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R. Chiari



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    MA04 - HER2, P53, KRAS and Other Targets in Advanced NSCLC (ID 380)

    • Event: WCLC 2016
    • Type: Mini Oral Session
    • Track: Advanced NSCLC
    • Presentations: 1
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      MA04.06 - Signaling Networks in KRAS-Mutant Advanced NSCLC: A Complex Landscape Involving Immunoresponse, Inflammation and DNA Repair (ID 5768)

      16:00 - 17:30  |  Author(s): R. Chiari

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background:
      KRAS is the most frequently mutated oncogene in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and its role as prognostic and predictive biomarker remains widely debated. Unfortunately, KRAS direct targeting strategies have been unsuccessful and no approved target therapy exists for KRAS-mutant-NSCLC. This pilot study evaluated the activated signaling architecture of advanced NSCLC harbouring a KRAS mutation to better characterize the signaling network driving this subgroup of pulmonary malignancies.

      Methods:
      Twenty Stage IV Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) NSCLCs were collected from chemo-naïve patients at S. Maria della Misericordia Hospital (Perugia, Italy). Ten tumors were KRAS-wild-type (KRAS-WT) and ten were KRAS-Mutant (KRAS-MUT). Whole-tissue lysates were obtained for all samples. Signaling network analysis was performed using the Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) platform to quantitatively evaluate the expression/activation of 148 key proteins and phosphoproteins involved in cellular growth, survival, proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy, inflammation, invasion and cell motility. Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test was used to compare the signaling architecture of KRAS-MUT and KRAS-WT tumours. All p-values <0.05 were considered significant. Non-parametric correlation analysis was performed to explore the signaling interconnection within each group of patients. Only correlations with p<0.0001 were considered significant.

      Results:
      This preliminary analysis revealed a statistically significant different activation level of 20 proteins between the KRAS-MUT and KRAS-WT samples. Five of the proteins that were statistically different in the KRAS-MUT group are involved in the inflammatory immunoresponse (ASK1 S83 p<0.01, Axl Y702 p=0.01, Stat2 Y690 p<0.01, Tyk2 Y1054/Y1055 p=0.01 and Twist p<0.01) and six in cell cycle control and DNA repair (ATM S1981 p=0.01; Bcl-xL p=0.03; Cleaved Caspase 3 D175 p=0.02; Histone H3 S10 p<0.01; p53 S15 p<0.01; p27 T187 p=0.04). The analytes that were statistically significant were all lower in the KRAS-MUT group compared to the WT (except for p27 T187 which decreased in the KRAS-MUT group compared to KRAS-WT). Pair-wise correlation analysis of the signaling proteins showed an overall more complex protein-protein interaction network and pathway activation (included AKT/mTOR signaling pathway) in the KRAS-MUT population with high number of statistically significant correlations compared to the KRAS-WT group.

      Conclusion:
      This pilot study indicated that the effect of KRAS mutation status on protein signaling in NSCLC was an alteration of the immunoresponse axis and DNA repair network. If validated in a larger cohort of patients, these results could have important clinical implications for stratification KRAS-MUT advanced NSCLC patients towards more efficacious targeted treatment and to identify new therapeutic targets based on multi-targets/multi-pathways KRAS inhibitory approach. (AIRC-supported study).

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    MA07 - ALK-ROS1 in Advanced NSCLC (ID 385)

    • Event: WCLC 2016
    • Type: Mini Oral Session
    • Track: Advanced NSCLC
    • Presentations: 1
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      MA07.06 - Crizotinib in ROS1 Rearranged or MET Deregulated Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): Preliminary Results of the METROS Trial (ID 6003)

      11:00 - 12:30  |  Author(s): R. Chiari

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background:
      Crizotinib is an orally active inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases effective in NSCLC with ALK rearrangement. Recent data showed that this agent is dramatically effective in patients with ROS1 rearrangement and at least in some patients with MET deregulation, particularly individuals with exon 14 skipping mutations or with high levels of MET amplification.

      Methods:
      The METROS trial is a multicenter prospective phase II study designed to assess the efficacy and safety and tolerability of Crizotinib in pretreated metastatic NSCLC with MET amplification or MET exon 14 mutation or ROS1 rearrangement. The co-primary end-point was response rate to crizotinib in two cohorts of patients: cohort A) ROS1+: patients with ROS1 rearrangement; B) MET+: patients with MET amplification defined as ratio MET/CEP7 >2.2 on FISH testing or MET exon 14 skipping mutations. Eligible patients were treated with with crizotinib at the standard dose of 250 mg BID p.o.

      Results:
      At the time of the present analysis, preliminary data on the MET cohort are available. A total of 249 patients were screened and 18 resulted as MET+ (12 amplified and 6 mutated). Among them, 10 patients (9 amplified and 1 mutated) were included onto the study and received at least one dose of crizotinib, 6 patients were not eligibible beacause of not progressing to front line therapy, whereas 2 patients did not received crizotinib due to rapidly progressive disease. Characteristics of enrolled patients were: median age 68 years (range 39-77); male/female 8/2; ECOG PS 0/1/2: 6/3/1. In 8 cases crizotinib was offered as second-line therapy. All but one patients were current or past smokers. According to RECIST criteria, 2 partial responses and 4 stable disease were so far documented, with an overall disease control rate of 60%. Three patients are still on treatment. Therapy was generally well tolerated, with only 1 patient delaying therapy due to adverse events. Enrollment is still ongoing.

      Conclusion:
      Preliminary analysis of the METROS trial supports the potential efficacy of crizotinib in patients with MET deregulation, with a favorable toxicity profile. Updated results including median progression-free survival and survival were will be presented at the meeting.

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    P1.07 - Poster Session with Presenters Present (ID 459)

    • Event: WCLC 2016
    • Type: Poster Presenters Present
    • Track: SCLC/Neuroendocrine Tumors
    • Presentations: 1
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      P1.07-018 - Incidence of Brain Recurrence and Survival Outcomes in High-Grade Neuroendocrine Carcinomas of the Lung: Implications for Clinical Practice (ID 3879)

      14:30 - 15:45  |  Author(s): R. Chiari

      • Abstract
      • Slides

      Background:
      Among patients with advanced high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma (HGNEC) of the lung, the optimal therapeutic management is much less established for large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (LCNECs) than for small cell lung cancers (SCLCs). We evaluated the survival outcomes and incidence of brain recurrence of advanced LCNECs, and compared them with those of a population of SCLCs matched by stage.

      Methods:
      Forty-eight unresected stage III HGNECs (16 LCNECs and 32 SCLCs) and 113 stage IV HGNECs (37 LCNECs and 76 SCLCs) were eligible for the analysis. The efficacy of platinum-etoposide chemotherapy with or without thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) and/or prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) was investigated.

      Results:
      Overall response was significantly lower for LCNECs compared with SCLCs for both stage III (43.8% vs 90.6% respectively, P=0.004) and stage IV (43.3% vs 64.5%, respectively, P=0.04). Similarly, an inferior outcome was observed in terms of progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) for LCNECs compared with SCLCs, which, however, reached significance only for stage III disease (median: 5.6 vs 8.9 months, P=0.06 and 10.4 vs 17.6 months, P=0.03 for PFS and OS, respectively), (Figure 1). Histologic subtype (LCNEC vs SCLC) was an independent prognosticator in multivariate analysis. In the lack of PCI, LCNECs showed a high cumulative incidence of brain metastases, as 58% and 48% of still living stage III and IV patients, respectively, developed brain metastases at 18 moFigure 1



      Conclusion:
      Patients with advanced LCNECs are at high risk for brain recurrence. Unresected stage III LCNECs treated with platinum-etoposide with or without TRT bear a dismal prognosis, when compared indirectly with SCLC counterparts. Randomized trials should evaluate whether PCI could improve survival of advanced LCNECs.

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    P3.02b - Poster Session with Presenters Present (ID 494)

    • Event: WCLC 2016
    • Type: Poster Presenters Present
    • Track: Advanced NSCLC
    • Presentations: 2
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      P3.02b-006 - Role of TP53 Mutations in Determining Primary Resistance to First-Line Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in EGFR-Mutated NSCLC Patients (ID 3861)

      14:30 - 15:45  |  Author(s): R. Chiari

      • Abstract
      • Slides

      Background:
      Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) carrying specific mutations at epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene are usually sensitive to treatments with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However, not all EGFR-mutated patients respond equally to TKI treatments, and approximately 20-30% show primary resistance. Although the mechanisms responsible for acquired resistance are known, those responsible for primary resistance are not completely understood. In this study we aimed to assess the role of TP53 mutations in a cohort of advanced EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients receiving first-line TKIs. We analyzed TP53 gene status in relation to outcome in terms of overall response rate, disease control rate (DCR), response duration, progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

      Methods:
      We retrospectively analyzed 136 patients with advanced EGFR-mutated NSCLC treated with first-line TKIs from January 2012 to April 2015. Exons 5-8 of TP53 gene were amplified by PCR and sequenced by direct sequencing on 123 patients. DCR was defined as the sum of complete response, partial response and stable disease. The survival endpoints examined were PFS and OS. PFS was defined as the time from start of first-line treatment to disease progression or death, whichever occurred first. OS was defined as the time from start of first-line treatment to death.

      Results:
      TP53 mutations were observed in 37 (30.1%) patients:10 (27.0%), 6 (16.2%), 9 (24.3%) and 12 (32.4%) in exons 5, 6, 7 and 8, respectively. DCR was 70% in TP53-mutated patients compared to 88% in TP53-wt patients (relative risk, RR: 3.17 [95% CI 1.21-8.48], p=0.019). In particular, a 42% DCR was observed in patients with TP53 exon 8 mutation compared to 87% in exon 8 wt patients (RR 9.6 [2.71-36.63], p<0.001). Shorter median PFS and OS were observed in patients with TP53 exon 8 mutations compared to other patients (4.2 months vs 12.5 months [p=0.058] and 16.2 months vs 32.3 months [p=0.114], respectively); these differences became significant in the subgroup of patients with EGFR exon 19 deletion (4.2 months vs 16.8 months [p<0.001] and 7.6 months vs not reached [p=0.006], respectively), hazard ratio (HR) 6.99 (95% CI 2.34-20.87, p<0.001) and HR 4.75 (95% CI 1.38-16.29, p=0.013), respectively.

      Conclusion:
      TP53 mutations, in particular exon 8 mutations and those defined as nondisruptive, reduce responsiveness to TKI treatment and induce a worse prognosis in EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients, especially in those carrying exon 19 deletions.

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      P3.02b-008 - Quantification and Monitoring of Treatment Response in EGFR Mutant NSCLC Patients by Digital-PCR in Plasma cftDNA (ID 5351)

      14:30 - 15:45  |  Author(s): R. Chiari

      • Abstract
      • Slides

      Background:
      The identification of activating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations is essential for deciding therapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Circulating cell-free tumor DNA (cftDNA) holds promise as a non-invasive methodology for tumor monitoring in solid malignancies. Among advanced NSCLC patients with an acquired resistance to EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), about 50% carry T790M mutation, but its frequency in EGFR-TKI-naıve patients and dynamic change during therapy remains unclear. We hypothesized that EGFRmutation analysis detection in cftDNA for NSCLC may be feasible for monitoring treatment response to EGFR-TKIs and also predict drug resistance.

      Methods:
      EGFR sensitive mutations and T790M were analyzed using digital PCR (d-PCR) (Quant studio 3D, life technologies) in longitudinally (at baseline, at 4, 8, 20, 60, 120, 180, 270, 360 days) collected plasma samples (n=50) from 8 tissue-confirmed EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients treated with an EGFR-TKI (Gefitinib N = 4; Erlotinib N = 1; Afatinib N = 3). DNA extracted from plasma of 8 healty blood donors were used to detect the specificity of EGFR mutant assay. Tumor assessment was performed according to RECIST criteria 1.1 every two months.

      Results:
      The sensitivity of d-PCR in plasma versus tissue was 71.4%. No EGFR mutation was present in the 8 control cases (specificity of 100%). Of four patients who developed progression disease (PD), in the samples of progression, T790M was detected in 75% of cases. The frequency of T790M in pre-TKI plasma samples was of 37.5%. EGFR sensitive mutations decreased at PD while T790M mutation increased in 75% of patients. Patients with concomitant pre-TKI EGFR 19 deletion and T790M showed a PD before of 12 months compared to those with L858R. T790M was frequently detected when new lesions were developed. Four patients had T790M level decreased to undetectable level with longer PFS than those with detectable T790M in blood.

      Conclusion:
      Our results indicated that d-PCR was a highly sensitive and useful method for detecting the T790M mutation. Moreover, dynamically monitoring T790M change might help determining EGFR-TKI resistance. We thank Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) for supporting the study.

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    P3.02c - Poster Session with Presenters Present (ID 472)

    • Event: WCLC 2016
    • Type: Poster Presenters Present
    • Track: Advanced NSCLC
    • Presentations: 2
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      P3.02c-068 - Immunotherapy against Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): Looking for Predictive Factors to Avoid an Untargeted Shooting (ID 5207)

      14:30 - 15:45  |  Author(s): R. Chiari

      • Abstract

      Background:
      The use of immunotherapy for the whole Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) population, is like an untargeted shooting. So trying to discover predicitve factors to response still represents the key to the problem. We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of patients (pts) treated with Nivolumab, in the attempt to correlate clinical and molecular features with response.

      Methods:
      69 heavily pretreated advanced NSCLCs (16 squamous/ 53 adenocarcinomas) were retrospectively evaluated for response to Nivolumab. Pts’ samples from a subgroup of responders (14/17 pts, 82%), were further analyzed for PD-L1/PD-1 expression by immunoistochemistry (IHC), and for TILs density. We used rabbit monoclonal antibodies anti PD-L1 [clone E1L3N] for tumor cell expression (0-3, negative-intense) and mouse monoclonal antibody anti PD-1 [clone EH33] for TILs.

      Results:
      Clinico-pathologic characteristics: mostly smoker males (81%), PS 0-1 (85%), EGFR+ 7%, K-RAS+ 23%. Overall response rate was 25% (2% complete response and 23% partial response), stable disease 30%, progressive disease 41%. Median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for the entire cohort were 2.9 and 8.3 months (mo) respectively. 1 and 2-y OS rates were both 44% (95% CI, 29-58). Pts with EGFR + NSCLC showed a significantly lower median OS with respect to the wild type cohort (4.5 vs NR; p < 0.005) as well as pts with brain metastases (4.1 vs NR), while a trend toward improvement in PFS for K-RAS+ was seen. A subgroup analysis according to the time to progression to prior chemotherapy regimen (< 3 mo versus > 6 mo), confirmed a poorer survival for those with rapid spread of disease. Among laboratory tests, a better outcome for those who developed G2 leucopenia was demostrated (OS 8.3 vs 5.0 mo). Severe drug-related adverse events occurred in only 5.7% of pts. PD-L1, PD-1, TIL expression for 14/17 pts with OR, were as follows: PD-L1 > 5% 6/14 pts (43%); PD-1 2/14 (14%); focal TILs presence 7/14 (50%).

      Conclusion:
      Nivolumab confirms activity in NSCLC with durable responses and accettable safety profile. Of note, 44% of our patients were alive at 2 years. No predictive role emerged in our small cohort, according PD-L1, PD-1 and TILs expression, for those obtaining a tumor response. Interactions among alternative factors such as smoking habit, mutational status, time to progression, bone marrow toxicities (ie leucopenia), may have more powerful association with response and clinical outcome. Updated clinical activity and biomarker analysis will be presented.

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      P3.02c-094 - Italian Nivolumab Advanced Squamous NSCLC Expanded Access Program: Efficacy and Safety in Patients with Brain Metastases (ID 5144)

      14:30 - 15:45  |  Author(s): R. Chiari

      • Abstract
      • Slides

      Background:
      The prognosis of NSCLC patients (pts) with brain metastases is still quite poor. These pts usually do not meet the inclusion criteria to be enrolled in clinical trials. Nivolumab Italian Expanded Access Program (EAP) allowed this subpopulation of pts to be included, providing the opportunity to evaluate safety and efficacy of nivolumab treatment in pts with brain metastases.

      Methods:
      upon physician written request, nivolumab was provided to pts who met the following inclusion criteria: aged ≥18 years, who had received a diagnosis of squamous NSCLC, and who had relapsed after a minimum of one prior systemic treatment for stage IIIB/stage IV squamous NSCLC. Nivolumab is administered intravenously at the dose of 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks for a maximum duration of 24 months. We describe efficacy and safety of nivolumab in pts who received at least one dose. Adverse events were monitored using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events.

      Results:
      from our cohort of 372 patients diagnosed with squamous NSCLC, we report the results of 38 (10.2%) pts with treated and asymptomatic brain metastases. In these pts, with median follow-up of 4.5 months and median number of doses of 6 (range, 1–18), disease control rate was 47.3%, including 1 complete response, 6 partial responses and 11 stable diseases. Treatment beyond RECIST defined progression was allowed, under protocol defined circumstances, in 4 pts. Median progression-free survival was 5.5 months, and overall survival was 6.5 months (data lock of April 2016). Out of the 38 pts included, only 1 discontinued treatment due to AE (2.6%), whereas 21 pts (55.3%) discontinued treatment for non-toxicity related reasons.

      Conclusion:
      although preliminary, these results demonstrate efficacy of nivolumab in squamous NSCLC pts with brain metastases. Safety of nivolumab in these pts is consistent with previously reported data from clinical trials. These results suggest nivolumab could be beneficial in this subpopulation of pts with unfavourable prognosis.

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