in this study was defined as the presence of 4 or fewer pulmonary nodules measuring less than 5 mm or one nodule that measures 5 to 9 mm, have similar outcomes to patients who present without pulmonary nodules. More importantly, these patients can be treated with less intense trials that may include the use whole lung irradiation which is known to significantly increase the risk of breast cancer in childhood cancer survivors. The authors have implemented a standardized definition for indeterminate oligometastatic lung disease which is highly reproducible and easily implemented. Their results are thought provoking and deserve further validation in a well- designed prospective clinical trial.

Because of the lack of pathologic correlation with imaging findings in this report, it is not possible to determine which patients truly had oligometastatic disease to the lung. It is conceivable that some of the 67 patients with indeterminate nodules did not have actual metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma in the lung, or alternatively these results may also indicate that current risk-based therapies for localized disease are effective at eradicating small oligometastatic disease. It is important to point out however, that in this report, about one fourth of the patient population was assessed using reconstruction widths of ≤ 1.25 mm, which might have identified a larger number of small nodules of uncertain significance. In addition, 69% of the patients with indeterminate nodules had only one nodule, 92% had nodules that measured less than 5 mm and 85% had unilateral disease. All of these factors have been associated with a significantly lower likelihood of identifying biopsy proven metastatic disease in pediatric patients with sarcomas. These findings raise questions as to whether thin cuts

In summary, this report opens new areas for clinical research that could lead to a uniform strategy for defining metastatic pulmonary disease in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma and a more precise method for risk-stratifying disease in this patient population.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

The End of ENDoxifen Metabolite and CYP2D6 Testing in Tamoxifen-Treated Women? Jan 24, 2019

Show notes

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article "Tamoxifen pharmacogenetics and metabolism: Results from the prospective CYPTAM study" by Sanchez-Spitman et al. My name is Vered Stearns, and I am a Professor of Oncology and Co-Director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. My oncologic specialty is medical oncology. In the paper that accompanies this podcast, the authors report results of a prospective clinical study designated CYPTAM, which was designed to correlate endoxifen serum concentrations and outcomes of women prescribed adjuvant tamoxifen. The investigators enrolled 667 women with breast cancer who were initiating tamoxifen or who have been on tamoxifen for fewer than 12 months. The investigators obtained blood samples for CYP2D6 genotyping using the Amplichip CYP450 Test, and measured steady state concentrations of endoxifen with a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Co-primary endpoints included association of recurrence-free survival with endoxifen concentrations and with CYP2D6 genotypes. The patients were censored at the time of tamoxifen-discontinuation in case of a transition to an aromatase inhibitor. Several additional endpoints included disease-free survival, complete relapse-free survival, complete disease-free survival and overall survival. The statistical analysis plan was designed as a gate-keeper analysis for the co-primary objectives. Only if an association was found with a p-value below 0.05, were the remaining objectives considered.

The authors were not able to demonstrate an association between endoxifen concentrations and recurrence-free survival on tamoxifen. They also were not able to demonstrate an association either when exploring endoxifen concentrations in quartiles or when considering other thresholds. Likewise, there was no association between CYP2D6 genotypes and recurrence-free survival.

Almost two decades ago, researchers recognized that the absence or inhibition of the CYP2D6 enzyme is associated with very low concentrations of endoxifen, a potent and abundant anti-estrogen metabolite of tamoxifen. Whether low concentrations of endoxifen predict an inferior survival outcome has not been definitively determined. Multiple retrospective and small prospective studies evaluated CYP2D6 genotypes and survival outcomes and have provided mixed evidence. Clinicians have, therefore, wondered whether CYP2D6 genotype testing or endoxifen monitoring will assist in treatment recommendations. The CYPTAM investigators attempted to prospectively correlate endoxifen serum concentrations and outcomes for women taking tamoxifen.

The CYPTAM study is associated with several limitations, and, therefore, it does not provide a definitive answer to the controversy. For example, women were enrolled in the study either before starting tamoxifen or up to 12 months after initiation of the drug. This strategy could have led to incomplete baseline data and to the exclusion of individuals with early recurrences. In addition, about two-thirds of study participants transitioned to aromatase inhibitors following a short course of tamoxifen. The sequential administration of tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors is superior to tamoxifen alone. Some of the patients who transitioned to aromatase inhibitors could have suffered a recurrence had they have stayed on tamoxifen alone. Furthermore, the authors did not have information regarding concomitant CYP2D6 inhibitor use. CYP2D6 inhibitors are commonly co-administered with tamoxifen and can contribute to misclassification of the CYP2D6 phenotype.

The challenge moving forward is that single agent adjuvant tamoxifen is rarely used. Most postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer are recommended an aromatase inhibitor instead of, or in sequence with, tamoxifen. Premenopausal women with high risk hormone receptor-positive tumors are recommended ovarian suppression with tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor. Women prescribed tamoxifen alone are usually at extremely low risk of recurrence, and a prospective study in this group of women will require a large number of participants to demonstrate differences between phenotypes. Given current practice, it may not be feasible to fully determine the role of endoxifen concentrations and CYP2D6 genotypes as predictors of tamoxifen efficacy.

Retrospective analyses that used samples obtained through large prospective studies, such as the Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination and the Breast International Group 1-98, failed to demonstrate an association between CYP2D6 phenotypes and survival outcomes. Taken together, the data at present are insufficient to recommend CYP2D6 testing or analysis of metabolic profile in women for whom tamoxifen is considered. Indeed, clinical guidelines from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network do not recommend CYP2D6 genotyping. Moving forward, prospective studies of altered metabolism due to single nucleotide polymorphism, or administration of inhibitors, should be considered in clinical trials of standard and novel agents as these can lead to differences in drug efficacy and toxicity.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

Less is More: Precision Surveillance Imaging for Wilms Tumor Oct 18, 2018

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This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article "Impact of Surveillance Imaging Modality on Survival After Recurrence in Patients with Favorable Histology Wilms Tumor: A Report from the Children's Oncology Group" by Mullen et al. My name is Dr. Meredith Irwin, and I am an oncologist and Professor at the Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. My oncologic specialty is pediatric solid tumors.

Wilms tumor is the most common pediatric kidney tumor. With current therapies, the 5-year overall survival for newly diagnosed patients is 90%. For the 15% who relapse, most commonly in the lung or abdomen, the cure rates still often exceed 50%. The likelihood for cure is based on a number of risk factors, including histology, stage and previous therapies. Thus, similar to many pediatric cancer patients, those with Wilms undergo surveillance imaging during and following completion of upfront therapy in order to potentially discover recurrences sooner with the hope that early identification of lower disease burden will translate to higher salvage rates. However, to date, several small studies have failed to demonstrate that early detection of recurrence by surveillance imaging is associated with better prognosis for pediatric cancers including medulloblastoma, lymphoma and neuroblastoma. Moreover, with increasing awareness of the potential risks from imaging-associated ionizing radiation exposures and associated financial costs, there is significant interest in generating evidence to determine optimal surveillance strategies and limit cumulative exposures.

To address these issues for Wilms tumor, the study by Mullen et al was designed to determine whether, compared to relapses detected by surveillance with chest x-ray and ultrasound, those detected with cross-sectional CT imaging were associated with improved survival rates. To do this, four authors retrospectively reviewed flowsheets and imaging reports for patients who recurred on the 5th National Wilms Tumor Study (NWTS-5) between 1995 and 2002 to determine whether their relapses were identified by signs/symptoms or scheduled surveillance imaging. If by imaging, they recorded the modality- CT, ultrasound and/or chest x-ray. The study cohort included the 281 patients who recurred following initial diagnosis of favorable histology unilateral Wilms. All patients underwent imaging at specified time intervals, but the modalities varied.

The 5-year overall survival for this cohort post-relapse was 67%, which is similar to other studies. 48% of recurrences were detected with routine surveillance by chest x-ray or ultrasound, 25% by surveillance with CT, and 25% presented with symptoms between scheduled imaging, most commonly pain or abdominal mass. Certain characteristics differed among these groups. The CT-detected patients were more likely to be stage 4, and in the symptoms group, more relapses were extrapulmonary and occurred post-treatment. The authors asked whether the specific method of detection of relapse impacted prognosis. Although recurrences detected by symptoms were associated with an inferior 5-year survival of 55%, versus 76% for the imaging-detected group, there were no differences in survival for patients based on the imaging modality used for detection at any point during or following therapy. There was also no significant advantage to CT over u/s or x-ray for abdominal and chest relapses, respectively. Although a higher number of foci detected at recurrence and larger relapse size correlated with inferior outcomes, analyses failed to find a significant advantage for CT use in the subgroups of lung-only relapses or advanced-stage patients.

The authors also examined financial burden and radiation exposures. To determine the economic impact, the authors predicted costs based on US Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement rates. For patients with stage III disease, more than 200 imaging studies (with estimated costs between $20,000 and $45,000) were required to identify one relapse. For stage IV, between 158 and 190 studies costing more than $15,000 were needed. Estimated radiation exposures from these surveillance protocols varied between 9.4 and 83 mSv, depending on the total number of CTs. Although it is difficult to quantify how cumulative radiation doses may impact future cancer risks, expert groups have estimated that there is a 1 in 1,000 increased risk of future cancer deaths for every 10mSv exposure at age 10, and these risks are higher for patients exposed at younger ages. Other potential negative consequences of surveillance imaging not examined by these authors include the associated psychological stress for families, which is termed "scanxiety," and possible adverse neurological effects of anesthetic agents for young children.

The significance of this report is that it is the first study to compare the utility and cost of different imaging methods for the identification of Wilms tumor recurrences. In comparison to x-rays or ultrasounds, there was no advantage to using CT, which is costlier and resulted in higher radiation exposures. It is possible that an advantage to CT was not identified in part because only the best prognosis patients, those with favourable histology, were included. The authors excluded those with bilateral disease, who often have germline predisposition syndromes, and patients with anaplastic histology, which has a higher relapse rate

Ideally, a prospective RCT design would be performed to determine whether cross-sectional imaging would be superior to ultrasounds/x-ray combinations. However, given the overall excellent survival for Wilms tumor, the number of patients required to detect a significant survival advantage would likely be very large. In addition, given the cost and potential late effects of radiation exposures, engagement from oncologists, radiologists and families might be challenging.

In conclusion, the findings in this manuscript support the recommendations by Mullen and colleagues that surveillance post completion of therapy for favorable histology unilateral Wilms does not need to include CT scans and can instead be based on symptoms and ultrasound and/or x-rays. These authors did not specify whether duration of surveillance could be limited; however, a recent publication in Lancet Oncology by Brok and colleagues supported consideration of a cut-off of two years. Their SIOP study reported that the detection of one relapse 2-5 years post-therapy required 500 scans. Importantly, it remains possible that for rare patient subsets with anaplastic histologies or other biomarkers of unfavorable disease, which may include 1q LOH, surveillance protocols might need to be adjusted. This may be similar to strategies for other tumors, such as neuroblastoma, where, in comparison to patients with high-risk disease, those with low or intermediate-risk disease with survival rates of more than 80-90% are increasingly undergoing surveillance regimens without frequent CT scans, which, in part, is determined based on clinical and biological risk factors. These approaches to risk stratification of imaging are increasingly being used. Thus, clinicians may begin to modify surveillance based on the risk of recurrence for a particular subgroup of patients, similar to precision medicine approaches for treatment. However, it will be important to perform studies similar to the accompanying manuscript to generate evidence to inform and support precision surveillance imaging recommendations that are specific to different tumor types.

This concludes this JCO podcast. Thank you for listening.

How Low Can You Go? Impact of Baseline Corticosteroid Use on Immunotherapy Outcomes in Patients With Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Aug 20, 2018

Show notes

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article, "Impact of Baseline Steroids on Efficacy of PD-(L)1 Blockade in Patients With NSCLC" by Arbour et al. My name is Deepa Rangachari, and I am an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. My oncologic specialty is thoracic cancers.

For decades, the management of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer has relied on use of cytotoxic chemotherapies with a median overall survival not exceeding one year. As this longstanding therapeutic approach has been limited by modest efficacy, finite durability, and significant treatment-associated toxicity, evolving better tailored, more effective, and less toxic care strategies has long been an unmet need. Beginning in the mid-2000s with the identification of actionable oncogenic driver mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor, the landscape for personalized care in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer has been permanently transformed. Today, the evidence-based standard of care for upfront therapeutic stratification in all patients with advanced stage disease relies on mandatory genomic and immunologic profiling, with emphasis on identifying subsets of patients who will experience better outcomes and less toxicity through the use of disease-specific therapies.

It is in this landscape that the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors has flourished for patients with lung cancer. Since 2015, 3 different immune checkpoint inhibitors—Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab, and Atezolizumab—have all gained approval from regulatory agencies for management of patients with advanced stage non-small-cell lung cancer on the basis of phase III studies showing improved overall survival with more durable responses, less toxicity, and better quality of life with checkpoint inhibitors when compared with chemotherapy.[1-5] This benefit has been seen in both previously treated patients regardless of tumor programmed death ligand 1 (hereafter referred to simply as "PD-L1") status and in upfront management of patients with high tumor PD-L1, defined by a tumor proportion score >/= 50%. Combined chemoimmunotherapy for patients with non-squamous disease regardless of tumor PD-L1 status is also now a vetted approach.[6]

With widespread use of immune checkpoint inhibitors now the standard of care for many patients with this disease, important pragmatic concerns regarding concurrent use of checkpoint inhibitors and corticosteroids have emerged. Specifically, as many patients will present with refractory anorexia, nausea, fatigue, pain, brain metastases, and/or dyspnea for which corticosteroids are often used as helpful adjuncts to cancer-directed therapy for symptomatic palliation, what if any are the consequences of concurrent use? How do we balance these symptomatic issues against the need for delivering effective cancer therapy?

Due to concerns for the immunomodulatory effects of corticosteroids on T-cell activity and function, nearly all clinical trials leading to approval of these agents have excluded patients requiring the equivalent of Prednisone 10-20mg daily or more prior to initiation of checkpoint inhibitor therapy. In contrast, there is now an emerging body of evidence suggesting the safety of subsequent corticosteroid use, once checkpoint inhibitors have been started, for management of immune-related adverse events , without jeopardizing any previously achieved therapeutic benefit.[7, 8]

But what about those patients being newly initiated on checkpoint inhibitors who have been previously maintained on palliative corticosteroids?

In the article that accompanies this podcast, Arbour and colleagues present important insights into this question. This is a retrospective analysis of 640 patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer with immunotherapy-naïve disease treated with checkpoint inhibitors at the Memorial Sloan Kettering and Goustave Roussy Cancer Centers from 2011-2017. Data regarding steroid dose, mode of administration, and indications for use were collected along with efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors as assessed by an independent team of radiologists using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1. At the time of checkpoint inhibitor initiation, 90/640 (14%) of patients were receiving the equivalent of Prednisone 10mg/day or more; an additional 17 patients (or 3% of the total study population) were receiving

The most common indications for steroid use reflect those seen in routine clinical practice: dyspnea/respiratory symptoms (33%), fatigue (21%), and brain metastases (19%). Clinicopathologic characteristics between the steroid and no steroid groups were generally well balanced. As might be expected, however, there were more patients with poor performance status and history of brain metastases in the steroid group.

Amongst the Sloan Kettering cohort, steroid use of >/= 10mg/day was associated with statistically significant reductions in objective response rates (6% vs. 19%), median progression free survival (1.9 vs. 2.6 months), and median overall survival (5.4 vs. 12.1 months) in the steroid vs. no steroid groups, respectively. Similar findings were seen in the Gustave Roussy cohort. Pooled data from both cohorts confirmed the same detrimental impact of baseline steroid use >/= 10mg/day. On multivariable analysis, the findings of inferior response rates and worse progression free and overall survival in those receiving Prednisone >/= 10mg/day were upheld. Further, a similar decrement in checkpoint inhibitor efficacy was observed in patients receiving >/= 20mg/day of Prednisone as compared to those receiving lower doses of 10-19 mg/day.

Patients receiving and then discontinuing steroids 1-30 days prior to initiation of immune checkpoint inhibitors had intermediate progression free and overall survival as compared to those receiving steroids on the same day and those not receiving any steroids within 30 days of starting a checkpoint inhibitor.

The authors do additionally note that 6 patients achieved a partial response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy, despite steroid use at treatment initiation and with durable responses for most of these patients lasting >15 months.

Notable strengths of this investigation are the analysis of real world clinical scenarios where steroid use is often a pragmatic reality and the availability of highly relevant details regarding steroid dose, indication, duration, and initiation/discontinuation relative to checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Outcomes with immune checkpoint inhibitors seen in patients receiving

Limitations of the study include its retrospective nature and overall low incidence of steroid use. With the advent of combined chemoimmunotherapy regimens, finite duration steroid use concurrently with each cycle of treatment for prevention of chemotherapy-related nausea and rash has become standard. However, as patients in this study were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy, the impact of these finite, repeating courses of steroids is not explored here. Further, though multivariable analysis confirmed the independent association between steroid use and inferior outcomes with checkpoint inhibitors, a mechanistic explanation for this has not yet been elucidated. Lastly, immunologic profiling results (i.e. tumor PD-L1 status and tumor mutation burden) were not reported.

In my own practice and consistent with the observations made by Arbour and colleagues in this analysis, I try to minimize or avoid the use of daily palliative steroids for patients in whom immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy is shortly anticipated. Whenever possible, steroid-sparing alternatives should be considered and used. However, in those patients who require steroids and without reasonable alternatives (i.e. those with brain metastases and intracranial edema), medically necessary steroid therapy should not be deferred or discontinued until it is clinically safe to do so.

Arbour and colleagues should be congratulated on their important contribution to this highly relevant clinical issue.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

References:

Reck, M., et al., Pembrolizumab versus Chemotherapy for PD-L1-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. N Engl J Med, 2016. 375(19): p. 1823-1833.
Borghaei, H., et al., Nivolumab versus Docetaxel in Advanced Nonsquamous Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. N Engl J Med, 2015. 373(17): p. 1627-39.
Rittmeyer, A., et al., Atezolizumab versus docetaxel in patients with previously treated non-small-cell lung cancer (OAK): a phase 3, open-label, multicentre randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 2016.
Brahmer, J., et al., Nivolumab versus Docetaxel in Advanced Squamous-Cell Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. N Engl J Med, 2015. 373(2): p. 123-35.
Herbst, R.S., et al., Pembrolizumab versus docetaxel for previously treated, PD-L1-positive, advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (KEYNOTE-010): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 2016. 387(10027): p. 1540-50.
Gandhi, L., et al., Pembrolizumab plus Chemotherapy in Metastatic Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. N Engl J Med, 2018. 378(22): p. 2078-2092.
Horvat, T.Z., et al., Immune-Related Adverse Events, Need for Systemic Immunosuppression, and Effects on Survival and Time to Treatment Failure in Patients With Melanoma Treated With Ipilimumab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. J Clin Oncol, 2015. 33(28): p. 3193-8.
Schadendorf, D., et al., Efficacy and Safety Outcomes in Patients With Advanced Melanoma Who Discontinued Treatment With Nivolumab and Ipilimumab Because of Adverse Events: A Pooled Analysis of Randomized Phase II and III Trials. J Clin Oncol, 2017. 35(34): p. 3807-3814.

Expanding Treatment Options for Hormone Receptor-Positive, HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Aug 14, 2018

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Transcript:

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article 'First-Line Trastuzumab Plus an Aromatase Inhibitor, With or Without Pertuzumab, in HER2-Positive and Hormone Receptor-Positive Metastatic or Locally Advanced Breast Cancer (PERTAIN): A Randomized, Open-Label Phase II Trial' by Rimawi et al. My name is Sara Tolaney and I am Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. My oncologic specialty is breast cancer.

Since the seminal report of the benefits of adding trastuzumab to chemotherapy, we have seen an improvement in survival for patients with metastatic HER2-positive disease from approximately two years to now almost 5 years. This dramatic improvement in outcomes can be attributed to the use of continued anti-HER2 therapy beyond progression as well as the introduction of new HER2-directed therapies. The largest improvement in survival has come from the addition of pertuzumab to a taxane and trastuzumab as seen within the CLEOPATRA study. This resulted in an impressive almost 16-month improvement in overall survival and established this regimen as a first line standard in the metastatic setting. While chemotherapy and dual anti-HER2 therapy is the current first line treatment approach, we are now left with the question about how best to optimize therapies available to us, and whether or not there are other first line approaches we could consider in order to lessen toxicity.

One potential alternative approach for patients with hormone-receptor positive, HER2-positive disease could be to consider the use of hormonal therapy. There has been some concern that hormone-receptor positive tumors that are also HER2-positive may be relatively resistant to hormonal therapy. One reason for this may be that activation of HER2 can result in direct phosphorylation and activation of the estrogen receptor. This potential HER2 and ER bidirectional cross-talk has provided justification for combinatorial therapy targeting both of these pathways concurrently. There have been at least three trials that have examined the addition of single agent HER2-targeted therapy to hormonal therapy. The TAnDEM trial randomized a little over 200 patients with hormone-receptor positive, HER2-positive breast cancer to either anastrozole alone or in combination with trastuzumab as first line therapy and found a 2.4-month improvement in progression free survival, but no difference in overall survival. The dual EGFR/HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, lapatinib, has also been investigated in combination with hormonal therapy. A phase 3 study in the first line metastatic setting found that adding lapatinib to letrozole improved progression free survival from 3.0 to 8.2 months, and another trial that looked at adding lapatinib to fulvestrant found an improvement in progression free survival from 3.3 to 5.9 months. These three studies suggest that single agent HER2-targeted therapy adds modestly to endocrine therapy, and there has therefore been interest to see if dual HER2 targeted therapy added to hormonal therapy would result in a more significant improvement in outcomes.

Since data from CLEOPATRA had suggested that the addition of pertuzumab and trastuzumab to chemotherapy led to significant improvements in disease-free and overall-survival, In the article that accompanies this podcast, Rimawi and colleagues were interested in exploring if adding pertuzumab to trastuzumab and hormonal therapy could offer additional benefits. The PERTAIN study was a multicenter phase 2 trial that enrolled 258 patients with locally-advanced or metastatic hormone-receptor positive, HER2-positive breast cancer who had not previously received systemic therapy in the advanced disease setting, outside of endocrine therapy, and randomized them to receive trastuzumab plus an aromatase inhibitor or trastuzumab plus pertuzumab and an aromatase inhibitor. Patients were allowed to receive induction chemotherapy with a taxane for 18-24 weeks in combination with trastuzumab (with or without pertuzumab) at the treating investigator's discretion; this was decided prior to randomization and patients were stratified by whether or not they had received induction chemotherapy. The trial demonstrated an improvement in progression free survival from 15.8 months to 18.89 months with the addition of pertuzumab to an aromatase inhibitor and trastuzumab, meeting its primary endpoint. This improvement in progression free survival was not associated with a significant improvement in objective response rate (63.3 vs 55.7%). It is important to note that 57% of patients in the trial received induction chemotherapy, and subgroup analyses demonstrated that amongst those who did not receive chemotherapy, the addition of pertuzumab improved progression free survival from 12.45 months to 21.72 months. In contrast, amongst those who received induction chemotherapy, the median progression free survival was similar for those who received pertuzumab compared to those who did not, 16.89 and 16.85 months respectively. This group of patients who received induction chemotherapy had more visceral disease and a shorter medial time since initial breast cancer diagnosis. Grade 3 and 4 adverse events were more common in those patients receiving all three agents (50.4% vs 38.7%) and the most common toxicities were diarrhea, alopecia and nausea.

The PERTAIN trial represents the first randomized trial to investigate the addition of pertuzumab to trastuzumab with an aromatase inhibitor and suggests that endocrine therapy with dual anti-HER2 therapy may be a reasonable treatment approach for some patients with hormone-receptor positive, HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. There is also data looking at a different dual anti-HER2 therapy approach with endocrine therapy from the phase 3 ALTERNATIVE trial. This study looked at the benefits of adding lapatinib to an aromatase inhibitor and trastuzumab and demonstrated a 5-month improvement in progression free survival, but no improvement in overall survival. These studies suggest that upfront endocrine therapy with dual anti-HER2 therapy may offer a novel treatment option for patients that is likely less toxic and associated with a better quality of life than chemotherapy-based treatment. One must weigh the pluses and minuses of each treatment approach when choosing the appropriate first line therapy for patients. Endocrine therapy with dual anti-HER2 therapy has not yet been shown to be associated with a survival benefit, and is associated with lower objective response rates than that seen in the CLEOPATRA study, so it may not be the best approach in a patient with significant visceral disease at presentation, but may be an optimal approach in patients with limited tumor burden, or those who are not optimal candidates for chemotherapy. Work is also ongoing in the PATINA trial to see if adding cdk 4/6 inhibition to endocrine therapy and dual anti-HER2 therapy, after induction chemotherapy, will have even further benefit.

This concludes this JCO Podcast. Thank you for listening.

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