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Background: Treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) leads to initial response in most patients with EGFR‐mutated non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In contrast, little is known of the subpopulation of patients with NSCLC with EGFR mutations who exhibit clinical outcomes that require treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Therefore, to identify eligible cases to treat with ICIs, we retrospectively analyzed the correlation between clinical features and the efficacy of ICIs in patients with EGFR mutations. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients with advanced NSCLC harboring EGFR mutations who were treated with ICIs after developing resistance to EGFR‐TKIs between February 2016 and April 2018 at 6 institutions in Japan. The association between clinical outcomes and the efficacy of ICIs was investigated. Results: We enrolled 27 patients who harbored EGFR‐activating mutations. The objective response and disease control rates were higher in patients with uncommon EGFR mutations than in those with common EGFR mutations (71% vs 35.7% and 57% vs 7%, P = 0.14 and P < 0.01, respectively). Patients with uncommon EGFR mutations or without T790M mutations exhibited a significantly longer median progression‐free survival than those with common EGFR mutations or with T790M mutations (P = 0.003 and P = 0.03, respectively). Conclusion: Patients with uncommon EGFR mutations and without T790M mutations are associated with the best outcomes for treatment with immunotherapy among those with EGFR‐mutated NSCLC, based on retrospective analysis. Further research is needed to validate the clinical biomarkers involved in ICI responders with EGFR mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background: The cut-off value of prostate-specific antigen velocity (PSAV) was investigated in relation to the initial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value in subjects with initial values of 1.0–4.0 ng/mL, and the usefulness and limitations of PSAV as a screening test for prostate cancer were examined. Methods: In this study, 4883 men who underwent mass screening for prostate cancer two or more times between 1987 and 1998 and had initial PSA levels of 1.0–4.0 ng/mL were investigated. The subjects ranged in age from 42 to 96 years (mean: 68.0 ± 6.6 years). The cut-off value of PSAV was set at 0.1–1.5 ng/mL per year, and the sensitivity, specificity, efficiency and positive predictive value (PPV) of PSAV for detecting prostate cancer were determined according to the initial PSA value. A similar examination of the average PSAV was carried out in 2888 subjects with three or more visits for mass screening for prostate cancer. Results: The diagnostic efficiency of PSAV was optimal with cut-off values of 0.3 and 0.75 ng/mL per year in those subjects with initial PSA levels of 1.0–1.9 and 2.0–4.0 ng/mL, respectively, but the PPV was low at 1.8% in subjects with initial PSA levels of 1.0–1.9 ng/mL. When the cutoff value of PSAV was set at 1.2 ng/mL per year in individuals with initial PSA levels of 1.0–1.9 ng/mL, the PPV increased to 7.3% and the sensitivity was 40%. The diagnostic efficiency of the average PSAV was optimal at the cut-off values of 0.2 and 0.4 ng/mL per year in subjects with initial PSA levels of 1.0–1.9 and 2.0–4.0 ng/mL, respectively, but the PPV was low at 2.2% in the subjects with initial PSA values of 1.0–1.9 ng/mL. When the cut-off value of PSAV was set at 0.75 ng/mL per year in individuals with initial PSA levels of 1.0–1.9 ng/mL, the PPV was 9.8% and the sensitivity was 46%. Conclusion: It is possible to improve the diagnostic accuracy of prostate cancer... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractBackground: Few articles describe stage and pathology distribution of prostate cancer by age, yet understanding these topics may provide clues to the etiology of this disease. The present study describes the distribution of stage and pathology of prostate cancer in terms of age and considers effective detection of early stage cancer by mass screening (MS). Methods: Data presented in this study were based on patient’s files from MS and the Gunma Urological Oncology Study Group (GUOSG) registry from 1981 to 1996 in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Results: Age did not significantly correlate with stage distribution among the GUOSG patients, whereas stage tended to advance with age among the MS patients. Stage B was detected more frequently than any other stage in all age groups of the MS patients, whereas stage C and stage D were detected at similar rates in all age groups. After prostate specific antigen (PSA) had been introduced in MS, the percentage of early stage cancer increased at an earlier age. Pathology distribution did not significantly differ in any group. Conclusions: The data obtained from MS cancer patients showed that tumor stage tends to advance with age. We believe that the younger age group should be examined by MS using PSA to effectively detect early prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]