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Background Preoperative radiochemotherapy (RCT) is recommended in France prior to total mesorectal excision in patients with mid or low locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) (cT3/T4 and/or N+) because it has been shown to improve local control. Preoperative RCT has also disadvantages including the absence of proven impact on metastatic recurrence and the risk of late side effects on bowel and genitourinary function. In patients with primarily resectable LARC, preoperative systemic chemotherapy without pelvic irradiation could be used as an alternative to RCT. Methods This study is a multicenter, open-label randomized, 2-arm phase III non-inferiority trial. Patients with mid or low resectable LARC (cT3N0 or cT1-T3N+ with circumferential resection margin [CRM] > 2 mm on pretreatment MRI) will be randomized to either modified FOLFIRINOX for 3 months or RCT (Cap50 intensified-modulated radiotherapy). All patients have restaging MRI after preoperative treatment. The primary endpoint is 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) from the time to randomization including progression during preoperative treatment. Secondary endpoints are treatment related toxicity, treatment compliance, R0 resection rate, sphincter saving surgery rate, postoperative morbidity and mortality rates, loco-regional recurrence free survival, overall survival, bowel and sexual functions at diagnosis, quality of life, radiologic and pathologic response after preoperative treatment. The number of patients required is 574. Discussion The choice of modified FOLFIRINOX for preoperative chemotherapy is supported by recent and consistent data on safety and efficacy of this regimen on rectal cancer. The use of preoperative chemotherapy instead of RCT could be associated with pronounced advantages in terms of functional results and quality of life in cancer survivors. However and first of all, the non-inferiority of preoperative chemotherapy compared to RCT on oncologic outcome has to be validated. If this study demonstrates the non-inferiority of chemotherapy compared to RCT, this can lead to a crucial change in clinical practice in a large subset of rectal cancer patients. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03875781 (March 15, 2019). Version 1.1.

In this trial involving more than 24,000 participants, the efficacy of two doses of a viruslike-particle, plant-based vaccine with adjuvant was 69.5% against symptomatic Covid-19 and 78.8% against moderate-to-severe disease. More than 80% of vaccine recipients had local or systemic adverse effects, which were generally mild and short-lived.

Among patients who received two 3-week cycles of neoadjuvant ipilimumab and nivolumab, the 12-month event-free survival was 83.7%, as compared with 57.2% among those who received only adjuvant therapy.

When the adjuvanted HZ subunit vaccine candidate was coadministered with a quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine, no interference in the immune responses were observed, and no safety concerns were identified. Abstract Background The immunogenicity and safety of an adjuvanted herpes zoster subunit (HZ/su) vaccine when coadministered with a quadrivalent seasonal inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV4) was investigated in a phase 3, open-label, randomized clinical trial in adults aged ≥50 years. Methods Subjects were randomized 1:1 to receive either HZ/su (varicella zoster virus glycoprotein E; AS01B Adjuvant System) and IIV4 at day 0 followed by a second HZ/su dose at month 2 (coadministration group), or IIV4 at month 0 and HZ/su at months 2 and 4 (control group). The primary objectives were the HZ/su vaccine response rate in the coadministration group and the noninferiority of the antibody responses to HZ/su and IIV4 in the coadministration compared with the control group. Safety information was collected throughout the duration of the study. Results A total of 413 subjects were vaccinated in the coadministration group and 415 in the control group. The HZ/su vaccine response rate in the coadministration group was 95.8% (95% confidence interval, 93.3%–97.6%) and the anti–glycoprotein E GMCControl/Coadmin ratio was 1.08 (.97–1.20). The primary noninferiority objectives were met. No safety concerns were observed. Conclusions No interference in the immune responses to either vaccine was observed when the vaccines were coadministered, and no safety concerns were identified. Clinical Trials Registration NCT01954251.

Men with high-risk non-metastatic prostate cancer are treated with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for 3 years, often combined with radiotherapy. We analysed new data from two randomised controlled phase 3 trials done in a multiarm, multistage platform protocol to assess the efficacy of adding abiraterone and prednisolone alone or with enzalutamide to ADT in this patient population. These open-label, phase 3 trials were done at 113 sites in the UK and Switzerland. Eligible patients (no age restrictions) had high-risk (defined as node positive or, if node negative, having at least two of the following: tumour stage T3 or T4, Gleason sum score of 8–10, and prostate-specific antigen [PSA] concentration ≥40 ng/mL) or relapsing with high-risk features (≤12 months of total ADT with an interval of ≥12 months without treatment and PSA concentration ≥4 ng/mL with a doubling time of <6 months, or a PSA concentration ≥20 ng/mL, or nodal relapse) non-metastatic prostate cancer, and a WHO performance status of 0–2. Local radiotherapy (as per local guidelines, 74 Gy in 37 fractions to the prostate and seminal vesicles or the equivalent using hypofractionated schedules) was mandated for node negative and encouraged for node positive disease. In both trials, patients were randomly assigned (1:1), by use of a computerised algorithm, to ADT alone (control group), which could include surgery and luteinising-hormone-releasing hormone agonists and antagonists, or with oral abiraterone acetate (1000 mg daily) and oral prednisolone (5 mg daily; combination-therapy group). In the second trial with no overlapping controls, the combination-therapy group also received enzalutamide (160 mg daily orally). ADT was given for 3 years and combination therapy for 2 years, except if local radiotherapy was omitted when treatment could be delivered until progression. In this primary analysis, we used meta-analysis methods to pool events from both trials. The primary endpoint of this meta-analysis was metastasis-free survival. Secondary endpoints were overall survival, prostate cancer-specific survival, biochemical failure-free survival, progression-free survival, and toxicity and adverse events. For 90% power and a one-sided type 1 error rate set to 1·25% to detect a target hazard ratio for improvement in metastasis-free survival of 0·75, approximately 315 metastasis-free survival events in the control groups was required. Efficacy was assessed in the intention-to-treat population and safety according to the treatment started within randomised allocation. STAMPEDE is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00268476, and with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN78818544. Between Nov 15, 2011, and March 31, 2016, 1974 patients were randomly assigned to treatment. The first trial allocated 455 to the control group and 459 to combination therapy, and the second trial, which included enzalutamide, allocated 533 to the control group and 527 to combination therapy. Median age across all groups was 68 years (IQR 63–73) and median PSA 34 ng/ml (14·7–47); 774 (39%) of 1974 patients were node positive, and 1684 (85%) were planned to receive radiotherapy. With median follow-up of 72 months (60–84), there were 180 metastasis-free survival events in the combination-therapy groups and 306 in the control groups. Metastasis-free survival was significantly longer in the combination-therapy groups (median not reached, IQR not evaluable [NE]–NE) than in the control groups (not reached, 97–NE; hazard ratio [HR] 0·53, 95% CI 0·44–0·64, p<0·0001). 6-year metastasis-free survival was 82% (95% CI 79–85) in the combination-therapy group and 69% (66–72) in the control group. There was no evidence of a difference in metatasis-free survival when enzalutamide and abiraterone acetate were administered concurrently compared with abiraterone acetate alone (interaction HR 1·02, 0·70–1·50, p=0·91) and no evidence of between-trial heterogeneity (I2 p=0·90). Overall survival (median not reached [IQR NE–NE] in the combination-therapy groups vs not reached [103–NE] in the control groups; HR 0·60, 95% CI 0·48–0·73, p<0·0001), prostate cancer-specific survival (not reached [NE–NE] vs not reached [NE–NE]; 0·49, 0·37–0·65, p<0·0001), biochemical failure-free-survival (not reached [NE–NE] vs 86 months [83–NE]; 0·39, 0·33–0·47, p<0·0001), and progression-free-survival (not reached [NE–NE] vs not reached [103–NE]; 0·44, 0·36–0·54, p<0·0001) were also significantly longer in the combination-therapy groups than in the control groups. Adverse events grade 3 or higher during the first 24 months were, respectively, reported in 169 (37%) of 451 patients and 130 (29%) of 455 patients in the combination-therapy and control groups of the abiraterone trial, respectively, and 298 (58%) of 513 patients and 172 (32%) of 533 patients of the combination-therapy and control groups of the abiraterone and enzalutamide trial, respectively. The two most common events more frequent in the combination-therapy groups were hypertension (abiraterone trial: 23 (5%) in the combination-therapy group and six (1%) in control group; abiraterone and enzalutamide trial: 73 (14%) and eight (2%), respectively) and alanine transaminitis (abiraterone trial: 25 (6%) in the combination-therapy group and one (<1%) in control group; abiraterone and enzalutamide trial: 69 (13%) and four (1%), respectively). Seven grade 5 adverse events were reported: none in the control groups, three in the abiraterone acetate and prednisolone group (one event each of rectal adenocarcinoma, pulmonary haemorrhage, and a respiratory disorder), and four in the abiraterone acetate and prednisolone with enzalutamide group (two events each of septic shock and sudden death). Among men with high-risk non-metastatic prostate cancer, combination therapy is associated with significantly higher rates of metastasis-free survival compared with ADT alone. Abiraterone acetate with prednisolone should be considered a new standard treatment for this population. Cancer Research UK, UK Medical Research Council, Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research, Janssen, and Astellas.

In resectable gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer, adding durvalumab to perioperative chemotherapy improved event-free survival and pathological complete response, with no major increase in high-grade adverse events.

Background Accurate detection of patients with minimal residual disease (MRD) after surgery for stage II colon cancer (CC) remains an urgent unmet clinical need to improve selection of patients who might benefit form adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT). Presence of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is indicative for MRD and has high predictive value for recurrent disease. The MEDOCC-CrEATE trial investigates how many stage II CC patients with detectable ctDNA after surgery will accept ACT and whether ACT reduces the risk of recurrence in these patients. Methods/design MEDOCC-CrEATE follows the ‘trial within cohorts’ (TwiCs) design. Patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) are included in the Prospective Dutch ColoRectal Cancer cohort (PLCRC) and give informed consent for collection of clinical data, tissue and blood samples, and consent for future randomization. MEDOCC-CrEATE is a subcohort within PLCRC consisting of 1320 stage II CC patients without indication for ACT according to current guidelines, who are randomized 1:1 into an experimental and a control arm. In the experimental arm, post-surgery blood samples and tissue are analyzed for tissue-informed detection of plasma ctDNA, using the PGDx elio™ platform. Patients with detectable ctDNA will be offered ACT consisting of 8 cycles of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin while patients without detectable ctDNA and patients in the control group will standard follow-up according to guideline. The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients receiving ACT when ctDNA is detectable after resection. The main secondary outcome is 2-year recurrence rate (RR), but also includes 5-year RR, disease free survival, overall survival, time to recurrence, quality of life and cost-effectiveness. Data will be analyzed by intention to treat. Discussion The MEDOCC-CrEATE trial will provide insight into the willingness of stage II CC patients to be treated with ACT guided by ctDNA biomarker testing and whether ACT will prevent recurrences in a high-risk population. Use of the TwiCs design provides the opportunity to randomize patients before ctDNA measurement, avoiding ethical dilemmas of ctDNA status disclosure in the control group. Trial registration Netherlands Trial Register: NL6281/NTR6455 . Registered 18 May 2017, https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/6281

Improved survival in renal-cell cancer after 1 year of adjuvant therapy was seen with pembrolizumab. At 4 years, 91% of pembrolizumab-treated patients were alive, as compared with 86% of those who received placebo after surgery.

Patients with BRAF V600–mutated stage III melanoma received 1 year of adjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib or placebo. After more than 8 years, the risk of death was 20% lower with treatment, but the benefit was not significant.

S-1 has shown promising efficacy with a mild toxicity profile in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether adjuvant S-1 improved overall survival compared with observation for resected biliary tract cancer. This open-label, multicentre, randomised phase 3 trial was conducted in 38 Japanese hospitals. Patients aged 20–80 years who had histologically confirmed extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, gallbladder carcinoma, ampullary carcinoma, or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in a resected specimen and had undergone no local residual tumour resection or microscopic residual tumour resection were randomly assigned (1:1) to undergo observation or to receive S-1 (ie, 40 mg, 50 mg, or 60 mg according to body surface area, orally administered twice daily for 4 weeks, followed by 2 weeks of rest for four cycles). Randomisation was performed by the minimisation method, using institution, primary tumour site, and lymph node metastasis as adjustment factors. The primary endpoint was overall survival and was assessed for all randomly assigned patients on an intention-to-treat basis. Safety was assessed in all eligible patients. For the S-1 group, all patients who began the protocol treatment were eligible for a safety assessment. This trial is registered with the University hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000011688). Between Sept 9, 2013, and June 22, 2018, 440 patients were enrolled (observation group n=222 and S-1 group n=218). The data cutoff date was June 23, 2021. Median duration of follow-up was 45·4 months. In the primary analysis, the 3-year overall survival was 67·6% (95% CI 61·0–73·3%) in the observation group compared with 77·1% (70·9–82·1%) in the S-1 group (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0·69, 95% CI 0·51–0·94; one-sided p=0·0080). The 3-year relapse-free survival was 50·9% (95% CI 44·1–57·2%) in the observation group compared with 62·4% (55·6–68·4%) in the S-1 group (HR 0·80, 95% CI 0·61–1·04; two-sided p=0·088). The main grade 3–4 adverse events in the S-1 group were decreased neutrophil count (29 [14%]) and biliary tract infection (15 [7%]). Although long-term clinical benefit would be needed for a definitive conclusion, a significant improvement in survival suggested adjuvant S-1 could be considered a standard of care for resected biliary tract cancer in Asian patients. The National Cancer Center Research and the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan.