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Chemotherapy toxicity could be linked to decreased skeletal muscle (sarcopenia). We evaluated the effect of sarcopenia on chemotherapy toxicity among metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. All consecutive mCRC patients in 3 hospitals were enrolled in this prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study. Several nutritional indexes and scores were generated. Computed tomography (CT) images were analyzed to evaluate cross-sectional areas of muscle tissue (MT), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). Toxicities were evaluated in the 2 mo following clinical evaluation. Fifty-one mCRC patients were included in the study. Sarcopenia was observed in 71% of patients (39% of women and 82% of men) whereas only 4% and 18% were considered as underweight using body mass index (BMI) or severely malnourished using the Nutritional Risk Index (NRI), respectively. Grade 3-4 toxicities were observed in 28% of patients. In multivariate analysis including age, sex, BMI, sarcopenia, SAT, and VAT, the only factor associated with Grade 3-4 toxicities was sarcopenia (odds ratio = 13.55; 95% confidence interval [1.08; 169.31], P = 0.043). In mCRC patients undergoing chemotherapy, sarcopenia was much more frequently observed than visible malnutrition. Despite the small number of patients included in our study, we found sarcopenia to be significantly associated with severe chemotherapy toxicity.

PURPOSE Nivolumab is standard of care for patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) after failure of antiangiogenic therapies, but its activity on brain metastases from ccRCC remains unknown, because these patients were excluded from pivotal studies. We aimed to assess the activity of nivolumab in this population. METHODS The GETUG-AFU 26 NIVOREN phase II trial assessed the activity and safety of nivolumab in patients with metastatic ccRCC who failed vascular endothelial growth factor–directed therapies ( ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03013335 ). Patients with asymptomatic brain metastases were prospectively identified and underwent dedicated brain evaluation. Two cohorts were constituted: cohort A comprised patients with previously untreated brain metastases, and cohort B comprised patients whose brain metastases underwent prior therapy. The primary end point was intracranial response rate in cohort A. RESULTS Seventy-three patients with brain metastases were included: 39 in cohort A and 34 in cohort B. Intracranial response rate was 12% in cohort A; no objective response was reported in patients with brain lesions that were multiple or larger than 1 cm. Median intracranial progression-free survival was 2.7 months (95% CI, 2.3 to 4.6 months) in cohort A and 4.8 months (95% CI, 3.0 to 8.0 months) in cohort B, with adjusted hazard ratio of 2.04 (95% CI, 1.08 to 3.83). Overall survival rate at 12 months was 67% (95% CI, 49.6% to 79.1%) in cohort A and 59% (95% CI, 40.6% to 73.2%) in cohort B. Most patients in cohort A (72%) needed subsequent focal brain therapy. Nivolumab was well tolerated, with no unexpected toxicity. CONCLUSION Nivolumab activity is limited in patients with untreated brain metastases from ccRCC. Brain imaging and focal therapy should be considered before immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with metastatic ccRCC.

: This pilot study suggests that a peer support group intervention is associated with an improvement in adolescents' emotional well being, and that this can have a positive influence on medical outcomes.

Abbreviations: BC, breast cancer; BCSS, breast cancer-specific survival; CI, confidence interval; HMGB1, high mobility group box 1; HR, hazard ratio; LC3B (MAP1LC3B/LC3B), microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B; MFS, metastasis free survival; OS, overall survival; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; SQSTM1/p62, sequestosome 1; TLR4, toll-like receptor 4; TMAs, tissue microarrays.In spite of adjuvant chemotherapy, a significant fraction of patients with localized breast cancer (BC) relapse after optimal treatment. We determined the occurrence of cytoplasmic MAP1LC3B/LC3B (microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B)-positive puncta, as well as the presence of nuclear HMGB1 (high mobility group box 1) in cancer cells within surgical BC specimens by immunohistochemistry, first in a test cohort (152 patients) and then in a validation cohort of localized BC patients who all received adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy (1646 patients). Cytoplasmic LC3BC puncta inversely correlated with the intensity of SQSTM1 staining, suggesting that a high percentage cells of LC3B C puncta reflects increased autophagic flux. After setting optimal thresholds in the test cohort, cytoplasmic LC3BC puncta and nuclear HMGB1 were scored as positive in 27.2% and 28.6% of the tumors, respectively, in the validation cohort, while 8.7% were considered as double positive. LC3BC puncta or HMGB1 expression alone did not constitute independent prognostic factors for metastasis-free survival (MFS) in multivariate analyses. However, the combined positivity for LC3B C puncta and nuclear HMGB1 constituted an independent prognostic factor significantly associated with prolonged MFS (hazard ratio: 0.49 95% confidence interval [0.26-0.89]; P D 0.02), and improved breast cancer specific survival (hazard ratio: 0.21 95% confidence interval [0.05-0.85]; P D 0.029). Subgroup analyses revealed that within patients with poor-prognosis BC, HMGB1 C LC3B C double-positive tumors had a better prognosis than BC that lacked one or both of these markers. Altogether, these results suggest that the combined positivity for LC3B C puncta and nuclear HMGB1 is a positive predictor for longer BC survival.

Background: The possible impact of malnutrition on the tolerability and efficacy of modern chemotherapy regimens for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is unclear. Methods: In this prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study, we collected demographic, oncological and nutritional data for all consecutive mCRC patients during a 14-day period in eight hospitals. Nutritional status was assessed with the nutritional risk index (NRI), and patients were classified as severely malnourished when NRI was <83.5; drug-induced toxicities were evaluated using the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria (version 3.0). Survival times were calculated from the date of the nutritional assessment. Results: We enrolled 114 mCRC patients (median age: 65 years, range: 22–92; WHO performance status 0/1/2/3: 21/54/21/4%) of whom 88% had at least 2 metastatic sites and 49% were receiving chemotherapy as first-line treatment. Malnutrition was diagnosed in 65% of the patients and was severe in 19%. Severe malnutrition was associated with more adverse effects following chemotherapy (p = 0.01) and with shorter median overall survival (14.0 vs. 36.2 months in non-/moderately malnourished patients, p = 0.02). Conclusions: In mCRC patients, severe malnutrition is associated with greater chemotherapy toxicity and reduced overall survival.

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