Combining antivascular endothelial growth factor and anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibodies: randomized phase II study of irinotecan and cetuximab with/without ramucirumab in second-line colorectal cancer (ECOG-ACRIN E7208).

Background: Early studies showed promise of combined anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plus anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibodies for advanced colorectal cancer (CRC), yet this was later rejected as toxic and ineffective in studies not selected for RAS status. We studied advanced KRAS wild-type CRC, as second-line treatment, using irinotecan-cetuximab with or without the anti-VEGF receptor antibody ramucirumab.

Methods: Patients with 1 prior regimen including fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and bevacizumab, with KRAS wild-type tumors were stratified by Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Score, time since last chemotherapy, and progression on oxaliplatin to irinotecan-cetuximab (IC) (180 mg/m2 and 500 mg/m2 every 2 weeks) vs modified ICR (irinotecan-cetuximab with ramucirumab 150 mg/m2 and 400 mg/m2 plus 6 mg/kg, respectively).

Prospective Correlation of Magnetic Resonance Tumor Regression Grade With Pathologic Outcomes in Total Neoadjuvant Therapy for Rectal Adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: Total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) is a newly established standard treatment for rectal adenocarcinoma. Current methods to communicate magnitudes of regression during TNT are subjective and imprecise. Magnetic resonance tumor regression grade (MR-TRG) is an existing, but rarely used, regression grading system.

External Validation of Risk Factors for Unplanned Hospitalization in Older Adults With Advanced Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy.

Background: Older adults (age ≥65 years) receiving chemotherapy are at risk for hospitalization. Predictors of unplanned hospitalization among older adults receiving chemotherapy for cancer were recently published using data from a study conducted by the Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG). Our study aimed to externally validate these predictors in an independent cohort including older adults with advanced cancer receiving chemotherapy.

A randomized study of genetic education versus usual care in tumor profiling for advanced cancer in the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (EAQ152).

Background: Enthusiasm for precision oncology may obscure the psychosocial and ethical considerations associated with the implementation of tumor genetic sequencing.

Methods: Patients with advanced cancer undergoing tumor-only genetic sequencing in the National Cancer Institute Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (MATCH) trial were randomized to a web-based genetic education intervention or usual care. The primary outcomes were knowledge, anxiety, depression, and cancer-specific distress collected at baseline (T0), posteducation (T1) and after results (T2).

Alliance Foundation Trial 09: A Randomized, Multicenter, Phase 2 Trial Evaluating Two Sequences of Pembrolizumab and Standard Platinum-Based Chemotherapy in Patients With Metastatic NSCLC.

Introduction: The sequence of chemotherapy and pembrolizumab may affect antitumor immune response and efficacy of immunotherapy.

Methods: This multicenter, randomized, phase 2 trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy of two sequences of chemotherapy and pembrolizumab in patients with stage 4 NSCLC. Both arms were considered investigational, and the study used a "pick a winner" design.

E2112: Randomized Phase III Trial of Endocrine Therapy Plus Entinostat or Placebo in Hormone Receptor-Positive Advanced Breast Cancer. A Trial of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group.

Purpose: Endocrine therapy resistance in advanced breast cancer remains a significant clinical problem that may be overcome with the use of histone deacetylase inhibitors such as entinostat. The ENCORE301 phase II study reported improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) with the addition of entinostat to the steroidal aromatase inhibitor (AI) exemestane in advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: E2112 is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III study that enrolled men or women with advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer whose disease progressed after nonsteroidal AI.

Use of Total Neoadjuvant Therapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: Initial Results From the Pembrolizumab Arm of a Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) is often used to downstage locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) and decrease locoregional relapse; however, more than one-third of patients develop recurrent metastatic disease. As such, novel combinations are needed.

Objective: To assess whether the addition of pembrolizumab during and after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy can lead to an improvement in the neoadjuvant rectal (NAR) score compared with treatment with FOLFOX (5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) and chemoradiotherapy alone.

A Dose-finding Study Followed by a Phase II Randomized, Placebo-controlled Trial of Chemoradiotherapy With or Without Veliparib in Stage III Non-small-cell Lung Cancer: SWOG 1206 (8811).

Background: We conducted a 2-part study to evaluate the incorporation of veliparib, a PARP inhibitor, into chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for stage III non-small-cell lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: In the phase I part, patients were treated successively at 3 dose levels of veliparib (40, 80, and 120 mg) twice daily during CRT. In the phase II part, patients were randomized to receive veliparib or placebo during thoracic radiotherapy with concurrent weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel, followed by 2 cycles of consolidation carboplatin and paclitaxel with veliparib or placebo.

Continuous versus intermittent BRAF and MEK inhibition in patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma: a randomized phase 2 trial.

Preclinical modeling suggests that intermittent BRAF inhibitor therapy may delay acquired resistance when blocking oncogenic BRAF in melanoma. We conducted S1320, a randomized, open-label, phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02196181) evaluating whether intermittent dosing of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib and the MEK inhibitor trametinib improves progression-free survival in patients with metastatic and unresectable BRAF melanoma. Patients were enrolled at 68 academic and community sites nationally.

Safety and efficacy of vinorelbine in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Lung cancer remains the most frequently diagnosed cancer in the United States, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) constitutes the majority (more than 80%) of lung cancer diagnoses. Systemic therapy, with either cytotoxic chemotherapy and/or targeted therapies, has been established to provide benefit to patients with NSCLC in both the adjuvant and advanced disease settings.

Therapy-related acute myelogenous leukemia with an 11q23/MLL translocation following adjuvant cisplatin and vinorelbine for non-small-cell lung cancer.

Cisplatin-based chemotherapy has become an accepted standard in the adjuvant treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We present a case of acute myelogenous leukemia with an 11q23/MLL rearrangement diagnosed 1 year after the completion of 4 cycles of cisplatin and vinorelbine for resected NSCLC. To our knowledge, this is the first case of therapy-related acute myelogenous leukemia (t-AML) associated with this chemotherapy combination.

Treatment of pancreatic cancer with epidermal growth factor receptor-targeted therapy.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is a common malignancy that remains refractory to available therapies. Gemcitabine has long been the standard, first-line agent in advanced disease. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a commonly expressed target in pancreatic cancer that is involved in tumor proliferation, metastasis, and induction of angiogenesis.