An ARNP-directed intervention that explains the benefits of hospice and addresses advanced directives early in the course of metastatic cancer patients' treatment, is well received by the patients and their relatives and leads to measurable improvement in the patient's emotional and mental QoL.

Purpose IncreasedsHER2 is an indicator of poor prognosisin HER2+ metastatic breast cancer. This study evaluated the levels of sHER2 during treatment and at time of recurrence in the adjuvant N9831 clinical trial. Patients and Methods Aims were to describe sHER2 levels during treatment and at time of recurrence in patients randomized to Arms A (standard chemotherapy), B (standard chemotherapy with sequential trastuzumab) and C (standard chemotherapy with concurrent trastuzumab). Baseline samples were available for 2318 patients. Serial samples were available from 105 patients and recurrence samples were available from 124 patients. Cutoff for this assay was 15ng/mL. Statistical methods included repeated measures linear models, Wilcoxon rank sum tests, and Cox regression models Results Differences between groups existed by age, menopausal status and hormone receptor status. Within Arms A, B and C, patients with baseline sHER2 ≥ 15ng/mL were found to have worse DFS than patients with baseline sHER2 <15ng/mL (A: HR=1.81, p=0.0014; B: HR=2.08, p=0.0015; C: HR=1.96, p =0.01). Among the 124 patients with disease recurrence, sHER2 levels increased from baseline to time of recurrence in Arm A and Arm B while it remained unchanged in Arm C. Patients with recurrence sHER2 levels ≥ 15ng/mL had shorter survival time following recurrence with 3-year OS of 51% compared to 77% for the <15ng/mL sHER2 group (HR=2.36; 95% CI: 1.19–4.70, p=0.01). Conclusions In early stage HER2-positive breast cancer, high baseline sHER2 level is a prognostic marker associated with shorter DFS and high sHER2 level at recurrence is predictive of shorter survival.

BackgroundAvelumab, a human anti–PD-L1 monoclonal antibody, has shown a manageable safety profile and antitumor activity in multiple tumor types, including platinum-resistant metastatic or recurrent NSCLC,1 and is approved for patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC who have progressed after ≥1 previous line of platinum-based chemotherapy2 3 and as maintenance treatment for those who have not progressed with platinum-based chemotherapy.4 JAVELIN Medley VEGF (NCT03472560) evaluated the efficacy and safety of avelumab + axitinib, a potent inhibitor of VEGFR 1, 2, and 3, in patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC or UC.MethodsEligible patients with NSCLC had received ≥1 prior platinum-containing therapy and ≤2 prior lines of systemic therapy for locally advanced or metastatic disease; patients with UC were treatment naive in the locally advanced or metastatic setting and ineligible for cisplatin-containing chemotherapy. Patients were immune checkpoint inhibitor naïve and received avelumab 800 mg intravenously every 2 weeks + axitinib 5 mg orally twice daily. The primary endpoint was confirmed objective response (OR) per investigator assessment (RECIST 1.1). Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and safety. PD-L1 expression was assessed in baseline tumor samples (Ventana SP263 assay). Data have not undergone standard quality checks and are subject to change due to COVID-19–related healthcare burden.ResultsA total of 41 patients with NSCLC and 20 with UC received avelumab + axitinib. The confirmed OR rate was 31.7% (95% CI, 18.1–48.1) in the NSCLC cohort and 10% (95% CI, 1.2–31.7) in the UC cohort (all partial responses); 16 patients (39.0%) and 5 (25.0%) had stable disease, respectively. Responses were observed regardless of PD-L1 expression status. Median PFS was 5.5 months (95% CI, 2.5–7.0) in the NSCLC cohort and 2.3 months (95% CI, 1.8–5.6) in the UC cohort. Grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) occurred in 24 patients (58.5%) in the NSCLC cohort; the most common was hypertension (n=7 [17.1%]). Grade ≥3 TRAEs occurred in 9 patients (45.0%) in the UC cohort; the most common were amylase increased, asthenia, decreased appetite, and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome (n=2 [10%] each). One patient in each cohort experienced a TRAE that led to death (gastric perforation and urinary bladder hemorrhage).ConclusionsAvelumab + axitinib showed antitumor activity and a manageable safety profile in patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC or UC consistent with findings from studies of each drug alone and in combination.Trial RegistrationNCT03472560Ethics ApprovalThe study was approved by each site’s independent ethics committee.ConsentN/AReferencesGulley JL, Rajan A, Spigel DR, et al. Avelumab for patients with previously treated metastatic or recurrent non-small-cell lung cancer (JAVELIN Solid Tumor): dose-expansion cohort of a multicentre, open-label, phase 1b trial. Lancet Oncol 2017;18:599–610.Patel MR, Ellerton J, Infante JR, et al. Avelumab in metastatic urothelial carcinoma after platinum failure (JAVELIN Solid Tumor): pooled results from two expansion cohorts of an open-label, phase 1 trial. Lancet Oncol 2018;19:51–64.Bavencio(avelumab) injection. [package insert] Darmstadt, Germany: Merck KGaA; 2019.US Food and Drug Administration. FDA approves avelumab for urothelial carcinoma maintenance treatment. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-approvals-and-databases/fda-approves-avelumab-urothelial-carcinoma-maintenance-treatment. Accessed August 19, 2020.

There is an ongoing need for development of new chemotherapeutic regimens for metastatic breast cancer [mBC], especially when tumors lack therapeutic targets such as the estrogen or progesterone receptor [ER/PR], or the human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 [HER2]. Capecitabine is an orally bioavailable fluoropyrimidine approved for monotherapy in mBC, and bevacizumab is a monoclonal antibody targeting vascular endothelial growth factor which has shown to be active in mBC and tolerable in combination with other chemotherapeutics. The combination of these two agents has been explored in multiple phase II and III clinical studies, with improvements in progression-free survival and overall response rates noted as compared to capecitabine monotherapy. However, the use of bevacizumab in combination with capecitabine and other chemotherapy agents for mBC remains beset with controversy due to safety concerns, cost issues, and pending regulatory decisions.