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Precision medicine focuses on DNA abnormalities, but not all tumors have tractable genomic alterations. The WINTHER trial () navigated patients to therapy on the basis of fresh biopsy-derived DNA sequencing (arm A; 236 gene panel) or RNA expression (arm B; comparing tumor to normal). The clinical management committee (investigators from five countries) recommended therapies, prioritizing genomic matches; physicians determined the therapy given. Matching scores were calculated post-hoc for each patient, according to drugs received: for DNA, the number of alterations matched divided by the total alteration number; for RNA, expression-matched drug ranks. Overall, 303 patients consented; 107 (35%; 69 in arm A and 38 in arm B) were evaluable for therapy. The median number of previous therapies was three. The most common diagnoses were colon, head and neck, and lung cancers. Among the 107 patients, the rate of stable disease ≥6 months and partial or complete response was 26.2% (arm A: 23.2%; arm B: 31.6% (P=0.37)). The patient proportion with WINTHER versus previous therapy progression-free survival ratio of >1.5 was 22.4%, which did not meet the pre-specified primary end point. Fewer previous therapies, better performance status and higher matching score correlated with longer progression-free survival (all P<0.05, multivariate). Our study shows that genomic and transcriptomic profiling are both useful for improving therapy recommendations and patient outcome, and expands personalized cancer treatment.

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BackgroundSeveral small studies indicated that the genotype of KIT or platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α (PDGFRA) contributes in part to the level of clinical effectiveness of sunitinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients. This study aimed to correlate KIT and PDGFRA mutational status with clinical outcome metrics (progression-free survival [PFS], overall survival [OS], objective response rate [ORR]) in a larger international patient population.MethodsThis is a non-interventional, retrospective analysis in patients with imatinib-resistant or intolerant GIST who were treated in a worldwide, open-label treatment-use study (Study 1036; NCT00094029) in which sunitinib was administered at a starting dose of 50 mg/day on a 4-week-on, 2-week-off schedule. Molecular status was obtained in local laboratories with tumor samples obtained either pre-imatinib, post-imatinib/pre-sunitinib, or post-sunitinib treatment, and all available data were used in the analyses regardless of collection time. The primary analysis compared PFS in patients with primary KIT exon 11 versus exon 9 mutations (using a 2-sided log-rank test) and secondary analyses compared OS (using the same test) and ORR (using a 2-sided Pearson χ2 test) in the same molecular subgroups.ResultsOf the 1124 sunitinib-treated patients in the treatment-use study, 230 (20 %) were included in this analysis, and baseline characteristics were similar between the two study populations. Median PFS was 7.1 months. A significantly better PFS was observed in patients with a primary mutation in KIT exon 9 (n = 42) compared to those with a primary mutation in exon 11 (n = 143; hazard ratio = 0.59; 95 % confidence interval, 0.39–0.89; P = 0.011), with median PFS times of 12.3 and 7.0 months, respectively. Similarly, longer OS and higher ORR were observed in patients with a primary KIT mutation in exon 9 versus exon 11. The data available were limited to investigate the effects of additional KIT or PDGFRA mutations on the efficacy of sunitinib treatment.ConclusionsThis large retrospective analysis confirms the prognostic significance of KIT mutation status in patients with GIST. This analysis also confirms the effectiveness of sunitinib as a post-imatinib therapy, regardless of mutational status.Trial registrationNCT01459757.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2051-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Brigatinib, a next-generation ALK inhibitor, recently received accelerated approval in the United States for the treatment of patients with metastatic ALK+ NSCLC who have progressed on or are intolerant to crizotinib. We report updated data from the randomized phase 2 trial (ALTA; NCT02094573), which was designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of 2 brigatinib regimens in patients with crizotinib-refractory, advanced ALK+ NSCLC. Method: Patients were stratified by presence of brain metastases at baseline and best response to prior crizotinib and randomized 1:1 to receive brigatinib at 90 mg qd (arm A) or 180 mg qd with a 7-day lead-in at 90 mg (arm B). Investigator-assessed confirmed objective response rate (ORR) per RECIST v1.1 was the primary endpoint. Result: Among 222 patients (n¼112/ n¼110, arm A/B), median age was 51/57 years; 71%/67% had brain metastases. As of February 21, 2017, 17 full months since the last patient enrolled, median follow-up was 16.8/18.6 months and 32%/ 41% of patients continued to receive brigatinib in A/B. The table shows brigatinib efficacy. Per independent review committee, confirmed ORR was 51%/55% and median PFS was 9.2/16.7 months in A/B. Among patients with measurable baseline brain metastases (n¼26/n¼18, A/ B), confirmed intracranial ORR was 50%/67% as of January 24, 2017; median intracranial DoR was not reached/16.6 months. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were: nausea (38%/47%, A/B), diarrhea (28%/44%), cough (28%/40%), headache (30%/35%), and vomiting (36%/30%); the most common grade 3 TEAEs were: increased creatine phosphokinase (5%/13%), hypertension (6%/8%), pneumonia (4%/5%), and increased lipase (5%/4%). Dose reduction (9%/30%, A/B) or discontinuation (4%/11%) due to TEAEs was reported. Conclusion: In ALTA, brigatinib continues to show substantial efficacy and acceptable safety at both dose levels, with numerically longer PFS and higher intracranial ORR at the recommended dosing regimen of 180 mg qd (with lead-in) vs 90 mg qd.