Abstract Background Gemcitabine and erlotinib have shown a survival benefit in the first-line setting in metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPC). The aim of this study was to assess whether combining capecitabine (C) with gemcitabine + erlotinib (GE) was safe and effective versus GE in patients with mPC. Patients and methods Previously untreated mPC patients were randomised to receive G (1000 mg/m2, days 1, 8, 15) + E (100 mg/day, days 1–28) + C (1660 mg/m2, days 1–21) or GE, q4 weeks, until progression or unacceptable toxicity. Primary end-point: progression-free survival (PFS); secondary end-points: overall survival (OS), response rate, relationship of rash with PFS/OS and safety. Results 120 patients were randomised, median age 63 years, ECOG status 0/1/2 33%/58%/8%; median follow-up 16.5 months. Median PFS in the gemcitabine–erlotinib–capecitabine (GEC) and GE arms was 4.3 and 3.8 months, respectively (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.58–1.31; p = 0.52). Median OS in the GEC and GE arms was 6.8 and 7.7 months, respectively (HR: 1.09, 95% CI: 0.72–1.63; p = 0.69). Grade 3/4 neutropenia (GEC 43% versus GE 15%; p = 0.0008) and mucositis (GEC 9% versus GE 0%; p = 0.03) were the only statistically significant differences in grade 3/4 adverse events. PFS and OS were significantly longer in patients with rash (grade ≥1) versus no rash (grade = 0): PFS 5.5 versus 2.0 months (HR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.26–0.6; p < 0.0001) and OS: 9.5 versus 4.0 months (HR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.33–0.77; p = 0.0014). Conclusion PFS with GEC was not significantly different to that with GE in patients with mPC. Skin rash strongly predicted erlotinib efficacy. The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01303029.

Abstract Background Women with breast cancer and diabetes mellitus (DM) have poorer survival. Mechanisms include insulin dysregulation and/or DM related co-morbidities (CM). In MA.17 adjuvant letrozole (LET) after 5 years of tamoxifen (TAM) reduced the risk of recurrence and improved survival. We evaluated DM, hypertension (HTN), and coronary artery disease (CAD) as prognostic and predictive factors in MA.17. Patients and methods Disease free survival, distant disease free survival (DDFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared using Cox regression model adjusting for other prognostic factors: in women treated by placebo (PLAC) based on the presence or absence of baseline DM (n = 462), HTN (n = 1627), CAD (n = 604) or any one of these CM (n = 2049), and between LET and PLAC groups in each CM. Analyses based on nodal status were performed. Results DM was neither prognostic nor predictive for women on extended LET. Women with one CM had similar outcomes on LET compared to women free of CM. For node positive women, the difference between LET and PLAC in DDFS was greater among women with one CM (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.30 [0.15–0.60], p = 0.001) compared to those without CM (HR = 0.72 [0.45–1.16], p = 0.17, p interaction = 0.04). Women on PLAC with HTN trended towards lower DDFS (HR = 1.50 [0.98–2.3], p = 0.06) and OS (HR = 1.61 [0.95–2.72], p = 0.08) than non-HTN women. HTN women had better DDFS on LET than non-HTN women. Women with one CM on PLAC had lower OS (HR = 2.10 [1.26–3.51], p = 0.004) than those free of CM. Conclusions DM was not prognostic or predictive of outcomes. Women with CM who remain disease free after 5 years of TAM should be offered LET. HTN trended towards a negative prognosticator and outcomes among this group were improved on LET. More studies are needed to assess impact of adrenergic stimulation as a possible link to poorer breast cancer outcomes.

Abstract Purpose The 21-gene Recurrence Score assay (Oncotype DX) provides prognostic/predictive information in oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) early breast cancer, but access/reimbursement has been limited in most European countries in the absence of prospective outcome data. Recently, two large prospective studies and a real-life 5-year outcome study have been reported. We performed a pooled analysis of prospective European impact studies to generate robust data on impact of use in different clinical subgroups. Methods The analysis included four studies (French, German, Spanish, and British) in ER+ human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative breast cancer patients (n = 527). Node-positive patients were excluded. Results The analysis demonstrated that treatment recommendations changed in 32% of patients post-testing; chemotherapy recommendation rate decreased from 55% to 34%. Change rates in the individual studies ranged from 30% to 37%. The highest change rates were in patients originally recommended chemotherapy and in grade II tumours; there was no subgroup without a treatment recommendation change. Notably, 31% of patients with an intermediate Recurrence Score result had a treatment recommendation change suggesting that testing provides actionable information in this group. With the exception of the German study (where chemotherapy rates remained high [41%] post-testing), between-study variability in treatment recommendations decreased post-testing (chemotherapy: from 36–52% to 26–29%; hormonal therapy: from 48–64% to 71–74%). Physicians' confidence regarding treatment recommendations improved in all the studies after testing. Conclusion Recurrence Score testing led to changes in adjuvant chemotherapy use in approximately a third of patients, to an overall reduced chemotherapy use, and to more homogeneous decision making.

Abstract Background and purpose A major challenge in CT screening for lung cancer is limited specificity when distinguishing between malignant and non-malignant pulmonary nodules (PN). Malignant nodules have different mechanical properties and tissue characteristics (‘stiffness’) from non-malignant nodules. This study seeks to improve CT specificity by demonstrating in rats that measurements of volumetric ratios in PNs with varying composition can be determined by respiratory-gated dynamic CT imaging and that these ratios correlate with direct physical measurements of PN stiffness. Methods and materials Respiratory-gated MicroCT images acquired at extreme tidal volumes of 9 rats with PNs from talc, matrigel and A549 human lung carcinoma were analyzed and their volumetric ratios (δ) derived. PN stiffness was determined by measuring the Young’s modulus using atomic force microscopy (AFM) for each nodule excised immediately after MicroCT imaging. Results There was significant correlation (p = 0.0002) between PN volumetric ratios determined by respiratory-gated CT imaging and the physical stiffness of the PNs determined from AFM measurements. Conclusion We demonstrated proof of concept that PN volume changes measured non-invasively correlate with direct physical measurements of stiffness. These results may translate clinically into a means of improving the specificity of CT screening for lung cancer and/or improving individual prognostic assessments based on lung tumor stiffness.

Abstract Background Right- and left-sided colon cancers (RC, LC) differ with respect to biology, pathology and epidemiology. Previous data suggest a mortality difference between RC and LC. We examined if primary tumour side also predicts for outcome in chemotherapy refractory, metastatic colon cancer (MCC). We also compared RC versus LC as a predictor of efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition with cetuximab. Methods Reanalyzing NCIC CO.17 trial (cetuximab versus best supportive care [BSC]), we coded the primary tumour side as RC (caecum to transverse colon) or LC (splenic flexure to rectosigmoid). The association between tumour side and baseline characteristics was assessed. Cox regression models determined factors affecting overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS). Results Patients with RC (150/399) had more poorly differentiated, mutant KRAS, mutated PIK3CA and wild-type BRAF tumours, fewer liver and lung metastases, and shorter interval between diagnosis and study entry. Among BSC patients, tumour side was not prognostic for PFS (hazard ratios (HR) 1.07 [0.79–1.44], p = 0.67) or OS (HR 0.96 [0.70–1.31], p = 0.78). Among wild-type KRAS patients, those with LC had significantly improved PFS when treated with cetuximab compared to BSC (median 5.4 versus 1.8 months, HR 0.28 [0.18–0.45], p < 0.0001), whereas those with RC did not (median 1.9 versus 1.9 months, HR 0.73 [0.42–1.27], p = 0.26), [interaction p = 0.002]. Conclusion In refractory MCC, tumour location within the colon is not prognostic, but is strongly predictive of PFS benefit from cetuximab therapy. Additional research is needed to understand the molecular differences between RC and LC and their interaction with EGFR inhibition.

Abstract Haematological malignancies (HM) represent over 6% of the total cancer incidence in Europe and affect all ages, ranging between 45% of all cancers in children and 7% in the elderly. Thirty per cent of childhood cancer deaths are due to HM, 8% in the elderly. Their registration presents specific challenges, mainly because HM may transform or progress in the course of the disease into other types of HM. In the context of cancer registration decisions have to be made about classifying subsequent notifications on the same patient as the same tumour (progression), a transformation or a new tumour registration. Allocation of incidence date and method of diagnosis must also be standardised. We developed European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR) recommendations providing specific advice for cancer registries to use haematology and molecular laboratories as data sources, conserve the original date of incidence in case of change of diagnosis, make provision for recording both the original as well as transformed tumour and to apply precise rules for recording and counting multiple diagnoses. A reference table advising on codes which reflect a potential transformation or a new tumour is included. This work will help to improve comparability of data produced by population-based cancer registries, which are indispensable for aetiological research, health care planning and clinical research, an increasing important area with the application of targeted therapies.

Abstract Objective To establishing whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by interval debulking surgery (IDS) is superior primary debulking surgery (PDS) in terms of clinical outcome as well as peri-operative morbidity in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (AEOC) endowed with high tumour load (HTL). Material and methods This is a single-Institution, superiority, randomised phase III trial enrolling supposed AEOC women. Patients considered pre-operatively eligible were triaged to staging laparoscopy to assess the predictive index (PI) of tumour load. All AEOC women with PI ≥ 8 or ≤ 12 (considered as HTL) were included. They were randomly assigned (1:1 ratio) to undergo either PDS followed by systemic adjuvant chemotherapy (arm A, standard), or NACT followed by IDS (NACT/IDS) (arm B, experimental). Co-primary outcome measures were postoperative complications (graded according to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center surgical secondary events grading system) and progression free survival (PFS); secondary outcomes were overall survival, and quality of life (QoL). QoL was assessed using the EORTC QoL questionnaires. A sample size of 110 patients was required for the analysis of the first co-primary end-point (major peri-operative morbidity) whereas recruitment is still on-going to achieve the statistical power on PFS. Results Between October 2011 and November 2014, we registered 280 AEOC. Of the 110 eligible women, 55 were assigned to arm A and 55 to arm B. Despite different extension of surgery, rates of complete residual disease (residual tumour = 0 cm) were superimposable between the groups (45.5% versus 57.7%; p = 0.206). Twenty-nine patients (52.7%) in arm A experienced early grade III–IV complications versus three patients (5.7%) in IDS (p = 0.0001). The most common complication was grade III and consisted of symptomatic pleural effusion requiring thoracic drainage (17/55 women (30.9%) in arm A versus 1/52 (1.9%) in arm B, p = 0.0001). Three grade IV (5.4%) (i.e., two re-operations for postoperative haemorrhage and one septic multi-organ failure), and two grade V (3.6%) (two deaths for acute cardiopulmonary failure) early complications were observed in arm A only. Mean QoL scores of several scales/items were shown to ameliorate over time in both arms. Emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, nausea/vomiting, dyspnoea, insomnia and hair loss were statistically and clinically better in NACT/IDS compared to PDS arm. Conclusions Perioperative moderate/severe morbidity as well as QoL scores were shown to be more favourable in NACT/IDS arm than PDS in AEOC patients with very HTL. Completion of patient enrolment and analysis of survival data will clarify whether PDS with such a high rate of severe complications is an acceptable treatment in AEOC women with HTL.

Abstract Background A decreased risk of prostate cancer (PCa) has been suggested in men taking aspirin, statins and metformin, although the evidence has been conflicting. We estimated the association between prescribed medications, prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels and the risk of either any PCa or high-grade PCa. Methods This population-based cohort study included 185,667 men having a first recorded PSA test and 18,574 men having a first prostate biopsy in Stockholm County, Sweden for the period 2007–2012. Detailed clinical information including PSA levels, biopsy results, comorbidities and educational level were obtained from population-based registers. High-grade prostate cancer was defined as a Gleason score of seven or higher. Differences in PSA levels by medication status were estimated using linear regression on log PSA values. PCa risk was estimated using multivariate logistic regression. Results Compared with men who were not on medication, the PSA level at the first PSA test was lower among men using 75 mg/dose aspirin (−3.9% change in PSA concentration; 95% confidence interval (CI): −5.8 to −2.1), statin (−4.6%; 95% CI: −6.2 to −2.9), metformin (−14%; 95% CI: −17 to −12) and insulin (−16%; 95% CI: −18 to −14). Men using any statins had an increased risk of both high-grade PCa (odds ratio (OR) 1.25; 95% CI: 1.10–1.42) and PCa of any grade (OR 1.16; 95% CI 1.04–1.29). There were no significant associations between aspirin or any antidiabetic medication and the risk of PCa. Conclusion We found no protective effect of aspirin, statins or antidiabetics in terms of risk for any PCa or high-grade PCa. Use of any statins was associated with an elevated risk of being diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer.

Abstract Background Sunitinib (SU) and pazopanib (PZ) are standards of care for first-line treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). However, how the efficacy of these drugs translates into effectiveness on a population-based level is unknown. Patients and methods We used the International mRCC Database Consortium (IMDC) to assess overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), response rate (RR) and performed proportional hazard regression adjusting for IMDC prognostic groups. Second-line OS (OS2) and second-line PFS (PFS2) were also evaluated. Results We obtained data from 7438 patients with mRCC treated with either first-line SU (n = 6519) or PZ (n = 919) with an overall median follow-up of 40.4 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 39.2–42.1). There were no significant differences in IMDC prognostic groups (p = 0.36). There was no OS difference between SU and PZ (22.3 versus 22.6 months, respectively, p = 0.65). When adjusted for IMDC criteria, the hazard ratio (HR) of death for PZ versus SU was 1.03 (95% CI 0.92–1.17, p = 0.58). There was no PFS difference between SU and PZ (8.4 versus 8.3 months, respectively, p = 0.17). When adjusted for IMDC criteria, the HR for PFS for PZ versus SU was 1.08 (95% CI 0.981–1.19, p = 0.12). There was no difference in RR between SU and PZ (30% versus 28%, respectively, p = 0.15). We also found no difference in any second-line treatment between either post-SU or post-PZ groups for OS2 (13.1 versus 11 months, p = 0.27) and PFS2 (3.7 versus 5.0 months, p = 0.07). Conclusions We confirmed in real-world practice that SU and PZ have similar efficacy in the first-line setting for mRCC and do not affect outcomes with subsequent second-line treatment.

Abstract Introduction A number of phase I immunotherapy trials for cancer patients incorporate the absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) as an inclusion criteria. This study aims to assess whether ALC is associated with a lack of response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 in early clinical trials. Methods All consecutive patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy in phase I trials in our institution between December 2011 and January 2014 were reviewed. Baseline ALC, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), Royal-Marsden Hospital (RMH) prognostic score, objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR = SD + PR + CR, stable disease (SD), partial response (PR), complete response (CR)) defined by Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumours (RECIST) version 1.1 were retrieved. Results Out of a total of 167 patients, 48 (28.7%) and 8 patients (4.8%) had baseline ALCs of 1 G/l. When using 0.5 G/l as ALC threshold, we did not find any difference either in ORR or in DCR. In a multivariate Cox regression analysis, baseline ALC was not associated with overall survival, whereas the RMH and the number of previous lines of treatment remained independent prognostic factors. Conclusions Baseline ALC was not associated with response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 in cancer patients enrolled in phase I trials. Patients should not be excluded from early phase clinical trials testing immune checkpoints blockers because of ALC.