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Summary R‐CVP (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone) and R‐CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone + rituximab) are immunochemotherapy regimens frequently used for remission induction of indolent non‐Hodgkin lymphomas (iNHLs). Rituximab maintenance (RM) significantly improves progression‐free survival (PFS) in patients with complete/partial remission (CR/PR). Here we report the final results of a randomized study comparing R‐CVP to R‐CHOP both followed by RM. Untreated patients in need of systemic therapy with symptomatic and progressive iNHLs including follicular (FL) and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), small lymphocytic (SLL), and lymphoplasmacytic (LPL) lymphoma were eligible. Patients were randomized to receive R‐CVP or R‐CHOP for eight cycles or until complete response (CR). All patients with CR/PR (partial response) received RM 375 mg/m2 q 2 months for 12 cycles. Primary endpoint was event‐free survival (EFS). Two‐hundred and fifty patients [FL 42%, MZL/MALT 38%, LPL/ Waldenström Macroglobulinaemia (WM) 11%, SLL 9%] were enrolled and randomized (R‐CHOP: 127, R‐CVP: 123). Median age was 56 years (21–85), 44% were male, 90% were in stage III–IV, 43% of FL patients had a Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) score ≥3, and 33·4% of all patients had an IPI score ≥3. At the end of induction treatment, the CR/PR rate was 43·6/50·9% and 36·3/60·8% in the R‐CHOP and R‐CVP groups (P = 0·218) respectively. After a median follow‐up of 67, 66, and 70 months, five‐year EFS was 61% vs. 56% (not significant), progression‐free survival (PFS) was 71% vs. 69% (not significant) and overall survival (OS) was 84% vs. 89% in the R‐CHOP vs. the R‐CVP arm respectively. Grade III/IV adverse events (65 vs. 22) occurred in 40 (33·1%) and 18 (15·3%) patients, P = 0·001; neutropenia in 16 (11·6%) and 4 (3·4%) patients, P = 0·017; infection in 14 (10·7%) and 3 (2·5%) patients,; P = 0·011; and a second neoplasm in three versus seven patients., in the R‐CHOP and the R‐CVP groups respectively. This multicentre randomized study with >five‐year follow‐up shows similar outcome in patients with indolent lymphoma in need of systemic therapy treated with R‐CVP or R‐CHOP immunochemotherapy and rituximab maintenance in both arms. The minor toxicity of the R‐CVP regimen makes it a reasonable choice for induction treatment, leaving other active agents like doxorubicin or bendamustin for second‐line therapy.

Epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are routinely used to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients with common activating mutations of the EGFR gene. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacies of EGFR-TKIs in patients with common (exon 19 deletions and exon 21 p.Leu858Arg) and rare EGFR mutations. A retrospective analysis of 180 NSCLC patients with common (n=167) and rare (n=13) EGFR mutations treated with erlotinib (n=98), gefitinib (n=66) and afatinib (n=16) was performed. EGFR mutations were determined using RT-PCR and the EntroGen EGFR Mutations Analysis kit. Partial and complete response (PR and CR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. Demographic and clinical factors had no impact on PFS or OS in patients treated with EGFR-TKIs. Erlotinib, gefitinib, and afatinib showed similar efficacies based on treatment response, median PFS, and OS. The type of EGFR mutation had no impact on median OS; however, median PFS was significantly longer in patients with the exon 19 deletion compared to patients with the exon 21 p.Leu858Arg substitution and rare EGFR gene mutations (P=0.013). Patients with common EGFR mutations showed significantly longer median PFS than those with rare EGFR mutations (10 vs. 5 months; P=0.009). Erlotinib, gefitinib, and afatinib show similar efficacies in NSCLC patients with both common and rare EGFR mutations. When undergoing EGFR-TKI treatment, patients with rare EGFR mutations showed similar OS but poorer PFS. Further investigation into the associations between particular rare EGFR mutations and EGFR-TKIs treatment outcomes is required.

We retrospectively analyzed long-term disease outcome of 350 elderly Hodgkin Lymphoma (eHL) patients treated with ABVD/ABVD-like regimen enrolled in the PLRG-R9 study between 2001 and 2013 in Poland. Complete remission was reported for 73% of early (ES) and 61% advanced stage (AS) patients. Nine (10%) ES and 56 (20%) AS patients have died. With the median follow-up of 36 (1-190) months, 3-year EFS and OS was 0.74 (95%CI: 0.63-0.85) and 0.90 (95%CI: 0.82-0.98) for ES; 0.51 (95%CI: 0.44-0.57), and 0.81 (95%CI: 0.75-0.86) for AS patients, respectively. For ES patients, Cox regression revealed ECOG2 and age70 as predictive for inferior OS and EFS. For AS patients, the most predictive for OS was the presence of cardiovascular disorders (CVD) (p = .00044), while for EFS four factors were significantly associated with a poor outcome: ECOG 2, age70 years, CVD and extranodal disease. In conclusion, CVD significantly impacts outcomes of ABVD-treated advanced eHL patients.

Introduction. Melanoma is a heterogeneous group of tumours with poor prognosis if the disease is metastatic. More than half of patients with melanoma of the skin have detectable mutations in the BRAF gene. Vemurafenib is the BRAF kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma with the BRAF mutation. This improves time to progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with this diagnosis. The aim of the study was to analyse the results of treatment and safety of vemurafenib in patients treated during the Polish drug programme. Materials and methods .Between October 2013 and April 2015 a total of 189 patients were treated, 90 women and 99 men, who had previously been diagnosed with unresectable/metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600 mutation. Patients received vemurafenib in 960 mg dose twice per day. The estimated progression-free survival, overall survival and adverse events were assessed. For the survival analysis the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test (log-rank) for multi-factor analysis were used. Results. In the first evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment, 8 patients (4.3%) had a complete response, 75 patients (39.7%) partial response, 62 patients (32.8%) had stable disease, and 44 patients (23.2%) had progression of the disease. The disease was controlled in 76.7% of patients. After progression during the therapy with vemurafenib 27% of the patients received subsequent lines of systemic therapy. Twenty-eight patients received chemotherapy and 22 patients immunotherapy with ipilimumab. During the last analysis dated 5 September 2015, the median observation time for still living patients was 8 months (range 3–26). Median progression-free survival was 6.7 months. The median overall survival was 12 months. 146 patients (77%) had adverse events, mostly in the form of dermal toxicity of Grades 1 and 2. Thirty-two patients (17%) presented with side effects of the 3rd and 4th grades of toxicity. Two patients had to stop the treatment due to the toxicity. There were no deaths reported due to the toxicity of treatment. Conclusions. The multicentre analysis confirmed the efficacy and safety of vemurafenib in routine clinical practice in a heterogeneous group of advanced melanomas with BRAF mutation. We confirmed the importance of the known prognostic factors for overall survival in this group of patients, such as lactate dehydogenaze activity (LDH) and ECOG performance status. The current survival of patients with the metastatic melanomas with BRAF mutations are longer than those observed in historical groups.

In NSCLC, second-line chemotherapy using pemetrexed or docetaxel has limited efficacy and should be dedicated to selected groups of patients. Pemetrexed is an antifolate compound with the ability to inhibit enzymes (TS, DHFR and GARFT) involved in pyrimidine and purine synthesis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between polymorphisms of TS and MHFR genes and clinical outcomes in NSCLC patients treated with pemetrexed monotherapy. DNA was isolated from peripheral blood of 72 non-squamous NSCLC patients treated with pemetrexed. Using PCR and RFLP methods, the variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), the G > C SNP in these repeats and insertion/deletion polymorphism of TS gene as well as 677C > T SNP in MTHFR gene were analyzed and correlated with disease control rate, progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) of NSCLC patients. Carriers of 2R/3R(G), 3R(C)/3R(G), 3R(G)/3R(G) genotypes showed significantly more frequent early progression than carriers of 2R/2R, 2R/3R(C), 3R(C)/3R(C) genotypes of TS gene (p T SNP in MTHFR (HR = 3.85; p

Purpose We presented retrospective analysis of up to five polymorphisms in TS, MTHFR and ERCC1 genes as molecular predictive markers for homogeneous Caucasian, non-squamous NSCLC patients treated with pemetrexed and platinum front-line chemotherapy. Methods The following polymorphisms in DNA isolated from 115 patients were analyzed: various number of 28-bp tandem repeats in 5′-UTR region of TS gene, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within the second tandem repeat of TS gene (G>C); 6-bp deletion in 3′-UTR region of the TS (1494del6); 677C>T SNP in MTHFR; 19007C>T SNP in ERCC1. Molecular examinations’ results were correlated with disease control rate, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival. Results Polymorphic tandem repeat sequence (2R, 3R) in the enhancer region of TS gene and G>C SNP within the second repeat of 3R allele seem to be important for the effectiveness of platinum and pemetrexed in first-line chemotherapy. The insignificant shortening of PFS in 3R/3R homozygotes as compared to 2R/2R and 2R/3R genotypes were observed, while it was significantly shorter in patients carrying synchronous 3R allele and G nucleotide. The combined analysis of TS VNTR and MTHFR 677C>T SNP revealed shortening of PFS in synchronous carriers of 3R allele in TS and two C alleles in MTHFR. The strongest factors increased the risk of progression were poor PS, weight loss, anemia and synchronous presence of 3R allele and G nucleotide in the second repeat of 3R allele in TS. Moreover, lack of application of second-line chemotherapy, weight loss and poor performance status and above-mentioned genotype of TS gene increased risk of early mortality. Conclusion The examined polymorphisms should be accounted as molecular predictor factors for pemetrexed- and platinum-based front-line chemotherapy in non-squamous NSCLC patients.

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is constantly increasing. The primary treatment in early stage of disease re­mains surgery. New therapeutic strategies such as immunotherapy or selective BRAF inhibitors — vemurafenib and dabrafenib, have improved outcomes of treatment in the group of patients with stage IV melanoma. In Poland still only vemurafenib is available in routine clinical practice. In this article we present clinical experiences in treating of BRAF-positive metastatic melanoma patients with use of vemurafenib.

This analysis provides long-term follow-up in patients with BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma receiving first-line therapy based on anti-programmed cell death 1 receptor inhibitors.To compare the 3-year survival with nivolumab vs that with dacarbazine in patients with previously untreated BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma.This follow-up of a randomized phase 3 trial analyzed 3-year overall survival data from the randomized, controlled, double-blind CheckMate 066 phase 3 clinical trial. For this ongoing, multicenter academic institution trial, patients were enrolled from January 2013 through February 2014. Eligible patients were 18 years or older with confirmed unresectable previously untreated stage III or IV melanoma and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1 but without a BRAF mutation.Patients were treated until progression or unacceptable toxic events with nivolumab (3 mg/kg every 2 weeks plus dacarbazine-matched placebo every 3 weeks) or dacarbazine (1000 mg/m2 every 3 weeks plus nivolumab-matched placebo every 2 weeks).Overall survival.At minimum follow-ups of 38.4 months among 210 participants in the nivolumab group (median age, 64 years [range, 18-86 years]; 57.6% male) and 38.5 months among 208 participants in the dacarbazine group (median age, 66 years [range, 25-87 years]; 60.1% male), 3-year overall survival rates were 51.2% (95% CI, 44.1%-57.9%) and 21.6% (95% CI, 16.1%-27.6%), respectively. The median overall survival was 37.5 months (95% CI, 25.5 months-not reached) in the nivolumab group and 11.2 months (95% CI, 9.6-13.0 months) in the dacarbazine group (hazard ratio, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.36-0.59; P .001). Complete and partial responses, respectively, were reported for 19.0% (40 of 210) and 23.8% (50 of 210) of patients in the nivolumab group compared with 1.4% (3 of 208) and 13.0% (27 of 208) of patients in the dacarbazine group. Additional analyses were performed on outcomes with subsequent therapies. Treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse events occurred in 15.0% (31 of 206) of nivolumab-treated patients and in 17.6% (36 of 205) of dacarbazine-treated patients. There were no deaths due to study drug toxic effects.Nivolumab led to improved 3-year overall survival vs dacarbazine in patients with previously untreated BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01721772.

Introduction: ALK gene rearrangement is observed in a small subset (3–7%) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The efficacy of crizotinib was shown in lung cancer patients harbouring ALK rearrangement. Nowadays, the analysis of ALK gene rearrangement is added to molecular examination of predictive factors. Aim of the study: The frequency of ALK gene rearrangement as well as the type of its irregularity was analysed by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) in tissue samples from NSCLC patients. Material and methods: The ALK gene rearrangement was analysed in 71 samples including 53 histological and 18 cytological samples. The analysis could be performed in 56 cases (78.87%), significantly more frequently in histological than in cytological materials. The encountered problem with ALK rearrangement diagnosis resulted from the scarcity of tumour cells in cytological samples, high background fluorescence noises and fragmentation of cell nuclei. Results: The normal ALK copy number without gene rearrangement was observed in 26 (36.62%) patients ALK gene polysomy without gene rearrangement was observed in 25 (35.21%) samples while in 3 (4.23%) samples ALK gene amplification was found. ALK gene rearrangement was observed in 2 (2.82%) samples from males, while in the first case the rearrangement coexisted with ALK amplification. In the second case, signet-ring tumour cells were found during histopathological examination and this patient was successfully treated with crizotinib with partial remission lasting 16 months. Conclusions: FISH is a useful technique for ALK gene rearrangement analysis which allows us to specify the type of gene irregularities. ALK gene examination could be performed in histological as well as cytological (cellblocks) samples, but obtaining a reliable result in cytological samples depends on the cellularity of examined materials.

Skeletal-related events represent a substantial burden for patients with advanced cancer. Randomized, controlled studies suggested superiority of denosumab over zoledronic acid in the prevention of skeletal-related events in metastatic cancer patients, with a favorable safety profile. Experts gathered at the 2012 Skeletal Care Academy in Istanbul to bring forward practical recommendations, based on current evidence, for the use of denosumab in patients with bone metastases of lung cancer. Based on current evidence, use of denosumab in lung cancer patients with confirmed bone metastases is recommended. It is important to note that clinical judgment should take into consideration the patient’s general performance status, overall prognosis, and live expectancy. Currently, the adverse event profile reported for denosumab includes hypocalcemia and infrequent occurrence of osteonecrosis of the jaw. Therefore, routine calcium and vitamin D supplementation, along with dental examination prior to denosumab initiation are recommended. There is no evidence for renal function impairment due to denosumab administration. At present, there is no rationale to discourage concomitant use of denosumab and surgery or radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of 3 regimens, cladribine alone, cladribine and cyclophosphamide combination, or cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone combination in previously untreated patients with low-grade B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (LGNHL). METHODS. For this 3-arm, phase 3 study, 197 patients were randomly allocated to receive 6 monthly courses of cladribine alone, cladribine and cyclophosphamide combination, or cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone combination. Patients for whom all clinical data were available and 162 patients who completed scheduled chemotherapy were analyzed for the endpoints of this study. RESULTS. Compared with cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone combination regimen, cladribine alone or cladribine and cyclophosphamide combination induced higher probability of overall response (odds ratio [OR] = 4.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7–9,3; P = .002, and OR = 8.5; 95% CI, 3.2–22.7; P < .0001, respectively), complete remission (OR = 5.8; 95% CI, 1.8–18.5; P = .003; and OR = 14; 95% CI, 4.4–44; P < .0001, respectively), progression-free survival (log-rank test P < .0001), but not overall survival. After incorporating the International Prognostic Index in multivariate analysis, treatment with cladribine-containing regimens remained an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival (χ2 = 35.94; hazard ratio = 2.38; P < .0002). Incidences of infections were similar in the randomized groups, whereas cladribine and cyclophosphamide combination, but not cladribine alone, induced more frequent neutropenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia compared with cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone combination (P < .05 for each). This resulted in a higher frequency of prolongation of intervals between cladribine and cyclophosphamide combination and cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone combination cycles (P < .05), but dose reductions due to hematological or other toxicity did not differ significantly in cladribine alone, cladribine and cyclophosphamide combination, and cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone combination groups. CONCLUSIONS. For patients with LGNHL, first-line cladribine alone or cladribine and cyclophosphamide combination regimens both provided similar treatment responses, acceptable toxicity, and better response rates than cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone combination. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.

Breast cancer is the second most likely malignancy to metastasize to the brain, with up to 30% of patients showing signs of metastases at autopsy.1,2 This occurrence is particularly common in some subsets of advanced breast cancer, including tumors positive for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and triple-negative (hormone receptor [HR]–negative and HER2-negative) tumors.3–8 Paradoxically, more effective treatment of advanced breast cancer allows more time for the development of brain metastasis (BM), and the relative incidence of BM is increasing.6,7 In HER2-positive advanced breast cancer, approximately half of the patients treated with trastuzumab, a recombinant humanized anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody (mAb), will relapse in the brain.6,7 With the emergence of investigational targeted therapies to treat or delay BM, it is increasingly important to understand the relationship between biomarker expression in the primary and metastatic lesions in the brain.8 Anti-HER2 therapies seem to effectively delay the development of BM,8–11 yet little is known about HER2 expression in BM and its relation to HER2 expression in primary tumors. Recent data suggest that quantitating HER2-total (H2T) levels (measured by HER mark and other methods) in HER2-positive breast cancers may be important in predicting response to HER2-directed therapies, at least in the neoadjuvant setting.12–14 Further, elevated expression of p95HER2 (p95) has been found to be a resistance marker for trastuzumab in advanced HER2-positive breast cancer15–18 and to play a role in the development of metastasis.19,20 Thus far, p95 has only been measured in primary breast cancer samples. In the current study, including breast cancers with various phenotypes, we compared quantitative p95 and HER2 expression in primary tumors and in matched BM and assessed clinical implications of these alterations.

The hazard ratio (HR) for death was 0.42 (99.79% CI 0.25–0.73; P < 0.0001) in favor of nivolumab, with 1year OS rate 73% (95% CI, 66%–79%) for nivolumab vs 42% (95% CI, 33%–51%) for dacarbazine. Median OS was not reached for nivolumab and was 10.8 months for dacarbazine. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.1 months for nivolumab and 2.2 months for dacarbazine (HR for death or progression 0.43, 95% CI 0.34–0.56; P < 0.0001). Objective response rate was 40% (84/210) vs 14% (29/208) for nivolumab and dacarbazine, respectively (P < 0.0001). Median duration of response was not reached for nivolumab and 6 months for dacarbazine. At the time of data cutoff, responses were ongoing in 86% (72/84) of nivolumab and 52% (15/29) of dacarbazine responders. PD-L1 positivity (using a 5% tumor cell surface staining cutoff) appeared to be associated with improved OS in the nivolumab arm (85% of PD-L1+ and 71% of PD-L1-/ indeterminate patients alive at the time of last followup). Both PD-L1+ and PD-L1-/indeterminate patients receiving nivolumab had improved OS vs dacarbazine (un-stratified HR 0.30, 95% CI, 0.15–0.60 in PD-L1+ patients; 0.48, 95% CI, 0.32–0.71 in PD-L1-/indeterminate patient, both in favor of the nivolumab arm). The most common nivolumab-related adverse events (AEs) were fatigue, pruritus, and nausea. Drug-related grade 3–4 AEs were reported in 12% vs 18% of patients receiving nivolumab vs dacarbazine, respectively. AEs led to discontinuation in 7% and 12% of dacarbazinevs nivolumab-treatment patients, respectively. Conclusions Compared to dacarbazine, nivolumab significantly improved OS and PFS in previously untreated patients with BRAF wild-type metastatic melanoma with an acceptable safety profile.

Aim of the study PROFIL was a prospective observational study conducted to investigate physicians’ evaluation of febrile neutropenia (FN) risk and reasons for giving pegfilgrastim primary prophylaxis (PP) in routine clinical practice in Poland. Material and methods Adult cancer patients treated with chemotherapy (CT), assessed by investigators as having high overall FN risk, and who received pegfilgrastim in cycle 1 were enrolled between 03/2009 and 09/2010. Investigators assessed FN risk of the CT regimen, individual risk factors, and overall FN risk, and were asked to provide the most important reasons for providing pegfilgrastim PP. Investigator-assessed CT FN risk was compared with guideline classification. Results Data were analysed from 1006 breast, ovarian, and lung cancer, and non-Hodgkin (NHL) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients. The most important reasons for using pegfilgrastim PP were high CT FN risk and advanced disease; these were consistent across tumour types and treatment intent. The investigators generally assessed high CT FN risk in agreement with guideline classification. Febrile neutropenia occurred in 4% of patients, most commonly in HL, NHL, and patients with advanced disease. Conclusions High CT FN risk and advanced stage of disease were found to be the most important reasons for providing pegfilgrastim PP by physicians in Poland.

BACKGROUND: Nivolumab was associated with higher rates of objective response than chemotherapy in a phase 3 study involving patients with ipilimumab-refractory metastatic melanoma. The use of nivolumab in previously untreated patients with advanced melanoma has not been tested in a phase 3 controlled study.METHODS: We randomly assigned 418 previously untreated patients who had metastatic melanoma without a BRAF mutation to receive nivolumab (at a dose of 3 mg per kilogram of body weight every 2 weeks and dacarbazine-matched placebo every 3 weeks) or dacarbazine (at a dose of 1000 mg per square meter of body-surface area every 3 weeks and nivolumab-matched placebo every 2 weeks). The primary end point was overall survival.RESULTS: At 1 year, the overall rate of survival was 72.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 65.5 to 78.9) in the nivolumab group, as compared with 42.1% (95% CI, 33.0 to 50.9) in the dacarbazine group (hazard ratio for death, 0.42; 99.79% CI, 0.25 to 0.73; PCONCLUSIONS: Nivolumab was associated with significant improvements in overall survival and progression-free survival, as compared with dacarbazine, among previously untreated patients who had metastatic melanoma without a BRAF mutation. (Funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb; CheckMate 066 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01721772.).

212 Background: The Prostate Cancer Registry is the first prospective, international observational study in mCRPC documenting characteristics and management in routine clinical practice, independent of treatment used. The study began in June 2013 enrolling > 3000 mCRPC patients (pts) followed for ≤ 3 years. Methods: Source-verified data were collected from men with documented mCRPC initiating a new mCRPC treatment or in surveillance. A history of disease progression despite surgical or chemical ADT was confirmed in all pts. This interim analysis reports baseline characteristics, treatments and outcomes in pts with no prior mCRPC treatment. To evaluate comparative effectiveness between treatments, propensity scoring (PS) methods were used to reduce effects of confounding. Results: Of 1906 evaluable pts with ≥ 12-month follow-up, the most commonly initiated first-line mCPRC treatments (n ≥ 50) were abiraterone acetate + prednisone (AA, n = 472), enzalutamide (ENZ, n = 98) or docetaxel (DOC, n = 382). Baseline characteristics, time to progression (TTP) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response ( ≥ 50% decrease within 6 months) are shown in the table below. Conclusions: In this real-world study, pts receiving DOC as their first mCRPC treatment had more severe disease at entry and a trend for shorter TTP vs androgen inhibitors. TTP results are consistent with those in randomised clinical trials for AA and ENZ. Clinical trial information: NCT02236637. [Table: see text]

TS, MTHFR and ERCC1 polymorphisms may have implications for effectiveness of pemetrexed and platinium chemotherapy and the impact on outcomes of mesothelioma patients. Studied polymorphism were analyzed in 59 mesothelioma patients and correlated with clinical data, disease control rate and survival rate. Different variants of 1494del6 in the 3 0 UTR of the TS gene were associated with differences in disease control rate and PFS of studied patients. Introduction: The combination of pemetrexed and platinum compound represents the standard regimen for first-line chemotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. Pemetrexed is a multitarget antifolate agent that inhibits folate-dependent enzymes (eg, thymidylate synthase (TS)) and thus synthesis of nucleotides and DNA. Expression of TS and folate availability, regulated by gene polymorphisms, have implications for effectiveness of chemotherapy and the outcome of mesothelioma patients. The aim of this retrospective multicenter study was to assess the correlation between TS, 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1) gene polymorphisms and the efficacy of pemetrexed-based first-line chemotherapy of mesothelioma pa- tients. Patients and Methods: Fifty-nine mesothelioma patients (31 men with a median age of 62 years) treated in first- line chemotherapy with platinum in combination with pemetrexed or pemetrexed monotherapy were enrolled. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood. Using polymerase chain reaction and high resolution melt methods, the variable number of tandem repeat, the G>C single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in these repeats, and 6-base pair (bp) insertion/deletion polymorphism of the TS gene, the SNP of 677C> Ti nMTHFR, and 19007C> Ti n theERCC1 gene were analyzed and correlated with disease control rate, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of meso- thelioma patients. Results: Greater risk of early disease progression (PD), and shortening of PFS and OS were asso- ciated with several clinical factors (eg, anemia for early PD and OS), weight loss (for PFS and OS), and previous surgical treatment (for early PD, PFS, and OS). Insertion of 6-bp in both alleles of the TS gene (1494del6) was the only genetic factor that increased the incidence of early progression (P ¼ .028) and shortening of median PFS (P ¼ .06) in patients treated with pemetrexed-based chemotherapy. In multivariate analysis, the 1494del6 in the 3 0 untranslated region (UTR) of the TS gene also had a predictive role for PFS (P ¼ .0185; hazard ratio, 2.3258 for þ6/þ6 homozygotes) in analyzed

Aim of the study: The Patient Assistance Program, a type of expanded access pro gram, was initiated for compassionate purposes to provide ipilimumab to patients with unresectable stage III or IV melanoma with failed previous treat ment. The aim of this analysis is to eval uate efficacy, safety, and tolerability of ipil imumab therapy in daily clinical practice. Material and methods: We analyzed 50 patients (29 males, 21 females) aged 21 to 76 years (median: 49 years). An ipil imumab dose of 3 mg/kg was adminis tered intravenously every 3 weeks for a total of 4 doses. Patients were assessed for response rate, progression-free sur vival and overall survival, and monitored for adverse events. Results: The objective response (com plete or partial response) rate was 12%. Median overall survival was 8 months and median progression-free survival was 3 months. In patients with ECOGPS 0, the median overall survival was 16 months. Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) occurred in 48% of the patients, grade 3 or 4 irAEs were reported in 8% of the patients, and there were no toxic deaths. Conclusions: Ipilimumab demonstrat ed clinical benefit in previously treated advanced melanoma patients. Although clinical benefit is limited to a minority of the patients, there is a benefit in terms of overall survival in this group of pa tients.

Platinum-based chemotherapy with third genera- tion drugs (such as gemcitabine) is an efficacious regimen of first-line treatment of patients with advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), without activating EGFR mutations. Mechanism of action of cytostatics are distortions in the DNA. ERCC1 and RRM1 are key proteins involved in the repair of DNA, thus, they may be responsible for the ineffectiveness of therapy. We investigated whether ERCC1 (19007C>T) and RRM1 (-37C>A) polymorphisms impact response to chemotherapy and survival in 62 patients with NSCLC treated with platinum and gemcitabine. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were assessed using a PCR-RFLP method in DNA isolated from PBLs. There were no statistically significant relationships between ERCC1 genotypes and response to therapy (P=0.581, χ 2 =1.09) as well as patient overall survival (OS). Carriers of the RRM1 AC genotype showed disease progression significantly more frequently (P=0.019, χ 2 =5.473) compared to carriers of the AA or CC genotypes. Carriers of the ERCC1/RRM1TT/CC genotype combination showed disease control significantly more frequently (P=0.047, χ 2 =3.95) compared to carriers of other genotype combinations. Patients with AA or CC geno- types of RRM1 showed significantly higher progression-free survival probability (P=0.0001, HR=0.39, 95% CI, 0.22-0.70) and OS probability (P=0.0104, HR=0.39, 95% CI, 0.18-0.82) compared to those with the AC genotype. In Cox regression model, poor performance status (P=0.0016, HR=4.78, 95% CI, 1.82-12.56), AC genotype of RRM1 gene (P=0.0414, HR=2.47, 95% CI, 1.04-5.87), lack of prior surgical treatment (P=0.0425, HR=4.71, 95% CI, 1.06-20.92) and lack of subsequent lines of treatment (P=0.0127, HR=3.23, 95% CI, 1.29-8.11) were signif- icantly associated with shortening of patient survival. The analysis of RRM1 (-37C>A) more than ERCC1 (19007C>T) polymorphism may be a promising tool in the qualification of NSCLC patients for chemotherapy containing platinum compounds and gemcitabine.

4007Background: Hypoxia in PDAC is associated with disease progression and poor prognosis. Evo is a hypoxia-activated prodrug of Br-IPM that is preferentially activated under hypoxic conditions. Th...

TPS9105Background: Programmed death-1 receptor ligand (PD-L1) is a key therapeutic target in the reactivation of the immune response against multiple cancers. Avelumab* is a fully human anti-PD-L1 ...

193 Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is invariably diagnosed at an advanced stage and has poor clinical outcome. Hypoxia is a significant prognostic factor in PDAC progression and is associated with poor prognosis. Evofosfamide (Evo, previously known as TH-302) is a hypoxia-activated prodrug of bromo-isophosphoramide mustard (Br-IPM) that is preferentially activated under hypoxic conditions. The addition of Evo to gemcitabine (Gem) significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) in a randomized phase II trial in advanced PDAC (NCT01144455). Methods: MAESTRO is an international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial of Evo/Gem vs Placebo/Gem in patients (pts) with measurable, locally advanced unresectable or metastatic PDAC (NCT01746979). Evo and Gem were administered intravenously at a dose of 340 mg/m2 and 1,000 mg/m2, respectively, on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle. Treatment continued until disease progression. Key eligibility criteria included ECOG PS 0/1 and no neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy 5% of pts in treated with Evo/Gem were: TBC. Conclusions: The data from the MAESTRO trial will make an important contribution to our understanding of PDAC treatment. Clinical trial information: NCT01746979.

Elderly patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) have poor prognosis. The inferior outcome has been attributed to a variety of factors including histologic differences, higher incidence of advanced stages, presence of comorbidities, poor performance status, inability to tolerate chemotherapy at full dose and increased treatment-related toxicity and mortality. ABVD is recommended and widely used for elderly patients (pts) although no prospective studies exist to justify this guideline. Moreover there are only few studies, yet most limited in numbers of pts, evaluating the results of HL treatment in elderly population. Here we present the retrospective analysis of outcome of 414 elderly HL pts treated by PLRG allied centers between 2003-2013. Group consisted of 237 men and 177 women. Their median age was 60,5 (50-93) years with the following age ranges:50-59 years-50%, 60-69 years-27%, ≥ 70 years-23%. Histology subtype showed predominance of nodular sclerosis 56%, followed by mixed cellularity 30%. 168 (41%) pts presented with early stage (I,II Ann Arbor) and 246 (59%) with advanced stage (III, IV Ann Arbor). 384 patients were treated with ABVD or ABVD-like regimen, few with CHOP-like(14), BEACOPP(9), PVAG (5) or with corticosteroids only(2). The median follow-up was 28,7 months. The response rates according to age groups are shown in Table 1. Progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for all pts were 21 months and 39,5 months, respectively. Median PFS in group 50-59yrs and group 60-69yrs was similar 21,3 months and 22months respectively but was statistically significantly longer than in pts≥70 years old (16 months) (p Comorbidities were evidently more common in older patients: 30% in 50-59 yrs old, 65% in 60-69 yrs old, 85% in ≥70 yrs old. However, irrespective of age, patients with high burden of cardiovascular disease showed significantly poorer OS and PFS than those with comorbidities other than cardiovascular (OS 29 months vs 41 months, PFS 9 months vs 21 months, respectively, p Univariate analysis with Cox regression model including age ≥60, clinical stage >II, presence of B symptoms, IPS>2, serum albumin level below normal, ECOG>1, male sex, erythrocyte sedimentation rate ESR>10 and white blood cells count above the upper limit showed that age ≥60 (p=0.02), clinical stage >II (p=0.04), B symptoms (p=0.01), IPS>2 (p=0.02) and low serum albumin level (p=0.001) had statistically significant negative impact on OS. Multivariate analysis confirmed the significantly negative impact on OS of age ≥60 (p=0.005), IPS>2 (p=0.004) and low albumin level (p=0.002). Although, in our cohort overall response rate was better than in other studies, the outcome is still worse than in younger patients with HL. Specifically the prognosis of patients older than 60 years is even worse than patients who are 10 years younger. Our data also show that ABVD is not appropriate for very elderly patients (≥ 70 years old) and also for those with cardiovascular comorbidities irrespective of age. To find successful strategy for older and frail patients novel approaches should be tested in future trials. Table 1. Response rate according to age. Age, range 50-59 years old 60-69 years old ≥ 70 years old Ann Arbor stage n I-II 89 III-IV 123 I-II 43 III-IV 69 I-II 36 III-IV 54 CR* 79,8% 61,8% 69,8% 60,9% 52,8% 55,6% PR 18,0% 19,5% 23,3% 21,7% 38,9% 27,8% PD 0,0% 4,9% 0,0% 7,2% 0,0% 9,3% 3NR 2,2% 13,8% 7,0% 10,1% 8,3% 7,4% *CR- complete remission, PR- partial remission, PD- progressive disease, NR- no response. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract 880 Pulmonary marginal zone lymphoma is a distinct subgroup of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas originating from the bronchial-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) and characterized by an indolent clinical course. Here we present the data of the IELSG-28 study of the International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group (IELSG) on primary pulmonary lymphoma patients. Clinical records and histological material of 186 patients diagnosed with pulmonary marginal zone lymphoma from December 1986 to June 2009 were collected. The pathology was reviewed centrally and the diagnosis was confirmed in 180 (96%) patients. The median age at diagnosis was 62 (30 – 88). The majority of the patients (149/180) had localized disease at diagnosis with a good performance status (0–1) and low prognostic index (IPI 0–2). Eighty-one patients (45%) received local treatment, including surgery (74%) or radiotherapy (4%). Ninety-nine patients with advanced stage disease or incomplete surgical resection received an additional systemic treatment. Most of these patients (66; 66%) received an alkylating containing regimen, 22 (22%) patients were treated with an anthracycline containing regimen and 29 (29%) received the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody in combination with chemotherapy. With a median follow up of 67 (range 1–256) months, 47/180 patients (26%) experienced disease progression. (median time to progression 30 months, range 0–109). Progression free survival analysis showed a trend in favour of patients treated with immuno-chemotherapy versus those receiving chemotherapy alone (HR 0.53–95%CI: 0.21, 1.33), while no difference in terms of OS and PFS was observed between patients receiving systemic anthracycline or alkylating containing regimens. In twenty five cases a specific PCR-assay was carried out for detecting the presence of Achromobacter (Alcaligenes) xylosoxidans. The presence of Achromobacter was detected in 50% of patients. Our results confirm that local therapy (surgery or radiotherapy) is the treatment of choice for patients with localized disease. Chemotherapy has to be considered in case of relapse, incomplete surgical excision or advanced disease. In this setting, alkylating containing regimens plus rituximab is the most effective option. Further studies are ongoing to confirm the relevance of infection/colonization with Achromobacter (Alcaligenes) xylosoxidans for pathogenesis of BALT lymphoma. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract 1702 Poster Board I-728 Background ASCT consolidation in the first remission is the treatment of choice in MCL patients. However lack of adequate response to the first line therapy, elderly age and co-existing co-morbidities makes it feasible for less than a third of patients. Methods Retrospective analysis of 279 MCL cases treated at 10 PLRG centers was performed: 52% of them (144 pts) received Rituximab in induction therapy; 35% (97 pts) were subjected to post-induction therapy (ASTC – 16%, radioimmunotherapy consolidation – 13% and Rituximab maintenance – 6%). There were no significant differences in risk factor distribution among analyzed subgroups. Results 1) At 5 years OS was 40% in the whole group: 77% for those subjected to post-induction therapy vs 25% for those who were not; 5 year PFS is 20%, 48% and 5% respectively (p 2) Pts with initial good response, whose treatment was NOT continued after induction, had inferior results (5 year OS and PFS – 30 and 10 % respectively) to those subjected to post-induction therapy (p 3) Rituximab included in the first line regimens increased RR, increasing % of pts that could be subjected to post-induction therapy: progression/ death during the first line therapy were 5,5% (8/144 Rituximab treated pts) as compared to 15,5% (21/135 treated without Rituximab). Conclusions With all limitations of retrospective analysis, it strongly supports the necessity of Rituximab immunochemotherapy followed by post induction treatment in MCL pts. The role of ASCT is established in younger patients, radioimmunotherapy consolidation or Rituximab maintenance should be considered in elderly and unfit ones. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Background: In MCL, early intensification and consolidation of the first line therapy by ASCT is the treatment of choice. Elderly age and co-existing co-morbidities makes it however feasible for less than a third of patients. Methods: All MCL cases consulted in 8 PLRG centers within the last 5 years (n=140) were included in a retrospective analysis. Only 23% (n=32) were consolidated with ASCT, further 28% (n=40) by radioimmunotherapy (Ibritumomab), while in 49% (n=68) neither consolidation was performed. Rituximab was used in 36/72 patients subjected to consolidation and 25/68 treated without consolidation. There were no statistically significant differences in IPI, CS (clinical stage), frequency of extranodal manifestations and B symptoms between analyzed subgroups (Table 1) although patients subjected to ASCT were younger (median age 54 vs 62) and tend to have higher LDH (556 IU vs 473), while those who were not consolidated more frequently had a large tumor burden (defined as a mass > 7 cm, 24 vs 15%). Results: There was a clear impact of consolidation on Overall and Progression Free Survival (OS,PFS): at 5 years OS 65 vs 20 % (p= 0.0003 in Gehan Wilcoxon test); and PFS 40 vs 0 % (p= 0.0003 in Gehan Wilcoxon test). Rituximab used in the first line therapy further increased it’s efficiency in terms of PFS, prolonging median time to progression from 15 to 26 months, however the OS benefit was seen only in consolidated patients (at 5 years 75% OS in those with Rituximab including induction followed by consolidation). Conclusion: With all limitations of retrospective analysis, it strongly supports the necessity of post induction therapy in MCL patients. The role of ASCT is established in younger patients, radioimmunotherapy may prove to be a feasible approach for the elderly and unfit ones. | | N | IPI | Age | LDH | WHO | CS (IV) | Extra-nodal | B sympt. | X (>7 cm) | |:------------------:| --- | ---- | ----- | --- | ---- | ------- | ----------- | -------- | --------- | | Radioimmunotherapy | 40 | 2,49 | 61,7 | 542 | 1,43 | 83% | 78% | 63% | 12% | | ASCT | 32 | 2,62 | 54 | 556 | 1,24 | 80% | 84% | 68% | 17% | | No Consolidation | 68 | 2,98 | 62,8 | 473 | 1,74 | 85% | 83% | 68% | 24% | | All cases | 140 | 2,76 | 60,13 | 497 | 1,55 | 81% | 81% | 67% | 20%

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II are similar in function since they present peptides at the cell surface to CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, respectively. There is mounting evidence indicating that MHC genes play a role in the etiology and clinical course of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), especially in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We investigated the expression of human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) and HLA class II protein in DLBCL among 148 patients and related their expression to the clinical course of the disease. Negative HLA-G expression was associated with a lower probability of achieving a complete remission (P= 0.04). There was no impact of HLA-G or HLA class II expression on the probability of progression-free survival (PFS). Patients with positive HLA-G expression presented a trend towards a higher 3-year overall survival (OS) rate compared to those with negative expression of HLA-G (P= 0.08). The estimated 3-year OS rate of patients with positive HLA class II expression was 59.4% (95%CI 49-69) in comparison to the 37.4% (95%CI 22-56; P= 0.04) in subjects with negative expression. In a multivariate Cox analysis adjusted for the IPI factors, we found that both the intermediate high/high IPI risk group (P= 0.001) and the loss of HLA class II expression (P= 0.05) independently increased the risk of death in the study group. We also investigated whether the impact of HLA class II expression on OS may be related to the subtypes of DLBCL. In the subgroup of 58 patients (39%) with GCB-type pattern, the patients with the loss of HLA class II expression presented a significantly lower 3-year OS rate than those with its positive expression (26% [95% CI 10-53] vs 68.2% [95% CI 51-81], P= 0.02). In contrast, in the subgroup of 90 non-GCB patients (61%), HLA class II expression did not influence OS. To further explore the unexpected favorable effect of positive HLA-G expression on the clinical course of DLBCL, we performed an additional analysis that considered the type of treatment (chemotherapy with or without rituximab). In the group of patients treated with immunochemotherapy, a more pronounced effect of the positive HLA-G expression on OS was revealed. The estimated 3-year OS rate of patients with the positive HLA-G expression was 73.3 % (95% CI 49-88) compared to 47.5% (95% CI 35-60, P= 0.03) in subjects with the negative HLA-G expression. In contrast, in the group treated with CHOP-like regimens, no significant impact of HLA-G expression on OS was observed: the 3-year OS rate for HLA-G positivity was 20% (95% CI 4-62) vs 55.3% (95% CI 37-72; P= 0.08) for the absence of HLA-G. Additionally, the prognostic value of HLA class II expression was also shown to depend on the use of rituximab as a part of first line treatment. In the patients receiving immunochemotherapy, those that had positive HLA class II expression demonstrated a 3-year OS rate of 65.3% (95% CI 52-76) compared to 29.6% (95% CI 13-53, P= 0.04) in subjects with the loss of HLA class II expression. However, HLA class II expression did not have a prognostic impact on OS in the patients treated with chemotherapy alone: the 3-year OS rate was 49.5% (95% CI 32- 67) in the subjects with positive expression in comparison to 50% (95% CI 15-85, P= 0.8) in those with the loss of HLA class II expression. In conclusion, we demonstrated for the first time expression of HLA-G protein in DLBCL and its association with the clinical course of the disease as well as we confirming the association of the loss of HLA class II protein expression with poor survival in patients treated with immunochemotherapy. Although the clinical significance of the loss of HLA class II protein expression seems to be well understood, the contribution of HLA-G to the prognosis of B-cell malignancies deserves further study, especially its immunoregulatory functions in relation to treatment with rituximab, which remains an open question. Disclosures Robak: MorphoSys AG: Research Funding.