Publications by authors named "Harold Keer"

This study compared decitabine exposure when administered IV (DEC-IV) at a dose of 20 mg/m for 5-days with orally administered decitabine with cedazuridine (DEC-C), as well as the clinical efficacy and safety of DEC-C in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) who were ineligible for intensive induction chemotherapy. In all, 89 patients were randomised 1:1 to DEC-IV or oral DEC-C (days 1-5 in a 28-day treatment cycle), followed by 5 days of the other formulation in the next treatment cycle. All patients received oral DEC-C for subsequent treatment cycles until treatment discontinuation.

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Hypomethylating agents are the most widely used upfront therapy for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who are not suitable for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In Australia, azacitidine was, until recently, the only approved and subsidized treatment for patients with intermediate-2 and high-risk MDS, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and low blast acute myeloid leukemia. We analyzed prescription data to evaluate the real-world persistence and overall survival (OS) of patients prescribed azacitidine for the first time in Australia.

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Unlabelled: Programmed cell death mechanisms are important for the regulation of tumor development and progression. Evasion of and resistance to apoptosis are significant factors in tumorigenesis and drug resistance. Bypassing apoptotic pathways and eliciting another form of regulated cell death, namely necroptosis, an immunogenic cell death (ICD), may override apoptotic resistance.

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Guadecitabine is a novel hypomethylating agent (HMA) resistant to deamination by cytidine deaminase. Patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were randomly assigned to guadecitabine or a preselected treatment choice (TC) of high-intensity chemotherapy, low-intensity treatment with HMAs or low-dose cytarabine, or best supportive care (BSC). The primary end point was overall survival (OS).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the safety and pharmacokinetics of oral decitabine combined with cedazuridine versus intravenous decitabine in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes or chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia.
  • It involved a phase 3 multicentre trial with participants randomly assigned to receive either oral or IV treatment in a crossover design, allowing for direct comparison of the two methods.
  • The primary goal was to measure and compare total decitabine exposure over a 5-day period for both formulations to determine the effectiveness of the oral treatment option.
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To characterize the genomic landscape and leukemogenic pathways of older, newly diagnosed, non-intensively treated patients with AML and to study the clinical implications, comprehensive genetics analyses were performed including targeted DNA sequencing of 263 genes in 604 patients treated in a prospective Phase III clinical trial. Leukemic trajectories were delineated using oncogenetic tree modeling and hierarchical clustering, and prognostic groups were derived from multivariable Cox regression models. Clonal hematopoiesis-related genes (ASXL1, TET2, SRSF2, DNMT3A) were most frequently mutated.

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This phase 3 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of the new hypomethylating agent guadecitabine (n = 408) vs a preselected treatment choice (TC; n = 407) of azacitidine, decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine in patients with acute myeloid leukemia unfit to receive intensive induction chemotherapy. Half of the patients (50%) had poor Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (2-3). The coprimary end points were complete remission (19% and 17% of patients for guadecitabine and TC, respectively [stratified P = .

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Article Synopsis
  • Combination therapy using HSP90 inhibitor AT13387, dabrafenib, and trametinib shows potential in patients with BRAF V600E-mutant tumors but faces challenges with resistance, demonstrating a modest overall response rate of 9.5%.
  • The phase 1 study involved 22 patients, primarily with colorectal cancer, revealing dose-limiting toxicities and establishing a maximum tolerated dose.
  • An overall survival median of 5.1 months was noted, with no clear biomarkers for response or resistance, although some patients showed reduced BRAF expression after treatment.
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Tolinapant (ASTX660) is a potent, nonpeptidomimetic antagonist of cellular inhibitor of apoptosis proteins 1 and 2 (cIAP1/2) and X-linked IAP, which is currently being evaluated in a phase 2 study in T-cell lymphoma (TCL) patients. Tolinapant has demonstrated evidence of single-agent clinical activity in relapsed/refractory peripheral TCL and cutaneous TCL. To investigate the mechanism of action underlying the single-agent activity observed in the clinic, we have used a comprehensive translational approach integrating in vitro and in vivo models of TCL confirmed by data from human tumor biopsies.

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Background: Onalespib is a novel heat shock protein 90 inhibitor (HSP90i). Previous preclinical and clinical studies with HSP90i have demonstrated activity in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study sought to determine the safety and tolerability of onalespib plus erlotinib in EGFR-mutant NSCLC and to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of the combination in epidermal growth factor receptor exon 20 insertion (EGFRex20ins) NSCLC.

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High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) harbours aberrant epigenetic features, including DNA methylation. In this study we delineate pathways and networks altered by DNA methylation and associated with HGSOC initiation and progression to a platinum-resistant state. By including tumours from patients who had been treated with the hypomethylating agent (HMA) guadecitabine, we also addressed the role of HMAs in treatment of HGSOC.

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Purpose: Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are cured with therapy based on cisplatin, although a clinically significant number of patients are refractory and die of progressive disease. Based on preclinical studies indicating that refractory testicular GCTs are hypersensitive to hypomethylating agents (HMAs), we conducted a phase I trial combining the next-generation HMA guadecitabine (SGI-110) with cisplatin in recurrent, cisplatin-resistant GCT patients.

Methods: Patients with metastatic GCTs were treated for five consecutive days with guadecitabine followed by cisplatin on day 8, for a 28-day cycle for up to six cycles.

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Background: DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTis) improve survival for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and those with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) unable to receive standard cytotoxic chemotherapy and are, accordingly, the backbone of standard-of-care treatment for these conditions. Standard regimens with DNMTIs, decitabine (DEC) or azacitidine (AZA) include daily subcutaneous (s.c.

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Purpose: This first-in-human, phase I study evaluated ASTX660, an oral, small-molecule antagonist of cellular/X-linked inhibitors of apoptosis proteins in patients with advanced solid tumors or lymphoma.

Patients And Methods: ASTX660 was administered orally once daily on a 7-day-on/7-day-off schedule in a 28-day cycle. Dose escalation followed a standard 3+3 design to determine the MTD and recommended phase II dose (RP2D).

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Purpose: Platinum resistance in ovarian cancer is associated with epigenetic modifications. Hypomethylating agents (HMA) have been studied as carboplatin resensitizing agents in ovarian cancer. This randomized phase II trial compared guadecitabine, a second-generation HMA, and carboplatin (G+C) against second-line chemotherapy in women with measurable or detectable platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

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Purpose: Onalespib is a potent, fragment-derived second-generation HSP90 inhibitor with preclinical activity in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CPRC) models. This phase I/II trial evaluated onalespib in combination with abiraterone acetate (AA) and either prednisone or prednisolone (P) in men with CRPC progressing on AA/P.

Patients And Methods: Patients with progressing CRPC were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 2 regimens of onalespib combined with AA/P.

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Article Synopsis
  • Guadecitabine is a new hypomethylating agent with a longer exposure time than traditional decitabine, aimed at improving treatment for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
  • The study involved a randomized trial with patients aged 18 or older who had intermediate to high-risk MDS, comparing two doses of guadecitabine (60 mg/m and 90 mg/m) to assess its effectiveness and safety.
  • The primary outcome was overall response rates, examining the effects on patients who had previously been treated with or were naive to hypomethylating agents, with 105 patients enrolled over a two-year period.
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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is expected to be the second leading cause of cancer mortality by 2030. PDAC remains resistant to the majority of systemic chemotherapies. In this paper, we explore if epigenetic sensitization can improve chemotherapy response in PDAC.

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Ovarian cancer (OC) cells frequently metastasize to the omentum, and adipocytes play a significant role in ovarian tumor progression. Therapeutic interventions targeting aberrant DNA methylation in ovarian tumors have shown promise in the clinic, but the effects of epigenetic therapy on the tumor microenvironment are understudied. Here, we examined the effect of adipocytes on OC cell behavior in culture and impact of targeting DNA methylation in adipocytes on OC metastasis.

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Leiomyosarcomas are rare mesenchymal neoplasms characterized by a smooth muscle differentiation pattern. Due to the extremely poor prognosis in patients, the development of novel chemotherapeutic regimens remains critically important. In this study, multiple leiomyosarcoma cell lines, SK-UT1, SK-LMS1, and MES-SA were treated with varying doses of the DNA Methyltransferase Inhibitors (DNMTi) 5-azacitidine (Aza), 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine (DAC), and guadecitabine (SGI-110).

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