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PURPOSE: A prognostic model for overall survival of post-platinum patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma receiving PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors is necessary as existing models were constructed in the chemotherapy setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient level data were used from phase I/II trials evaluating PD-L1 inhibitors following platinum based chemotherapy for metastatic urothelial carcinoma. The derivation data set consisted of 2 phase I/II trials evaluating atezolizumab (405). Two phase I/II trials that evaluated avelumab (242) and durvalumab (198) comprised the validation data sets. Cox regression analyses evaluated the association of candidate prognostic factors with overall survival. Stepwise selection was used to select an optimal model using the derivation data set. Discrimination and calibration were assessed in the avelumab and durvalumab data sets. RESULTS: The 5 prognostic factors identified in the optimal model using the atezolizumab derivation data set were ECOG-PS (1 vs 0, HR 1.80, 95% CI 1.36-2.36), liver metastasis (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.20-2.00), platelet count (HR 2.22; 95% CI 1.54-3.18), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (HR 1.94, 95% CI 1.57-2.40) and lactate dehydrogenase (HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.28-1.99). There was robust discrimination of survival between low, intermediate and high risk groups. The c-statistic was 0.692 in the derivation and 0.671 and 0.773 in the avelumab and durvalumab validation data sets, respectively. A web based interactive tool was developed to calculate the expected survival probabilities based on risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: A validated 5-factor model has satisfactory prognostic performance for survival across 3 PD-L1 inhibitors to treat metastatic urothelial carcinoma after platinum therapy and may assist in stratification, interpreting and designing trials incorporating PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in the post-platinum setting.

Summary Background Locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma is generally incurable and has scarce treatment options, especially for cisplatin-ineligible patients previously treated with PD-1 or PD-L1 therapy. Enfortumab vedotin is an antibody–drug conjugate directed at Nectin-4, a protein highly expressed in urothelial carcinoma. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of enfortumab vedotin in the post-immunotherapy setting in cisplatin-ineligible patients. Methods EV-201 is a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 study of enfortumab vedotin in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma previously treated with PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors. Cohort 2 included adults (aged ≥18 years) with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score of 2 or less who were considered ineligible for cisplatin at enrolment and who had not received platinum-containing chemotherapy in the locally advanced or metastatic setting. Enfortumab vedotin was given intravenously at a dose of 1·25 mg/kg on days 1, 8, and 15 of every 28-day cycle. The primary endpoint was confirmed objective response rate per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours version 1.1 assessed by blinded independent central review. Efficacy and safety were analysed in all patients who received at least one dose of enfortumab vedotin. EV-201 is an ongoing study and the primary analysis is complete. This study is registered with Clinicaltrials.gov , NCT03219333 . Findings Between Oct 8, 2017, and Feb 11, 2020, 91 patients were enrolled at 40 sites globally, of whom 89 received treatment. Median follow-up was 13·4 months (IQR 11·3–18·9). At data cutoff (Sept 8, 2020), the confirmed objective response rate was 52% (46 of 89 patients; 95% CI 41–62), with 18 (20%) of 89 patients achieving a complete response and 28 (31%) achieving a partial response. 49 (55%) of 89 patients had grade 3 or worse treatment-related adverse events. The most common grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events were neutropenia (eight [9%] patients), maculopapular rash (seven [8%] patients), and fatigue (six [7%] patients). Treatment-related serious adverse events occurred in 15 (17%) patients. Three (3%) patients died due to acute kidney injury, metabolic acidosis, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (one [1%] each) within 30 days of first dose and these deaths were considered by the investigator to be related to treatment; a fourth death from pneumonitis occurred more than 30 days after the last dose and was also considered to be related to treatment. Interpretation Treatment with enfortumab vedotin was tolerable and confirmed responses were seen in 52% of cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who were previously treated with PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors. These patients have few treatment options, and enfortumab vedotin could be a promising new therapy for a patient population with a high unmet need. Funding Astellas Pharma Global Development and Seagen.

BACKGROUND: Patients with residual muscle-invasive urinary tract cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) have a high risk of recurrence.OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively evaluate whether additional adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) improves outcomes compared with surveillance in patients with significant residual disease despite NAC.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We identified 474 patients who received NAC from the Retrospective International Study of Cancers of the Urothelium database, of whom 129 had adverse residual disease (≥ypT3 and/or ypN+).OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Time to relapse (TTR) was the primary endpoint assessed starting from 2mo after surgery to minimize immortal time bias. Secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), incidence of AC use, and chemotherapy patterns. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models estimated TTR, OS, and associations with AC, adjusting for the type of NAC, age, and pathological stage in multivariable analyses.RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: A total of 106 patients underwent surveillance, while 23 received AC. Gemcitabine-cisplatin was the most frequent regimen employed in both settings (30.4%), and the majority (82.6%) of the patients switched to a different regimen. Median follow-up was 30mo. Over 50% of patients developed a recurrence. Median TTR was 16mo (range: CONCLUSIONS: The utilization of AC after NAC in patients with high-risk residual disease is not frequent in clinical practice but might reduce the risk of recurrence. Further investigation is needed in this high-risk population to identify optimal therapy and to improve clinical outcomes such as the ongoing adjuvant immunotherapy trials.PATIENT SUMMARY: We found that administering additional chemotherapy in patients who had significant residual disease despite preoperative chemotherapy is not frequent in clinical practice. While it might reduce the risk of recurrence, it did not clearly increase overall survival. We encourage participation in the ongoing immunotherapy trials to see whether we can improve outcomes using a different type of therapy that stimulates the immune system.

The authors regret that a co-author was mistakenly missed from the authorship. The following co-author should have been included in the authorship: Peter-Paul M. Willemse Department of Oncological Urology, University Medical Center, Utrecht Cancer Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Background: Nonurothelial carcinoma (UC) malignancies have traditionally been considered to have a more aggressive clinical course, and little is known about their response to neoadjuvant therapy. We examined the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) on a large population of patients with bladder cancer (BCa) with different histologic variants (HVs). Patients and Methods: We relied on a retrospective, multicenter database of 2858 patients with BCa who had undergone radical cystectomy with or without NAC from 1990 to 2017. Pure and mixed HVs were grouped into 6 categories: squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; n = 283; 45%), other subtypes (n = 95; 15%), micropapillary (n = 85; 14%), adenocarcinoma (n = 65; 10%), small cell (n = 54; 8.6%), and sarcomatous (n = 47; 7.6%). Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to examine cancer-specific survival (CSS) according to the HV, using pure UC as the reference. Logistic regression models were used to examine the odds of clinical-to-pathologic downstaging after NAC according to the HV. Results: Overall, we identified 2229 cases of pure UC and 629 cases of BCa with HVs at radical cystectomy. Of the 450 NAC-treated patients, only those patients with SCC (n = 44; 9.8%) had had worse CSS (median CSS, 33 vs. 116 months; P < .001) and higher mortality rates (hazard ratio, 2.1; P = .03) compared with those with pure UC (n = 328; 72.9%). The results of the analyses were also confirmed when the pure and mixed cases were considered separately. After adjusting for NAC, only SCC showed a lower rate of clinical-to-pathologic downstaging (odds ratio, 0.4; P = .03) compared with UC. Conclusions: SCC was the HV exhibiting the lowest effect of NAC in terms of activity and CSS. Compared with pure UC, SCC seemed to be insensitive to traditional NAC regimens.

The availability of new potent systemic therapies for urothelial carcinoma may change the way we use standard chemotherapy perioperatively. In particular, identifying which patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) is compelling. From a multicenter database we selected 950 patients with cT2–4N0M0 MIBC treated with radical cystectomy (RC), with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), and AC. We used Kaplan-Meier analyses to test 1-yr recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates according to AC use. Nomogram-derived probabilities of 1-yr recurrence after RC were plotted against actual recurrence rates according to AC use. Overall, we did not see evidence of an AC effect on the 1-yr RFS rate (p = 0.6). Conversely, the 1-yr RFS rate was higher among patients with pT3–4 or pN1 disease who received AC (75% vs 54%; p < 0.001). We were unable to demonstrate a difference between AC and no AC among patients who received prior NAC (1-yr RFS 57% vs 76%; p = 0.057). As the most important finding, AC was associated with incremental RFS benefits only for patients with a nomogram-derived 1-yr recurrence probability of >40%. Patient summary: Maximizing disease control with adjuvant chemotherapy was beneficial for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who had a calculated recurrence risk of >40% and did not impact cancer recurrence in lower-risk disease. Therefore, patient stratification using the nomogram available for predicting recurrence is advisable pending external validation.

PURPOSE The aim of the current study was to report the efficacy of topical and systemic treatments for immune-related cutaneous adverse events (ircAEs) attributed to checkpoint inhibitors in an uncontrolled cohort of patients referred to oncodermatology clinics. METHODS A retrospective analysis of patients with ircAEs evaluated by dermatologists from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017, at three tertiary care hospitals and cancer centers were identified through electronic medical records. Clinicopathologic characteristics, dermatologic therapy outcome, and laboratory data were analyzed. RESULTS A total of 285 patients (median age, 65 years [range, 17 to 89 years]) with 427 ircAEs were included: pruritus (n = 138; 32%), maculopapular rash (n = 120; 28%), psoriasiform rash (n = 22; 5%), and others (n = 147; 34%). Immune checkpoint inhibitor class was associated with ircAE phenotype ( P = .007), where maculopapular rash was predominant in patients who received combination therapy. Severity of ircAEs was significantly reduced (mean Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events grade: 1.74 v 0.71; P < .001) with dermatologic interventions, including topical corticosteroids, oral antipruritics, and systemic immunomodulators. A total of 88 ircAEs (20%) were managed with systemic immunomodulators. Of these, 22 (25%) of 88 persisted or worsened. In seven patients with corticosteroid-refractory ircAEs, improvement resulted from targeted biologic immunomodulatory therapies that included rituximab and dupilumab. Serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) was elevated in 34 (52%) of 65 patients; grade 3 or greater ircAEs were associated with increased absolute eosinophils (odds ratio, 4.1; 95% CI, 1.3 to 13.4) and IL-10 (odds ratio, 23.8; 95% CI, 2.1 to 262.5); mean immunoglobulin E serum levels were greater in higher-grade ircAEs: 1,093 kU/L (grade 3), 245 kU/L (grade 2), and 112 kU/L (grade 1; P = .043). CONCLUSION Most ircAEs responded to symptom- and phenotype-directed dermatologic therapies, whereas biologic therapies were effective in patients with corticosteroid-refractory disease. Increased eosinophils, IL-6, IL-10, and immunoglobulin E were associated with ircAEs, and they may represent actionable therapeutic targets for immune-related skin toxicities.

Background: Several ongoing phase 2 trials are evaluating new neoadjuvant therapy regimens in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). The 1-yr recurrence-free survival (RFS) after radical cystectomy (RC), with or without perioperative chemotherapy, can be used to model statistical assumptions and interpret outcomes from these studies. Objective: To provide a benchmark for predicting 1-yr RFS in patients with cT2–4N0 MIBC. Design, setting, and participants: We identified 950 patients with clinical stage T2–4N0 MIBC undergoing RC at 27 centers between 1990 and 2016. We assessed 1-yr RFS rates for patients managed with no perioperative chemotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), adjuvant chemotherapy (AC), or NAC followed by AC. Cox regression analyses tested for 1-yr postsurgical RFS predictors. A Cox-based nomogram was developed to estimate 1-yr RFS and its accuracy was assessed in terms of Harrell's c-index, a calibration plot, and decision curve analysis. We report 1-yr RFS rates across the nomogram tertiles. Results and limitations: The 1-yr RFS rates were 67.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 64–72) after no perioperative chemotherapy, 76.9% (95% CI 72–83%) after NAC, 77.8% (95% CI 71–85%) after AC, and 57% (95% CI 37–87) after NAC + AC. On multivariable analysis, positive surgical margins (p = 0.002), pT stage (p < 0.0001), and pN stage (p

Progress in developing new treatments for urothelial carcinoma (UC) has been stagnant for more than 20 years. A paradigm shift is needed to advance treatment for UC. For patients with advanced disease and in whom chemotherapy regimens have failed, a variety of single-agent or combination therapies, including molecularly targeted agents, have yielded modest response rates and poor survival durations.1,2 Although immunotherapy portends new promise, vinflunine is the only approved drug in Europe (European Medicines Agency) for progressive UC after platinum-based therapy, and the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved any agent.3 Advancements in genomic profiling of UC, mainly through The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project, recently made exceptional steps forward to uncover pertinent information on the underlying UC biology and potentially druggable pathways.4 The strategy to molecularly characterize patients who had achieved an extreme response to targeted drugs recently helped investigators to put known relevant alterations into the context of a clinical benefit from those compounds.5-7 This paradigm might best apply to anti-angiogenics, for which a proportion of approximately 5% to 10% complete or sustained responders has been reported for therapies including pazopanib.8,9