The French phase 3 trial (OS 2006) testing zoledronic acid, an osteoclast inhibitor, with chemotherapy and surgery did not improve the outcome of patients with osteosarcoma (OS). To understand this unexpected result, the presence of infiltrating immune cells was investigated in 124 pre-therapeutic biopsies of patients enrolled in the trial. The percentage of CD68/CD163 tumor-infiltrating macrophages (TAMs), CD8 lymphocytes, osteoclasts, and the PD1/PDL-1 checkpoint were assessed by immunohistochemistry. M1/M2 macrophage polarization was characterized by pSTAT1/CMAF staining. The expression of these biomarkers was correlated with clinical outcome. No statistical correlations were found with response to chemotherapy. High CD163 levels (>50% of cells per core; 43.8% of patients) were associated with CMAF nuclear expression and significantly correlated with better overall survival ( = 0.0025) and longer metastasis progression-free survival (MPFS, = 0.0315) independently of metastatic status ( = 0.002). Only a trend was observed for patients with high CD68-positive cells ( = 0.0582). CD8 staining was positive in >50% of cases with a median staining of 1%. Lower CD8 levels were associated with metastatic disease at diagnosis and the presence of CD8-positive cells significantly correlated with improved overall survival in zoledronate-treated patients ( = 0.0415). PD1/PDL-1 staining was negative in >80% of cases and was not correlated with outcome. Finally, CD163-positive TAMs and CD8 positive cells are crucial prognostic biomarkers in OS, whereas PD1/PDL-1 checkpoint plays a minor role. For the first time, we described a correlation between CD8 positive cells and survival in zoledronate-treated patients. The immunohistochemical analysis of the microenvironment in biopsies may represent a novel tool for therapeutic stratification.

Although understanding of T cell exhaustion is widely based on mouse models, its analysis in patients with cancer could provide clues indicating tumor sensitivity to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Data suggest a role for costimulatory pathways, particularly CD28, in exhausted T cell responsiveness to PD 1/PD L1 blockade. Here, we used single cell transcriptomic, phenotypic, and function al approaches to dissect the relation between cos + T cell exhaus tion, CD28 costimulation, and tumor specificity in head and neck, cervical, and ovarian cancers. We found that memory tumor specific cos + T cells, but not bystander cells, sequentially express immune checkpoints once they infiltrate tumors, leading, in situ, to a functionally exhausted population. Exhausted T cells were none

The French phase 3 trial (OS 2006) testing combining zoledronate (an osteoclast inhibitor) with chemotherapy and surgery did not improve the outcome of patients with osteosarcoma. To understand this unexpected result, the presence of infiltrating immune cells was investigated in 124 biopsies of patients enrolled in the trial. The percentage of CD68/CD163 tumor-infiltrating macrophages, CD8 lymphocytes, osteoclasts, and the PD1/PDL-1 checkpoint was assessed by immunohistochemistry. M1/M2 macrophage polarization was characterized by pSTAT1/CMAF staining. The expression of these biomarkers was correlated with clinical outcome. No statistical correlations were found with response to chemotherapy. High CD163 levels (>50% of cells per core; 43.8% of patients) were associated with CMAF nuclear expression and significantly correlated with greater overall survival (p=0.0025) and with longer metastasis progression-free survival (MPFS, p=0.0315) independently of diagnosis status (p=0.002). Only a trend was observed for patients with high CD68-positive cells (p=0.0582). CD8 staining was positive in >50% of cases with a median staining of 1%. Lower CD8 levels were associated with metastatic disease at diagnosis and only the presence of CD8-positive cells significantly correlated with improved overall survival in zoledronate-treated patients (p=0.0415). PD1/PDL-1 staining was negative in >80% of cases and was not correlated to prognosis. Finally, CD163-positive TAMs and CD8-positive cells (and not the PD1/PDL-1 checkpoint) are crucial predictive biomarkers in osteosarcoma. For the first time, we described a correlation between CD8-positive cells and zometa treatment. The immunohistochemical analysis of the microenvironment in osteosarcoma patient biopsies could represent a novel tool for therapeutic stratification. Citation Format: Anne Gomez-Brouchet, Claire Illac, Julia Gilhodes, Corinne Bouvier, Sébastien Aubert, Jean-Marc Guinebretiere, Béatrice Marie, Frédérique Larousserie, Natacha Entz-Werle, Gonzague de Pinieux, Thomas Filleron, Véronique Minard, Vincent Minville, Eric Mascard, François Gouin, Marta Jimenez, Marie-Cécile Ledeley, Sophie Piperno-Neumann, Laurence Brugieres, Françoise Redini. CD163-positive tumor-associated macrophages and CD8-positive cytotoxic lymphocytes are powerful diagnostic markers for therapeutic stratification of osteosarcoma patients in the French OS 2006 trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Conference on Advances in Sarcomas: From Basic Science to Clinical Translation; May 16-19, 2017; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2018;24(2_Suppl):Abstract nr B29.

ObjectiveFew prognostic factors likely to influence therapeutic management of early-stage cervical cancer are currently recognized. The objective of this study was to determine the prognostic value of lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) in overall survival of patients with early-stage cervical cancer.MethodsThis is a retrospective study of patients treated for early-stage cervical cancer between January 1996 and December 2013 at Toulouse University Hospital and the Cancer Center Claudius Regaud Institute. Patients were included if they had FIGO 2018 stage IA1, IA2, IB1/2, or IIA1 cervical cancer. All patients had to have had surgery (conization, radical hysterectomy, or radical trachelectomy). The presence of LVSI was evaluated in the initial anatomic pathology reports of the excised tissue. The presence of LVSI was defined by the presence of epithelial tumor cells in the lumen of vessels, lined by endothelial cells. If the data were missing, the slides were reviewed by an expert pathologist. Comparative analyses of patient populations with and without LVSI invasion were performed, as well as analyses of overall and disease-free survival.ResultsA total of 158 patients were included in the analysis. Seventy-two (45.6%) patients had LVSI. More patients with LVSI received external radiotherapy in addition to standard treatment than patients without LVSI (53% vs 14%, p<0.0001). The overall survival of patients with LVSI (89.8%) was similar to that of patients without LVSI (91.5%) (p=0.39). For patients without lymph node involvement but with LVSI, disease-free survival at 5 years tended to be higher among those treated with external radiotherapy in addition to standard treatments (92.6% vs 79.8%, difference not tested due to the small number of events).ConclusionPatients with early-stage cervical cancer with LVSI received external radiotherapy more often, and therefore had an overall survival at 5 years identical to patients without LVSI.

Objective We sought to evaluate the impact on survival of tumor burden and surgical complexity in relation to the number of cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in patients with advanced ovarian cancer (OC) with minimal (CC-1) or no residual disease (CC-0). Methods This retrospective study included patients with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics IIIC–IV stage OC who underwent debulking surgery at 4 high-volume institutions between January 2008 and December 2015. We assessed the overall survival (OS) of primary debulking surgery (PDS group), early interval debulking surgery after 3–4 cycles of NACT (early IDS group) and delayed debulking surgery after 6 cycles (DDS group) with CC-0 or CC-1 according to peritoneal cancer index (PCI) and Aletti score. Results Five hundred forty-nine women were included: 175 (31.9%) had PDS, 224 (40.8%) early IDS and 150 (27.3%) DDS. Regardless of Aletti score, median OS after PDS was significantly higher than after early IDS or DDS, but the survival difference was higher in women with an Aletti score <8. Among patients with PCI ≤10, median OS after PDS was significantly higher than after early IDS or DDS. In women with PCI >10, there were no differences between PDS and early IDS, but DDS was associated with decreased OS. Conclusion The benefit of complete PDS compared with NACT was maximal in patients with a low complexity score. In patients with low tumor burden, there was a survival benefit of PDS over early IDS or DDS. In women with high tumor load, DDS impaired the oncological outcome.