BackgroundYN968D1 (Apatinib) selectively inhibits phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 and tumor angiogenesis in mice model. The study was conducted to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), safety profile, pharmacokinetic variables, and antitumor activity in advanced solid malignancies.MethodsThis dose-escalation study was conducted according to the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) recommendations in patients with advanced solid tumors to determine the MTD for orally administered apatinib. Doses of continuously administered apatinib were escalated from 250 mg. Treatment continued after dose-escalation phase until withdrawal of consent, intolerable toxicities, disease progression or death.ResultsForty-six patients were enrolled. Hypertension and hand-foot syndrome were the two dose-limiting toxicities noted at dose level of 1000 mg. MTD was determined to be 850 mg once daily. Pharmacokinetic analysis showed early absorption with a half-life of 9 hours. The mean half-life was constant over all dose groups. Steady-state conditions analysis suggested no accumulation during 56 days of once-daily administration. The most frequently observed drug-related adverse events were hypertension (69.5%, 29 grade 1-2 and 3 grade 3-4), proteinuria (47.8%, 16 grade 1-2 and 6 grade 3-4), and hand-foot syndrome (45.6%, 15 grade 1-2 and 6 grade 3-4). Among the thirty-seven evaluable patients, PR was noted in seven patients (18.9%), SD 24 (64.9%), with a disease control rate of 83.8% at 8 weeks.ConclusionsThe recommended dose of 750 mg once daily was well tolerated. Encouraging antitumor activity across a broad range of malignancies warrants further evaluation in selected populations.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov unique identifier: NCT00633490

EGFR exon 20 insertions (EGFR e20ins) account for up to 10% of EGFR mutations in lung cancer; however, tumors with EGFR e20ins had poor response rates to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) including gefitinib, erlotinib, afatinib, and osimertinib, and the heterogeneity of EGFR e20ins further complicates the clinical studies. Here, we retrospectively screened next-generation sequencing (NGS) data from 24 468 lung cancer patients, and a total of 85 unique EGFR e20ins variants were identified in 547 cases (2.24%), with p.A767_V769dup (25.1%) and p.S768_D770dup (17.6%) being the most prevalent ones. Comprehensive genomic profiling revealed that TP53 mutations frequently coexisted with p.H773dup (77.8%, P = 0.0558) and p.A767_V769dup (62.8%, P = 0.0325), while RB1 mutations usually co-occurred with p.H773_V774insAH (33.3%, P = 0.0551), implying that different EGFR e20ins variants might require distinct genomic context for tumorigenesis and/or maintenance. Despite that treatment regimens were highly diverse for EGFR e20ins-positive patients, we observed an overall response rate of 14% and a disease control rate (DCR) of 38.4% in 65 patients who received at least one EGFR TKI. The progression-free survival (PFS) differs significantly in six representative EGFR e20ins variants (P = 0.017), and EGFR p.A763_Y764insF-QEA was associated with better PFS than other EGFR e20ins when treating with various EGFR TKIs. Some EGFR e20ins variants showed at least partial response to first-generation EGFR TKIs, including p.A767_V769dup, p.S768_D770dup, p.N771_H773dup, p.A763_Y764insF-QEA, and p.D770_N771insG. Poziotinib achieved higher DCR for p.S768_D770dup than for p.A767_V769dup, whereas osimertinib showed limited effects for these two insertions when used as the first-line treatment. Overall, our results demonstrated that EGFR e20ins were highly diversified in terms of insertion patterns and co-occurring mutations and these EGFR e20ins variants showed different clinical responses to various EGFR TKIs,

Executive compensation, Asia, Review, Agency theory, Institution-based view,

Firms face significant risk when they adopt digital supply chain systems to transact and coordinate with their partners. Drawn upon modular systems theory, this study proposes that system modularity mitigates the risk of adopting digital supply chain systems and therefore motivates firms to digitize more of their supply chain operations. The study theorizes how the risk-mitigating effect of system modularity can be enhanced by the allocation of decision rights to the IT (information technology) unit. The main logic is that IT managers with more domain IT knowledge can better utilize their knowledge in decision making to achieve effective system modularity. We tested these theoretical propositions using a survey study of Chinese companies and found empirical support. We also found that the allocation of decision rights to the IT unit does not directly mitigate the perceived risk of digital supply chain systems, which highlights the role of decision allocation to the IT unit as a key moderator in risk mitigation. The study generates theoretical and practical implications on how IT governance and system modularity may jointly mitigate risk and foster supply chain digitization.