This randomized controlled trial tested the hypothesis that children with non-high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia could benefit from individualized 6-mercaptopurine increments during consolidation therapy (NCT00816049). Primary and secondary end points were end of consolidation minimal residual disease (MRD) positivity and event-free survival.

Purpose We evaluated the combination of talimogene laherparepvec plus ipilimumab versus ipilimumab alone in patients with advanced melanoma in a phase II study. To our knowledge, this was the first randomized trial to evaluate addition of an oncolytic virus to a checkpoint inhibitor. Methods Patients with unresectable stages IIIB to IV melanoma, with no more than one prior therapy if BRAF wild-type, no more than two prior therapies if BRAF mutant, measurable/injectable disease, and without symptomatic autoimmunity or clinically significant immunosuppression were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive talimogene laherparepvec plus ipilimumab or ipilimumab alone. Talimogene laherparepvec treatment began in week 1 (first dose, ≤ 4 mL × 106 plaque-forming units/mL; after 3 weeks, ≤ 4 mL × 108 plaque-forming units/mL every 2 weeks). Ipilimumab (3 mg/kg every 3 weeks; up to four doses) began week 1 in the ipilimumab alone arm and week 6 in the combination arm. The primary end point was objective response rate evaluated by investigators per immune-related response criteria. Results One hundred ninety-eight patients were randomly assigned to talimogene laherparepvec plus ipilimumab (n = 98), or ipilimumab alone (n = 100). Thirty-eight patients (39%) in the combination arm and 18 patients (18%) in the ipilimumab arm had an objective response (odds ratio, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.5 to 5.5; P = .002). Responses were not limited to injected lesions; visceral lesion decreases were observed in 52% of patients in the combination arm and 23% of patients in the ipilimumab arm. Frequently occurring adverse events (AEs) included fatigue (combination, 59%; ipilimumab alone, 42%), chills (combination, 53%; ipilimumab alone, 3%), and diarrhea (combination, 42%; ipilimumab alone, 35%). Incidence of grade ≥ 3 AEs was 45% and 35%, respectively. Three patients in the combination arm had fatal AEs; none were treatment related. Conclusion The study met its primary end point; the objective response rate was significantly higher with talimogene laherparepvec plus ipilimumab versus ipilimumab alone. These data indicate that the combination has greater antitumor activity without additional safety concerns versus ipilimumab.

To determine whether circular RNAs (circRNAs) are involved in pathological processes of gastric cancer (GC).

Purpose: Although risk of recurrence after surgical removal of clinical stage I-II melanoma is considerable, there is no adjuvant therapy with proven efficacy. Here, we provide clinical evidence that a local conditioning regimen, aimed at immunologic arming of the tumor-draining lymph nodes, may provide durable protection against disease recurrence (median follow-up, 88.8 months).Experimental Design: In two randomized phase II trials, patients, diagnosed with stage I-II melanoma after excision of the primary tumor, received local injections at the primary tumor excision site within 7 days preceding re-excision and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy of either a saline placebo (n = 22) or low-dose CpG type B (CpG-B) with (n = 9) or without (n = 21) low-dose GM-CSF.Results: CpG-B treatment was shown to be safe, to boost locoregional and systemic immunity, to be associated with lower rates of tumor-involved SLN (10% vs. 36% in controls, P = 0.04), and, at a median follow-up of 88.8 months, to profoundly improve recurrence-free survival (P = 0.008), even for patients with histologically confirmed (i.e., pathologic) stage I-II disease (P = 0.02).Conclusions: Potentially offering durable protection, local low-dose CpG-B administration in early-stage melanoma provides an adjuvant treatment option for a large group of patients currently going untreated despite being at considerable risk for disease recurrence. Once validated in a larger randomized phase III trial, this nontoxic immunopotentiating regimen may prove clinically transformative. Clin Cancer Res; 23(19); 5679-86. ©2017 AACR.

Purpose: Germline polymorphisms may affect chemotherapy efficacy and toxicity. We examined the effect of polymorphisms in drug metabolism and DNA repair genes on pathologic response rates, survival, and toxicity for patients randomized to surgery alone or perioperative ECF chemotherapy in the MRC MAGIC trial.Experimental Design: DNA was extracted from nontumor resection formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks. ERCC1, ERCC2, XRCC1, DYPD, and OPRT SNPs were evaluated using Sequenom, GSTP1, GSTT1 deletion, and TYMS (TS) 5' 2R/3R using multiplex PCR. Post PCR amplification, TS 2R/3R and GSTT1 samples underwent gel electrophoresis.Results: Polymorphism data were available for 289 of 456 (63.4%) operated patients. No polymorphism was statistically significantly associated with pathologic response to chemotherapy. Median overall survival (OS) for patients treated with surgery alone with any TS genotype was not different (1.76 years 2R/2R, 1.68 years 2R/3R, 2.09 years 3R/3R). Median OS for patients with a TS 2R/2R genotype treated with chemotherapy was not reached, whereas median OS for 2R/3R and 3R/3R patients were 1.44 and 1.60 years, respectively (log rank P value = 0.0053). The P value for the interaction between treatment arm and genotype (3R/3R and 3R/2R vs. 2R/2R) was 0.029. No polymorphism was statistically significantly associated with chemotherapy toxicity.Conclusions: In MAGIC, patients with a TS 2R/2R genotype appeared to derive a larger benefit from perioperative ECF chemotherapy than patients with 3R containing genotypes. Further exploration of this potential predictive biomarker in this patient population is warranted. Clin Cancer Res; 23(24); 7543-9. ©2017 AACR.

Background: This study evaluates predictors of BRCA1/2 testing among breast and ovarian cancer survivors who received genetic counseling as part of a randomized trial and evaluates moderators of counseling mode on testing uptake.Methods: Predictors of BRCA1/2 testing within one year postcounseling were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression in a population-based sample of breast and ovarian cancer survivors at increased hereditary risk randomly assigned to in-person counseling (IPC; n = 379) versus telephone counseling (TC; n = 402). Variables that moderated the association between counseling mode and testing were identified by subgroup analysis.Results: Testing uptake was associated with higher perceived comparative mutation risk [OR = 1.32; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11-1.57] in the adjusted analysis. Those without cost barriers had higher testing uptake (OR = 18.73; 95% CI, 7.09-49.46). Psychologic distress and perceived comparative mutation risk moderated the effect of counseling and testing. Uptake between IPC versus TC did not differ at low levels of distress and risk, but differed at high distress (26.3% TC vs. 44.3% IPC) and high perceived comparative risk (33.9% TC vs. 50.5% IPC).Conclusions: Cost concerns are a strong determinant of testing. Differences in testing uptake by counseling mode may depend on precounseling distress and risk perceptions.Impact: Cost concerns may contribute to low testing in population-based samples of at-risk cancer survivors. Precounseling psychosocial characteristics should be considered when offering in-person versus telephone counseling. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(12); 1772-80. ©2017 AACR.

Purpose The Iressa Mutation-Positive Multicentre Treatment Beyond ProgRESsion Study (IMPRESS) compared the continuation of gefitinib plus chemotherapy with placebo plus chemotherapy in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR) mutation-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer with progression (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1) after first-line gefitinib. Primary results indicated no difference between treatments in terms of progression-free survival (PFS). The current analysis presents final, mature, overall survival (OS) data, together with exploratory analyses that examined whether specific biomarkers, including T790M mutation status, were able to differentiate a relative treatment effect. Patients and Methods Patients were randomly assigned to gefitinib 250 mg or placebo, in addition to cisplatin 75 mg/m2 plus pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 (maximum of six cycles of chemotherapy). EGFR mutation status was determined from plasma-derived circulating free tumor-derived DNA samples (beads, emulsification, amplification, and magnetics digital polymerase chain reaction assay, allelic fraction analysis). Results A total of 265 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer were randomly assigned, and overall data maturity was 66%. Continuation of gefitinib plus cisplatin and pemetrexed was detrimental to OS when compared with placebo plus cisplatin and pemetrexed (hazard ratio [HR], 1.44; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.94; P = .016; median OS, 13.4 v 19.5 months). The detriment was statistically significant in patients with T790M mutation-positive plasma samples (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.21), whereas statistical significance was not reached in T790M mutation-negative patients (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.68 to 1.94). PFS in T790M mutation-positive patients was similar between treatments, and the difference observed in T790M mutation-negative patients did not reach statistical significance (HR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.43 to 1.03; P = .0745). Conclusion Final OS data from IMPRESS are supportive of earlier PFS results and are sufficient to warn physicians against the continuation of treatment with first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors beyond radiologic disease progression when chemotherapy is initiated. Plasma biomarker analyses suggest that this effect may be driven by T790M-positive status.

The BRIM-3 trial showed improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for vemurafenib compared with dacarbazine in treatment-naive patients with BRAFV600 mutation-positive metastatic melanoma. We present final OS data from BRIM-3.

Five-year survival of patients with inoperable, advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with the first-line chemotherapy is 5%-15%. We assessed whether the Hsp27 inhibitor apatorsen combined with gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GC) could improve overall survival (OS) in these patients.

This randomized study was designed to investigate the superiority of gemcitabine (gem) plus nimotuzumab (nimo), an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody, compared with gem plus placebo as first-line therapy in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

To evaluate the protocol-specified final analysis of overall survival (OS) in the KEYNOTE-002 study (NCT01704287) of pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy in patients with ipilimumab-refractory, advanced melanoma.

Rilotumumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody that selectively targets the ligand of the MET receptor, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). We aimed to assess the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of rilotumumab combined with epirubicin, cisplatin, and capecitabine, and to assess potential biomarkers, in patients with advanced MET-positive gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Dacomitinib is a second-generation, irreversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor. We compared its efficacy and safety with that of the reversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced EGFR-mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

This research was conducted to assess the effects of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) intake on gene expression related to insulin, lipid and inflammation in subjects with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Icotinib has been previously shown to be non-inferior to gefitinib in non-selected advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients when given as second- or further-line treatment. In this open-label, randomized, phase 3 CONVINCE trial, we assessed the efficacy and safety of first-line icotinib versus cisplatin/pemetrexed plus pemetrexed maintenance in lung adenocarcinoma patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation.

Purpose: Radotinib is a second-generation BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) approved in Korea for chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) in patients newly diagnosed or with insufficient response to other TKIs. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of radotinib as first-line therapy for CML-CP.Experimental Design: This multinational, open-label study assigned patients (1:1:1) to one of two twice-daily radotinib doses, or imatinib daily. The primary endpoint was major molecular response (MMR) by 12 months.Results: Two hundred forty-one patients were randomized to receive radotinib 300 mg (n = 79) or 400 mg twice-daily (n = 81), or imatinib 400 mg daily (n = 81). MMR rates by 12 months were higher in patients receiving radotinib 300 mg (52%) or radotinib 400 mg twice-daily (46%) versus imatinib (30%; P = 0.0044 and P = 0.0342, respectively). Complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) rates by 12 months were higher for radotinib 300 mg (91%) versus imatinib (77%; P = 0.0120). Early molecular response at 3 months occurred in 86% and 87% of patients receiving radotinib 300 mg and radotinib 400 mg, respectively, and 71% of those receiving imatinib. By 12 months, no patients had progression to accelerated phase or blast crisis. Most adverse events were manageable with dose reduction.Conclusions: Radotinib demonstrated superiority over imatinib in CCyR and MMR in patients newly diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML-CP. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01511289 Clin Cancer Res; 23(23); 7180-8. ©2017 AACR.

To evaluate endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided biopsies for the pretreatment characterization of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) to personalize the management of patients.

Advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving TG4010, a therapeutic viral vaccine encoding human Mucin 1 and interleukin-2 in addition to standard chemotherapy, displayed longer overall survival in comparison to that of patients treated with standard chemotherapy alone. Our study intended to establish the association between overall survival and vaccine-induced T cell responses against tumor associated antigens (TAA) targeted by the vaccine.

Methylated gene markers have shown promise in predicting breast cancer outcomes and treatment response. We evaluated whether baseline and changes in tissue and serum methylation levels would predict pathological complete response (pCR) in patients with HER2-negative early breast cancer undergoing preoperative chemotherapy.

The combined use of genetic markers and detectable minimal residual disease identifies patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia with poor outcome after first-line chemoimmunotherapy. We aimed to assess lenalidomide maintenance therapy in these high-risk patients.