Publications by authors named "Villaruz L"

Background: ATR is an apical DDR kinase activated at damaged replication forks. Elimusertib is an oral ATR inhibitor and potentiates irinotecan in human colorectal cancer models.

Methods: To establish dose and tolerability of elimusertib with FOLFIRI, a Bayesian Optimal Interval trial design was pursued.

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Background: Investigator-initiated trials (IITs) may address important biological and clinical questions that may not be prioritized by pharmaceutical sponsors. However, little is known about the process by which IIT proposals are evaluated and activated.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study of IIT concepts submitted through the Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium (ATOMIC), which comprises 13 institutions in the U.

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Introduction: Osimertinib is now a standard first-line (1L) therapy for EGFR-mutated (EGFRm) advanced NSCLC. We aimed to characterize patterns of therapy and longitudinal risk of brain and liver metastasis in a cohort of EGFRm NSCLC.

Methods: Patients with metastatic EGFRm NSCLC who received 1L systemic therapy at sites within the Academic Thoracic Medical Investigator's Consortium were included; demographic and clinical data including treatment patterns were described.

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Introduction: Determining lines of therapy (LOT) using real-world data is crucial to inform clinical decisions and support clinical research. Existing rules for determining LOT in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) do not incorporate the growing number of targeted therapies used in treatment today. Therefore, we propose rules for determining LOT from real-world data of patients with mNSCLC treated with targeted therapies.

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Background:: Prospective data of sequencing PD-L1 inhibition after PD-1 inhibition is limited in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We report a phase II clinical trial of atezolizumab following PD-1 directed therapy (NCT03014648).

Methods:: Previously treated advanced NSCLC patients were enrolled in cohorts based on response to prior nivolumab or pembrolizumab therapy; progressive disease (Cohort 1); stable disease (Cohort 2), or partial or complete response (Cohort 3).

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Purpose: To evaluate safety, tolerability, and anti-tumor response of lete-cel, genetically modified autologous T-cells expressing a T-cell receptor specific for NY-ESO-1/LAGE-1a shared epitope, alone or in combination with pembrolizumab, in human leukocyte antigen HLA-A*02-positive (HLA-A*02:01-, HLA-A*02:05-, and/or HLA-A*02:06-) patients with New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma 1 (NY-ESO-1)- and/or LAGE-1a-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Experimental Design: Study 208749 was a single-arm study of lete-cel alone. Study 208471 was a multi-arm study of lete-cel alone or in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced or recurrent NSCLC.

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Purpose: The mesothelin-targeting antibody-drug conjugate anetumab ravtansine was evaluated in combination with the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab based on the common expression of mesothelin and reports of activity in mesothelioma.

Patients And Methods: A phase 1 safety run-in of the combination of anetumab ravtansine (6.5 mg/kg iv q3weeks) and pembrolizumab (200 mg, IV q3weeks) was conducted, followed by a phase 2 randomization to the combination or pembrolizumab alone at medical centers across the United States and Canada in the National Cancer Institute's Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network.

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Introduction: Characteristics of long-term survivors in EGFR-mutant (EGFRm) NSCLC are not fully understood. This retrospective analysis evaluated a multi-institution cohort of patients with EGFRm NSCLC treated in the pre-osimertinib era and sought to describe characteristics of long-term survivors.

Methods: Clinical characteristics and outcomes were abstracted from the electronic medical records of patients with EGFRm metastatic NSCLC who started first-line therapy before 2015.

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Background: Approximately 30-40% of patients with advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) present with an impaired performance status (PS). There are limited prospective data on the safety and efficacy of durvalumab in these patients.

Methods: In this single-arm phase II clinical trial (NCT02879617), patients with previously untreated Stage IIIB/IV NSCLC and ECOG PS of 2 received durvalumab 1500 mg every 28 days until progression or unacceptable toxicity.

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Purpose: This phase Ib open-label, multicenter, platform study (NCT02646748) explored safety, tolerability, and preliminary activity of itacitinib (Janus kinase 1 inhibitor) or parsaclisib (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase δ inhibitor) in combination with pembrolizumab [programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor].

Experimental Design: Patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors with disease progression following all available therapies were enrolled and received itacitinib (Part 1 initially 300 mg once daily) or parsaclisib (Part 1 initially 10 mg once daily; Part 2 all patients 0.3 mg once daily) plus pembrolizumab (200 mg every 3 weeks).

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Article Synopsis
  • Patients with relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC), known for its poor prognosis, showed some improvement when the drug berzosertib was added to topotecan in a phase 2 study.
  • A randomized clinical trial conducted from December 2019 to December 2022 involved 60 patients who received either topotecan alone or in combination with berzosertib, assessing their outcomes based on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).
  • Results indicated that after a median follow-up of 21.3 months, there was no significant difference in PFS or OS between the two treatment groups, highlighting the challenge in treating relapsed SCLC.
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Patients with tumors that do not respond to immune-checkpoint inhibition often harbor a non-T cell-inflamed tumor microenvironment, characterized by the absence of IFN-γ-associated CD8 T cell and dendritic cell activation. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying immune exclusion in non-responding patients may enable the development of novel combination therapies. p38 MAPK is a known regulator of dendritic and myeloid cells however a tumor-intrinsic immunomodulatory role has not been previously described.

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Article Synopsis
  • * In a study, patients with extensive-stage SCLC received entinostat along with standard treatments; three patients were treated, but significant adverse events were noted, leading to the trial's early closure.
  • * The combination of entinostat with standard treatments caused severe side effects, like neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, making it unsafe for further exploration in this context.
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Major advances in the diagnosis and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have resulted in a sharp decline in associated mortality rates, thereby propelling NSCLC to the forefront of precision medicine. Current guidelines recommend upfront comprehensive molecular testing for all known and actionable driver alterations/biomarkers (, , , , , , , , [], and PD-L1), especially in advanced disease stages, as they significantly influence response to therapy. In particular, hybrid capture-based next-generation sequencing (HC-NGS) with an RNA fusion panel to detect gene fusions is a veritable requirement at both diagnosis and progression (resistance) of any-stage non-squamous adenocarcinoma NSCLCs.

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Background: For patients with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions and exon 21 L858R mutations, osimertinib is the standard of care. Investigating the activity and safety of osimertinib in patients with EGFR exon 18 G719X, exon 20 S768I, or exon 21 L861Q mutations is of clinical interest.

Patients And Methods: Patients with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer with confirmed EGFR exon 18 G719X, exon 20 S768I, or exon 21 L861Q mutations were eligible.

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The availability of agents targeting the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint has transformed treatment of advanced and/or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, a substantial proportion of patients treated with these agents do not respond or experience only a brief period of clinical benefit. Even among those whose disease responds, many subsequently experience disease progression.

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Background: An important issue for patients with cancer treated with novel therapeutics is how they weigh the effects of treatment on survival and quality of life (QOL). We compared QOL in patients enrolled to SWOG S1400I, a substudy of the LungMAP biomarker-driven master protocol.

Methods: SWOG S1400I was a randomized phase III trial comparing nivolumab plus ipilimumab vs nivolumab for treatment of immunotherapy-naïve disease in advanced squamous cell lung cancer.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to address the challenge of resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by testing a combination treatment of ramucirumab and pembrolizumab (RP) against standard care options.
  • With 136 eligible patients, the results showed that those on the RP treatment had a significantly longer overall survival (OS) of 14.5 months compared to 11.6 months for standard care (SOC).
  • While the RP group had slightly fewer severe adverse events (42% vs. 60% for SOC), both treatment arms had similar rates of progression-free survival and objective response rates, indicating a potential for RP in overcoming previous treatment resistance.
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More than 50 years after the discovery of RAS family proteins, which harbor the most common activating mutations in cancer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first direct allele-specific inhibitor of mutant in lung cancer.

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Background: Brigatinib, a second generation anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is central nervous system (CNS) penetrant and active against anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) resistance mutations. We prospectively studied the activity of brigatinib in patients with disease progression after second generation ALK TKIs.

Methods: Patients with stage IIIB/IV ALK + non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and progressive disease after second ALK TKIs were eligible.

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Background: Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is resistant to PD-1 and PD-L1 (PD[L]-1)-targeted therapy have poor outcomes. Studies suggest that radiotherapy could enhance antitumour immunity. Therefore, we investigated the potential benefit of PD-L1 (durvalumab) and CTLA-4 (tremelimumab) inhibition alone or combined with radiotherapy.

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Introduction: Final overall survival (OS) analyses are presented for EGFR mutations and liver or brain metastases subgroups in the phase 3 IMpower150 study (NCT02366143) evaluating atezolizumab plus bevacizumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel (ABCP) or atezolizumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel (ACP) versus bevacizumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel (BCP).

Methods: Overall, 1202 patients (intention-to-treat population) with chemotherapy-naive, metastatic, nonsquamous NSCLC were randomized to ABCP, ACP, or BCP. Patients with treated, stable brain metastases were permitted.

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Introduction: Dabrafenib plus trametinib was found to have robust antitumor activity in patients with BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic NSCLC (mNSCLC). We report updated survival analysis of a phase 2 study (NCT01336634) with a minimum of 5-year follow-up and updated genomic data.

Methods: Pretreated (cohort B) and treatment-naive (cohort C) patients with BRAF V600E-mutant mNSCLC received dabrafenib 150 mg twice daily and trametinib 2 mg once daily.

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