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Background: In resectable gastric/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) confers improved survival, but limited benefit from chemotherapy. Immunotherapy may eliminate the need for chemotherapy or surgery., Patients and Methods: INFINITY is a multicenter, multicohort phase II trial (NCT04817826) investigating in cohort 1 the activity and safety of tremelimumab + durvalumab (T300/D) as neoadjuvant treatment of mismatch repair deficient/MSI-H, resectable gastric/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Primary endpoint was pathologic complete response (pCR) rate; Secondary endpoints: progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), quality of life, and translational analyses. In cohort 2, the activity and safety of T300/D was explored as definitive treatment in patients achieving clinical complete response (cCR). Primary endpoint was 2-year cCR rate, and secondary endpoints were PFS, OS, quality of life, gastrectomy-free survival and translational analyses., Results: In cohort 1, 18 patients were recruited and 15 evaluable. pCR and major pathologic response-pCR were 60% and 80%, respectively. Since pCR rate in T4 tumors was 17%, this subgroup of patients was excluded from enrollment in cohort 2. At 28.1 months median follow-up, 24-month gastric cancer-specific PFS and OS rates were 85% and 92%, respectively. In cohort 2, 18 patients were enrolled and 17 assessable, and 13 had cCR and started non-operative management. At 11.5 months median follow-up, one patient had local regrowth and underwent salvage surgery; 12-month gastrectomy-free survival was 64.2%., Conclusions: The INFINITY study provided promising activity results of a chemo-free T300/D combination regimen as preoperative treatment in mismatch repair deficient/MSI gastric/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma and the first available feasibility results of a non-operative management strategy in this disease setting, worthy of further validation in larger cohorts., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Gene expression profiling (GEP)-based prognostic signatures are being rapidly integrated into clinical decision making for systemic management of breast cancer patients. However, GEP remains relatively underdeveloped for locoregional risk assessment. Yet, locoregional recurrence (LRR), especially early after surgery, is associated with poor survival., Patients and Methods: GEP was carried out on two independent luminal-like breast cancer cohorts of patients developing early (≤5 years after surgery) or late (>5 years) LRR and used, by a training and testing approach, to build a gene signature able to intercept women at risk of developing early LRR. The GEP data of two in silico datasets and of a third independent cohort were used to explore its prognostic value., Results: Analysis of the first two cohorts led to the identification of three genes, CSTB, CCDC91 and ITGB1, whose expression, derived by principal component analysis, generated a three-gene signature significantly associated with early LRR in both cohorts (P value <0.001 and 0.005, respectively), overcoming the discriminatory capability of age, hormone receptor status and therapy. Remarkably, the integration of the signature with these clinical variables led to an area under the curve of 0.878 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.810-0.945]. In in silico datasets we found that the three-gene signature retained its association, showing higher values in the early relapsed patients. Moreover, in the third additional cohort, the signature significantly associated with relapse-free survival (hazard ratio 1.56, 95% CI 1.04-2.35)., Conclusions: Our three-gene signature represents a new exploitable tool to aid treatment choice in patients with luminal-like breast cancer at risk of developing early recurrence., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The PEOPLE trial aimed to identify new immune biomarkers in negative and low programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) (0%-49%) advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) patients treated with first-line pembrolizumab. Here we report the main outcomes and the circulating immune biomarkers analysis., Patients and Methods: The primary endpoint of this phase II trial was the identification of immune biomarkers associated with progression-free survival (PFS). Overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), duration of response (DoR) and safety were secondary endpoints. Absolute cell counts for 36 subsets belonging to innate and adaptive immunity were determined by multiparametric flow cytometry in peripheral blood at baseline and at first radiologic evaluation. An orthoblique principal components-based clustering approach and multivariable Cox regression model adjusted for clinical variables were used to analyze immune variables and their correlation with clinical endpoints., Results: From May 2018 to October 2020, 65 patients were enrolled. After a median follow-up of 26.4 months, the median PFS was 2.9 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.8-5.6 months] and median OS was 12.1 months (95% CI 8.7-17.1 months). The ORR was 21.5%, DCR was 47.7% and median DoR was 14.5 months (95% CI 6.4-24.9 months). Drug-related grade 3-4 adverse events were 9.2%. Higher T cell and natural killer (NK) cell count at baseline and at the first radiologic evaluation were associated with improved PFS, DCR and OS. On the contrary, higher myeloid cell count at baseline or at the first radiologic evaluation was significantly associated with worse OS and DCR., Conclusions: Circulating immune biomarkers can contribute to predict outcomes in negative and low PD-L1 aNSCLC patients treated with first-line single-agent pembrolizumab., Competing Interests: Disclosure GLR provided consultation, attended advisory boards and/or provided lectures for the following organizations, from whom honoraria or education grants were received: Merck Sharp and Dohme, Takeda, Amgen, Eli Lilly, BMS, Roche, Italfarmaco, Novartis, Sanofi, Pfizer and AstraZeneca. AP declares personal fees from AstraZeneca, Italfarmaco, Roche and BMS. RF declares advisory role from Merck Sharp and Dohme. DS declares personal fees from Italfarmaco, AstraZeneca, MSD, Boehringer Ingelheim and BMS. CP declares personal fees from Italfarmaco, AstraZeneca, BMS and Merck Sharp and Dohme. FdB provided consultation, attended advisory boards and/or provided lectures for the following organizations, from whom honoraria or education grants were received: Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, BMS, Eli Lilly, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ignyta, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Merck Serono, Novartis and Pfizer. MCG declares personal financial interests with the following organizations: AstraZeneca, MSD International GmbH, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim Italia S.p.A, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Ignyta, Incyte, Inivata, MedImmune, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche and Takeda; she also declares Institutional financial interests with the following organizations: Eli Lilly, MSD, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, MSD International GmbH, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim Italia S.p.A, Celgene, Ignyta, Incyte, Inivata, MedImmune, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Takeda and Foundation Medicine. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The purpose of this study was to confirm sunitinib activity in alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) and to report on new insights into the molecular bases thereof., Patients and Methods: From July 2007, nine patients with progressive metastatic ASPS received sunitinib 37.5 mg/day, within a named use program. Cryopreserved material was available for five naive patients, among whom three received sunitinib. Immunofluorescence (IF)/confocal microscopy, biochemical, and molecular/cytogenetic analyses were carried out, complemented by antiproliferative and activation assays in a short-term culture derived from one case., Results: All patients were eligible for response. Best RECIST response was partial response in five cases, stable disease in three, and progression in one. The median progression-free survival was 17 months. Positron emission tomography results were consistent. Two cases of interval progressions were recorded. Antiproliferative assays and biochemistry on short-term culture showed that sunitinib is able to markedly impair ASPS cells growth and switch-off PDGFRB. IF/confocal microscopy demonstrated coexpression and physical association between PDGFRB/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and RET/VEGFR2 in ASPS cells, which was validated by biochemistry. PDGFRB, RET, and MET ligand-dependent activation was confirmed., Conclusions: We confirm the clinical efficacy of sunitinib in ASPS, mediated by PDGFRB, VEGFR2, and RET, which are all expressed in tumor cells. A direct antitumor effect was shown in a short-term cell culture.