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Objective: to assess safety, pathological response rate, and long-term oncologic outcomes of radical prostatectomy (RP) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy using docetaxel in prostate cancer (PCa) patients of high and very high risk groups. Materials and methods: 86 patients with high and very high risk PCa (PSA>20 ng/ml, Gleason score 8 and more, or clinical stage cT2c and more) were included, among them 46 received neoadjuvant (NCGT/RP group) treatment followed by RP and 40 patients received RP only. with a median follow-up of 11.4 years after RP. Neoadjuvant treatment included 3-weekly docetaxel (75 mg/m2 for up to 6 cycles) with concomitant degarelix (6 monthly injections). Results: NCGT cycle was started in 39 patients and completed in full dose and planned regimen in 34 (87.2%) patients. Toxicities were moderate. A statistically significant reduction of PSA>50% post-chemohormonal therapy was observed in all 39 cases. Among patients with completed neoadjuvant treatment RP was performed in 33 (97.1%) patients. Lower postoperative stage was noticed in 38.5% in NCGT/RP group compared with 2.7% in RP group. Similarly, positive surgical margin rate was higher in group without neoadjuvant therapy - 43.2% and 25.6% (RP group). Adjuvant or deferred treatment received 25 (67.6%) and 13 (39.4%) in RP and NCGT/RP group, respectively. Conclusion: The use of neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy before the RP in selected regimen and dose represents a safe strategy resulting in benefit in early oncological results. Given the limitations of the study this concept should be evaluated in large prospective controlled studies.

Background: The relative cardiovascular safety of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonists compared with GnRH agonists in men with prostate cancer and known atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease remains controversial. Methods: In this international, multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label trial, men with prostate cancer and concomitant atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive the GnRH antagonist degarelix or the GnRH agonist leuprolide for 12 months. The primary outcome was the time to first adjudicated major adverse cardiovascular event (composite of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke) through 12 months. Results: Because of slower-than-projected enrollment and fewer-than-projected primary outcome events, enrollment was stopped before the 900 planned participants were accrued. From May 3, 2016, to April 16, 2020, a total of 545 patients from 113 sites across 12 countries were randomly selected. Baseline characteristics were balanced between study groups. The median age was 73 years, 49.8% had localized prostate cancer; 26.3% had locally advanced disease, and 20.4% had metastatic disease. A major adverse cardiovascular event occurred in 15 (5.5%) patients assigned to degarelix and 11 (4.1%) patients assigned to leuprolide (hazard ratio, 1.28 [95% CI, 0.59–2.79]; P =0.53). Conclusions: PRONOUNCE (A Trial Comparing Cardiovascular Safety of Degarelix Versus Leuprolide in Patients With Advanced Prostate Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease) is the first, international, randomized clinical trial to prospectively compare the cardiovascular safety of a GnRH antagonist and a GnRH agonist in patients with prostate cancer. The study was terminated prematurely because of the smaller than planned number of participants and events, and no difference in major adverse cardiovascular events at 1 year between patients assigned to degarelix or leuprolide was observed. The relative cardiovascular safety of GnRH antagonists and agonists remains unresolved. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT02663908.

Introduction.In recent times, more and more data are available on the mechanisms of development of primary and secondary resistance to therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in patients with CML. The use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) allows detecting mutations in theBCR-ABLkinase domain (KD) in some patients with resistance to TKI therapy. However, the reasons for resistance in patients without mutations in theBCR-ABLKD are still unclear. Aim.To determineBCR-ABL-independent molecular genetic markers of resistance to TKI therapy in patients with CML using NGS. Materials and methods.We examined blood samples from 15 patients with resistant CP CML (8 men and 7 women) aged 32 to 59 years (Me = 44 years). Resistance to TKI therapy was determined according to the ELN 2013 criteria. In this group: 2 patients received therapy with 2 TKIs, 8 patients with 3 TKIs, 3 patients - 4 TKIs, and 2 patients received 5 TKIs (Me = 3 TKIs). Cytogenetic test revealed trisomy 8 in 3 patients. One patient was diagnosed with the T315I mutation at once. The patients underwent NGS examination of the myeloid panel, which included 55 genes, with an average reading depth of 1000x using a MiSeq device (Illumina). The 2% threshold of variant allele frequency (VAF) was used. The clinical significance of mutations was evaluated using the COSMIC, ClinVar and OMIM databases. Results.By NGS we identified genetic aberrations in all patients: an average of 5 mutations (from 1 to 10 in one patient). A total of 77 mutations with unclear clinical significance were identified: 54 of them were missense mutations, 22 were synonymous mutations, and 1 frameshift mutation. The most common abnormalities were found in theNF1(10),TET2(8),ATRX(7), andSTAG2(6) genes. In 2 patients, the simultaneous presence of mutations in theATRXandNF1genes was found, they had a primary-resistant course of the disease, MMR was not achieved even on the 3rd and 4th lines of targeted therapy. Three patients were found to have simultaneous mutations in theNF1andSTAG2genes, including two patients who also had a primary-resistant course of the disease, and one of them showed resistance to all 5 TKIs. In 2 patients with the simultaneous presence of mutations in theATRXandTET2genes, resistance to 2 TKIs was registered; CCyR without MMR was achieved only with ponatinib. In 3 patients with singleSTAG2mutations, MMR was achieved on the third line of TKI. One patient with 3 mutations inTET2also achieved MMR only on the third line TKI. Mutations inTET2are more common in Ph-negative MPNs. In our study, mutations were most often detected in theNF1,ATRXandSTAG2genes. Although mutations in theNF1andATRXgenes have been described previously, they were found in responding patients with CP CML (Kim et. al. Blood 2017). In our study, mutations in these genes were found in therapy-resistant patients with an unfavorable course of the disease. TheNF1gene encodes a GTPase activating protein (GAP), which is involved in inhibiting the RAS/MAPK signal transduction pathway and is a tumor suppressor. Mutations in this gene are often associated with the development of CMML and JMML, resistance to therapy and decreased overall survival. TheATRXgene encodes a protein involved in chromatin remodeling, regulation of transcription, replication, and maintenance of telomere structure. TheSTAG2gene encodes a protein that is part of the cohesin complex. Possibly, abnormalities in these genes may belong to a clone of leukemic stem cells (Vetrie et. al. Nature 2020), cause their resistance to TKI,BCR-ABL-independent proliferative potential and their genetic instability. In addition, some of these mutations, possibly, are preleukemic - they could precede the emergence of the Ph-clone in such patients by the mechanism of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential and may cause an unfavorable prognosis. This allowed us to suggest the prognostic and therapeutic value of mutations in theNF1,ATRXandSTAG2genes in CP CML patients with resistance to TKI therapy. Conclusion.The obtained results of a pilot study of NGS use for predictingBCR-ABL-independent resistance to TKI therapy in patients with CML can serve as a basis for further research aimed at developing prognostic models and choosing a treatment method for resistance to targeted therapy. Disclosures Voloshin: Novartis:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.Fominykh:Novartis:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Pfizer:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;BMS:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.Shuvaev:Novartis:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;BMS:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Pfizer:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.Martynkevich:Pfizer:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;BMS:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Novartis:Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.

Background: Rapid progress in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies make it possible to spell out the mutational status, the genetic and epigenetic variability of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The identification of driver mutations allows us to expand understanding of the pathogenesis of CLL, to identify prognostic groups and to select potential targets for therapy, contributing to the development and implementation of new targeted drugs and its combinations. Nevertheless, the course of CLL does not always correspond to the existing prognostic risk groups, assessed by "standard" cytogenetic and molecular genetic methods. The NGS technology admits establishing markers of an unfavorable course of the disease. Aim: To assess the mutational status of patients (pts) with CLL using the developed Lymphoid Targeted NGS Panel and to study the possible correlation of the mutational status with the clinical characteristics of the disease. Method: In this prospective study were included 24 pts with CLL: treatment-naïve (n=8) and relapsed/refractory (n=16). The diagnosis of CLL was established according to iwCLL criteria (iwCLL, Hallek et al., 2018) and show only typical immunophenotype. The pts were divided into three prognostic groups according to cytogenetic assay: favorable (n=14), neutral (n=2), and unfavorable (n=8). Although, 20/24 pts were divided into two prognostic groups taking into account the data on the mutational status of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable (IGHV) region: favorable (n=8) and unfavorable (n=12). Four patients have no available data on IGHV mutational status. All patients had indications for starting treatment: FCR (n=7), RB (n=6), ibrutinib (n=3), venetoclax (n=1), acalabrutinib (n=5), combination of venetoclax and acalabrutinib (n=2). DNA samples were extracted from peripheral B-cell lymphocytes via the standard phenol-chloroform method. Average reading depth of 1000x is produced on a MiSeq platform (Illumina, USA). The 2% threshold of allele frequency (VAF) was used. The clinical significance of mutations was established using the following databases: COSMIC, ClinVar, gnomAD with application in silico analysis (Cscape, Cancer Genome Interpreter, SNPs&Go). The Lymphoid Panel includes 117 genes, part of which is involved in the main 8 cellular signaling pathways underlying the pathogenesis of CLL. We have completed a pilot NGS study using the developed Lymphoid Targeted Gene Panel on DNA samples of six treatment-naïve pts. Results: Genetic aberrations were identified in all DNA samples using NGS. Somatic mutations were detected in 82.9% of cases, in an amount from 15 to 37. In four pts (4/6) with an unfavorable prognosis (cytogenetics and unmutated IGHV), known pathogenic variants of mutations were identified: JAK3 V722L, NOTCH1 P2514fs*4, IDH2 T352P, TP53 Lys120Glu, BRAF D594G. The existing approach to the interpretation of the results does not allow making an unambiguous conclusion about the clinical significance of variants in the IDH2 and JAK3 genes, despite the known pathogenic effect of the variants. The detected variant of the mutation (Lys120Glu) in the TP53 gene is often associated with the presence of a 17p13 deletion, which was confirmed by the FISH assay and correlated with the unfavorable clinical course of the disease in patient CLL-024. Twenty-two mutations were identified, the pathogenicity of which has not yet been determined, in the amount of 2 to 5 (median=3.5) mutations per patient. It should be noted that two patients (CLL-023, CLL-024) with unfavorable prognosis had mutations both in BCR gene and in NOTCH2 gene of unknown significance. Conclusion: The data obtained from a pilot study demonstrate the possibility of using NGS technology in clinical practice. The assessment of the mutational status of pts with CLL using NGS correlates with the clinical parameters of pts. Considering that there is currently no information about prognostic significances of identified mutations, additional research is required. Disclosures Martynkevich: Pfizer: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Shuvaev:Pfizer: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Voloshin:Novartis: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.

BACKGROUND To assess safety, pathologic response rate, and long-term oncologic outcomes of radical prostatectomy (RP) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy using reduced-dose docetaxel without androgen-deprivation therapy in prostate cancer (PCa) patients of intermediate- and high-risk groups. METHODS Forty-four patients with PCa (PSA > 10 ng/ml, Gleason score 7 or more, or clinical stage cT2c or more) were included with a median follow-up of 11.4 years after RP. One group (NCT/RP) received neoadjuvant treatment 3-weekly with docetaxel (36 mg/m2 for up to six cycles, 21 patients), the other (control) group (RP, 23 patients) received RP only. RESULTS Toxicities were mild with grade 3 events not exceeding 10%. A statistically significant reduction of PSA > 50% post-chemotherapy was observed in 52.4% cases. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) was 90% in the NCT/RP group and 60.9% in the RP group (P = 0.042). The biochemical recurrence-free survival was 68.5% in the NCT/RP and 37.7% in the RP groups; overall survival was 75.5% and 54.6%, respectively (both P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy before RP in a selected regimen and dose represents a safe strategy and results in benefits in CSS. Given the limitations of the study, this concept should be evaluated in large, prospective, controlled studies. Prostate 76: 1345–1352, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Recent therapeutic advances for managing low-risk prostate cancer include the active surveillance and focal treatment. However, locating a tumor and detecting its volume by adequate sampling is still problematic. Development of predictive biomarkers guiding individual therapeutic choices remains an ongoing challenge. At the same time, prostate cancer magnetic resonance imaging is gaining increasing importance for prostate diagnostics. The high morphological resolution of T2-weighted imaging and functional MRI methods may increase the specificity and sensitivity of diagnostics. Also, recent studies founded an ability of novel biomarkers to identify clinically insignificant prostate cancer, risk of progression, and association with poor differentiation and, therefore, with clinical significance. Probably, the above mentioned methods would improve tumor characterization in terms of its volume, aggressiveness, and focality. In this review, we attempted to evaluate the applications of novel imaging techniques and biomarkers in assessing the significance of the prostate cancer.

Purpose:To evaluate continence after radical prostatectomy in prostate cancer patients, in whom a new method of the bladder neck reconstruction (BNR) using deep dorsal stitch was implemented (deep single stitch through all bladder layers directly dorsal to the bladder opening after “tennis racket” reconstruction) and to provide justification for its use by means of anatomical study in cadavers.Material and Methods:Open radical retropubic prostatectomy was performed in 84 patients: 39 patients with a new BNR method used to improve continence and control group of 45 patients with standard “tennis racket” BNR. Median follow-up was 14 months in control group and 12 months in study group. Continence recovery was accessed early postoperatively and every 3 months thereafter. Anatomical study was performed on 2 male fresh cadavers reproducing two different BNR techniques to clarify any underlying continence related mechanisms.Results:Patients with new BNR achieved full continence significantly faster (p=0.041), but the continence rates after 12 months were similar between groups. The severity of incontinence up to month 9 was significantly reduced in BNR group. The anastomotic stricture rate was not affected. Applying new BNR to the cadaver model revealed effects on early continence, namely presence of proximal passive closure mechanism in area of bladder neck.Conclusions:Continence in patients with the new BNR method using deep dorsal stitch recovered significantly faster. Moreover, a reduced grade of residual incontinence was documented. The effect was non-significant at month 12 of follow-up, meaning that only early effect was present.

Background: Metastatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the kidney is a rare malignant vascular tumor with a wide spectrum of behaviors. Case Report: We present the case of a 53-year-old male patient with tumor metastases which developed after radical nephrectomy. We describe the immunohistochemistry profile of the tumor and the successful long-term results of treatment with sunitinib, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Also, we discuss the rationale for using this type of medication based on immunohistochemistry results. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of metastatic renal epithelioid hemangioendothelioma treated successfully with sunitinib.

Background/aims: A strong association has been confirmed between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and variants at two independent loci including Tyr402His in the complement factor H ( CFH ) on 1q32 and Ser69Ala at LOC387715 , a hypothetical gene on chromosome 10q26. The contribution of both loci to AMD was investigated in an isolated north-west Russian population. Methods: Together with a PLEKHA1 variant at 10q26, the CFH Tyr402His and LOC387715 Ser69Ala polymorphisms were genotyped in 155 patients with AMD and 151 age-matched controls. χ 2 and Mantel–Haenszel (M–H) score tests were used to test for association. Sex-adjusted ORs were calculated. Results: The frequency of the Tyr402His C allele was significantly higher in patients with AMD compared with controls (p M–H = 0.0035). The increased risk observed in patients homozygous for the C allele (OR HOM = 2.71, 95% CI 1.25 to 5.90) in this indigenous Russian population was considerably lower than that observed in previous western Caucasian populations. A significant increase in the frequency of the LOC387715 variant was observed in patients with late-stage AMD compared with controls (p M–H = 0.007), with a homozygous OR of 3.47 (95% CI 1.01 to 11.9), although this association was not seen with early-stage AMD. Conclusion: The CFH gene contributes to AMD in this Russian population, although the risk conferred is considerably lower in this population than that found in other Western populations. A contribution of LOC387715 to disease in this population is also likely to be of weak effect.