Joyce O'Shaughnessy M.D.

Twelves, C., J. Cortes, J. O’Shaughnessy, A. Awada, E. A. Perez, S. A. Im, P. Gomez-Pardo, L. S. Schwartzberg, V. Dieras, D. A. Yardley, D. A. Potter, A. Mailliez, A. Moreno-Aspitia, J. S. Ahn, C. Zhao, U. Hoch, M. Tagliaferri, A. L. Hannah and H. S. Rugo (2017). “Health-related quality of life in patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer treated with etirinotecan pegol versus treatment of physician’s choice: Results from the randomised phase iii beacon trial.” Eur J Cancer 76: 205-215.

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BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) enhances understanding of treatment effects that impact clinical decision-making. Although the primary end-point was not achieved, the BEACON (BrEAst Cancer Outcomes with NKTR-102) trial established etirinotecan pegol, a long-acting topoisomerase-1 (TOP1) inhibitor, as a promising therapeutic for patients with advanced/metastatic breast cancer (MBC) achieving clinically meaningful benefits in median overall survival (OS) for patients with stable brain metastases, with liver metastases or >/= 2 sites of metastatic disease compared to treatment of physician’s choice (TPC). Reported herein are the findings from the preplanned secondary end-point of HRQoL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: HRQoL, assessed by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) (version 3.0) supplemented by the breast cancer-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-BR23), was evaluated post randomisation in 733 of 852 patients with either anthracycline-, taxane- and capecitabine-pretreated locally recurrent or MBC randomised to etirinotecan pegol (n = 378; 145 mg/m2 every 3 weeks (q3wk)) or single-agent TPC (n = 355). Patients completed assessments at screening, every 8 weeks (q8wk) during treatment, and end-of-treatment. Changes from baseline were analysed, and the proportions of patients achieving differences (>/=5 points) in HRQoL scores were compared. RESULTS: Differences were seen favouring etirinotecan pegol up to 32 weeks for global health status (GHS) and physical functioning scales (P < 0.02); numerical improvement was reported in other functional scales. The findings from HRQoL symptom scales were consistent with adverse event profiles; etirinotecan pegol was associated with worsening gastrointestinal symptoms whereas TPC was associated with worsened dyspnoea and other systemic side-effects. Analysis of GHS and physical functioning at disease progression showed a decline in HRQoL in both treatment arms, with a mean change from baseline of -9.4 and -10.8 points, respectively. CONCLUSION: There was evidence of benefit associated with etirinotecan pegol compared with current standard of care agents in multiple HRQoL measurements, including global health status and physical functioning, despite worse gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g. diarrhoea). Patients in both arms had a decline in HRQoL at disease progression.

Blum, J. L., P. J. Flynn, G. Yothers, L. Asmar, C. E. Geyer, Jr., S. A. Jacobs, N. J. Robert, J. O. Hopkins, J. A. O’Shaughnessy, C. T. Dang, H. L. Gomez, L. Fehrenbacher, S. J. Vukelja, A. P. Lyss, D. Paul, A. M. Brufsky, J. H. Jeong, L. H. Colangelo, S. M. Swain, E. P. Mamounas, S. E. Jones and N. Wolmark (2017). “Anthracyclines in early breast cancer: The abc trials-usor 06-090, nsabp b-46-i/usor 07132, and nsabp b-49 (nrg oncology).” J Clin Oncol: Apr [Epub ahead of print].

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Purpose Docetaxel and cyclophosphamide (TC) was superior to doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) in a trial in early breast cancer. However, activity of TC relative to AC regimens with a taxane (TaxAC) is unknown. Methods In a series of three adjuvant trials, women were randomly assigned to TC for six cycles (TC6) or to a standard TaxAC regimen. US Oncology Research (USOR) 06-090 compared TC6 with docetaxel, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (TAC6). National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) B-46-I/USOR 07132 compared TC6, TAC6, or TC6 plus bevacizumab. NSABP B-49 compared TC6 with several standard AC and taxane combination regimens. Before any analysis of individual trials, a joint efficacy analysis of TC versus the TaxAC regimens was planned, with invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) as the primary end point. Patients who received TC6 plus bevacizumab on NSABP B-46-I/USOR 07132 were not included. A hazard ratio (HR) from a stratified Cox model that exceeded 1.18 for TC6 versus TaxAC was predefined as inferiority for TC6. The prespecified interim monitoring plan was to report for futility if the HR was > 1.18 when 334 IDFS events were observed (50% of 668 events required for definitive analysis). Results A total of 2,125 patients were randomly assigned to receive TC6 regimens and 2,117 patients were randomly assigned to receive TaxAC regimens. The median follow-up time was 3.3 years. There were 334 IDFS events, and the HR for TC6 versus TaxAC was 1.202 (95% CI, 0.97 to 1.49), which triggered early reporting for futility. The 4-year IDFS was 88.2% for TC6 and was 90.7% for TaxAC ( P = .04). Tests for treatment interaction by protocol, hormone receptor status, and nodal status were negative. Conclusion The TaxAC regimens improved IDFS in patients with high-risk human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer compared with the TC6 regimen.

Pierobon, M., C. Ramos, S. Wong, K. A. Hodge, J. Aldrich, S. A. Byron, S. P. Anthony, N. J. Robert, D. W. Northfelt, M. Jahanzeb, L. Vocila, J. D. Wulfkuhle, G. Gambara, R. I. Gallagher, B. Dunetz, N. Hoke, T. Dong, D. W. Craig, M. Cristofanilli, B. Leyland Jones, L. Liotta, J. A. O’Shaughnessy, J. D. Carpten and E. F. Petricoin (2017). “Enrichment of pik3-akt-mtor pathway activation in hepatic metastases from breast cancer.” Clin Cancer Res: Apr [Epub ahead of print].

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Purpose: Little is known about the molecular signatures associated with specific metastatic sites in breast cancer. Using comprehensive multi-omic molecular profiling, we assessed whether alterations or activation of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway is associated with specific sites of breast cancer metastasis.

Experimental Design: NGS-based whole exome sequencing was coupled with Reverse Phase Protein Microarray (RPPA) functional signaling network analysis to explore the PI3K-AKT-mTOR axis in 32 pretreated breast cancer metastases. RPPA-based signaling data were further validated in an independent cohort of 154 metastatic lesions from breast cancer and 101 un-matched primary breast tumors. The proportion of cases with PI3K-AKT-mTOR genomic alterations or signaling network activation were compared between hepatic and non-hepatic lesions.

Results:PIK3CA mutation and activation of AKT (S473) and p70S6K (T389) were detected more frequently among liver metastases than non-hepatic lesions (p<0.01, p=0.056, and p=0.053 respectively). However, PIK3CA mutations alone were insufficient in predicting protein activation (p=0.32 and p=0.19 for activated AKT and p70S6K respectively). RPPA analysis of an independent cohort of 154 tumors confirmed the relationship between pathway activation and hepatic metastasis (AKT (S473), mTOR (S2448), and 4EBP1 (S65); p<0.01, p=0.02, and p=0.01 respectively). Similar results were also seen between liver metastases and primary breast tumors (AKT (S473) p<0.01, mTOR (S2448) p<0.01, 4EBP1 (S65) p=0.01). This signature was lost when primary tumors were compared to all metastatic sites combined.

Conclusions: Breast cancer patients with liver metastasis may represent a molecularly homogenized cohort with increased incidence of PIK3CA mutations and activation of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling network.

Bardia, A., I. A. Mayer, J. R. Diamond, R. L. Moroose, S. J. Isakoff, A. N. Starodub, N. C. Shah, J. O’Shaughnessy, K. Kalinsky, M. Guarino, V. Abramson, D. Juric, S. M. Tolaney, J. Berlin, W. A. Messersmith, A. J. Ocean, W. A. Wegener, P. Maliakal, R. M. Sharkey, S. V. Govindan, D. M. Goldenberg and L. T. Vahdat (2017). “Efficacy and safety of anti-trop-2 antibody drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan (immu-132) in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.” J Clin Oncol: 2017 Mar [Epub ahead of print].

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Purpose Trop-2, expressed in most triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs), may be a potential target for antibody-drug conjugates. Sacituzumab govitecan, an antibody-drug conjugate, targets Trop-2 for the selective delivery of SN-38, the active metabolite of irinotecan. Patients and Methods We evaluated sacituzumab govitecan in a single-arm, multicenter trial in patients with relapsed/refractory metastatic TNBC who received a 10 mg/kg starting dose on days 1 and 8 of 21-day repeated cycles. The primary end points were safety and objective response rate; secondary end points were progression-free survival and overall survival. Results In 69 patients who received a median of five prior therapies (range, one to 12) since diagnosis, the confirmed objective response rate was 30% (partial response, n = 19; complete response, n = 2), the median response duration was 8.9 (95% CI, 6.1 to 11.3) months, and the clinical benefit rate (complete response + partial response + stable disease >/= 6 months) was 46%. These responses occurred early, with a median onset of 1.9 months. Median progression-free survival was 6.0 (95% CI, 5.0 to 7.3) months, and median overall survival was 16.6 (95% CI, 11.1 to 20.6) months. Grade >/= 3 adverse events included neutropenia (39%), leukopenia (16%), anemia (14%), and diarrhea (13%); the incidence of febrile neutropenia was 7%. The majority of archival tumor specimens (88%) were moderately to strongly positive for Trop-2 by immunohistochemistry. No neutralizing antibodies to the ADC or antibody were detected, despite repeated cycles developed. Conclusion Sacituzumab govitecan was well tolerated and induced early and durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic TNBC. As a therapeutic target and predictive biomarker, Trop-2 warrants further research.

Twelves, C., J. Cortes, J. O’Shaughnessy, A. Awada, E. A. Perez, S. A. Im, P. Gomez-Pardo, L. S. Schwartzberg, V. Dieras, D. A. Yardley, D. A. Potter, A. Mailliez, A. Moreno-Aspitia, J. S. Ahn, C. Zhao, U. Hoch, M. Tagliaferri, A. L. Hannah and H. S. Rugo (2017). “Health-related quality of life in patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer treated with etirinotecan pegol versus treatment of physician’s choice: Results from the randomised phase III BEACON trial.” Eur J Cancer 76: 205-215.

Full text of this article.

BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) enhances understanding of treatment effects that impact clinical decision-making. Although the primary end-point was not achieved, the BEACON (BrEAst Cancer Outcomes with NKTR-102) trial established etirinotecan pegol, a long-acting topoisomerase-1 (TOP1) inhibitor, as a promising therapeutic for patients with advanced/metastatic breast cancer (MBC) achieving clinically meaningful benefits in median overall survival (OS) for patients with stable brain metastases, with liver metastases or >/= 2 sites of metastatic disease compared to treatment of physician’s choice (TPC). Reported herein are the findings from the preplanned secondary end-point of HRQoL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: HRQoL, assessed by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) (version 3.0) supplemented by the breast cancer-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-BR23), was evaluated post randomisation in 733 of 852 patients with either anthracycline-, taxane- and capecitabine-pretreated locally recurrent or MBC randomised to etirinotecan pegol (n = 378; 145 mg/m2 every 3 weeks (q3wk)) or single-agent TPC (n = 355). Patients completed assessments at screening, every 8 weeks (q8wk) during treatment, and end-of-treatment. Changes from baseline were analysed, and the proportions of patients achieving differences (>/=5 points) in HRQoL scores were compared. RESULTS: Differences were seen favouring etirinotecan pegol up to 32 weeks for global health status (GHS) and physical functioning scales (P < 0.02); numerical improvement was reported in other functional scales. The findings from HRQoL symptom scales were consistent with adverse event profiles; etirinotecan pegol was associated with worsening gastrointestinal symptoms whereas TPC was associated with worsened dyspnoea and other systemic side-effects. Analysis of GHS and physical functioning at disease progression showed a decline in HRQoL in both treatment arms, with a mean change from baseline of -9.4 and -10.8 points, respectively. CONCLUSION: There was evidence of benefit associated with etirinotecan pegol compared with current standard of care agents in multiple HRQoL measurements, including global health status and physical functioning, despite worse gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g. diarrhoea). Patients in both arms had a decline in HRQoL at disease progression.