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With use of EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitor monotherapy for patients with activating EGFR mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), median progression-free survival has been extended to about 12 months. Nevertheless, new strategies are needed to further extend progression-free survival and overall survival with acceptable toxicity and tolerability for this population. We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of the combination of erlotinib and bevacizumab compared with erlotinib alone in patients with non-squamous NSCLC with activating EGFR mutation-positive disease. In this open-label, randomised, multicentre, phase 2 study, patients from 30 centres across Japan with stage IIIB/IV or recurrent non-squamous NSCLC with activating EGFR mutations, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 or 1, and no previous chemotherapy for advanced disease received erlotinib 150 mg/day plus bevacizumab 15 mg/kg every 3 weeks or erlotinib 150 mg/day monotherapy as a first-line therapy until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival, as determined by an independent review committee. Randomisation was done with a dynamic allocation method, and the analysis used a modified intention-to-treat approach, including all patients who received at least one dose of study treatment and had tumour assessment at least once after randomisation. This study is registered with the Japan Pharmaceutical Information Center, number JapicCTI-111390. Between Feb 21, 2011, and March 5, 2012, 154 patients were enrolled. 77 were randomly assigned to receive erlotinib and bevacizumab and 77 to erlotinib alone, of whom 75 patients in the erlotinib plus bevacizumab group and 77 in the erlotinib alone group were included in the efficacy analyses. Median progression-free survival was 16·0 months (95% CI 13·9–18·1) with erlotinib plus bevacizumab and 9·7 months (5·7–11·1) with erlotinib alone (hazard ratio 0·54, 95% CI 0·36–0·79; log-rank test p=0·0015). The most common grade 3 or worse adverse events were rash (19 [25%] patients in the erlotinib plus bevacizumab group vs 15 [19%] patients in the erlotinib alone group), hypertension (45 [60%] vs eight [10%]), and proteinuria (six [8%] vs none). Serious adverse events occurred at a similar frequency in both groups (18 [24%] patients in the erlotinib plus bevacizumab group and 19 [25%] patients in the erlotinib alone group). Erlotinib plus bevacizumab combination could be a new first-line regimen in EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC. Further investigation of the regimen is warranted. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.

Previous clinical trials indicate that 10%–25% of patients received genomically matched therapy after comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) tests. However, the clinical utility of CGP tests has not been assessed in clinical practice. We assessed the clinical utility of CGP tests for advanced or metastatic solid tumor and determined the proportion of patients receiving genomically matched therapy among those with common and non‐common cancers. From August 2019 to July 2020, a total of 418 patients had undergone CGP tests, and the results were discussed through the molecular tumor board at our site. The median age of patients was 57 (range: 3–86) years. Colorectal cancer was the most common, with 47 (11%) patients. Actionable genomic alterations (median 3, range: 1–17) were identified in 368 (88.0%) of 418 patients. Druggable genomic alterations were determined in 196 (46.9%) of 418 patients through the molecular tumor board. Genomically matched therapy was administered as the subsequent line of therapy in 51 (12.2%) patients, which is comparable to the proportion we previously reported in a clinical trial (13.4%) (p = 0.6919). The proportion of patients receiving genomically matched therapy was significantly higher among those with common cancers (16.2%) than non‐common cancers (9.4%) (p = 0.0365). Genomically matched therapy after the CGP tests was administered to 12.2% of patients, which is similar to the proportion reported in the previous clinical trials. The clinical utility of CGP tests in patients with common cancers greatly exceeded that in patients with non‐common cancers. Genomically matched therapy after comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) tests was administered to 12.2% of patients in clinical practice. We demonstrated the clinical utility of CGP tests in clinical practice, particularly among those with common cancers who received genomically matched therapy more frequently than those with non‐common cancers.

Thymic carcinoma is a rare malignant disease and standard treatment for advanced or metastatic thymic carcinoma previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy has not been established. Lenvatinib is a novel multi-targeted inhibitor of VEGFR, FGFR, RET, c-Kit, and other kinases. The aim of this trial was to assess the activity and safety of lenvatinib as a second-line treatment in thymic carcinoma. This single-arm, phase 2 trial done in eight institutions in Japan (five cancer centres, two medical university hospitals, and one public hospital) enrolled patients with pathologically confirmed unresectable advanced or metastatic thymic carcinoma that progressed following at least one platinum-based chemotherapy. Key inclusion criteria were age 20 years or older, at least one measurable lesion as defined by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1, and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1. Patients received 24 mg of lenvatinib orally once daily in 4-week cycles until disease progression or occurrence of unacceptable adverse events. The primary endpoint was objective response rate evaluated at the data cutoff date (Feb 22, 2019), by independent central review in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered on JMACCT, JMA-IIA00285, and on UMIN-CTR, UMIN000026777. Between April 21, 2017, and Feb 22, 2018, 42 patients were enrolled and all patients were included in the activity and safety analysis. The median follow-up period was 15·5 months (IQR 13·1–17·5). The objective response rate was 38% (90% CI 25·6–52·0, p<0·0001). 16 (38%) of 42 patients had a partial response and 24 (57%) had stable disease. The most frequent grade 3 treatment-related adverse events were hypertension (27 [64%]) and palmar-plantar erythrodysaesthesia syndrome (three [7%]). No patient died from adverse events. The activity and safety of lenvatinib in patients with advanced or metastatic thymic carcinoma was confirmed. These results suggest that lenvatinib could become a standard treatment option for patients with previously treated advanced or metastatic thymic carcinoma. Center for Clinical Trials, Japan Medical Association.

Olanzapine 10 mg added to standard antiemetic therapy including aprepitant, palonosetron, and dexamethasone has been recommended for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Guidelines suggest that a dose reduction to 5 mg should be considered to prevent sedation. In several phase 2 studies, olanzapine 5 mg has shown equivalent activity to olanzapine 10 mg and a favourable safety profile in relation to somnolence. We evaluated the efficacy of olanzapine 5 mg combined with standard antiemetic therapy for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting caused by cisplatin-based chemotherapy. This was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 study to evaluate the efficacy of olanzapine 5 mg with triplet-combination antiemetic therapy done in 26 hospitals in Japan. Key inclusion criteria were patients with a malignant tumour (excluding those with a haemopoietic malignancy) who were scheduled to be treated with cisplatin (≥50 mg/m2) for the first time, age between 20 and 75 years, and with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–2. Eligible patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either oral olanzapine 5 mg or placebo once daily on days 1–4 combined with aprepitant, palonosetron, and dexamethasone (dosage based on the standard antiemetic therapy against highly emetogenic chemotherapy). Patients were randomly assigned to interventions by use of a web entry system and the minimisation method with a random component, with sex, dose of cisplatin, and age as factors of allocation adjustment. Patients, medical staff, investigators, and individuals handling data were all masked to treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients who achieved a complete response, defined as absence of vomiting and no use of rescue medications in the delayed phase (24–120 h). All randomly assigned patients who satisfied eligibility criteria received a dose of cisplatin 50 mg/m2 or more, and at least one study treatment, were included in efficacy analysis. All patients who received any treatment in this study were assessed for safety. This study is registered at UMIN Clinical Trials Registry, number UMIN000024676. Between Feb 9, 2017, and July 13, 2018, 710 patients were enrolled; 356 were randomly assigned to receive olanzapine and 354 were assigned to receive placebo. All eligible patients were observed 120 h after cisplatin initiation. One patient in the olanzapine group and three in the placebo group did not receive treatment and were excluded from all analyses. One patient in the olanzapine group discontinued treatment on day 1 and was excluded from the efficacy analysis. In the delayed phase, the proportion of patients who achieved a complete response was 280 (79% [95% CI 75–83] of 354 patients in the olanzapine group and 231 (66% [61–71] of 351 patients in the placebo group (p<0·0001). One patient had grade 3 constipation and one patient had grade 3 somnolence related to treatment in the olanzapine group. Olanzapine 5 mg combined with aprepitant, palonosetron, and dexamethasone could be a new standard antiemetic therapy for patients undergoing cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development.

Thyroid dysfunction (TD) induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors is not sufficiently understood. The purpose of this retrospective observational study was to identify risk factors and the clinical course of TD induced by nivolumab. Patients with advanced solid tumors who were treated with nivolumab from March 2009 through to March 2016 at the National Cancer Center Hospital (Tokyo, Japan) were included. Thyroid function and antithyroid Abs from serum samples among all patients were evaluated at baseline and during nivolumab treatment. Overt hypothyroidism was defined as low serum‐free T4 together with elevated thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH) >10 μIU/mL. Thyrotoxicosis was defined as low TSH with elevated free T4 and/or free T3. We defined thyroid autoimmunity as the presence of antithyroid Abs at baseline, including antithyroid peroxidase Abs and antithyroglobulin Abs (TgAb). Twenty‐three (14%) of a total of 168 patients developed TD, including 17 cases of hypothyroidism and 20 of thyrotoxicosis. Thyrotoxicosis followed by hypothyroidism occurred in 14 cases. Fourteen of 35 patients (40%) with thyroid autoimmunity developed TD vs 9 of 133 (7%) without (odds ratio 9.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.53‐23.9). In multivariate analysis, elevated TSH and TgAb at baseline were significantly associated with the development of TD, with odds ratio of 7.36 (95% CI, 1.66‐32.7) and 26.5 (95% CI, 8.18‐85.8), respectively. Association between TD and elevated antithyroid peroxidase Abs at baseline was not significant. These results suggest that patients with pre‐existing TgAb and elevated TSH at baseline are at high risk of TD. Thyroid dysfunction induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors is not sufficiently understood. This retrospective observational study revealed that pre‐existing antithyroglobulin Abs and elevated thyroid‐stimulating hormone before nivolumab treatment are risk factors for the development of thyroid dysfunction induced by nivolumab.

The safety of anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody for patients with preexisting interstitial lung disease (ILD) remains unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dependence of preexisting ILD on anti-PD-1 antibody-induced pneumonitis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We retrospectively reviewed the association of preexisting ILD with the incidence, radiographic pattern, and outcome of pneumonitis in NSCLC patients receiving anti-PD-1 antibody. A total of 331 patients were included in this study. Of these patients, 17 had preexisting ILD. The incidence of pneumonitis was higher among the patients with preexisting ILD than among those without preexisting ILD (29% vs. 10%, P = 0.027). The distributions of the CT appearances at the onset of anti-PD-1 antibody-induced pneumonitis were as follows: for the patients with preexisting ILD, two patients (40%) had diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), one patient each with organizing pneumonia-like (OP), hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), and other patterns (20% each); for the patients without preexisting ILD, 19 patients (61%) had OP, 8 (26%) had HP, 3 (10%) had DAD, and 1 (3.2%) had other patterns. The median onset time from the initiation of anti-PD-1 antibody treatment until the development of pneumonitis was 1.3 months (range 0.3–2.1 months) for the patients with preexisting ILD and 2.3 months (range 0.2–14.6 months) for the patients without preexisting ILD. Careful attention to the development of pneumonitis is needed, especially within the first 3 months after the start of anti-PD-1 antibody treatment, when using anti-PD-1 antibody to treat patients with preexisting ILD.

Cancer genomic medicine using next‐generation sequencers has been developing. However, the number of patients who could receive genomically matched therapy is limited because off‐label use or patient‐oriented compassionate use was not permitted under National Health Insurance in Japan. To improve patient drug accessibility, we initiated a biomarker‐based basket‐type clinical trial (NCCH1901) in October 2019 under patient‐proposed healthcare services. We listed the drugs that had high medical needs but were not covered by National Healthcare Insurance. Then we included these drugs before patient proposal so that they could access off‐label drugs soon after they had the results of CGP tests. All drugs were provided free of charge by pharmaceutical companies. The objective was to administer off‐label drugs and to collect efficacy and safety data for these drugs. The primary endpoint was the response rate based on the best overall response for up to 16 weeks. As of January 31, 2022, we included 18 drug cohorts and 295 patients were treated in this study. The most common cancer was brain tumor, followed by carcinoma of endocrine organs and colorectal cancer. BRAF mutations and ERBB2 amplifications were the frequent genomic abnormalities to be enrolled. This study was one way to access off‐label drugs, and contributed significantly to providing treatment opportunities for patients in Japan. This is a progress report of a biomarker‐based basket‐type clinical trial (NCCH1901). About 300 patients were treated in this trial and patients with BRAF mutations and ERBB2 amplifications were the frequent genomic changes to be enrolled. This trial has contributed to increasing treatment opportunities for patients in Japan.

Epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR ) exon 20 insertion mutations (Exon20ins) account for 4–12% of all EGFR mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Data on the differences in clinical characteristics between patients with Exon20ins and major mutations (M-mut) such as exon 19 deletion and L858R are limited. We retrospectively reviewed advanced NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations, who were treated with systemic therapy between January 2011 and December 2019. We identified 23 patients with Exon20ins and 534 patients with M-mut. In Exon20ins patients, the median age was 60 (range 27–88) years, and females and never-smokers were predominant. Clinical characteristics were similar in the two groups. In Exon20ins patients, 17 patients received platinum doublet as first-line therapy, and the overall response rate (ORR) and median progression-free survival (mPFS) were 11.8% and 8.9 months. Additionally, seven patients received conventional EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), and eight patients anti-PD-1 antibodies in any-line therapy. ORR and mPFS of EGFR-TKIs and anti-PD-1 antibodies were 0%, 2.2 months and 25%, 3.1 months, respectively. Overall survival was significantly shorter in Exon20ins patients than in M-mut patients (29.3 vs. 43.4 months, p = 0.04). The clinical outcomes in Exon20ins patients were not satisfactory compared to M-mut patients.

Combination antiprogrammed death 1/programmed death‐ligand 1 Ab and platinum‐based chemotherapy is standard first‐line treatment for advanced non‐small‐cell lung cancer without targetable oncogene alterations. We describe the long‐term safety and efficacy data from a previously reported phase Ib study of nivolumab and chemotherapy. Japanese patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer were assigned to a treatment arm based on histology and treatment history. Nivolumab (10 mg/kg, i.v.) and chemotherapy (4 arms) were given every 3 weeks: arm A, 4 cycles of cisplatin and gemcitabine (first‐line); arm B, 4 cycles of cisplatin and pemetrexed followed by pemetrexed maintenance therapy (first‐line); arm C, 4‐6 cycles of carboplatin, paclitaxel, and bevacizumab followed by bevacizumab (first‐line); and arm D, docetaxel (second‐ or third‐line). Study treatments were continued every 3 weeks as maintenance therapy until disease progression. Minimum follow‐up period was 57.9 months. Median progression‐free survival (median [range, plus sign indicates censored data]) was 6.3 (0.7+‐47.8), 11.8 (1.4‐65.1+), 40.7 (5.3‐60.8+), and 3.2 (1.9‐10.9) months, and 5‐year progression‐free survival was observed in 0/6, 1/6, 1/6, and 0/6 patients in arms A, B, C, and D, respectively. Median overall survival was 13.2 (11.0‐55.4), 28.5 (14.6‐66.2+), not reached (24.2‐67.4+), and 12.5 (9.8‐16.9) months; the number of patients surviving 5 years were 0/6, 1/6, 4/6, and 0/6 in arms A, B, C, and D, respectively. No unexpected severe adverse events or treatment‐related deaths occurred. Nivolumab and platinum‐based chemotherapy combinations showed long‐term tolerability. A moderate proportion of patients in arm C showed 5‐year progression‐free and overall survival. The 5‐year long‐term safety and efficacy data from a previously reported phase Ib study of nivolumab (10 mg/kg, i.v.) and platinum‐based chemotherapy every 3 weeks in Japanese patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer showed no unexpected severe adverse events or treatment‐related deaths. A moderate proportion of patients from arm C (first‐line carboplatin, paclitaxel, and bevacizumab; 4‐6 cycles nivolumab) showed 5‐year progression‐free survival and overall survival.

Thymic carcinoma is a rare malignant disease with no standard systemic chemotherapy. The purpose of the present study was to investigate tumor‐infiltrating immune cells (TIIC) in the tumor microenvironment (TME), focusing on the impact of TIIC and program death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) expression on clinical outcomes in thymic cancer. Patients with thymic carcinoma resected between 1973 and 2017 were investigated. The tissue specimens were analyzed through immunohistochemical staining to elucidate the prognostic effects of TIIC, their ratios and PD‐L1 in a preliminary cohort (n = 10). The density of TIIC as well as PD‐L1 expression was evaluated in intraepithelial and tumor‐stromal areas on the representative whole section of tumors. The immune factors showing significant association with disease‐free survival (DFS) were evaluated in the total cohort (n = 42). TIIC in the preliminary population showed no significant difference between the two groups. However, CD8, CD20, CD204, FOXP3 and CD20/CD204 ratio demonstrated a tendency to act as predictive markers for recurrence. In the total cohort, significant differences were observed for CD8+, CD20+ and CD204+ cells in tumor islets, and for CD8+, CD20+ and FOXP3+ cells as well as the CD8/CD204 and CD20/CD204 ratios in the stroma, indicating their prognostic effect. The prognostic effect of the PD‐L1 expression in tumor cells could not be established, possibly because of intratumoral heterogeneity. CD8, CD20 and CD204 positive TIIC in stroma were identified as possible better prognostic biomarkers, considering the heterogeneity of other biomarkers. The present study paves the way for exploring strategies of combination immunotherapy targeting B cell immunity in thymic carcinoma. The present study revealed that CD8+, CD20+ and CD204+ tumor‐infiltrating immune cells in cancer stroma might be prognostic biomarkers, considering the heterogeneity of other biomarkers, including PD‐L1 expression on tumor cells in thymic carcinoma.