The Southwest Oncology Group: Progress in Cancer Research

Fundamentals of Conducting Cooperative Group Trials Through the National Clinical Trials Network

This review discusses the benefits of performing multidisciplinary trials through the cooperative group mechanism, outlines the process from trial concept to activation, and discusses opportunities for surgeons to become involved in cancer cooperative trials.

Pancreas cancer trials for early stage disease: Surgeons leading therapeutic cooperative group trials

Surgeon-led clinical trials have defined the standard of care for locoregional pancreatic cancer to date. The infrastructure and collaborative nature of cooperative oncology groups offer many advantages, such as providing an ideal mechanism through which multidisciplinary pancreatic cancer trials are performed. As key members of the treatment team, surgeons bring experience and expertise to the design of surgical and multidisciplinary trials and are uniquely poised to be leaders of future pancreatic cancer trials.

Current Activities of the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups

The Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups is an organization representing the interests of patients and researchers who conduct research through the National Cancer Institute-supported National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). The NCTN provides a crucial mechanism for executing practice-changing cancer clinical research to achieve both cancer control and development of new therapeutic agents or modality approaches. Public funding, largely through the National Cancer Institute, ensures that the work of the NCTN achieves important research that would not otherwise be accomplished in the private sector. In fall 2017, the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups convened a Scientific Leadership Council to review the current state of the network with regard to research capabilities and to develop a list of research questions to be prioritized by the network. This report presents the results of this meeting, detailing a roadmap for future work by the NCTN.

Liver, gastrointestinal, and cardiac toxicity in intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma treated with PRECISION TACE with drug-eluting beads: results from the PRECISION V randomized trial

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of our study was to evaluate hepatic, gastrointestinal, and cardiac toxicity after PRECISION transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with drug-eluting beads (DEB) versus conventional TACE with doxorubicin in the treatment of intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Two hundred twelve patients (185 men and 27 women; mean age, 67 years) were randomized to TACE with DEB or conventional TACE. The majority of patients (67% in both groups) presented in a more advanced stage. Safety was measured by rate of adverse events (Southwest Oncology Group criteria) and changes in laboratory parameters. Cardiotoxicity was assessed with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) mainly on MRI or echocardiography.

RESULTS

The mean maximum postchemoembolization alanine transaminase increase in the DEB group was 50% less than in the conventional TACE group (p < 0.001) and 41% less in respect to aspartate transaminase (p < 0.001). End-of-study values returned to approximately baseline levels but with greater variability in conventional TACE patients. Treatment-emergent adverse events in the hepatobiliary system organ class occurred in 16.1% of DEB group patients compared with 25% of conventional TACE patients. There were fewer liver toxicity events in the DEB group. There was a small but statistically significant difference in mean change from baseline in LVEF between the two groups of 4 percentage points for the conventional TACE group (95% CI, 0.71-7.3; p = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

PRECISION TACE with DEB loaded with doxorubicin offers a safe therapy option for intermediate-stage HCC, even in patients with more advanced liver disease.