Long-term outcomes of dual vs single HER2-directed neoadjuvant therapy in NSABP B-41.

BACKGROUND: The primary aim of this randomized neoadjuvant trial in operable, HER2-positive breast cancer, was to determine the efficacy on pathologic complete response (pCR) of substituting lapatinib (L) for trastuzumab (T) or adding L to T, in combination with weekly paclitaxel (WP) following AC. Results on pCR were previously reported. Here, we report data on planned secondary endpoints, recurrence-free interval (RFI) post-surgery, and overall survival (OS). METHODS: All patients received standard AC q3 weeks × 4 cycles followed by WP (80 mg/m2) on days 1, 8, and 15, q28 days × 4 cycles. Concurrently with WP, patients received either T (4 mg/kg load, then 2 mg/kg) weekly until surgery, L (1250 mg) daily until surgery, or weekly T plus L (750 mg) daily until surgery. Following surgery, all patients received T to complete 52 weeks of HER2-targeted therapy. 522 of 529 randomized patients had follow-up. Median follow-up was 5.1 years. RESULTS: RFI at 4.5 years was 87.2%, 79.4% (p = 0.34; HR = 1.37; 95% CI 0.80, 2.34), and 89.4% (p = 0.37; HR = 0.70; 0.37, 1.32) for arms T, L, and TL, respectively. The corresponding five-year OS was 94.8%, 89.1% (p = 0.34; HR = 1.46; 0.68, 3.11), and 95.8% (p = 0.25; HR = 0.58; 0.22, 1.51), respectively. Patients with pCR had a much better prognosis, especially in the ER-negative cohort: RFI (HR = 0.23, p < 0.001) and OS (HR = 0.28, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although pCR, RFI, and OS were numerically better with the dual combination and less with L, the differences were not statistically significant. However, achievement of pCR again correlated with improved outcomes, especially remarkable in the ER-negative subset. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT00486668.

Comparison of Radiation With or Without Concurrent Trastuzumab for HER2-Positive Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Resected by Lumpectomy: A Phase III Clinical Trial.

PURPOSE: Preclinical studies report that trastuzumab (T) can boost radiotherapy (RT) effectiveness. The primary aim of the B-43 trial was to assess the efficacy of RT alone vs concurrent RT plus T in preventing recurrence of ipsilateral breast cancer (IBTR) in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligibility: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1, DCIS resected by lumpectomy, known estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PgR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status by centralized testing. Whole-breast RT was given concurrently with T. Stratification was by menopausal status, adjuvant endocrine therapy plan, and nuclear grade. Definitive intent-to-treat primary analysis was to be conducted when either 163 IBTR events occurred or all accrued patients were on study ≥ 5 years. RESULTS: There were 2,014 participants who were randomly assigned. Median follow-up time as of December 31, 2019, was 79.2 months. At primary definitive analysis, 114 IBTR events occurred: RT arm, 63 and RT plus T arm, 51 (hazard ratio [HR], 0.81; 95% CI, 0.56 to 1.17; P value = .26). There were 34 who were invasive: RT arm, 18 and RT plus T arm, 20 (HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.59 to 2.10; P value = .71). Seventy-six were DCIS: RT arm, 45 and RT plus T arm, 31 (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.43 to 1.08; P value = .11). Annual IBTR event rates were: RT arm, 0.99%/y and RT plus T arm, 0.79%/y. The study did not reach the 163 protocol-specified events, so the definitive analysis was triggered by all patients having been on study for ≥ 5 years. CONCLUSION: Addition of T to RT did not achieve the objective of 36% reduction in IBTR rate but did achieve a modest but statistically nonsignificant reduction of 19%. Nonetheless, this trial had negative results. Further exploration of RT plus T is needed in HER2-positive DCIS before its routine delivery in patients with DCIS resected by lumpectomy.

Randomized Trial of Standard Adjuvant Chemotherapy Regimens Versus Capecitabine in Older Women With Early Breast Cancer: 10-Year Update of the CALGB 49907 Trial.

PURPOSE: Older women with breast cancer remain under-represented in clinical trials. The Cancer and Leukemia Group B 49907 trial focused on women age 65 years and older. We previously reported the primary analysis after a median follow-up of 2.4 years. Standard adjuvant chemotherapy showed significant improvements in recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival compared with capecitabine. We now update results at a median follow-up of 11.4 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients age 65 years or older with early breast cancer were randomly assigned to either standard adjuvant chemotherapy (physician's choice of either cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil or cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin) or capecitabine. An adaptive Bayesian design was used to determine sample size and test noninferiority of capecitabine. The primary end point was RFS. RESULTS: The design stopped accrual with 633 patients at its first sample size assessment. RFS remains significantly longer for patients treated with standard chemotherapy. At 10 years, in patients treated with standard chemotherapy versus capecitabine, the RFS rates were 56% and 50%, respectively (hazard ratio [HR], 0.80; P = .03); breast cancer-specific survival rates were 88% and 82%, respectively (HR, 0.62; P = .03); and overall survival rates were 62% and 56%, respectively (HR, 0.84; P = .16). With longer follow-up, standard chemotherapy remains superior to capecitabine among hormone receptor-negative patients (HR, 0.66; P = .02), but not among hormone receptor-positive patients (HR, 0.89; P = .43). Overall, 43.9% of patients have died (13.1% from breast cancer, 16.4% from causes other than breast cancer, and 14.1% from unknown causes). Second nonbreast cancers occurred in 14.1% of patients. CONCLUSION: With longer follow-up, RFS remains superior for standard adjuvant chemotherapy versus capecitabine, especially in patients with hormone receptor-negative disease. Competing risks in this older population dilute overall survival benefits.

Functional Decline and Resilience in Older Women Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze self-reported changes in physical function in older women with breast cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 49907 prospective randomized clinical trial. SETTING: CALGB institutions in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Women aged 65 and older with Stage I to III breast cancer enrolled in CALGB 49907 who had physical function data from before and after receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy (N=256; mean age 71.5, range 65-85). MEASUREMENTS: Participants were administered the physical function subscale of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire before chemotherapy, at the end of chemotherapy, and 12 months after chemotherapy initiation. Functional decline was defined as a more than 10-point decrease from baseline at each time point. Resilience was defined as return to within 10 points of baseline. Multivariable regression was used to examine pretreatment characteristics associated with physical function changes. RESULTS: Of 42% of participants who had physical function decline from before to the end of chemotherapy, 47% recovered by 12 months (were resilient). Almost one-third experienced functional decline from before chemotherapy to 12 months later. Pretreatment fatigue was a risk factor for functional decline from before to the end of chemotherapy (P=.02). Risk factors for functional decline at 12 months included pretreatment dyspnea (P=.007) and being unmarried (P=.01). CONCLUSION: Functional decline was common in older women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer in a clinical trial. Although half recovered their physical function, one-third had a clinically meaningful decline at 12 months. Strategies are needed to prevent functional decline in older adults receiving chemotherapy. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:920-927, 2019.

The preference to receive chemotherapy and cancer-related outcomes in older adults with breast cancer CALGB 49907 (Alliance).

OBJECTIVE: Chemotherapy preference refers to a patient's interest in receiving chemotherapy. This study examined whether chemotherapy preference was associated with toxicity, efficacy, quality of life (QoL), and functional outcomes during and after completion of adjuvant chemotherapy in older women with breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a secondary analysis of CALGB 49907, a randomized trial that compared standard adjuvant chemotherapy versus capecitabine in patients age 65 years or older with breast cancer. A subset of 145 patients completed a questionnaire to describe chemotherapy preference pre-treatment. The association of this pre-treatment preference with the patient's perception of self-health, predicted and actual QoL, patient- and professional-reported toxicity, mental health, self-rated function, and survival was studied during and after treatment. RESULTS: The median age of patients was 71 years and 47% had a high preference for chemotherapy. On baseline demographics, the low preference group had a higher proportion of white patients (95% vs. 78%, p = 0.004). Before treatment, low chemotherapy preference was associated with greater nausea/vomiting (p = 0.008). Mid-treatment, low preference was associated with lower QoL, worse social, emotional and physical function (all p ≤ 0.02) and worse nausea/vomiting, cancer symptoms and financial worries (all p < 0.05). The association noted mid-treatment, resolved after treatment completion except with financial worries which persisted at 24 months. Low preference was associated with higher rates of grade 3-5 adverse events (53% vs. 34%, p = 0.02) but was not associated with survival. CONCLUSIONS: Low chemotherapy preference prior to treatment initiation was associated with lower QoL, worse physical symptoms and self-rated function and more adverse events mid-treatment. There is no association of chemotherapy preference with survival.

Tamoxifen Dose Escalation in Patients With Diminished CYP2D6 Activity Normalizes Endoxifen Concentrations Without Increasing Toxicity.

BACKGROUND: Polymorphic CYP2D6 is primarily responsible for metabolic activation of tamoxifen to endoxifen. We previously reported that by increasing the daily tamoxifen dose to 40 mg/day in CYP2D6 intermediate metabolizer (IM), but not poor metabolizer (PM), patients achieve endoxifen concentrations similar to those of extensive metabolizer patients on 20 mg/day. We expanded enrollment to assess the safety of CYP2D6 genotype-guided dose escalation and investigate concentration differences between races. METHODS: PM and IM breast cancer patients currently receiving tamoxifen at 20 mg/day were enrolled for genotype-guided escalation to 40 mg/day. Endoxifen was measured at baseline and after 4 months. Quality-of-life data were collected using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) and Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Menopausal Symptom Scale at baseline and after 4 months. RESULTS: In 353 newly enrolled patients, genotype-guided dose escalation eliminated baseline concentration differences in IM (p = .08), but not PM (p = .009), patients. Endoxifen concentrations were similar in black and white patients overall (p = .63) and within CYP2D6 phenotype groups (p > .05). In the quality-of-life analysis of 480 patients, dose escalation did not meaningfully diminish quality of life; in fact, improvements were seen in several measures including the FACT Breast Cancer subscale (p = .004) and limitations in range of motion (p < .0001) in IM patients. CONCLUSION: Differences in endoxifen concentration during treatment can be eliminated by doubling the tamoxifen dose in IM patients, without an appreciable effect on quality of life. Validation of the association between endoxifen concentration and efficacy or prospective demonstration of improved efficacy is necessary to warrant clinical uptake of this personalized treatment strategy. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This secondary analysis of a prospective CYP2D6 genotype-guided tamoxifen dose escalation study confirms that escalation to 40 mg/day in patients with low-activity CYP2D6 phenotypes (poor or intermediate metabolizers) increases endoxifen concentrations without any obvious increases in treatment-related toxicity. It remains unknown whether endoxifen concentration is a useful predictor of tamoxifen efficacy, and thus, there is no current role in clinical practice for CYP2D6 genotype-guided tamoxifen dose adjustment. If future studies confirm the importance of endoxifen concentrations for tamoxifen efficacy and report a target concentration, this study provides guidance for a dose-adjustment approach that could maximize efficacy while maintaining patient quality of life.

Effect of Pretreatment Renal Function on Treatment and Clinical Outcomes in the Adjuvant Treatment of Older Women With Breast Cancer: Alliance A171201, an Ancillary Study of CALGB/CTSU 49907.

PURPOSE: CALGB 49907 showed the superiority of standard therapy, which included either cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin (AC) or cyclophosphamide/methotrexate/fluorouracil over single-agent capecitabine in the treatment of patients age ≥ 65 with early-stage breast cancer. The treatment allowed dosing adjustments of methotrexate and capecitabine for pretreatment renal function. The purpose of the current analysis was to assess the relationship between pretreatment renal function and five end points: toxicity, dose modification, therapy completion, relapse-free survival, and overall survival. METHODS: Pretreatment renal function was defined as creatinine clearance (CrCl) using the Cockcroft-Gault equation. Multivariable logistic and proportional hazards regression were used to model separately for each regimen the relationship between CrCl and the first three binary end points and the last two time-to-event end points, respectively, after adjusting for variables of prognostic importance. RESULTS: Six hundred nineteen assessable patients were analyzed. The incidence of stage III (moderate) or stage IV (severe) renal dysfunction was 72%, 64%, and 75% for treatment with cyclophosphamide/methotrexate/fluorouracil, AC, and capecitabine, respectively. There was no relationship for any regimen between pretreatment renal function and the five end points. For AC, as CrCl increased, the odds of nonhematologic toxicity decreased (P = .008), whereas for capecitabine, as CrCl increased, the odds of experiencing toxicity of any type also increased (P = .035). Patients with renal insufficiency who received dose modifications were not at increased risk for complications compared with those who did not have renal insufficiency and received a full dose. CONCLUSION: Excluding from clinical trials patients with renal insufficiency but good performance status on the basis of concern of excessive hematologic toxicity or poor outcomes may not be justified with appropriate dosing modifications. Results should be considered in the design of clinical trials for older patients.

In vivo assessment of the metabolic activity of CYP2D6 diplotypes and alleles.

AIMS: A prospectively enrolled patient cohort was used to assess whether the prediction of CYP2D6 phenotype activity from genotype data could be improved by reclassification of diplotypes or alleles. METHODS: Three hundred and fifty-five patients receiving tamoxifen 20 mg were genotyped for CYP2D6 and tamoxifen metabolite concentrations were measured. The endoxifen : N-desmethly-tamoxifen metabolic ratio, as a surrogate of CYP2D6 activity, was compared across four diplotypes (EM/IM, EM/PM, IM/IM, IM/PM) that are typically collapsed into an intermediate metabolizer (IM) phenotype. The relative metabolic activity of each allele type (UM, EM, IM, and PM) and each EM and IM allele was estimated for comparison with the activity scores typically assigned, 2, 1, 0.5 and 0, respectively. RESULTS: Each of the four IM diplotypes have distinct CYP2D6 activity from each other and from the EM and PM phenotype groups (each P < 0.05). Setting the activity of an EM allele at 1.0, the relative activities of a UM, IM and PM allele were 0.85, 0.67 and 0.52, respectively. The activity of the EM alleles were statistically different (P < 0.0001), with the CYP2D6*2 allele (scaled activity = 0.63) closer in activity to an IM than an EM allele. The activity of the IM alleles were also statistically different (P = 0.014). CONCLUSION: The current systems for translating CYP2D6 genotype into phenotype are not optimally calibrated, particularly in regards to IM diplotypes and the *2 allele. Additional research is needed to improve the prediction of CYP2D6 activity from genetic data for individualized dosing of CYP2D6 dependent drugs.

Adjuvant chemotherapy in older women with early-stage breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Older women with breast cancer are underrepresented in clinical trials, and data on the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy in such patients are scant. We tested for the noninferiority of capecitabine as compared with standard chemotherapy in women with breast cancer who were 65 years of age or older. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with stage I, II, IIIA, or IIIB breast cancer to standard chemotherapy (either cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil or cyclophosphamide plus doxorubicin) or capecitabine. Endocrine therapy was recommended after chemotherapy in patients with hormone-receptor-positive tumors. A Bayesian statistical design was used with a range in sample size from 600 to 1800 patients. The primary end point was relapse-free survival. RESULTS: When the 600th patient was enrolled, the probability that, with longer follow-up, capecitabine therapy was highly likely to be inferior to standard chemotherapy met a prescribed level, and enrollment was discontinued. After an additional year of follow-up, the hazard ratio for disease recurrence or death in the capecitabine group was 2.09 (95% confidence interval, 1.38 to 3.17; P<0.001). Patients who were randomly assigned to capecitabine were twice as likely to have a relapse and almost twice as likely to die as patients who were randomly assigned to standard chemotherapy (P=0.02). At 3 years, the rate of relapse-free survival was 68% in the capecitabine group versus 85% in the standard-chemotherapy group, and the overall survival rate was 86% versus 91%. Two patients in the capecitabine group died of treatment-related complications; as compared with patients receiving capecitabine, twice as many patients receiving standard chemotherapy had moderate-to-severe toxic effects (64% vs. 33%). CONCLUSIONS: Standard adjuvant chemotherapy is superior to capecitabine in patients with early-stage breast cancer who are 65 years of age or older. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00024102.)

Phase II trial of induction gemcitabine/CPT-11 followed by a twice-weekly infusion of gemcitabine and concurrent external beam radiation for the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial of induction irinotecan/gemcitabine followed by twice-weekly gemcitabine and upper abdominal radiation was initiated to determine the activity of this regimen in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer. METHODS: Patients with locally advanced, nonmetastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas received 2 cycles of induction irinotecan (100 mg/m2 IV) and gemcitabine (1000 mg/2 IV) on days 1 and 8 of each 3-week cycle. Following the induction, patients without disease progression received gemcitabine administered twice weekly (40 mg/m2/day) for 5 weeks concurrent with upper abdominal radiation (50.4 Gy over 5.5 weeks). RESULTS: From April 2000 to August 2003, 20 patients were entered into this study, 17 of whom were evaluable for treatment response. Characteristics included a median age of 67 years (range, 44-87 years) and 14 men (70%). Grades III and IV hematologic toxicity occurred in 25% and 5% of patients respectively and was primarily thrombocytopenia. No grade IV gastrointestinal toxicities or deaths due to therapy were observed. All therapy was completed in 8 patients, 7 patients were removed due to progression, 2 due to toxicity, 2 refused further treatment, and 1 was removed per the treating physician. The median time to progression and median survival was 5.1 months (95% CI, 3.2-6.7) and 8.8 months (95% CI, 6.4-10.1) respectively. Four patients (20%) were alive at 12 and 18 months. CONCLUSION: Induction irinotecan/gemcitabine followed by twice-weekly gemcitabine and upper abdominal radiation is feasible in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. This regimen, however, has only modest activity and should not be explored further.