Final results of the IFCT-0803 study, a phase II study of cetuximab, pemetrexed, cisplatin, and concurrent radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced, unresectable, stage III, non-squamous, non-small-cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE: Roughly 20% of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer exhibit locally advanced, unresectable, stage III disease. Concurrent platinum-based chemoradiotherapy is the backbone treatment, which is followed by maintenance immunotherapy, yet with poor long-term prognosis. This phase II trial (IFCT-0803) sought to evaluate whether adding cetuximab to cisplatin and pemetrexed chemoradiotherapy would improve its efficacy in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eligible patients received weekly cetuximab (loading dose 400mg/m2 day 1; subsequent weekly 250mg/m2 doses until two weeks postradiotherapy). Chemotherapy comprised cisplatin (75mg/m2) and pemetrexed (500mg/m2), both delivered on day 1 of a 21-day cycle of maximally four. Irradiation with maximally 66Gy started on day 22. Disease control rate at week 16 was the primary endpoint. RESULTS: One hundred and six patients were included (99 eligible patients). Compliance exceeded 95% for day 1 of chemotherapy cycles 1 to 4, with 76% patients receiving the 12 planned cetuximab doses. Maximal grade 3 toxicity occurred in 63% patients, and maximal grade 4 in 9.6%. The primary endpoint involving the first 95 eligible patients comprised two (2.1%) complete responses, 57 (60.0%) partial responses, and 27 (28.4%) stable diseases. This 90.5% disease control rate (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 84.6%-96.4%) was achieved at week 16. After median 63.0-month follow-up, one-year and two-year survival rates were 75.8% and 59.5%. Median overall survival was 35.8months (95% CI: 23.5-NR), and median progression-free survival 14.4months (95% CI: 11.2-18.8), with one-year and two-year progression-free survival rates of 57.6% and 34.3%. CONCLUSION: These survival rates compare favourably with published data, thus justifying further development of cetuximab-based induction chemoradiotherapy.

IFCT-1502 CLINIVO: real-world evidence of long-term survival with nivolumab in a nationwide cohort of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy using inhibitors targeting immune checkpoint programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is currently the standard of care in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We carried out a nationwide cohort retrospective study of consecutive patients with advanced, refractory NSCLC who received nivolumab as second to later lines of treatment as part of the expanded access program. Key objectives were to assess the efficacy and safety of nivolumab and the efficacy of first post-nivolumab treatment. RESULTS: Nine hundred and two patients were enrolled: 317 (35%) with squamous cell carcinoma and 585 (65%) with non-squamous cell carcinoma. Median age was 64 years; there were 630 (70%) men, 795 (88%) smokers, 723 (81%) patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0/1, 197 (22%) patients with brain metastases, and 212 (27%) with liver metastases. Best response was partial response for 16.2% and stable disease (SD) for 30.5%. Progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) rates at 2, 3, and 5 years were 8% and 25%, 6% and 16%, and 4% and 10%, respectively. At multivariate analysis, ECOG PS ≥2 [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.13, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.78-2.55, P < 0.001], squamous histology (HR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.01-1.36, P = 0.04), and presence of central nervous system metastases (HR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.08-1.54, P = 0.005) were significantly associated with lower OS. Four hundred and ninety-two patients received at least one treatment after discontinuation of nivolumab, consisting of systemic therapies in 450 (91%). Radiation therapy was delivered to 118 (24%) patients. CONCLUSION: The CLINIVO cohort represents the largest real-world evidence cohort with the use of immune checkpoint inhibitor in advanced, metastatic NSCLC after failure of first-line chemotherapy, with long-term follow-up and analysis of subsequent therapies. Our data confirm the efficacy of nivolumab in a cohort larger than that reported in landmark clinical trials and identify prognostic factors, which reinforces the need for accurate selection of patients for treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Our data indicate that oligoprogression is frequent after nivolumab exposure and provide a unique insight into the long-term survival.

PTEN, ATM, IDH1 mutations and MAPK pathway activation as modulators of PFS and OS in patients treated by first line EGFR TKI, an ancillary study of the French Cooperative Thoracic Intergroup (IFCT) Biomarkers France project.

OBJECTIVES: Tumor mutation screening is standard of care for patients with stage IV NSCLC. Since a couple of years, widespread NGS approaches used in routine diagnostics to detect driver mutations such as EGFR, KRAS, BRAF or MET allows the identification of other alterations that could modulated the intensity or duration of response to targeted therapies. The prevalence of co-occurring alterations that could affect response or prognosis as not been largely analyzed in clinical settings and large cohorts of patients. Thanks to the IFCT program "Biomarkers France", a collection of samples and data at a nation-wide level was available to test the impact of co-mutations on first line EGFR TKI in patients with EGFR mutated cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Targeted NGS was assessed on available (n = 208) samples using the Ion AmpliSeq™ Cancer Hotspot Panel v2 to screen for mutations in 50 different cancer genes. RESULTS: This study showed that PTEN inactivating mutations, ATM alterations, IDH1 mutations and complex EGFR mutations were predictors of short PFS in patients with a stage 4 lung adenocarcinoma receiving first line EGFR TKI and that PTEN, ATM, IDH1 and KRAS mutations as well as alterations in the MAPK pathway were related to shorter OS. CONCLUSION: These findings may lead to new treatment options in patients with unfavorable genotypes to optimize first line responses.

Clinical and molecular characteristics of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring EGFR mutation: results of the nationwide French Cooperative Thoracic Intergroup (IFCT) program.

BACKGROUND: EGFR mutations cause inconsistent response to EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKI). To better understand these features, we reviewed all cases of EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer collected in the Biomarkers France database. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Of 17 664 patients, 1837 (11%) with EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed for clinical and molecular characteristics. Results were correlated with survival and treatment response for the 848 stage IV patients. RESULTS: EGFR exon 18, 19, 20 and 21 mutations were found in 102 (5.5%), 931 (51%), 102 (5.5%) and 702 (38%) patients, respectively. Over 50% of exon 18 and 20 mutated patients were smokers. The median follow-up was 51.7 months. EGFR mutation type was prognostic of overall survival (OS) versus wild-type {exon 19: hazard ratio (HR)=0.51 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.41-0.64], P < 0.0001; exon 21: HR = 0.76 (95% CI: 0.61-0.95), P = 0.002; exon 20: HR = 1.56 (95% CI: 1.02-2.38), P = 0.004}. EGFR mutation type was prognostic of progression-free survival versus wild-type [exon 19: HR = 0.62 (95% CI: 0.49-0.78), P < 0.0001; exon 20: HR = 1.46 (95% CI: 0.96-2.21), P = 0.07]. First-line treatment choice did not influence OS in multivariate analysis. First-line TKI predicted improved progression-free survival versus chemotherapy [HR = 0.67 (95% CI: 0.53-0.85), P = 0.001]. OS was longer for del19 versus L858R, which was associated with better OS compared with other exon 21 mutations, including L861Q. TKI improved survival in patients with exon 18 mutations, while chemotherapy was more beneficial for exon 20-mutated patients. CONCLUSION: EGFR mutation type can inform the most appropriate treatment. Therapeutic schedule had no impact on OS in our study, although TKI should be prescribed in first-line considering the risk of missing the opportunity to use this treatment.

Randomized phase II-III study of bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy in previously untreated extensive small-cell lung cancer: results from the IFCT-0802 trial†.

BACKGROUND: This randomized phase II-III trial sought to evaluate the efficacy and safety of adding bevacizumab (Bev) following induction chemotherapy (CT) in extensive small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Enrolled SCLC patients received two induction cycles of CT. Responders were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive four additional cycles of CT alone or CT plus Bev (7.5 mg/kg), followed by single-agent Bev until progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary end point was the percentage of patients for whom disease remained controlled (still in response) at the fourth cycle. RESULTS: In total, 147 patients were enrolled. Partial response was observed in 103 patients, 74 of whom were eligible for Bev and randomly assigned to the CT alone group (n = 37) or the CT plus Bev group (n = 37). Response assessment at the end of the fourth cycle showed that disease control did not differ between the two groups (89.2% versus 91.9% of patients remaining responders in CT alone versus CT plus Bev, respectively; Fisher's exact test: P = 1.00). Progression-free survival (PFS) since randomization did not significantly differ, with a median PFS of 5.5 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.9% to 6.0%] versus 5.3 months (95% CI 4.8% to 5.8%) in the CT alone and CT plus Bev groups, respectively [hazard ratio (HR) for CT alone: 1.1; 95% CI 0.7% to 1.7%; unadjusted P = 0.82]. Grade ≥2 hypertension and grade ≥3 thrombotic events were observed in 40% and 11% of patients, respectively, in the CT plus Bev group. Serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and soluble VEGF receptor titrations failed to identify predictive biomarkers. CONCLUSION: Administering 7.5 mg/kg Bev after induction did not improve outcome in extensive SCLC patients.

Diffusion coefficients of respiratory gases in a perfluorocarbon liquid.

Although great quantities of respiratory gases dissolve in a perfluorocarbon liquid used to formulate artificial blood, their diffusion rates in this liquid do not exceed those in water.