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Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of female cancer deaths in the Western world. Significant progress has been made in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer, however, the majority of patients experience disease recurrence and new therapies are being sought for such patients. Clinical investigation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors for ovarian cancer treatment has demonstrated promising activity in this disease. Here, we review the development of PARP inhibitors and their future role in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer. Studies of olaparib, the first PARP inhibitor to be approved in Europe and the USA, in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer have demonstrated clinical efficacy with improvements in progression-free survival. In maintenance therapy of platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer there is supporting evidence of clinical benefit from exploratory endpoints that include time to first subsequent treatment and time to second subsequent treatment. Adverse events that should be monitored following treatment with PARP inhibitors include nausea, vomiting, fatigue and anaemia. Based on the evidence presented, patients who will receive the greatest benefit from PARP inhibition are those with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of female cancer deaths in the Western world. Significant progress has been made in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer, however, the majority of patients experience disease recurrence and new therapies are being sought for such patients. Clinical investigation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors for ovarian cancer treatment has demonstrated promising activity in this disease. Here, we review the development of PARP inhibitors and their future role in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer. Studies of olaparib, the first PARP inhibitor to be approved in Europe and the USA, in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer have demonstrated clinical efficacy with improvements in progression-free survival. In maintenance therapy of platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer there is supporting evidence of clinical benefit from exploratory endpoints that include time to first subsequent treatment and time to second subsequent treatment. Adverse events that should be monitored following treatment with PARP inhibitors include nausea, vomiting, fatigue and anaemia. Based on the evidence presented, patients who will receive the greatest benefit from PARP inhibition are those with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of antibody avidity in allergy is poorly understood and there is no existing literature describing antibody avidity in food allergy. The main aim of this study was to investigate IgE and IgG avidity to a total peanut protein extract (TPPE) and purified Ara h 2 in a group of well-characterized peanut allergic individuals. Forty peanut allergic patients underwent a double-blind placebo-controlled low-dose peanut challenge, during which the severity of the patients’ peanut allergy was scored. Serum peanut-specific IgE (psIgE) and IgG (psIgG) concentrations were measured for 37 individuals and the avidities of the same antibodies to a TPPE and purified Ara h 2 were determined using a thiocyanate ELISA method. Both IgE and IgG avidity to Ara h 2 showed weak positive correlations with challenge score [r = 0.459 (p = 0.012) and r = 0.486 (p = 0.003), respectively]. IgE avidity to TPPE showed a weak positive correlation with skin prick test results (SPT), r = 0.467 (p = 0.004) and there was an inverse relationship between the ratio of total IgE:psIgE and challenge score r = −0.561 (p < 0.001). No significant relationship was found between the ratios of IgE avidity:IgG avidity and challenge score or SPT. This is the first description of IgE and IgG avidity in peanut allergy, and it appears that the avidities of IgE and IgG antibodies to purified Ara h 2 are weakly related to the severity of peanut allergy (as measured by a challenge score). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This phase 1 study examined the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy of eribulin-liposomal formulation (eribulin-LF) in patients with advanced solid tumours.Methods: Eligible patients with ECOG PS 0-1 were treated with eribulin-LF either on day 1 every 21 days (Schedule 1), or on days 1 and 15 every 28 days (Schedule 2). Doses ranged from 1.0 to 3.5 mg/m2, with dose escalation in a 3 + 3 design. The dose-expansion phase evaluated eribulin-LF in select tumour types.Primary Objectives: maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the recommended dose/schedule of eribulin-LF.Results: Totally, 58 patients were enroled (median age = 62 years). The MTD was 1.4 mg/m2 (Schedule 1) or 1.5 mg/m2 (Schedule 2), the latter dose selected for the dose-expansion phase. Dose-limiting toxicity (DLTs) in Schedule 1: hypophosphatemia and increased transaminase levels. DLTs in Schedule 2: stomatitis, increased alanine aminotransferase, neutropenia and febrile neutropenia. The pharmacokinetic profile of eribulin-LF showed a similar half-life to that of eribulin (~30 h), but with a 5-fold greater maximum serum concentration and a 40-fold greater area-under-the-curve. Eribulin-LF demonstrated clinical activity with approximately 10% of patients in both schedules achieving partial responses.Conclusions: Eribulin-LF was well tolerated with a favourable pharmacokinetic profile. Preliminary evidence of clinical activity in solid tumours was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours (SI NETs) represent 30–50% of small bowel neoplasms and are often associated with diverse fibrotic complications. Mesenteric fibrosis is a hallmark of SI NETs which may cause substantial morbidity and is considered an adverse feature. However, survival analyses in this group of patients are lacking. Methods: The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the overall survival (OS) and factors affecting prognosis in a large cohort of 147 patients with SI NETs and radiological evidence of mesenteric desmoplasia from our centre. The severity of desmoplasia was graded radiologically and its effect on OS and long-term complications was assessed. The median follow-up period was 82 months. Results: The median OS was 8.7 years (95% CI 6.8–9.9) with an overall 5-year survival of 71%. The univariate analysis demonstrated that an age >65 years, a liver tumour burden >50% of the hepatic parenchyma, carcinoid heart disease, chromogranin A levels >10 times the upper limit of normal, and urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) levels >5 times the upper limit of normal were poor prognosticators, while primary resection was associated with a longer OS. However, only an age >65 years and urinary 5-HIAA levels >10 times the upper limit of normal remained statistically significant after multivariate analysis. The severity of mesenteric desmoplasia did not seem to demonstrate a statistically significant relationship to OS or long-term outcomes. Conclusion: This study is the first comprehensive survival analysis of patients with SI NETs associated with mesenteric desmoplasia and has provided important and clinically relevant epidemiological data for this group of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1) is a key regulator of immune tolerance in ovarian cancer. This study investigated efficacy and safety of the IDO1 enzyme inhibitor epacadostat versus tamoxifen in patients with biochemical-only recurrence (CA-125 elevation) following complete remission after first-line chemotherapy for advanced epithelial ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer. Methods In this open-label, phase 2 study (NCT01685255), patients were randomised 1:1 to epacadostat 600 mg or tamoxifen 20 mg twice daily for successive 28-day cycles and stratified by time since completion of first-line chemotherapy to first CA-125 elevation (3 to < 12 or ≥ 12 months). The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS; RECIST v1.1). Secondary endpoints included CA-125 response (Gynecologic Cancer InterGroup criteria), overall survival, safety, and tolerability. Results The study was terminated primarily due to slow accrual and lack of evidence of superiority. Median PFS was 3.75 months for epacadostat ( n = 22) versus 5.56 months for tamoxifen ( n = 20; HR, 1.34 [95% CI, 0.58–3.14]; P = 0.54). Of evaluable patients, 1 (5.0%) epacadostat and 3 (15.8%) tamoxifen patients had confirmed CA-125 responses. The most common treatment-emergent adverse event was fatigue (epacadostat, 36.4%; tamoxifen, 40.0%). Immune-related adverse events, observed with epacadostat only, were primarily rash (18.2%) and pruritus (9.1%). Epacadostat pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics were consistent with its known mechanism of action. IDO1 expression was observed in 94% of archival tumour samples. Conclusions This first report of immunotherapy evaluation in biochemical-only relapse ovarian cancer and of IDO1 inhibitor monotherapy in ovarian cancer found no significant difference in efficacy between epacadostat and tamoxifen. Epacadostat was generally well tolerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Multigene testing in ovarian cancer has received increased support due to its' applicability for cancer treatment and the impact it has on cancer prevention in families. This study shows that multi-gene germline and somatic testing uptake after counselling by a member of the multidisciplinary cancer clinical team in women with ovarian cancer, was high (97%). A total of 15.5% of women were identified to have germline BRCA1/BRCA2 pathogenic variants and 7.8% had somatic BRCA1/BRCA2 pathogenic variants. A total of 2.3% patients had RAD51C/RAD51D/BRIP1 pathogenic variants. We found that 11% of germline pathogenic variants were large-genomic-rearrangements and were missed by somatic testing. Our findings support prospective parallel somatic-&-germline panel testing to maximize variant identification. We present findings of a cancer multidisciplinary-team (MDT) coordinated mainstreaming pathway of unselected 5-panel germline BRCA1/BRCA2/RAD51C/RAD51D/BRIP1 and parallel somatic BRCA1/BRCA2 testing in all women with epithelial-OC and highlight the discordance between germline and somatic testing strategies across two cancer centres. Patients were counselled and consented by a cancer MDT member. The uptake of parallel multi-gene germline and somatic testing was 97.7%. Counselling by clinical-nurse-specialist more frequently needed >1 consultation (53.6% (30/56)) compared to a medical (15.0% (21/137)) or surgical oncologist (15.3% (17/110)) (p < 0.001). The median age was 54 (IQR = 51–62) years in germline pathogenic-variant (PV) versus 61 (IQR = 51–71) in BRCA wild-type (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference in distribution of PVs by ethnicity, stage, surgery timing or resection status. A total of 15.5% germline and 7.8% somatic BRCA1/BRCA2 PVs were identified. A total of 2.3% patients had RAD51C/RAD51D/BRIP1 PVs. A total of 11% germline PVs were large-genomic-rearrangements and missed by somatic testing. A total of 20% germline PVs are missed by somatic first BRCA-testing approach and 55.6% germline PVs missed by family history ascertainment. The somatic testing failure rate is higher (23%) for patients undergoing diagnostic biopsies. Our findings favour a prospective parallel somatic and germline panel testing approach as a clinically efficient strategy to maximise variant identification. UK Genomics test-directory criteria should be expanded to include a panel of OC genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]