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Implementation of an interprofessional program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, including nurse-led proactive calls to support patients with gynecologic cancers with malignant bowel obstruction, demonstrated improved outcomes compared with historical controls. The aim of the study was to convert the proactive calls into an electronic monitoring program to assess it’s feasibility and scalability in patients with gynecologic cancers with or at risk of malignant bowel obstruction.

The Wee1 (WEE1hu) inhibitor adavosertib and gemcitabine have shown preclinical synergy and promising activity in early phase clinical trials. We aimed to determine the efficacy of this combination in patients with ovarian cancer.

IMPORTANCE: New therapeutic options for patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) are needed. This study evaluated dual checkpoint combination therapy in patients with mPDAC. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the anti–PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) antibody using either durvalumab monotherapy or in combination with the anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 antibody using durvalumab plus tremelimumab therapy in patients with mPDAC. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Part A of this multicenter, 2-part, phase 2 randomized clinical trial was a lead-in safety, open-label study with planned expansion to part B pending an efficacy signal from part A. Between November 26, 2015, and March 23, 2017, 65 patients with mPDAC who had previously received only 1 first-line fluorouracil–based or gemcitabine-based treatment were enrolled at 21 sites in 6 countries. Efficacy analysis included the intent-to-treat population; safety analysis included patients who received at least 1 dose of study treatment and for whom any postdose data were available. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received durvalumab (1500 mg every 4 weeks) plus tremelimumab (75 mg every 4 weeks) combination therapy for 4 cycles followed by durvalumab therapy (1500 mg every 4 weeks) or durvalumab monotherapy (1500 mg every 4 weeks) for up to 12 months or until the onset of progressive disease or unacceptable toxic effects. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Safety and efficacy were measured by objective response rate, which was used to determine study expansion to part B. The threshold for expansion was an objective response rate of 10% for either treatment arm. RESULTS: Among 65 randomized patients, 34 (52%) were men and median age was 61 (95% CI, 37-81) years. Grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events occurred in 7 of 32 patients (22%) receiving combination therapy and in 2 of 32 patients (6%) receiving monotherapy; 1 patient randomized to the monotherapy arm did not receive treatment owing to worsened disease. Fatigue, diarrhea, and pruritus were the most common adverse events in both arms. Overall, 4 of 64 patients (6%) discontinued treatment owing to treatment-related adverse events. Objective response rate was 3.1% (95% CI, 0.08-16.22) for patients receiving combination therapy and 0% (95% CI, 0.00-10.58) for patients receiving monotherapy. Low patient numbers limited observation of the associations between treatment response and PD-L1 expression or microsatellite instability status. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: Treatment was well tolerated, and the efficacy of durvalumab plus tremelimumab therapy and durvalumab monotherapy reflected a population of patients with mPDAC who had poor prognoses and rapidly progressing disease. Patients were not enrolled in part B because the threshold for efficacy was not met in part A. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02558894

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AimsRapid procurement of a wide variety of metastatic and primary cancers and normal tissues after death through rapid autopsy opens largely unexplored avenues in cancer research. We describe a high-volume rapid research autopsy programme at a large academic medical centre.MethodsAdvanced-stage cancer patients, most commonly inpatients in palliative care facilities, were approached to participate in a cancer research autopsy programme with the goal of acquiring multidimensionally annotated tissue for cancer research. On death of an enrolled patient, a predetermined notification plan was enacted, with the medical oncologist/clinical research coordinator informing a team of pathologists, researchers and allied staff. Quality assurance metrics were measured. Thereafter, tissues were annotated in a tissue bioinformatics database and linked to electronic patient records. All banked tissues were reviewed for tumour integrity, including DNA and RNA quality.ResultsOver 100 rapid research autopsies from diverse cancer sites were performed, and specimens were procured and annotated with detailed clinical information, including treatment and response. Tissues were successfully enabling studies of tumour immunology, xenografts, genomics and proteomics.ConclusionsLarge-scale rapid procurement and biobanking of cancer tissues from a rapid autopsy programme is feasible. Multidisciplinary integration between health and administrative staff from medical oncology, palliative care, pathology and biospecimen sciences is critical for the success of this challenging endeavour.

IMPORTANCE: Outcomes for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remain poor. Advances in next-generation sequencing provide a route to therapeutic approaches, and integrating DNA and RNA analysis with clinicopathologic data may be a crucial step toward personalized treatment strategies for this disease. OBJECTIVE: To classify PDAC according to distinct mutational processes, and explore their clinical significance. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of resected PDAC, using cases collected between 2008 and 2015 as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium. The discovery cohort comprised 160 PDAC cases from 154 patients (148 primary; 12 metastases) that underwent tumor enrichment prior to whole-genome and RNA sequencing. The replication cohort comprised 95 primary PDAC cases that underwent whole-genome sequencing and expression microarray on bulk biospecimens. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Somatic mutations accumulate from sequence-specific processes creating signatures detectable by DNA sequencing. Using nonnegative matrix factorization, we measured the contribution of each signature to carcinogenesis, and used hierarchical clustering to subtype each cohort. We examined expression of antitumor immunity genes across subtypes to uncover biomarkers predictive of response to systemic therapies. RESULTS: The discovery cohort was 53% male (n = 79) and had a median age of 67 (interquartile range, 58-74) years. The replication cohort was 50% male (n = 48) and had a median age of 68 (interquartile range, 60-75) years. Five predominant mutational subtypes were identified that clustered PDAC into 4 major subtypes: age related, double-strand break repair, mismatch repair, and 1 with unknown etiology (signature 8). These were replicated and validated. Signatures were faithfully propagated from primaries to matched metastases, implying their stability during carcinogenesis. Twelve of 27 (45%) double-strand break repair cases lacked germline or somatic events in canonical homologous recombination genes—BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2. Double-strand break repair and mismatch repair subtypes were associated with increased expression of antitumor immunity, including activation of CD8-positive T lymphocytes (GZMA and PRF1) and overexpression of regulatory molecules (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4, programmed cell death 1, and indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1), corresponding to higher frequency of somatic mutations and tumor-specific neoantigens. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Signature-based subtyping may guide personalized therapy of PDAC in the context of biomarker-driven prospective trials.

AimSeveral regression grading systems have been proposed for neoadjuvant chemoradiation-treated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). This study aimed to examine the utility, reproducibility and level of concordance of three most frequently used grading systems.MethodsFour gastrointestinal pathologists used the College of American Pathologists (CAP), Evans, MD Anderson Cancer Centre (MDA) regression grading systems to grade 14 selected cases (7–20 slides from each case) of neoadjuvant chemoradiation-treated PDAC. A postscoring discussion with each pathologist was conducted. The results were entered into a standardised data collection form and statistical analyses were performed.ResultsThere was little concordance across the three systems. The Kendall coefficient of concordance agreement scores were: CAP: 2-poor, 2-fair; Evans: 1-fair, 1-moderate, 2-good; MDA: 1-poor, 2-moderate, 1-good. Interpretation in all three grades in the CAP grading system was a source of discrepancy. Furthermore, using fibrosis as a criterion to assess regression was contentious. In the Evans system, quantifying tumour destruction using arbitrary percentage cut-offs (ie, 9% vs 10%; 50% vs 51%, etc) was imprecise and subjective. Although the MDA system generated greatest concordance, this was due to ‘oversimplification’ surrounding wide, arbitrarily assigned thresholds of 5% of tumour.ConclusionsAll systems lacked precision and clarity for accurate regression grading. Presently the clinical utility and impact of histological regression grading in patient management is questionable. There is a need to re-evaluate regression grading in the pancreas and establish a reproducible, clinically relevant grading system.

Importance of the field:Focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a crucial mediator of integrin and growth factor signaling, is a novel and promising target in cancer therapy. FAK resides within focal adhesions which are contact points between extracellular matrix (ECM) and cytoskeleton, and increased expression of the kinase has been linked with cancer cell migration, proliferation and survival. The aim of this review is to summarize the current research in the area and to assess the potential of different FAK-targeting strategies for cancer therapy.Areas covered in this review:We briefly examine the evidence pointing towards FAK as potential anti-cancer target since its discovery in 1992. Then, we summarize different approaches developed to interfere with FAK signaling and important results reported from these experiments. Finally, we discuss the potential of these strategies to accomplish inhibition of tumor growth and distant spread as well as potentially meaningful combinations with other therapeutic modalities in the context of the currently available evidence.What the reader will gain:The review emphasizes the link between FAK biology and the consequences of interference with FAK signaling. Based on this foundation an opinion is formed with regard to the future of FAK as therapeutic target.Take home message:Inhibition of FAK harbours the potential to restrain malignant growth and progression with minimal side effects in normal tissues. Small molecule inhibitors of the kinase should be examined in further clinical studies and combinations with existing therapies need to be explored. More efforts are required to identify markers which predict response towards FAK inhibition.

IMPORTANCE: Based on evidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)–induced immune evasion, immunotherapy may be an attractive strategy in cervical cancer. Ipilimumab is a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), which acts to downregulate the T-cell immune response. OBJECTIVE: To assess the safety and antitumor activity of ipilimumab in recurrent cervical cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A multicenter trial was designed for patients with metastatic cervical cancer (squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma) with measurable disease and progression after at least 1 line of platinum chemotherapy. A run-in safety cohort using ipilimumab, 3 mg/kg, every 21 days for 4 cycles in 6 patients was followed by a phase II cohort of ipilimumab, 10 mg/kg, every 21 days for 4 cycles and then 4 cycles of maintenance therapy every 12 weeks for patients demonstrating radiologic response or stabilization. Immune correlative studies were performed on peripheral blood before and after therapy on archival tissue and fresh tumor obtained prior to registration and 7 days after cycle 2. The study was conducted from December 3, 2012, to September 15, 2014. The data were analyzed from April 2016 to June 2016 and in July 2017. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary end points were safety and objective response rate. Immune analyses were performed on blood and tumor tissue. RESULTS: A total of 42 women (median age, 49 years; range, 23-78 years) were enrolled (29 [69%] squamous cell cervical cancer and 13 [31%] adenocarcinoma; 37 [93%] of 40 patients with tissue available for analysis had HPV-positive confirmation; there was no archival tissue for 2 women). Grade 3 toxic effects included diarrhea in 4 patients, 3 of whom had colitis. Of 34 patients evaluated for best response (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, version 1.1), 1 patient had partial response and 10 had stable disease. The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 2.5 months (95% CI, 2.1-3.2 months) and 8.5 months (95% CI, 3.6-not reached; 1 patient was still alive), respectively. Intratumoral pretreatment CD3, CD4, CD8, FoxP3, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression was not predictive of benefit and did not significantly change with treatment. Multicolor flow cytometry on peripheral lymphocytes revealed a treatment-dependent increase of inducible T-cell costimulator, human leukocyte antigen–antigen D related, and PD-1 during initial treatment, which returned to baseline during maintenance. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Ipilimumab was tolerable in this population but did not show significant single-agent activity. Immune changes were induced by anti–CTLA-4 therapy but did not correlate with clinical activity. Changes in these markers may guide further treatment strategies.