Publications by authors named "Benjamin Besse"

Introduction: Treatment options for patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with disease progression on/after osimertinib and platinum-based chemotherapy are limited.

Methods: CHRYSALIS-2 Cohort A evaluated amivantamab+lazertinib in patients with EGFR exon 19 deletion- or L858R-mutated NSCLC with disease progression on/after osimertinib and platinum-based chemotherapy. Primary endpoint was investigator-assessed objective response rate (ORR).

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Introduction: The EORTC-Lung Cancer Group initiated a Delphi consensus process to establish a consensual definition of resectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for the use in clinical trials, including a systematic review, survey, and review of clinical cases. Here, the survey results are presented, aimed to identify areas of controversy.

Methods: A survey was distributed among the members of six international organizations related to lung cancer.

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Background: The efficacy of immunotherapies in soft-tissue sarcomas (STSs) is limited, and biomarkers of response are lacking. The lung immune prognostic index (LIPI) is a prognostic biomarker used with immunotherapy across cancer types. This study investigates the association of LIPI with the disease control rate (DCR) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with STS treated with immunotherapy versus other therapies in early-phase trials.

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Introduction: Immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) revolutionized the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) but only a fraction of them obtain a response, and clinical benefit from these treatments is often difficult to predict. The aim of our study is to unveil the potential implications of antibody response to previous viral infections in predicting response to ICBs in patients with NSCLC.

Methods: Sera from patients treated with ICBs alone, chemotherapy (CT) or a combination of CT-ICBs were analyzed with VirScan (CDI Labs, USA), a high-throughput method that comprehensively analyzes epitope-level antiviral IgG antibodies via programmable phage display and immunoprecipitation sequencing.

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Introduction: LIPI has been strongly correlated with immunotherapy (IT) outcomes in advanced NSCLC. Limited data is available for upfront chemotherapy (CT) + IT combinations. We aimed to study its prognostic value in 1st-line CT +/- IT +/- antiangiogenics.

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Background Tumor fraction (TF) at liquid biopsy is a potential noninvasive marker for tumor burden, but validation is needed. Purpose To evaluate TF as a potential surrogate for tumor burden, assessed at contrast-enhanced CT across diverse metastatic cancers. Methods This retrospective monocentric study included patients with cancer and metastatic disease, with TF results and contemporaneous contrast-enhanced CT performed between January 2021 and January 2023.

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Article Synopsis
  • Lorlatinib is a third-generation drug that effectively targets ALK and ROS1 tyrosine kinases in patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), showing promising long-term survival rates.
  • The study involved 367 adults with varying treatment backgrounds who took lorlatinib daily and assessed response rates, overall survival (OS), and safety.
  • Results indicated that patients had substantial improvements in OS across different treatment groups, with noted adverse events leading to dose adjustments in some cases, but the drug's safety profile remained generally stable over five years of follow-up.
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About one third of patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) presents at diagnosis with localized or locally advanced disease amenable to curative surgical resection. Surgical operability refers to stage I to IIIA and selected stage IIIB NSCLC. One of the main challenges in the management of early-stage resectable NSCLC is the optimization of available therapeutic strategies to prevent local and distant disease relapse, thus improving survival outcomes.

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  • The study investigated the significance of metabolic tumor volume (tMTV) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergoing immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, using 18F-FDG-PET/CT scans.
  • It involved 518 patients across multiple institutions and found that those with high tMTV had poorer overall survival when treated with ICBs alone compared to those with low tMTV.
  • The research suggests that high tMTV is associated with increased systemic inflammation and genomic instability, making it a potential biomarker for determining treatment strategies in NSCLC patients with positive PD-L1 expression.
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  • Dual immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) using CTLA4 and PD-(L)1 inhibitors shows improved anti-tumor effectiveness and immune toxicity compared to PD-(L)1 inhibitors alone in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
  • Patients with mutations in STK11 and/or KEAP1 genes benefit more from the combination treatment compared to those receiving only PD-(L)1 inhibitors, as shown in the POSEIDON trial.
  • The loss of KEAP1 serves as a strong predictor for the success of dual ICB, as it leads to a more favorable outcome by changing the tumor's immune environment to better engage CD4 and CD8 T cells for anti-tumor activity. *
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  • Metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) is a dangerous cancer with few treatment options, and its genetic makeup is not fully understood unlike non-metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC).
  • A study analyzing genetic data from 111 mUC biopsies found that common genetic changes are similar to those seen in primary UC and highlighted mutational signatures related to APOBEC, platinum sensitivity, and homologous recombination deficiency.
  • The research revealed that a significant portion of mUC patients have potential therapeutic targets, with the most common being FGFR3, ERBB2, TSC1, and PIK3CA, and noted that certain genes like NECTIN4 and TACSTD2 are consistently highly expressed across different
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Article Synopsis
  • - The MATCH-R trial aimed to analyze the resistance mechanisms to cancer treatments by studying fresh tumor biopsies from metastatic patients, covering data collected from 2015 to 2022.
  • - Out of 1,120 biopsies from patients primarily with lung, digestive, and prostate cancers, 30.9% revealed targetable genomic alterations, with EGFR being the most common altered gene.
  • - Among patients with resistance mechanisms, 45% had treatments tailored based on identified mechanisms, resulting in an average of 11 months of additional clinical benefit.
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T-lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) and thymoma are two rare primary tumors of the thymus deriving either from T-cell precursors or from thymic epithelial cells, respectively. Some thymoma subtypes (AB, B1, and B2) display numerous reactive terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-positive (TdT) T-cell precursors masking epithelial tumor cells. Therefore, the differential diagnosis between T-LBL and TdT T-lymphocyte-rich thymoma could be challenging, especially in the case of needle biopsy.

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Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are designed to maximize cancer cell death with lower cytotoxicity toward noncancerous cells and are an increasingly valuable option for targeted cancer therapies. However, anticancer treatment with ADCs may be associated with ocular adverse events (AEs) such as dry eye, conjunctivitis, photophobia, blurred vision, and corneal abnormalities. While the pathophysiology of ADC-related ocular AEs has not been fully elucidated, most ocular AEs are attributed to off-target effects.

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Article Synopsis
  • Three generations of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) exist for ALK fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, but they fail to effectively address resistance, brain activity, and TRK inhibition issues.* -
  • NVL-655, a new TKI, shows superior selectivity and potency against ALK mutations, significantly outperforming current approved ALK TKIs in preclinical studies.* -
  • Preliminary results from a phase I/II trial indicate NVL-655's promise for treating heavily pretreated patients, including those with brain metastases and resistance mutations, potentially making it a fourth-generation advancement for ALK-driven cancers.*
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Purpose: Understanding resistance to selective FGFR inhibitors is crucial to improve the clinical outcomes of patients with FGFR2-driven malignancies.

Experimental Design: We analyzed sequential ctDNA, ± whole-exome sequencing, or targeted next-generation sequencing on tissue biopsies from patients with tumors harboring activating FGFR2 alterations progressing on pan-FGFR-selective inhibitors, collected in the prospective UNLOCK program. FGFR2::BICC1 Ba/F3 and patient-derived xenograft models were used for functional studies.

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Introduction: High-throughput sequencing techniques have revolutionized oncology. Paired germline-tumor DNA analysis has emerged as a comprehensive strategy to uncover actionable alterations in advanced cancer patients (ACP) enrolled in precision oncology trials. However, challenges persist in variant interpretation and managing incidental germline findings.

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Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a major health burden and may become the second cause of death by cancer in developed countries. The incidence of early-onset pancreatic cancer (EOPC, defined by an age at diagnosis <50 years old) is increasing. Here, we conducted a study of all PDAC patients followed at our institution.

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Background: The efficacy of front-line pembrolizumab has been established in studies that limit treatment duration to 2 years, but decision to stop pembrolizumab after 2 years is often at physician's discretion. ATHENA is a retrospective cohort study using a comprehensive administrative database aimed firstly at exploring the optimal duration of pembrolizumab and secondly real-life prognosis factors in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Using the French National Health Insurance database (SNDS), we identified patients with incident lung cancer in France from 2015 to 2022.

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Objectives: Lower bilobectomy (LBL) leaves a residual pleural space potentially associated with adverse postoperative outcomes. In selected patients, right sleeve lower lobectomy (RSLL) with anastomosis between the middle lobe bronchus and intermediate bronchus is feasible. The outcomes of RSLL and LBL have not been compared.

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Liquid biopsy is a minimally invasive method for biomarkers detection in body fluids, particularly in blood, which offers an elevated and growing number of clinical applications in oncology. As a result of the improvement in the techniques for DNA analysis, above all next-generation sequencing (NGS) assays, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has become the most informing tumor-derived material for most types of cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although ctDNA concentration is higher in patients with advanced tumors, it can be detected even in patients with early-stage disease.

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The year 2024 is the 20 anniversary of the discovery of activating epidermal growth factor receptor () mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Since then, tremendous advances have been made in the treatment of NSCLC based on this discovery. Some of these studies have led to seismic changes in the concept of oncology research and spurred treatment advances beyond NSCLC, leading to a current true era of precision oncology for all solid tumors.

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