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Objective This prospective, observational, postmarketing surveillance was conducted to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of mogamulizumab, an anti‐CC chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4) monoclonal antibody, in patients with CCR4‐positive, relapsed or refractory (r/r) adult T‐cell leukemia‐lymphoma (ATL) in Japan. Method All patients were scheduled to receive intravenous infusions of mogamulizumab 1.0 mg/kg once weekly for 8 weeks, alone or in combination with other modalities. Results In the safety analysis population comprising 572 patients, mogamulizumab therapy was started between May 29, 2012, and April 30, 2013, and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were reported in 73.4% (38.6% serious cases) of patients. The most common ADRs were skin disorders (33.2% [10.8% serious cases]), infusion‐related reactions (30.1% [4.7% serious cases]), and infections (22.0% [14.7% serious cases]). In the effectiveness analysis population comprising 523 patients, the best overall response rate and the response rate at the end of therapy were 57.9% and 42.0%, respectively. The median overall survival was 5.5 months. Safety and effectiveness results were similar between patients aged ≥70 and

We present the interim results of a postmarketing all-case surveillance study in patients with C–C chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4)-positive, relapsed or refractory adult T-cell leukemia–lymphoma (ATL) treated with the anti-CCR4 monoclonal antibody mogamulizumab since its 2012 launch in Japan. The safety and efficacy analysis populations comprised 484 and 442 patients, respectively. The ATL subtype was acute in 58.9% and lymphoma in 34.2% of patients. All patients were scheduled to receive intravenous infusions of mogamulizumab (1.0 mg/kg) once weekly for eight weeks, alone or in combination with other modalities. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were reported in 74.0% of patients, of which 35.7% were serious and 6.2% were fatal. The priority survey items of infusion-related reaction, skin disorder, infection, immune disorder, and tumor lysis syndrome were reported in 29.3, 34.3, 22.1, 3.5, and 2.5% of patients, respectively. Graft-versus-host disease was reported in 25/42 patients who received mogamulizumab before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The best overall response rate was 57.7% overall, 57.5% in patients treated with mogamulizumab alone, and 58.2% in patients treated with combination therapy. This surveillance indicates that mogamulizumab shows acceptable tolerability in practice; however, because of the risk of serious/fatal ADRs, patients administered mogamulizumab should be carefully monitored.

The combination of S-1, consisting of 1 mol/l tegafur, 0.4 mol/l 5-chloro-2,4-dihydroxypyridine and 1 mol/l potassium oxonate, plus low-dose cisplatin has showed promising anti-tumor activities in experimental and clinical studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of this combination chemotherapy. Mice bearing sarcoma-180 cells were divided into groups of seven animals each - Group A: no treatment; Group B: 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 10 mg/kg continuous i.p. infusion; Group C: S-1 10 mg/kg p.o.; Group D: cisplatin 0.2 mg/kg i.p.; Group E: B+D; Group F: C+D. Treatments were given for 5 consecutive days, and then anti-tumor activity, the concentration of 5-FU, the thymidylate synthase inhibition rate (TSIR) and the level of 5-FU incorporated into RNA (F-RNA) in tumor tissue were evaluated. Anti-tumor activity in Group F was higher than in any other group. A significantly higher concentration of 5-FU in tumor was detected in the S-1-treated groups (C and F) than in the 5-FU-treated groups (B and E). No differences in TSIR were observed between the groups treated with 5-FU or S-1 with or without cisplatin; however, the F-RNA level in Group F was about 1.24 times significantly higher than that in Group C. Group F showed the highest anti-tumor activity, with increasing intratumoral levels of 5-FU and F-RNA, but not that of TSIR. These results suggested that the superior anti-tumor activity obtained by S-1+cisplatin might be associated with an incorporation of 5-FU into RNA.

No consensus has been reached on whether cancer cells detected in blood during colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery may serve as a prognostic indicator.One hundred patients with CRC who underwent curative surgery were the subjects. Portal and peripheral blood were collected immediately after celiotomy and examined for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) messenger RNA (mRNA) by using competitive semi-nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The median follow-up period was 59 months (range, 49-74 months).Until now, recurrence has been confirmed in 13 patients (13%). The 4-year recurrence rate was 6.7% (3 of 45) in patients with CEA mRNA-positive portal blood and 20.8% (10 of 48) in patients with CEA mRNA-negative portal blood (P = .09); it was 5.6% (2 of 36) and 19.3% (11 of 57) in patients with CEA mRNA-positive peripheral blood and CEA mRNA-negative blood, respectively (P = .12). There was no difference in disease-free survival between the CEA mRNA-positive and -negative groups. The multivariate analysis showed that the presence of tumor cells in portal or peripheral blood was a factor that reduced recurrence. The relative risks were .17 (P = .01) for the portal vein and .24 (P = .07) for the peripheral vein.The detection of cancer cells in blood taken during surgery is not considered to be a poor-prognostic factor in CRC.

The significance of detection of circulating cancer cells in blood during surgery in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) remains controversial. Experimental study revealed that the cancer cells injected from the vein disappeared completely until 7 days. The aim of this study was to clarify that the detection of circulating cancer cells in blood taken later than 7 days after curative surgery may be a prognostic factor. Two hundred consecutive patients with CRC who underwent potentially curative surgery were the subjects. Peripheral blood was collected between 7 and 10 days after resection. Cancer cells were detected using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction targeting carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) messenger RNA (mRNA). The median follow-up period was 52 months (range: 34–69 months). The overall positive incidence of CEA mRNA was 22%. Detection of CEA mRNA was not significantly related to conventional clinicopathological findings. Recurrence has been confirmed in 55 patients (28%). The recurrence rate was significantly higher in patients with rectal cancer, deep penetration, lymph node metastasis, preoperative chemoradiotherapy and positive CEA mRNA. The CEA mRNA positive patients showed significantly poorer disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) than the negative patients (DFS, P = 0.007; OS, P = 0.04). Multivariate analysis revealed that the positive expression of CEA mRNA (P