Explore the vast range of titles available.

In a prospective, randomized trial involving patients with resected pancreatic cancer, adjuvant combination chemotherapy with FOLFIRINOX resulted in a median disease-free survival of 21.6 months, as compared with 12.8 months with gemcitabine therapy. Overall survival was also longer with FOLFIRINOX.

Abstract Introduction Predictive markers of LV5FU2 maintenance benefit after first-line induction with FOLFIRINOX in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer are necessary to select patients who will not be harmed by this strategy. Patients and Methods We focused on patients who received 12 cycles of FOLFIRINOX (arm A, N = 88) or 8 cycles of FOLFIRINOX followed by LV5FU2 maintenance in controlled patients (arm B, N = 91) from the PRODIGE-35 trial. Prognostic factors and predictors of efficiency were identified by using Cox regression. Median progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and time to deterioration of quality of life (TTD-QoL) were evaluated. Results Poor independent prognostic factors were primary tumor in place, age <65 years and the presence of liver metastases for PFS, a baseline neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) ≥5 and CA19.9 ≥500 UI/L for OS, independent of the treatment arm. Patients with one metastatic site had a longer PFS in arm A, whereas patients with ≥2 metastatic sites had a longer PFS in arm B. We also identified predictors of OS and TTD-QoL in arm B but these differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion Except for patients with one metastatic site who benefited more from 12 cycles of FOLFIRINOX, a maintenance strategy with LV5FU2 should be widely offered to mPC patients whose survival and QoL are preserved after 4 months of FOLFIRINOX. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02352337). This retrospective analysis of the PRODIGE-35 trial showed that LV5FU2 maintenance after 8 cycles of FOLFIRINOX is feasible in patients treated first line for metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Fluropyrimidine monotherapy is an option for some patients with inoperable metastatic colorectal cancer. Unlike bevacizumab, the addition of aflibercept, an antibody acting as an anti-angiogenic agent, has never been evaluated in this context. The aim of the study was to determine whether aflibercept could increase the efficacy of fluoropyrimidine monotherapy without increasing toxicity. This multicenter phase II non-comparative trial evaluated the addition of aflibercept to infusional 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid (LV5FU2 regimen) as first-line treatment in patients unfit to receive doublet cytotoxic chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was 6-month progression-free survival (PFS). The clinical hypotheses expected a PFS rate at 6 months of over 40% (60% expected). A total of 117 patients, with a median age of 81 years, were included: 59 in arm A (LV5FU2-aflibercept) and 58 in arm B (LV5FU2 alone). Six-month PFS was 54.7% in both arms (90% CI 42.5–66.5 in both). Median overall survival was 21.8 months (arm A) and 25.1 months (arm B). Overall toxicity was more common in arm A: grade ≥ 3 toxicity in 82% versus 58.2%. Given the 6-month PFS, the study can be considered positive. However, the toxicity of aflibercept in this population was high, and continuation of the trial into phase III is not envisaged.

Background: Predictive biomarkers of response to chemotherapy plus antiangiogenic for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) are lacking. The objective of this study was to test the prognostic role of splenomegaly on baseline CT scan. Methods: This study is a sub-study of PRODIGE-9 study, which included 488 mCRC patients treated by 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) and bevacizumab in first line. The association between splenic volume, and PFS and OS was evaluated by univariate and multivariable Cox analyses. The relation between circulating monocytic Myeloid derived suppressor cells (mMDSC) and splenomegaly was also determined. Results: Baseline splenic volume > 180 mL was associated with poor PFS (median PFS = 9.2 versus 11.1 months; log-rank p = 0.0125), but was not statistically associated with OS (median OS = 22.6 versus 28.5 months; log-rank p = 0.1643). The increase in splenic volume at 3 months had no impact on PFS (HR 0.928; log-rank p = 0.56) or on OS (HR 0.843; log-rank p = 0.21). Baseline splenic volume was positively correlated with the level of baseline circulating mMDSC (r = 0.48, p-value = 0.031). Conclusion: Baseline splenomegaly is a prognostic biomarker in patients with mCRC treated with FOLFIRI and bevacizumab, and a surrogate marker of MDSC accumulation.

Because cytidine deaminase (CDA) is the key enzyme in gemcitabine metabolism, numerous studies have attempted to investigate impact of CDA status (i.e. genotype or phenotype) on clinical outcome. To date, data are still controversial because none of these studies has fully investigated genotype-phenotype CDA status, pharmacokinetics and clinical outcome relationships in gemcitabine-treated patients. Besides, most patients were treated with gemcitabine associated with other drugs, thus adding a confounding factor. We performed a multicenter prospective clinical trial in gemcitabine-treated patients which aimed at investigating the link between CDA deficiency on the occurrence of severe toxicities and on pharmacokinetics, and studying CDA genotype-phenotype relationships. One hundred twenty patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma eligible for adjuvant gemcitabine monotherapy were enrolled in this study promoted and managed by the Fédération Francophone de Cancérologie Digestive. Toxicities were graded according to National Cancer Institute's Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Version 4. They were considered severe for grade ≥ 3, and early when occurring during the first eight weeks of treatment. CDA status was evaluated using a double approach: genotyping for 79A>C and functional testing. Therapeutic drug monitoring of gemcitabine and its metabolite were performed on the first course of gemcitabine. Five patients out of 120 (i.e., 4.6%) were found to be CDA deficient (i.e., CDA activity <1.3 U/mg), and only one among them experienced early severe hematological toxicity. There was no statistically significant difference in CDA activity between patients experiencing hematological severe toxicities (28.44%) and patients who tolerated the treatment (71.56%). CDA genetic analysis failed in evidencing an impact in terms of toxicities or in CDA activity. Regarding pharmacokinetics, a wide inter-individual variability has been observed in patients. This study, which included only 4.6% of CDA-deficient patients, failed in identifying CDA status as a predictive marker of toxicities with gemcitabine. A lack of statistical power because of smoothing effect of CDA variability as compared with real life conditions could explain this absence of impact. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01416662.

PurposeGemcitabine is the standard chemotherapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Although the 5-fluorouracil (5FU), folinic acid and cisplatin combination (LV5FU2-CDDP) is an option, the optimal order of the regimens must be determined. The first strategic phase III trial comparing LV5FU2-CDDP followed by gemcitabine versus gemcitabine followed by LV5FU2-CDDP was conducted.MethodsPatients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, performance status (PS) 0–2, without prior chemotherapy were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either LV5FU2-CDDP followed by gemcitabine at disease progression or toxicity (Arm A), or the opposite sequence (Arm B). 202 patients had to be included and 170 deaths had to be observed to detect an expected improvement in median overall survival (OS) from 6.5 to 10 months in Arm A (two-sided α = 5% and β = 20%).Results202 patients were included (Arm A, 102; Arm B, 100). Median age, male/female ratio, PS 0–1 and previous surgery were similar in the two arms. After a median follow-up of 44 months, median OS in Arm A was 6.6 months versus 8.0 months in Arm B (p = 0.85). Median progression-free survival was similar between Arms A and B. More grade 3/4 toxicities were observed when LV5FU2-CDDP was administered as a first-line treatment compared with gemcitabine: 79% versus 64% (p = 0.018).ConclusionThis trial did not show any strategic advantage to using LV5FU2-CDDP as a first-line treatment and suggests that gemcitabine remains the standard first-line treatment. Sixty-one per cent of patients were able to receive a second line of chemotherapy.

BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are very effective in deficient DNA mismatch-repair system (dMMR)/microsatellite instable (MSI) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). About 15% of MSS/pMMR CRCs are highly infiltrated by tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) with a good prognosis. Some immune scores based on CD3+ and/or CD8+ T-cells infiltration are validated and reproducible, especially TuLIS1 and Immunoscore®.2 No data are available concerning efficacy of ICI in this subpopulation of mCRC. Pembrolizumab, an anti-PD1 (programmed death-1) monoclonal antibody has been recently reported very effective in patients with MSI/dMMR mCRC. Immunogenic cell death induced by chemotherapy, such as oxaliplatin, could increase the efficacy of ICI. We formulated the hypothesis that patients with a pMMR mCRC with a high immune infiltrate can be sensitive to ICI plus oxalipatin-based chemotherapy.MethodsPOCHI is a multicenter, open-label, single-arm phase II trial to evaluate efficacy of pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy as first-line treatment of pMMR mCRC with a high immune infiltrate. Primary objective is PFS at 10 months, i.e. number of patients alive and without radiological and/or clinical progression at 10 months evaluated by the investigator. Main secondary objectives are overall survival, secondary resection rate, depth of response and early tumour shrinkage. Main inclusion criteria are pMMR mCRC untreated for metastatic disease and with at least one measurable metastatic target according to RECIST v1.1 criteria. Patients must have resected primary tumor to evaluate two different immune scores (Immunoscore® and TuLIS) and patients are eligible if one score is ‘high’. Patients will receive combination of pembrolizumab (200 mg), bevacizumab (7.5 mg/kg), oxaliplatin (130 mg/m²) and capecitabine (2000 mg/m²/day, on day 1 to 14). Treatment will be repeated every 3 weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The clinical hypotheses are to increase PFS at 10 months from 50% to 70%. With a one-sided type error of 5%, power of 85%, 10% rate of patients lost to follow-up or not evaluable, 55 patients have to be included. If 32 patients or more are alive and without progression at 10 months, the treatment will be considered as effective. Thus, with 15% ‘high’ immune score, about 400 patients must be tested in order to include 55 patients in POCHI trial. The ancillary study will consist to identify predictive biomarkers of response and included expression of PD-L1, circulating lymphocytes circulating tumour DNA, mutational load and gut microbiota. Inclusions will start in September 2020 and theoretical end of recruitment is 2023.ResultsN/AConclusionsN/AAcknowledgementsWe thank all the cooperative groups (FFCD – UNICANCER GI– GERCOR) for their contribution and participation to the present trial. We thank MSD and HalioDX for their support.Trial RegistrationNCT04262687Ethics ApprovalThis study was approved by ‘Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des produits de santé (ANSM)’ on 24/03/2020; approval number MEDAECNAT-2020-01-00038_2019-002407-18.’ConsentN/AReferencesEmile JF, et al., Prospective validation of a lymphocyte infiltration prognostic test in stage III colon cancer patients treated with adjuvant FOLFOX. Eur J Cancer 2017 Sep;82:16–24Pagès, et al. International validation of the consensus Immunoscore for the classification of colon cancer: a prognostic and accuracy study. Lancet 2018 May 26;391(10135):2128–2139.

Acute bleeding from esophageal varices is a major problem in patients with cirrhosis of the liver and is associated with a 30 to 50 percent risk of death. 1 – 3 Sclerotherapy is considered the most effective way to stop bleeding and is the main form of emergency treatment in most institutions. 4 However, the success rate varies widely, partly because the definitions of success vary and partly because other methods, such as balloon tamponade and the administration of vasopressin, are used at the same time. Bleeding is controlled during the first five days in about 80 to 90 percent of patients, 4 , . . .