Jean-Baptiste Bachet

New strategies and designs in pancreatic cancer research: consensus guidelines report from a European expert panel

Although the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a huge challenge, it is entering a new era with the development of new strategies and trial designs. Because there is an increasing number of novel therapeutic agents and potential combinations available to test in patients with PDAC, the identification of robust prognostic and predictive markers and of new targets and relevant pathways is a top priority as well as the design of adequate trials incorporating molecular-driven hypothesis. We presently report a consensus strategy for research in pancreatic cancer that was developed by a multidisciplinary panel of experts from different European institutions and collaborative groups involved in pancreatic cancer. The expert panel embraces the concept of exploratory early proof of concept studies, based on the prediction of response to novel agents and combinations, and randomised phase II studies permitting the selection of the best therapeutic approach to go forward into phase III, where the recommended primary end point remains overall survival. Trials should contain as many translational components as possible, relying on standardised tissue and blood processing and robust biobanking, and including dynamic imaging. Attention should not only be paid to the pancreatic cancer cells but also to microenvironmental factors and stem/stellate cells.Although the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a huge challenge, it is entering a new era with the development of new strategies and trial designs. Because there is an increasing number of novel therapeutic agents and potential combinations available to test in patients with PDAC, the identification of robust prognostic and predictive markers and of new targets and relevant pathways is a top priority as well as the design of adequate trials incorporating molecular-driven hypothesis. We presently report a consensus strategy for research in pancreatic cancer that was developed by a multidisciplinary panel of experts from different European institutions and collaborative groups involved in pancreatic cancer. The expert panel embraces the concept of exploratory early proof of concept studies, based on the prediction of response to novel agents and combinations, and randomised phase II studies permitting the selection of the best therapeutic approach to go forward into phase III, where the recommended primary end point remains overall survival. Trials should contain as many translational components as possible, relying on standardised tissue and blood processing and robust biobanking, and including dynamic imaging. Attention should not only be paid to the pancreatic cancer cells but also to microenvironmental factors and stem/stellate cells.

Plasma Circulating Tumor DNA in Pancreatic Cancer Patients Is a Prognostic Marker

Purpose: Despite recent therapeutic advances, prognosis of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma remains poor. Analyses from tumor tissues present limitations; identification of informative marker from blood might be a promising alternative. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and the prognostic value of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Experimental Design: From 2011 to 2015, blood samples were prospectively collected from all consecutive patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated in our center. Identification of ctDNA was done with next-generation sequencing targeted on referenced mutations in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and with picoliter droplet digital PCR. Results: A total of 135 patients with resectable (n = 31; 23%), locally advanced (n = 36; 27%), or metastatic (n = 68; 50%) pancreatic adenocarcinoma were included. In patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 104), 48% (n = 50) had ctDNA detectable with a median mutation allelic frequency (MAF) of 6.1%. The presence of ctDNA was strongly correlated with poor overall survival (OS; 6.5 vs. 19.0 months; P < 0.001) in univariate and multivariate analyses (HR = 1.96; P = 0.007). To evaluate the impact of ctDNA level, patients were grouped according to MAF tertiles: OS were 18.9, 7.8, and 4.9 months (P < 0.001). Among patients who had curative intent resection (n = 31), 6 had ctDNA detectable after surgery, with an MAF of 4.4%. The presence of ctDNA was associated with a shorter disease-free survival (4.6 vs.17.6 months; P = 0.03) and shorter OS (19.3 vs. 32.2 months; P = 0.027). Conclusions: ctDNA is an independent prognostic marker in advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Furthermore, it arises as an indicator of shorter disease-free survival in resected patients when detected after surgery. Clin Cancer Res; 23(1); 116–23. ©2016 AACR.

Nab-paclitaxel plus either gemcitabine or simplified leucovorin and fluorouracil as first-line therapy for metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (AFUGEM GERCOR): a non-comparative, multicentre, open-label, randomised phase 2 trial

BACKGROUND Nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine has become a standard treatment regimen in patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma; however, retrospective data suggest that gemcitabine might be inefficient in 50-60% of patients and thus not an optimum regimen in combination with nab-paclitaxel. We did a phase 2 trial to assess the activity and safety of a new regimen of nab-paclitaxel plus simplified leucovorin and fluorouracil. METHODS We did a non-comparative, multicentre, open-label, randomised phase 2 trial in 15 hospitals and institutions in France. Eligible participants were previously untreated patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (previous adjuvant chemotherapy after curative intent resection was allowed if the interval between the end of chemotherapy and relapse was more than 12 months). Patients had to have at least one measurable lesion assessed by CT scan or MRI and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 2 or less. We randomly assigned participants (1:2) centrally to 28-day cycles of either gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel or simplified leucovorin and fluorouracil plus nab-paclitaxel. The randomisation was by minimisation, stratified by centre and ECOG performance status. Drugs were administered in each cycle as follows: nab-paclitaxel (125 mg/m2) and gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2) as 30-min intravenous infusions on days 1, 8, and 15; leucovorin (400 mg/m2) as a 120-min intravenous infusion on days 1 and 15; and fluorouracil (400 mg/m2) as a 5-min bolus intravenous infusion followed by a 46-h continuous intravenous infusion of 2400 mg/m2 on days 1 and 15. Patients continued treatment until unacceptable toxicity, disease progression, or patient withdrawal. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival at 4 months in the first 72 assessable patients in the leucovorin and fluorouracil group, with a target of 50% for the regimen to be deemed sufficiently active to warrant further study. We did the primary analysis on the modified intention-to-treat (ITT) population, defined as all randomly assigned and assessable patients regardless of their eligibility and received treatments. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01964534. The trial has ended and we report the final analysis here. FINDINGS Between Dec 12, 2013, and Oct 31, 2014, we randomly assigned 114 patients to treatment: 75 patients to the leucovorin and fluorouracil group and 39 to the gemcitabine group. One patient in the leucovorin and fluorouracil group did not have a 4-month assessment, and was thus excluded from the modified ITT analysis. Median follow-up was 13·1 months (95% CI 12·5-14·1). At 4 months, 40 (56%, 90% CI 45-66) of 72 patients in the leucovorin and fluorouracil group were alive and free from disease progression (21 [54%, 40-68] of 39 patients in the gemcitabine group were also alive and progression-free at 4 months). Grade 3-4 adverse events occurred in 33 (87%) of 38 patients in the gemcitabine group and in 56 (77%) of 73 patients in the leucovorin and fluorouracil group, with different toxicity profiles. The most common grade 3-4 adverse events in the leucovorin and fluorouracil group were neutropenia without fever (17 [23%]), fatigue (16 [22%]), paraesthesia (14 [19%]), diarrhoea (nine [12%]), and mucositis (seven [10%]); in the gemcitabine group they were neutropenia without fever (12 [32%]), thrombocytopenia (seven [18%]), fatigue (eight [21%]), anaemia (five [13%]), increased alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase concentrations (five [13%] for both), and paraesthesia (four [11%]). Two participants died; one in the leucovorin and fluorouracil group from septic shock, and one in the gemcitabine group from diabetes compensation with acidosis; these deaths were deemed to be not related to treatment. Treatment-related serious adverse events occurred in 28 (38%) of 73 patients in the leucovorin and fluorouracil group and in 14 (37%) of 38 in the gemcitabine group. INTERPRETATION Nab-paclitaxel plus simplified leucovorin and fluorouracil fulfilled the primary endpoint in that more than the required 50% of our study population were progression-free at 4 months, with a tolerable toxicity profile. This regimen thus deserves further assessment in a phase 3 trial. FUNDING GERCOR (Groupe Coopérateur Multidisciplinaire en Oncologie) and Celgene through grants to GERCOR.

3 Versus 6 Months of Oxaliplatin-Based Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Patients With Stage III Colon Cancer: Disease-Free Survival Results From a Randomized, Open-Label, International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant (IDEA) France, Phase III Trial

Purpose Reduction of adjuvant treatment duration may decrease toxicities without loss of efficacy in stage III colon cancer. This could offer clear advantages to patients and health care providers. Methods In International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy (IDEA) France, as part of the IDEA international collaboration, patient with colon cancer patients were randomly assigned to 3 and 6 months of modified FOLFOX6 (mFOLFOX6: infusional fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) or capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CAPOX) by physician choice. The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS), and analyses were descriptive. Results A total of 2,010 eligible patients received either 3 or 6 months of chemotherapy (modified intention-to-treat population); 2,000 (99%) had stage III colon cancer (N1: 75%, N2: 25%); 1,809 (90%) received mFOLFOX6, and 201 (10%) received CAPOX. The median age was 64 years, and the median follow-up time was 4.3 years. Overall, 94% (3 months) and 78% (6 months) of patients completed treatment (fluoropyrimidines ± oxaliplatin). Maximal grade 2 and 3 neuropathy rates were 28% and 8% in the 3-month arm and 41% and 25% in the 6-month arm ( P < .001). Final rates of residual neuropathy greater than grade 1 were 3% in the 3-month arm and 7% in the 6-month arm ( P < .001). There were 578 DFS events: 314 and 264 in the 3- and 6-month arms, respectively. The 3-year DFS rates were 72% and 76% in the 3- and 6-month arms, respectively (hazard ratio [HR], 1.24; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.46; P = .0112). In the 3 and 6-month arms, respectively, for patients who received mFOLFOX6, the 3-year DFS rates were 72% and 76% (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.51); for the T4 and/or N2 population, they were 58% and 66% (HR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.82); and for the T1-3N1 population, they were 81% and 83% (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.49). Conclusion IDEA France, in which 90% of patients received mFOLFOX6, shows superiority of 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy compared with 3 months, especially in the T4 and/or N2 subgroups. These results should be considered alongside the international IDEA collaboration data.

Quel avenir pour l’ADN tumoral circulant ? État des lieux et perspectives dans les cancers colorectaux, pulmonaires non à petites cellules et pancréatiques

Ten years after the discovery of the predictive value of KRAS status for anti-EGFR antibodies, other genes involved in oncogenesis and therapeutic responses were identified and are now systematically sought. Molecular diagnosis often requires invasive procedures, sometimes iatrogenic, and is limited by feasibility problems, quantity and quality of samples. Identifying these mutations from blood biomarkers would reduce costs and diagnostic delay. The circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is one of the most promising blood biomarkers. In this review, we report and discuss the latest results obtained with ctDNA in colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. If the methods highlighting appear very heterogeneous, the correlation between mutations found in tumor and those identified in the blood exceeds 95 % specificity in numerous studies. The detection sensitivity is in turn strongly related to tumor stage patients. The presence of ctDNA appears as a prognostic factor for progression-free survival and overall survival. Finally, recent studies have shown that the changing rate ctDNA during systemic treatments had a predictive value for therapeutic efficacy. These results allow to consider the use of ctDNA in monitoring patients to identify early recurrence or progression.

Prognostic Impact of Deficient DNA Mismatch Repair and KRAS and BRAFV600E Mutations in Patients with Lymph-Node-Positive Colon Cancer

Although tumor stage remains the key determinant of colorectal cancer prognosis and treatment, there is considerable stage-independent variability in clinical outcome. Molecular markers hold promise for explaining variations in clinical behavior, and may identify patient subsets with differential efficacy and survival after adjuvant chemotherapy, which is the standard of care for patients with lymph-node-positive, i.e., stage III, colon cancer. An increased understanding of the molecular evolution and progression of colorectal cancer has identified two major pathways of tumorigenesis that are characterized by chromosomal instability and by microsatellite instability. Microsatellite instability is a consequence of deficient DNA mismatch repair that is generally due to epigenetic inactivation of MLH1 in tumors that often carry mutations (V600E) in oncogenic BRAF. Activating BRAFV600E and KRAS mutations are mutually exclusive, and in this article, we review the current status of these mutations and the mismatch repair status as prognostic biomarkers in stage III colon cancers.

Stratification of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinomas Based on Tumor and Microenvironment Features

BACKGROUND & AIMS Genomic studies have revealed subtypes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) based on their molecular features, but different studies have reported different classification systems. It is a challenge to obtain high-quality, freshly frozen tissue for clinical analysis and determination of PDA subtypes. We aimed to redefine subtypes of PDA using a large number of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded PDA samples, which are more amenable to routine clinical evaluation. METHODS We collected PDA samples from 309 consecutive patients who underwent surgery from September 1996 through December 2010 at 4 academic hospitals in Europe; nontumor tissue samples were not included. Samples were formalin fixed and paraffin embedded. DNA and RNA were isolated; gene expression, targeted DNA sequencing, and immunohistochemical analyses were performed. We used independent component analysis to deconvolute normal, tumor, and microenvironment transcriptome patterns in samples. We devised classification systems from an unsupervised analysis using a consensus clustering approach of our data set after removing normal contamination components. We associated subtypes with overall survival and disease-free survival of patients using Cox proportional hazards regression with estimation of hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval. We used The Cancer Genome Consortium and International Cancer Genome Consortium PDA data sets as validation cohorts. RESULTS We validated the previously reported basal-like and classical tumor-specific subtypes of PDAs. We identified features of the PDA, including microenvironment gene expression patterns, that allowed tumors to be categorized into 5 subtypes, called pure basal like, stroma activated, desmoplastic, pure classical, and immune classical. These PDA subtypes have features of cancer cells and immune cells that could be targeted by pharmacologic agents. Tumor subtypes were associated with patient outcomes, based on analysis of our data set and the International Cancer Genome Consortium and The Cancer Genome Consortium PDA data sets. We also observed an exocrine signal associated with acinar cell contamination (from pancreatic tissue). CONCLUSIONS We identified a classification system based on gene expression analysis of formalin-fixed PDA samples. We identified 5 PDA subtypes, based on features of cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment. This system might be used to select therapies and predict patient outcomes. We found evidence that the previously reported exocrine-like (called ADEX) tumor subtype resulted from contamination with pancreatic acinar cells. ArrayExpress accession number: E-MTAB-6134.

Clinical outcome of portal vein thrombosis in patients with digestive cancers: A large AGEO multicenter study

INTRODUCTION Management of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in cancer patients remains discussed. AIMS The objective of this multicenter retrospective study was to investigate the management and outcome of PVT in patients with digestive cancers other than hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHOD Main inclusion criteria were trunk or branch PVT in patients with locally advanced or metastatic digestive cancers. Predictive factors of bleeding and overall survival (OS) were evaluated in univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS Between 2012 and 2016, 118 patients with PVT and digestive cancers were identified. The majority had a pancreatic cancer (50%). Sixty-six percent of patients had trunk PVT location. Endoscopic screening of portal hypertension was performed in only 7 patients (1%) and 5 had esophageal varices. Gastrointestinal bleeding occurred in 22 patients (19%) and 12 patient deaths (17%) were related to a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Metastatic disease (HR=2.83 [95%CI 1.47-5.43], p<0.01) and gastrointestinal hemorrhage (HR=1.68 [95%CI 1.01-2.78], p=0.04) were associated with OS in multivariate analysis. Only trunk PVT location was significantly associated with gastrointestinal hemorrhage in multivariate analysis (HR=5.56 [95%CI 1.18-26.32], p=0.03). CONCLUSION A high rate of variceal bleeding leading to death was found in this cohort. Endoscopic screening and the efficacy of prophylactic treatment of variceal bleeding remain to be evaluated in a prospective study.

LIF drives neural remodeling in pancreatic cancer and offers a new candidate biomarker

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by extensive stroma and pathogenic modifications to the peripheral nervous system that elevate metastatic capacity. In this study, we show that the IL6-related stem cell-promoting factor LIF supports PDAC-associated neural remodeling (PANR). LIF was overexpressed in tumor tissue compared with healthy pancreas, but its receptors LIFR and gp130 were expressed only in intratumoral nerves. Cancer cells and stromal cells in PDAC tissues both expressed LIF, but only stromal cells could secrete it. Biological investigations showed that LIF promoted the differentiation of glial nerve sheath Schwann cells and induced their migration by activating JAK/STAT3/AKT signaling. LIF also induced neuronal plasticity in dorsal root ganglia neurons by increasing the number of neurites and the soma area. Notably, injection of LIF-blocking antibody into PDAC-bearing mice reduced intratumoral nerve density, supporting a critical role for LIF function in PANR. In serum from human PDAC patients and mouse models of PDAC, we found that LIF titers positively correlated with intratumoral nerve density. Taken together, our findings suggest LIF as a candidate serum biomarker and diagnostic tool and a possible therapeutic target for limiting the impact of PANR in PDAC pathophysiology and metastatic progression.Significance: This study suggests a target to limit neural remodeling in pancreatic cancer, which contributes to poorer quality of life and heightened metastatic progression in patients. Cancer Res; 78(4); 909-21. ©2017 AACR.

Atteinte rectale au cours des syndromes de prédisposition héréditaire au cancer colorectal : quelle prise en charge médico-chirurgicale en pratique ?

Les atteintes du rectum dans le cadre de syndromes de predisposition hereditaire aux cancers digestifs soulevent de reelles problematiques dans notre pratique quotidienne. Les decisions medico-chirurgicales concernant ces patients doivent se prendre lors de reunions dediees de concertation pluridisciplinaire (RCP) d’oncogenetique. Dans le cadre du syndrome de Lynch, en cas de cancer colique, une coloproctectomie totale avec anastomose ileo-anale n’est pas indiquee.En cas de cancer du rectum, l’âge du patient, ses comorbidites, le stade de sa maladie, ainsi que l’observance aux endoscopies ulterieures rentreront en ligne de compte dans le choix d’une chirurgie colique conservatrice. Dans le cadre de la polypose adenomateuse familiale,une chirurgie prophylactique systematique par colectomie est indiquee, le plus souvent vers 20 ans selon l’atteinte. La chirurgie devra etre realisee plus tot en cas de patient symptomatique, d’apparition de multiples polypes > 1 cm, de dysplasie de haut grade ou de polypose severe. Le choix du montage entre anastomose ileo-anale et anastomose ileo-rectale se fera essentiellement selon la severite de l’atteinte rectale apres avoir informe de maniere eclairee le patient des benefices et des risques de complications ulterieures. La surveillance endoscopique par chromoendoscopie post-chirurgicale est formellement indiquee quels que soient le montage chirurgical et le type de syndrome.