Dorothee Nickles

Atezolizumab in patients with locally advanced and metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have progressed following treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy: a single-arm, multicentre, phase 2 trial

BACKGROUND Patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma have few treatment options after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. In this trial, we assessed treatment with atezolizumab, an engineered humanised immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody that binds selectively to programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), in this patient population. METHODS For this multicentre, single-arm, two-cohort, phase 2 trial, patients (aged ≥18 years) with inoperable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma whose disease had progressed after previous platinum-based chemotherapy were enrolled from 70 major academic medical centres and community oncology practices in Europe and North America. Key inclusion criteria for enrolment were Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1, measurable disease defined by Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1), adequate haematological and end-organ function, and no autoimmune disease or active infections. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour specimens with sufficient viable tumour content were needed from all patients before enrolment. Patients received treatment with intravenous atezolizumab (1200 mg, given every 3 weeks). PD-L1 expression on tumour-infiltrating immune cells (ICs) was assessed prospectively by immunohistochemistry. The co-primary endpoints were the independent review facility-assessed objective response rate according to RECIST v1.1 and the investigator-assessed objective response rate according to immune-modified RECIST, analysed by intention to treat. A hierarchical testing procedure was used to assess whether the objective response rate was significantly higher than the historical control rate of 10% at an α level of 0·05. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02108652. FINDINGS Between May 13, 2014, and Nov 19, 2014, 486 patients were screened and 315 patients were enrolled into the study. Of these patients, 310 received atezolizumab treatment (five enrolled patients later did not meet eligibility criteria and were not dosed with study drug). The PD-L1 expression status on infiltrating immune cells (ICs) in the tumour microenvironment was defined by the percentage of PD-L1-positive immune cells: IC0 (<1%), IC1 (≥1% but <5%), and IC2/3 (≥5%). The primary analysis (data cutoff May 5, 2015) showed that compared with a historical control overall response rate of 10%, treatment with atezolizumab resulted in a significantly improved RECIST v1.1 objective response rate for each prespecified immune cell group (IC2/3: 27% [95% CI 19-37], p<0·0001; IC1/2/3: 18% [13-24], p=0·0004) and in all patients (15% [11-20], p=0·0058). With longer follow-up (data cutoff Sept 14, 2015), by independent review, objective response rates were 26% (95% CI 18-36) in the IC2/3 group, 18% (13-24) in the IC1/2/3 group, and 15% (11-19) overall in all 310 patients. With a median follow-up of 11·7 months (95% CI 11·4-12·2), ongoing responses were recorded in 38 (84%) of 45 responders. Exploratory analyses showed The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) subtypes and mutation load to be independently predictive for response to atezolizumab. Grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse events, of which fatigue was the most common (five patients [2%]), occurred in 50 (16%) of 310 treated patients. Grade 3-4 immune-mediated adverse events occurred in 15 (5%) of 310 treated patients, with pneumonitis, increased aspartate aminotransferase, increased alanine aminotransferase, rash, and dyspnoea being the most common. No treatment-related deaths occurred during the study. INTERPRETATION Atezolizumab showed durable activity and good tolerability in this patient population. Increased levels of PD-L1 expression on immune cells were associated with increased response. This report is the first to show the association of TCGA subtypes with response to immune checkpoint inhibition and to show the importance of mutation load as a biomarker of response to this class of agents in advanced urothelial carcinoma. FUNDING F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

TGFβ attenuates tumour response to PD-L1 blockade by contributing to exclusion of T cells

Therapeutic antibodies that block the programmed death-1 (PD-1)–programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway can induce robust and durable responses in patients with various cancers, including metastatic urothelial cancer. However, these responses only occur in a subset of patients. Elucidating the determinants of response and resistance is key to improving outcomes and developing new treatment strategies. Here we examined tumours from a large cohort of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer who were treated with an anti-PD-L1 agent (atezolizumab) and identified major determinants of clinical outcome. Response to treatment was associated with CD8+ T-effector cell phenotype and, to an even greater extent, high neoantigen or tumour mutation burden. Lack of response was associated with a signature of transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) signalling in fibroblasts. This occurred particularly in patients with tumours, which showed exclusion of CD8+ T cells from the tumour parenchyma that were instead found in the fibroblast- and collagen-rich peritumoural stroma; a common phenotype among patients with metastatic urothelial cancer. Using a mouse model that recapitulates this immune-excluded phenotype, we found that therapeutic co-administration of TGFβ-blocking and anti-PD-L1 antibodies reduced TGFβ signalling in stromal cells, facilitated T-cell penetration into the centre of tumours, and provoked vigorous anti-tumour immunity and tumour regression. Integration of these three independent biological features provides the best basis for understanding patient outcome in this setting and suggests that TGFβ shapes the tumour microenvironment to restrain anti-tumour immunity by restricting T-cell infiltration.

Clinical activity and molecular correlates of response to atezolizumab alone or in combination with bevacizumab versus sunitinib in renal cell carcinoma

We describe results from IMmotion150, a randomized phase 2 study of atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) alone or combined with bevacizumab (anti-VEGF) versus sunitinib in 305 patients with treatment-naive metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Co-primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) in intent-to-treat and PD-L1+ populations. Intent-to-treat PFS hazard ratios for atezolizumab + bevacizumab or atezolizumab monotherapy versus sunitinib were 1.0 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.69–1.45) and 1.19 (95% CI, 0.82–1.71), respectively; PD-L1+ PFS hazard ratios were 0.64 (95% CI, 0.38–1.08) and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.63–1.67), respectively. Exploratory biomarker analyses indicated that tumor mutation and neoantigen burden were not associated with PFS. Angiogenesis, T-effector/IFN-γ response, and myeloid inflammatory gene expression signatures were strongly and differentially associated with PFS within and across the treatments. These molecular profiles suggest that prediction of outcomes with anti-VEGF and immunotherapy may be possible and offer mechanistic insights into how blocking VEGF may overcome resistance to immune checkpoint blockade.An exploratory randomized controlled clinical trial of renal cell carcinoma identifies molecular patterns distinguishing responders to immune checkpoint blockade alone or combined with angiogenesis inhibitor versus angiogenesis inhibitor alone.

Abstract CT081: Molecular correlates of differential response to Atezolizumab +/- Bevacizumab vs Sunitnib in a Phase II study in untreated metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients

Background: The addition of bevacizumab (bev) to atezolizumab (atezo) has demonstrated enhanced anti-tumor immune responses in pts with solid tumors (Wallin 2016). In IMmotion150 (NCT01984242), a phase II trial that compared atezo+/-bev vs sunitinib (sun) in untreated mRCC, encouraging antitumor activity of atezo+bev vs sun was observed in PD-L1 expressing tumors. We performed integrated tumor genomic analyses to correlate molecular signatures with clinical outcomes. Methods: PD-L1 status on tumor infiltrating immune cells (IC) was assessed with the SP142 IHC assay (IC0, IC1, IC2/3) (n=297). Exploratory analyses included mutation evaluation by WES (n=170) and gene expression analysis by RNA-Seq (n=263). Established gene signatures at median (high) expression levels representing T effector and IFNγ response (Teff) and angiogenesis (Ang) were evaluated in relation to PFS (RECIST v1.1 by independent review). Results: PFS was longer in PD-L1 IC2/3 and in PD-L1 IC1/2/3 in atezo+bev pts vs sun pts and in PD-L1 IC2/3 in atezo pts vs sun pts. High Teff signature expression was associated with PD-L1 IHC and longer PFS in atezo+bev pts vs sun pts. High Ang expression was associated with improved clinical activity in the sun arm; but not the atezo+bev arm. Atezo+bev had improved PFS vs sun in the Ang low subset. Additional data exploring association of high prevalence mutations with clinical outcome will be presented. Conclusions: These data indicate that the addition of bev to atezo may improve clinical benefit in patients with pre-existing anti-tumor immunity (as determined by high Teff score or PD-L1 IHC) compared to sun. Molecular profiles identified in these analyses suggest that prediction of differential outcomes to VEGF TKI and immunotherapy may be possible in front line mRCC. These results will be further explored in the ongoing phase III study IMmotion151 (NCT02420821). Citation Format: David McDermott, Mahrukh Huseni, Brian Rini, Robert Motzer, Michael Atkins, Berard Escudier, Dorothee Nickles, Zach Boyd, Shruthi Sampath, Jennifer Doss, Ning Leng, Christina Schiff, Daniel S. Chen, Gregg Fine, Thomas Powles, Priti S. Hegde. Molecular correlates of differential response to Atezolizumab +/- Bevacizumab vs Sunitnib in a Phase II study in untreated metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr CT081. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-CT081

Immune biomarkers associated with clinical benefit from atezolizumab (MPDL3280a; anti-PD-L1) in advanced urothelial bladder cancer (UBC)

Meeting abstracts Atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) has demonstrated robust clinical activity in UBC [[1][1]]. Elevated PD-L1 expression on tumor-infiltrating immune cells (IC) is associated with increased clinical efficacy; however, the contribution of other immune biomarkers is unknown. In this study, we

Publisher Correction: Clinical activity and molecular correlates of response to atezolizumab alone or in combination with bevacizumab versus sunitinib in renal cell carcinoma

In the version of this article originally published, there was an error in Fig. 2n. The top line of the HR comparison chart originally was Atezo + bev vs sun. It should have been Atezo + bev vs atezo. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of this article.

Abstract 3602: Cross-resistance to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in vitro is characterized by MET amplification and PTEN loss

Reversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as erlotinib and gefitinib offer significant clinical benefit to patients with EGFR mutation positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared to chemotherapy alone, but high rates of resistance especially at EGFR T790M (50-60% of resistant cases) underscore the need for better targeted treatments for NSCLC patients. Third generation irreversible TKIs–AZD9291 and CO-1686–were developed for efficacy in the T790M setting. However, resistance to the new class of EGFR TKIs is inevitable, prompting us to investigate the relationship between erlotinib and AZD9291 resistance mechanisms and explore novel ones. NSCLC cell lines harboring activating EGFR mutations with (NCI-H1975) or without T790M (HCC4006, HCC827, and PC-9) were exposed to erlotinib, dacomitnib, or AZD9291 at IC 75 or greater for three months to generate resistance. We observed cross-resistance to other EGFR TKIs in nearly all resistant lines, suggesting that T790M was not the main driver of resistance in the erlotinib-treated lines and that a common mechanism might account for resistance in each cell line set. An epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) was observed and a corresponding increase in vimentin staining was seen in resistant lines, consistent with cross-resistance. Previous studies showed that MET amplification caused erlotinib resistance in HCC827; our data suggest MET amplification also accounted for the AZD9291 and dacomitnib resistance in HCC827. In AZD9291-resistant HCC4006 and H1975 lines, PTEN levels were substantially reduced compared to the parental line, with a corresponding increase in PIK3 pathway markers. Whole exome sequencing data support homozygous deletion of PTEN loss as a mechanism of acquired resistance to AZD9291 in NCI-H1975. The PTEN null line NCI-H1650 was found to be resistant to all three TKIs without long-term drug exposure, implicating PTEN loss as a mechanism of de novo resistance. An analysis of EGFR mutation status, PTEN status, MET expression, and the kinetics of acquired resistance will be presented and clinical implications will be discussed. Citation Format: Sarah M. Paul, Dorothee Nickles, Xioafen Ye, Robert L. Yauch, David S. Shames. Cross-resistance to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in vitro is characterized by MET amplification and PTEN loss. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3602. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3602