Capturing Hyperprogressive Disease with Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors Using RECIST 1.1 Criteria

Recent developments and future directions of first-line systemic therapy combined with immunotherapy for advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma: a historical perspective on treatment evolution

Urothelial carcinoma presents significant treatment challenges, especially in advanced stages. Traditionally managed with platinum-based chemotherapy, the advent of immunotherapies, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors, has revolutionized urothelial carcinoma treatment. This review explores the evolution of urothelial carcinoma management, focusing on the transition from immune checkpoint inhibitors monotherapy to innovative combination therapies. Pembrolizumab, following the KEYNOTE-045 trial, emerged as a pivotal ICI in pretreated metastatic urothelial carcinoma, outperforming traditional chemotherapy. However, limitations surfaced in untreated metastatic urothelial carcinoma patients, particularly in those with low PD-L1 expression, as evidenced by trials like IMvigor130 and KEYNOTE-361. These challenges led to the exploration of combination therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors with platinum-based chemotherapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and antibody-drug conjugates. Notably, the CheckMate 901 trial demonstrated improved outcomes with a nivolumab-chemotherapy combination. A significant breakthrough was achieved with the combination of enfortumab vedotin, an antibody-drug conjugates, and pembrolizumab, setting a new standard in first-line treatment for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Future directions involve further exploration of antibody-drug conjugates and immune checkpoint inhibitors, as seen in the TROPHY-U-01 and TROPiCS-4 trials. The review concludes that the locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma treatment landscape is rapidly evolving, with combination therapies offering promising avenues for improved patient outcomes, signaling a new era in urothelial carcinoma management.

Fc-Fc interactions and immune inhibitory effects of IgG4: implications for anti-PD-1 immunotherapies

BACKGROUND

The majority of anti-programmed cell-death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) use S228P mutation IgG4 as the structural basis to avoid the activation of immune cells or complement. However, little attention has been paid to the Fc-Fc interactions between IgG4 and other IgG Fc fragments that could result in adverse effects. Fc-null IgG1 framework is a potential safer alternative to avoid the undesirable Fc-Fc interactions and Fc receptor binding derived effects observed with IgG4. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of anti-PD-1 mAbs of these two frameworks.

METHODS

Trastuzumab and rituximab (both IgG1), wildtype IgG1 and IgG4 were immobilized on nitrocellulose membranes, coated to microplates and biosensor chips, and bound to tumor cells as targets for Fc-Fc interactions. Wildtype IgG1 and IgG4, anti-PD-1 mAb nivolumab (IgG4 S228P), penpulimab (Fc-null IgG1), and tislelizumab (Fc-null IgG4 S228P-R409K) were assessed for their binding reactions to the immobilized IgG proteins and quantitative kinetic data were obtained. To evaluate the effects of the two anti-PD-1 mAbs on immune responses mediated by trastuzumab and rituximab in the context of combination therapy, we employed classic immune models for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis, and complement dependent cytotoxicity. Tumor-bearing mouse models, both wildtype and humanized, were used for in vivo investigation. Furthermore, we also examined the effects of IgG1 and IgG4 on diverse immune cell populations RESULTS: Experiments demonstrated that wildtype IgG4 and nivolumab bound to immobilized IgG through Fc-Fc interactions, diminishing antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and phagocytosis reactions. Quantitative analysis of kinetic parameters suggests that nivolumab and wildtype IgG4 exhibit comparable binding affinities to immobilized IgG1 in both non-denatured and denatured states. IgG4 exerted inhibitory effects on various immune cell types. Wildtype IgG4 and nivolumab both promoted tumor growth in wildtype mouse models. Conversely, wildtype IgG1, penpulimab, and tislelizumab did not show similar adverse effects.

CONCLUSIONS

Fc-null IgG1 represents a safer choice for anti-PD-1 immunotherapies by avoiding both the adverse Fc-Fc interactions and Fc-related immune inhibitory effects of IgG4. Fc-null IgG4 S228P-R409K and Fc-null IgG1 displayed similar structural properties and benefits. This study contributes to the understanding of immunotherapy resistance and the advancement of safer immune therapies for cancer.

Redefining Clinical Hyperprogression: The Incidence, Clinical Implications, and Risk Factors of Hyperprogression in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Immunotherapy

INTRODUCTION

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) may be associated with hyperprogressive disease (HPD). However, there is currently no standardized definition of HPD, with its risk factors and clinical implications remaining unclear. We investigated HPD in lung cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy, aiming to redefine HPD, identify risk factors, and assess its impact on survival.

METHODS

Clinical and radiologic data from 121 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with 136 immunotherapy cases were reviewed retrospectively. Three HPD definitions (Champiat et al., HPDc; Saâda-Bouzid et al., HPDs; and Ferrara et al., HPDf) were employed. Additionally, all new measurable lesions on the post-treatment CT scan were incorporated in measuring the sum of longest diameters (SLD) to define modified HPD (mHPD).

RESULTS

Among the 121 patients, 4 (3.3%) had HPDc, 11 (9.1%) had HPDs, and none had HPDf. Adding all new measurable lesions increased HPD incidence by 5%-10% across definitions. Multivariate analysis revealed significantly lower progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients with HPDc (HR 5.25, P = .001; HR 3.75, P = .015) and HPDs (HR 3.74, P < .001; HR 3.46, P < .001) compared to those without. Patients with mHPD showed similarly poor survival outcomes as HPD patients. Liver metastasis at diagnosis was associated with HPDs, and a high tumor burden correlated with HPDc.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence and risk factors of HPD varied with different definitions, but mHPD identified more cases with poor outcomes. This comprehensive approach may enhance the identification of at-risk patients and lead to a better understanding of HPD in lung cancer during immunotherapy.

Is there an association between lymph node size and hyperprogression in immunotherapy-treated patients?

BACKGROUND

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) can be described as an accelerated increase in the growth rate of tumors combined with rapid clinical deterioration observed in a subset of cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy, specifically with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The reported incidence of HPD ranges from 5.9% to 43.1% in patients receiving ICIs. In this context, identifying reliable predictive risk factors for HPD is crucial as it may allow for earlier intervention and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

METHODS

This study retrospectively analyzed ten metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients. The identification of HPD was based on the diagnostic criteria proposed by Ferrara R et al. This study aimed to investigate whether there is an association between LN size and HPD using a cutoff value of 3 cm for LN size. Given the limited sample size, Fisher's exact test was used to test this association. We conducted a Kaplan-Meier (KM) analysis to estimate the median overall survival (OS) of patients with HPD and compared it to those without HPD.

RESULTS

Three patients (30%) developed HPD, while seven (70%) did not. Fisher's exact test revealed a statistically significant association between the HPD and LN size ≥ 3 cm (p=0.008). In the HPD group, the median OS was significantly shorter, with a median OS of 3 months, whereas in the non-HPD group, the median OS was not reached (P =0.001).

CONCLUSION

The present study found a significant association between LN size ≥ 3 cm in the pretreatment period and HPD development.

Incidence of immunotherapy-related hyperprogressive disease (HPD) across HPD definitions and cancer types in observational studies: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

While evidence of hyperprogressive disease (HPD) continues to grow, the lack of a consensual definition obscures a proper characterization of HPD incidence. We examined how HPD incidence varies by the tumor type or the type of definition used.

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, and Web of Science from database inception to June 21, 2022. Observational studies reporting HPD incidence, in patients diagnosed with solid malignant tumors and treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), were included. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed, and all statistical tests were 2-sided.

RESULTS

HPD incidence was 12.4% (95% CI 10.2%-15.0%) with evidence of heterogeneity (Q = 119.32, p < 0.001). Meta-regression showed that the risk of developing HPD was higher in patients with advanced gastric cancer (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 10.83; 95% CI, 2.14-54.65; p < 0.001), hepatocellular carcinoma (adjusted OR, 7.99; 95% CI, 1.68-38.13; p = 0.006), non-small cell lung cancer (adjusted OR, 7.14; 95% CI, 1.58-32.29; p = 0.005), and mixed or other types (adjusted OR, 5.09; 95% CI, 1.12-23.14, p = 0.018) than in patients with renal cell carcinoma. Across definitions, HPD defined as a tumor growth kinetics ratio ≥ 2 (adjusted OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.08-3.07; p = 0.025) based on the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) reported higher incidence than when HPD was defined as RECIST-defined progressive disease and a change in the tumor growth rate (TGR) exceeding 50% (∆TGR > 50).

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of immunotherapy-related HPD may vary across tumor types and definitions used, supporting the argument for a uniform and improved method of HPD evaluation for informed clinical decision-making.

Tumor growth inhibition modeling in patients with second line biliary tract cancer and first line non-small cell lung cancer based on bintrafusp alfa trials

This analysis aimed to quantify tumor dynamics in patients receiving either bintrafusp alfa (BA) or pembrolizumab, by population pharmacokinetic (PK)-pharmacodynamic modeling, and investigate clinical and molecular covariates describing the variability in tumor dynamics by pharmacometric and machine-learning (ML) approaches. Data originated from two clinical trials in patients with biliary tract cancer (BTC; NCT03833661) receiving BA and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; NCT03631706) receiving BA or pembrolizumab. Individual drug exposure was estimated from previously developed population PK models. Population tumor dynamics models were developed for each drug-indication combination, and covariate evaluations performed using nonlinear mixed-effects modeling (NLME) and ML (elastic net and random forest models) approaches. The three tumor dynamics' model structures all included linear tumor growth components and exponential tumor shrinkage. The final BTC model included the effect of drug exposure (area under the curve) and several covariates (demographics, disease-related, and genetic mutations). Drug exposure was not significant in either of the NSCLC models, which included two, disease-related, covariates in the BA arm, and none in the pembrolizumab arm. The covariates identified by univariable NLME and ML highly overlapped in BTC but showed less agreement in NSCLC analyses. Hyperprogression could be identified by higher tumor growth and lower tumor kill rates and could not be related to BA exposure. Tumor size over time was quantitatively characterized in two tumor types and under two treatments. Factors potentially related to tumor dynamics were assessed using NLME and ML approaches; however, their net impact on tumor size was considered as not clinically relevant.

Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Staging and Radiological Response Criteria in Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and challenging cancer associated with asbestos fiber exposure, which offers limited treatment options. Historically, platinum-based chemotherapy has been the primary approach, but recent developments have introduced immunotherapy as a promising alternative for the treatment of this disease. Nevertheless, the unique growth patterns and occasionally ambiguous progressive characteristics of MPM make the interpretation of radiological assessments complex. Immunotherapy further complicates matters by introducing unconventional treatment response patterns such as hyperprogression and pseudoprogression. Consequently, there is a growing imperative to integrate the standard RECIST criteria with the mesothelioma-specific mRECIST criteria (version 1.1), as outlined in iRECIST. This comprehensive review is driven by the intent to provide a valuable resource for radiologists and clinicians engaged in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of MPM in the era of immunotherapy. Specifically, the current imaging methods employed for staging and follow-up will be exposed and discussed, with a focus on the technical specificities and the mRECIST 1.1 methodology. Furthermore, we will provide a discussion about major clinical trials related to the use of immunotherapy in MPM patients. Finally, the latest advancements in radiomics, the applications of artificial intelligence in MPM, and their potential impact on clinical practice for prognosis and therapy, are discussed.

Efficacy, safety, and correlative biomarkers of bintrafusp alfa in recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer patients: a phase II clinical trial

Background

The strategy of dual blockade of TGF-β and PD-L1 pathways has not been previously tested in platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer (R/M NPC) patients. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of bintrafusp alfa in refractory R/M NPC patients.

Methods

In this single-arm, single-centre phase II clinical trial, 38 histologically confirmed R/M NPC patients were enrolled and administered with bintrafusp alfa every 2 weeks. Primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1). Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), duration of response (DOR), and safety.

Findings

Thirty-eight patients were accrued (33 men; median age, 54 years). ORR was 23.7% (complete response, n = 2; partial response, n = 7). The median DOR was 19.2 months, median PFS was 2.3 months, median OS was 17.0 months, and 1-year OS rate was 63.2%. Unfortunately, 25 patients (65.7%) progressed within 8 weeks of treatment, 15 patients (39.5%) and 8 patients (21.1%) developed hyper-progressive disease (HPD) per RECIST v1.1 and tumor growth rate (TGR) ratio respectively. Sixteen patients (42.4%) experienced ≥ grade 3 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs), most commonly anemia (n = 9, 23.7%) and secondary malignancies (n = 4, 10.5%). TRAEs led to permanent treatment discontinuation in 7 patients. Patients with strong suppression of plasma TGFβ1 level at week 8 were unexpectedly associated with worse ORR (9.1% vs 44.4%, P = 0.046) and development of HPD. There was no correlation between PD-L1 expression and ORR.

Interpretation

Bintrafusp alfa demonstrated modest activity in R/M NPC but high rates of HPD and treatment discontinuation secondary to TRAEs are concerning.

Funding

The project was supported by Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Charity Foundation Professorship Endowed Fund and Merck KGaA.

Hyperprogressive disease during PD-1 blockade in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer

The occurrence of markedly accelerated tumor growth during immunotherapy is considered a new mode of progression called hyperprogressive disease (HPD) and its impact on pancreatic cancer (PC) patients receiving immunotherapy is unknown. In this study, we described and explored the incidence, prognosis and predictors of HPD in patients with advanced PC treated with programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors. We retrospectively analyzed clinicopathological data from 104 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who were treated with PD-1 inhibitors at our institution during 2015-2020 and identified 10 (9.6%) patients with HPD. Overall survival (OS) was significantly poorer in patients with HPD compared to patients with progressive disease (PD) (median OS: 5.6 vs. 3.6 months, p < .01). Clinicopathological factors associated with the occurrence of HPD included smoking, metastatic sites >2, liver metastasis, antibiotic therapy within 21 days before immunotherapy (Abx B21), hemoglobin (Hb) level <110 g/L, and PD-1 inhibitor treatment line >2. Subgroup analysis showed that high levels of CA19-9 at baseline were associated with the development of subsequent HPD (p = .024) and a worse prognosis (mOS:16.2 months vs. 6.1 months, p < .01). Our study demonstrated that HPD may occur in PC patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors and is associated with several clinicopathological characteristics and poor prognosis. The baseline tumor marker CA19-9 may be one of the early predictors of HPD development in PC patients receiving immunotherapy.

A Phase II Clinical Trial of Pembrolizumab Efficacy and Safety in Advanced Renal Medullary Carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) is one of most aggressive renal cell carcinomas and novel therapeutic strategies are therefore needed. Recent comprehensive molecular and immune profiling of RMC tissues revealed a highly inflamed phenotype, suggesting the potential therapeutic role for immune checkpoint therapies. We present the first prospective evaluation of an immune checkpoint inhibitor in a cohort of patients with RMC.

METHODS

A cohort of patients with locally advanced or metastatic RMC was treated with pembrolizumab 200 mg intravenously every 21 days in a phase II basket trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02721732). Responses were assessed by irRECIST. Tumor tissues were evaluated for PD-L1 expression and for tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) levels. Somatic mutations were assessed by targeted next-generation sequencing.

RESULTS

A total of five patients were treated. All patients had advanced disease, with the majority of patients (60%) having metastatic disease at diagnosis. All patients had rapid disease progression despite pembrolizumab treatment, with a median time to progression of 8.7 weeks. One patient (patient 5) experienced sudden clinical progression immediately after treatment initiation and was thus taken off trial less than one week after receiving pembrolizumab.

CONCLUSIONS

This prospective evaluation showed no evidence of clinical activity for pembrolizumab in patients with RMC, irrespective of PD-L1 or TIL levels.

Hyperprogressive disease in non-small cell lung cancer after PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors immunotherapy: underlying killer

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) target the negative regulatory pathway of T cells and effectively reactive the anti-tumor immune function of T cells by blocking the key pathway of the immune escape mechanism of the tumor-PD-1/PD-L1, and fundamentally changing the prospect of immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer patients. However, such promising immunotherapy is overshadowed by Hyperprogressive Disease, a response pattern associated with unwanted accelerated tumor growth and characterized by poor prognosis in a fraction of treated patients. This review comprehensively provides an overview of Hyperprogressive Disease in immune checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer including its definition, biomarkers, mechanisms, and treatment. A better understanding of the black side of immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy will provide a more profound insight into the pros and cons of immunotherapy.

Tumor-Naïve Circulating Tumor DNA as an Early Response Biomarker for Patients Treated With Immunotherapy in Early Phase Clinical Trials

PURPOSE

To evaluate early circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) kinetics using a tumor-naïve assay and correlate it with clinical outcomes in early phase immunotherapy (IO) trials.

METHODS

Plasma samples were analyzed using a 425-gene next-generation sequencing panel at baseline and before cycle 2 (3-4 weeks) in patients with advanced solid tumors treated with investigational IO agents. Variant allele frequency (VAF) for mutations in each gene, mean VAF (mVAF) from all mutations, and change in mVAF between both time points were calculated. Hyperprogression (HyperPD) was measured using Matos and Caramella criteria.

RESULTS

A total of 162 plasma samples were collected from 81 patients with 27 different tumor types. Patients were treated in 37 different IO phase I/II trials, 72% of which involved a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor. ctDNA was detected in 122 plasma samples (75.3%). A decrease in mVAF from baseline to precycle 2 was observed in 24 patients (37.5%) and was associated with longer progression-free survival (hazard ratio [HR], 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.77; P < .01) and overall survival (HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.3 to 0.96; P = .03) compared with an increase. These differences were more marked if there was a >50% decrease in mVAF for both progression-free survival (HR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.62; P < .001) and overall survival (HR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.6; P = .001). No differences in mVAF changes were observed between the HyperPD and progressive disease patients.

CONCLUSION

A decrease in ctDNA within 4 weeks of treatment was associated with treatment outcomes in patients in early phase IO trials. Tumor-naïve ctDNA assays may be useful for identifying early treatment benefits in phase I/II IO trials.

Intersection of immune and oncometabolic pathways drives cancer hyperprogression during immunotherapy

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) can produce durable responses against cancer. We and others have found that a subset of patients experiences paradoxical rapid cancer progression during immunotherapy. It is poorly understood how tumors can accelerate their progression during ICB. In some preclinical models, ICB causes hyperprogressive disease (HPD). While immune exclusion drives resistance to ICB, counterintuitively, patients with HPD and complete response (CR) following ICB manifest comparable levels of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and interferon γ (IFNγ) gene signature. Interestingly, patients with HPD but not CR exhibit elevated tumoral fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and β-catenin signaling. In animal models, T cell-derived IFNγ promotes tumor FGF2 signaling, thereby suppressing PKM2 activity and decreasing NAD+, resulting in reduction of SIRT1-mediated β-catenin deacetylation and enhanced β-catenin acetylation, consequently reprograming tumor stemness. Targeting the IFNγ-PKM2-β-catenin axis prevents HPD in preclinical models. Thus, the crosstalk of core immunogenic, metabolic, and oncogenic pathways via the IFNγ-PKM2-β-catenin cascade underlies ICB-associated HPD.

Impact of response patterns for patients with advanced acral melanoma treated with anti-programmed death-1 monotherapy

BACKGROUND

Acral melanoma (AM) is less responsive to immunotherapy than nonacral cutaneous melanoma. Variable responses are seen during immunotherapy, including pseudoprogression, hyperprogressive disease (HPD) and heterogeneous responses. There are currently no studies on the response patterns of patients with AM treated with immunotherapy and the impact on the outcome.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the response patterns and prognosis of patients with AM treated with anti-programmed death (PD)-1 antibodies.

METHODS

Patients with advanced AM treated prospectively in five clinical trials of anti-PD-1 monotherapy at Peking University Cancer Hospital were included. Responses of individual metastases and heterogeneous responses were evaluated during immunotherapy. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was conducted to identify the possible predictive factors and generate a nomogram to predict the risk of 1-year and 2-year mortality.

RESULTS

The overall response rate was 18·0%, the disease control rate was 36·1%, median progression-free survival was 3·5 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 1·7-5·3] and median overall survival was 17·5 months (95% CI 15·1-19·9) for anti-PD-1 monotherapy. Overall, 9·8% of patients met the criteria of HPD, and displayed a dramatically worse outcome than patients without HPD. In total, 369 metastatic lesions were assessed, with the highest response rate in lymph nodes (20·4%) and the lowest in the liver (5·6%). Homogeneous response, heterogeneous response and heterogeneous or homogeneous progression had different prognoses from the best to the worst. A predictive model was constructed and achieved good accuracy with a C-index of 0·73 (95% CI 0·63-0·84) in the training set and 0·74 (95% CI 0·61-0·86) in the validation set.

CONCLUSIONS

HPD during immunotherapy serves as an essential biomarker of poor prognosis in advanced AM. Metastases in different sites respond distinctively to immunotherapy. Clinically heterogeneous responses to immunotherapy affect the outcome of patients. A predictive model was built to distinguish the prognosis of acral melanoma under immunotherapy.

Predictive Nomogram for Hyperprogressive Disease During Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Treatment in Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Introduction

Various studies have reported that anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatment may lead to the rapid development of tumors called hyperprogressive disease (HPD). A nomogram for HPD prediction in NSCLC patients is urgently needed.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study included 176 cases for establishing a model of HPD prediction and 85 cases for validation in advanced NSCLC patients treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. HPD was defined as tumor growth rate (TGR, ≥ 2), tumor growth kinetics (TGK, ≥ 2) or time to treatment failure (TTF, ≤ 2 months). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to estimate the specified factors associated with HPD. Then, the nomogram was developed and validated.

Results

Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy resulted in a 9.66% (17/176) incidence of HPD in advanced NSCLC. The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with HPD were significantly shorter than those in patients without HPD (OS: 7.00 vs 12.00 months, P<0.01; PFS: 2.00 vs 5.00 months, P<0.001, respectively). The HPD prediction nomogram included APTT (P<0.01), CD4+ CD25+ CD127-low cells (Treg cells) (P<0.01), the presence of liver metastasis (P<0.05), and more than two metastatic sites (P<0.05). Then, patients were divided into two groups by the "HPD score" calculated by the nomogram. The C-index was 0.845, while the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.830 (sensitivity 75.00%, specificity 91.70%). The calibration plot of HPD probability showed an optimal agreement between the actual observation and prediction by the nomogram. In the validation cohort, the AUC was up to 0.960 (sensitivity 88.70%, specificity 89.80%).

Conclusions

The nomogram was constructed with the presence of liver metastasis, more than two metastatic sites, lengthened APTT and a high level of Treg cells, which could be used to predict HPD risk.

Hyperprogressive Disease (HPD) in Solid Tumours Receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in a Real-World Setting

Introduction: Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a state of accelerated tumor growth from cancer immunotherapy, associated with poor outcome. The reported incidence is 6% to 29% among studies using varying definitions of HPD, with no predictive biomarkers. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are prognostic and predictive for immunotherapy benefit in various tumor types, but have only been tested for correlation with HPD in one study. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of HPD in solid tumor patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in a real-world setting, and to assess clinicopathological features as potential biomarkers for HPD. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of solid tumor patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors at a single institution. Imaging pre-immunotherapy and postimmunotherapy were assessed for HPD, and correlated against clinicopathological factors, including TILs and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status through archival tumor assessment. HPD was defined per Matos et al as response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) progressive disease, minimum increase in measurable lesions of 10 mm, plus increase of ≥40% in sum of target lesions compared with baseline and/or increase of ≥20% in sum of target lesions compared with baseline plus new lesions in at least 2 different organs. Results: HPD occurred in 11 of 87 patients (13%), and associated with inferior overall survival (median 5.5 months vs 18.3 months, P = .002). However, on multivariate analysis, only liver metastases (hazard ratio [HR] 4.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.27-9.56, P < .001) and PD-L1 status (HR 0.53, 95% CI 0.30-0.95, P = .03) were significantly associated with survival. Presence of liver metastases correlated with occurence of HPD (P = .01). Age, sex, and monotherapy versus combination immunotherapy were not predictive for HPD. PD-L1 status and TILs were not associated with HPD. Conclusions: We found 13% HPD among solid tumor patients treated with immunotherapy, consistent with the range reported in prior series. Assessment for HPD is feasible outside of a clinical trials setting, using modified criteria that require comparison of 2 imaging studies. Liver metastases were associated with risk of HPD, while TILs and PD-L1 status were not predictive for HPD.

Hyperprogressive disease in non-small cell lung cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, fact or myth?

The therapeutic landscape for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has dramatically evolved with the development and adoption of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) as front-line therapy. These novel antibodies target the interactions in immunoregulatory pathways, between programmed death-1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), or cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and B7, resulting in the activation of T cells and cytotoxic response to induce an immunologic response. ICIs have demonstrated significant survival benefits and sustained responses in the treatment of NSCLC leading to the long-term survival of up to 5 year. One unusual response to ICI is a phenomenon termed Hyperprogressive Disease (HYD), which occurs in a subset of patients for whom ICI therapy can induce rapid disease growth, which ultimately leads to poorer outcomes with an incidence rate ranging from 5 to 37% in NSCLC patients. Prior reviews demonstrated that HYD can be defined by rapid tumor progression, deterioration of patient’s symptoms or new onset of disease. The mechanism of HYD could be related to genomic and tumor microenvironment changes and altered immune response. It will be important to establish a common definition of HYD for future research and clinical care.

Tumor-intrinsic NLRP3-HSP70-TLR4 axis drives premetastatic niche development and hyperprogression during anti-PD-1 immunotherapy

The tumor-intrinsic NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome-heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) signaling axis is triggered by CD8⁺ T cell cytotoxicity and contributes to the development of adaptive resistance to anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy by recruiting granulocytic polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSCs) into the tumor microenvironment. Here, we demonstrate that the tumor NLRP3-HSP70 axis also drives the accumulation of PMN-MDSCs into distant lung tissues in a manner that depends on lung epithelial cell Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling, establishing a premetastatic niche that supports disease hyperprogression in response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. Lung epithelial HSP70-TLR4 signaling induces the downstream Wnt5a-dependent release of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 5 (CXCL5), thus promoting myeloid granulopoiesis and recruitment of PMN-MDSCs into pulmonary tissues. Treatment with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy enhanced the activation of this pathway through immunologic pressure and drove disease progression in the setting of Nlrp3 amplification. Genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of NLRP3 and HSP70 blocked PMN-MDSC accumulation in the lung in response to anti-PD-1 therapy and suppressed metastatic progression in preclinical models of melanoma and breast cancer. Elevated baseline concentrations of plasma HSP70 and evidence of NLRP3 signaling activity in tumor tissue specimens correlated with the development of disease hyperprogression and inferior survival in patients with stage IV melanoma undergoing anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. Together, this work describes a pathogenic mechanism underlying the phenomenon of disease hyperprogression in melanoma and offers candidate targets and markers capable of improving the management of patients with melanoma.

Hyperprogression under treatment with immune-checkpoint inhibitors in patients with gastrointestinal cancer: A natural process of advanced tumor progression?

Immunotherapy has shown great promise in treating various types of malignant tumors. However, some patients with gastrointestinal cancer have been known to experience rapid disease progression after treatment, a situation referred to as hyperprogressive disease (HPD). This minireview focuses on the definitions and potential mechanisms of HPD, natural disease progression in gastrointestinal malignancies, and tumor immunological microenvironment.

Proposal for multiple new lesions as complement of hyperprogressive disease in NSCLC patients treated with PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy

BACKGROUND

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a progression pattern of rapid increase in tumor burden during immunotherapy. However, current HPD definitions are mainly based on the diameter of target lesions. How to take new lesions into account remains unknown.

METHODS

In this retrospectively analysis, 393 patients received PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors monotherapy. 237 patients were eligible for HPD evaluation based on tumor growth rate (TGR) ratio, ΔTGR or tumor growth kinetic (TGK) ratio. Among them, 214 patients were eligible for evaluation of new lesions. The impact of new lesions on overall survival (OS) was investigated by Kaplan-Meier methods. The optimal threshold for new lesion number was investigated by one-year time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Developing more than one new lesions (n ≥ 2) was defined as multiple new lesions (MNL). New HPD was redefined as both developing MNL and meeting the requirement of current HPD definitions (TGR ratio, ΔTGR or TGK ratio). The survival difference between the newly defined HPD and non-HPD patients was investigated.

RESULTS

HPD occurred in 5.1-18.1 % patient based on current definitions (TGR ratio, 15.6 %; ΔTGR, 5.1 %; TGK ratio, 18.1 %). However, there is no significant difference between OS of HPD and non-HPD patient. New lesion was associated with a shorter median OS in PD（with or without HPD) patients (6.1 vs 18.9 months, p = 0.001). Time-dependent ROC analysis suggested that the optimal threshold for new lesion number in survival prediction was two. After the redefinition of HPD, New HPD patients had a significantly shorter median OS compared with non-HPD patients (TGR ratio with MNL: 5.6 vs 11.8 months, p < 0.001; ΔTGR with MNL: 5.0 vs 11.4 months, p = 0.034; TGK ratio with MNL: 5.7 vs 12.3 months, p < 0.001; respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Current HPD definitions had a better prognostic value when complemented with MNL. MNL should be integrated into the new definition of HPD.

MRI techniques for immunotherapy monitoring

MRI is a widely available clinical tool for cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring. MRI provides excellent soft tissue imaging, using a wide range of contrast mechanisms, and can non-invasively detect tissue metabolites. These approaches can be used to distinguish cancer from normal tissues, to stratify tumor aggressiveness, and to identify changes within both the tumor and its microenvironment in response to therapy. In this review, the role of MRI in immunotherapy monitoring will be discussed and how it could be utilized in the future to address some of the unique clinical questions that arise from immunotherapy. For example, MRI could play a role in identifying pseudoprogression, mixed response, T cell infiltration, cell tracking, and some of the characteristic immune-related adverse events associated with these agents. The factors to be considered when developing MRI imaging biomarkers for immunotherapy will be reviewed. Finally, the advantages and limitations of each approach will be discussed, as well as the challenges for future clinical translation into routine clinical care. Given the increasing use of immunotherapy in a wide range of cancers and the ability of MRI to detect the microstructural and functional changes associated with successful response to immunotherapy, the technique has great potential for more widespread and routine use in the future for these applications.

Hyperprogressive disease in patients suffering from solid malignancies treated by immune checkpoint inhibitors: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a paradoxically rapid disease progression during or shortly after antitumor treatment, especially immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Various diagnosis criteria of HPD cause heterogeneous incidence rates in different clinical research, and there is no consensus on potential risk factors associated with HPD occurrence. Hence, we aimed to summarize incidence of HPD in ICI treatment for solid tumors. Clinicopathological factors associated with HPD are also analyzed.

Methods

Clinical studies about HPD during/after ICI treatment of solid malignancies are included. Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane library were searched for eligible studies published before October 7. The Newcastle–Ottawa scale was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Random effect and fixed effect models were, respectively, used for pooling incidence of HPD and analysis of risk factors for HPD. Heterogeneity, subgroup analysis, and publication bias were also analyzed. All meta-analysis was performed via R software (y -40v4.0.2).

Results

Forty-one studies with 6009 patients were included. The pooled incidence of HPD was 13.2% (95% CI, 11.2%–15.4%). Head and neck cancer (HNC) had the highest incidence of HPD (18.06%), and melanoma had the lowest (9.9%). Tumor types (P = .0248) and gender ratio (P = .0116) are sources of heterogeneity of pooled incidence of HPD. For five clinicopathological factors associated with HPD, only programmed cell death protein 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) positivity was a preventive factor (odds ratio = 0.61, P <.05). High lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level (OR = 1.51, P = .01), metastatic sites >2 (OR = 2.38, P <.0001), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Score ≥2 (OR = 1.47, P = .02), and liver metastasis (OR = 3.06, P <.0001) indicate higher risk of HPD.

Conclusions

The pooled incidence of HPD was less than 15%, and HNC had the highest incidence of HPD. LDH and PD-L1 are remarkable biomarkers for prediction of HPD in future medical practice.

Clinical outcomes of hyperprogression based on volumetry in non-small cell lung cancer after immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment

BACKGROUND

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a novel pattern of the treatment course after immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics, outcomes, and associated factors of HPD using a semiautomatic volume measurement.

METHODS

This retrospective study enrolled patients with recurrent and/or metastatic NSCLC treated with ICIs between January 2015 and August 2019 at eight tertiary centers in Korea. HPD was defined according to the tumor growth kinetics and time to treatment failure. Tumor volume was measured using a semiautomatic software.

RESULTS

A total of 219 NSCLC patients with 35 HPD by volumetric measurement (HPDv) (15.9%) were enrolled. The median duration of overall survival (OS) and OS after ICI treatment (ICI-OS) were 34.5 and 18.4 months, respectively. HPDv patients had significantly worse progression-free survival (PFS) than progressive disease patients without HPDv (1.16 vs. 1.82 months, p-value <0.001). ICI-OS did not significantly differ between patients with HPDv and those without HPDv (2.66 vs. 5.4 months, p = 0.105). PD-L1 expression lower than 50%, more than three metastatic sites, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio equal to or higher than 3.3, and hemoglobin level lower than 10 were found to be associated with HPDv.

CONCLUSIONS

There is no standardized definition of HPD. However, defining HPD in NSCLC patients treated with ICI using a semiautomatic volume measurement software is feasible.

iRECIST and atypical patterns of response to immuno-oncology drugs

With the advent of immunotherapy as one of the keystones of the treatment of our patients with cancer, a number of atypical patterns of response to these agents has been identified. These include pseudoprogression, where the tumor initially shows objective growth before decreasing in size, and hyperprogression, hypothesized to be a drug-induced acceleration of the tumor burden. Despite it being >10 years since the first immune-oncology drug was approved, neither the biology behind these paradoxical responses has been well understood, nor their incidence, identification criteria, predictive biomarkers, or clinical impact have been fully described. Immune-based Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (iRECIST) guidelines have been published as a revision to the RECIST V.1.1 criteria for use in trials of immunotherapeutics, and the iRECIST subcommittee (of the RECIST Working Group) is working on elucidating these aspects, with data sharing a current major challenge to move forward with this unmet need in immuno-oncology.

Hyperprogression, a challenge of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors treatments: potential mechanisms and coping strategies

Immunotherapy is now a mainstay in cancer treatments. Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies have opened up a new venue of advanced cancer immunotherapy. However, hyperprogressive disease (HPD) induced by PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors caused a significant decrease in the overall survival (OS) of the patients, which compromise the efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Therefore, HPD has become an urgent issue to be addressed in the clinical uses of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. The mechanisms of HPD remain unclear, and possible predictive factors of HPD are not well understood. In this review, we summarized the potential mechanisms of HPD and coping strategies that can effectively reduce the occurrence and development of HPD.

Nivolumab in patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma: modest activity and cases of hyperprogression

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL), a heterogeneous group of mature aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, carry a worse prognosis for most subtypes when compared with their B-cell counterparts. Despite recent approval of newer therapies, the outlook for patients with relapsed/refractory (RR) PTCL remains poor and new treatment strategies are clearly needed. Targeting the profoundly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in PTCL is one such approach. To determine whether immune checkpoint blockade targeting program death receptor 1 would be effective in PTCL, we conducted an investigator-initiated phase 2 prospective study of single-agent nivolumab for RR PTCL. We report here results of the pre-specified interim analysis.

METHODS

The primary objective was to assess the overall response rate (ORR). Secondary objectives were to assess safety and tolerability of nivolumab in PTCL and to assess progression-free survival (PFS), duration of response (DOR) and overall survival (OS). Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) was defined as time-to-treatment failure of less than or equal to one month from initiation of therapy.

RESULTS

Twelve patients who received at least one cycle of nivolumab were included in this interim analysis. Half (6/12) of the patients had angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), 3/12 had PTCL, not otherwise specified. Most (11/12) were advanced stage, had extranodal disease (97.1%) and had received a prior autologous stem cell transplant (50%). The ORR was 33% (95% CI: 12.3 to 63.7%) with two complete response and two partial response. The median PFS was however short at 2.7 months (95% CI: 1.5 to NE); and the median OS was 6.7 months (95% CI: 3.4 to NE). The median DOR was also short at 3.6 months (95% CI: 1.9 to NE). HPD occurred in four patients, three of whom had AITL. Observed grade 3 and higher adverse events (AEs) were non-hematologic in 5/12 (42%), while hematologic AEs were seen in 3/12 (25%).

CONCLUSIONS

Nivolumab had modest clinical activity in R/R PTCL. Due to a high number of hyperprogression and short DOR, a decision was made to halt the study. These findings likely reflect the distinct biology of PTCL and should be considered when designing future studies using checkpoint inhibitors in these diseases.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT03075553.

Immune Cells in Hyperprogressive Disease under Immune Checkpoint-Based Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy, an antitumor therapy designed to activate antitumor immune responses to eliminate tumor cells, has been deeply studied and widely applied in recent years. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are capable of preventing the immune responses from being turned off before tumor cells are eliminated. ICIs have been demonstrated to be one of the most effective and promising tumor treatments and significantly improve the survival of patients with multiple tumor types. However, low effective rates and frequent atypical responses observed in clinical practice limit their clinical applications. Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is an unexpected phenomenon observed in immune checkpoint-based immunotherapy and is a challenge facing clinicians and patients alike. Patients who experience HPD not only cannot benefit from immunotherapy, but also experience rapid tumor progression. However, the mechanisms of HPD remain unclear and controversial. This review summarized current findings from cell experiments, animal studies, retrospective studies, and case reports, focusing on the relationships between various immune cells and HPD and providing important insights for understanding the pathogenesis of HPD.

Hyperprogressive Disease in Malignant Carcinoma With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Use: A Review

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have shown durable remissions and improved long-term survival across a variety of cancer types. However, there is growing evidence that a significant subset of nonresponsive patients may exhibit hyperprogressive disease (HPD) during the initiation of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Moreover, patients with HPD triggered by ICIs are always correlated with a deteriorating quality of life and poor prognosis. The ability to predict such rapid disease progression phenotypes is of great importance. More precision parameters to evaluate the response pattern to ICIs are urgently needed. To date, the mechanisms of HPD are still unclear. Aberrant alterations of driven genes, tumor microenvironment, or T cell immunophenotype may involve in HPD. In this article, we aim to provide an updated overview of available studies on HPD and summarize the potential predictors associated with HPD and the underlying mechanisms of HPD.

Hyperprogressive Disease After Immunotherapy: A Case Report of Pulmonary Enteric Adenocarcinoma

Primary pulmonary enteric adenocarcinoma (PEAC) is a rare invasive adenocarcinoma clinically similar to metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma (MCRC). Although many studies have addressed the differential diagnosis of PEAC, few have described the treatment of PEAC, especially using immunotherapy. This report describes a 61-year-old man who presented initially with pain in the ribs. Pathological analysis of biopsy samples shows malignant tumors of the right pleura, and next-generation sequencing of 26 genes showed a KRAS gene mutation. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) found no evidence of gastrointestinal malignancy. Due to multiple metastases, the patient could not undergo radical surgery. The patient was treated with a combination chemotherapy regimen of paclitaxel plus carboplatin, along with sindilizumab immunotherapy, but, after one cycle of treatment, the tumor showed a hyperprogressive state. The patient is still being monitored regularly. These findings indicate that chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy may be ineffective in the treatment of primary PEAC with positive driver genes.

Reduction of Cancer-Induced Thrombocytosis as a Biomarker of Improved Outcomes in Advanced Gastric Cancer

BACKGROUND

Interplay between non-specific inflammatory reaction and tumor microenvironment in gastric cancer (GC) can be measured indirectly by assessing fluctuations in concentration of platelets. Cytotoxic chemotherapy affects these morphotic elements directly by inducing myelosuppression. It was hypothesized that chemotherapy not only directly affects malignant cells, but also through immunomodulation related to myelosuppression.

METHODS

Metastatic GC patients (N: 155) treated with chemotherapy +/- trastuzumab were enrolled in this retrospective study. Platelet pretreatment concentration (PLT-count) and the deepest level of platelet reduction, as well as other inflammatory and general confounders were collected in the first 12 weeks of treatment (PLT-red). Martingale residuals were used to visualize the relationship between PLT-count, PLT-red, and overall survival (OS). Multiple multivariate Cox regression models were built to assess the impact of platelet reduction on OS and progression-free survival (PFS).

RESULTS

Reduction of PLT (PLT-red) to 60% of baseline concentration was associated with improved survival rates (HR = 0.60, p = 0.026 for OS and HR 0.56, p = 0.015 for PFS). Cross-classification into four groups based on PLT-count (high vs low) and PLT-red (high vs low) showed significantly worse survival rates in both high PLT-count (HR = 3.60, p = 0.007 for OS and HR = 2.97, p = 0.024 for PFS) and low PLT-count (HR = 1.75, p = 0.035 for OS and HR = 1.80, p = 0.028 for PFS) patients with insufficient platelets reduction.

CONCLUSION

Thrombocytosis reduction represents a novel, clinically important, prognostic factor for OS and PFS in patients with stage IV GC.

Real-world effectiveness of nivolumab in advanced gastric cancer: the DELIVER trial (JACCRO GC-08)

BACKGROUND

There is no large real-world data regarding efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in gastric cancer (GC). Although some tumors can grow rapidly after immunotherapy, the patient proportions and survival outcomes are unclear in GC.

METHODS

A multicenter, prospective observational study was performed to evaluate clinical outcomes including survival time, safety, and tumor behavior of nivolumab treatment for patients with advanced GC. Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), and secondary endpoints included response rate (RR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), tumor growth rate (TGR) at first evaluation, and safety.

RESULTS

Of 501 enrolled patients, 487 were evaluable (median age 70 years, 71% male, performance status 0/1/2 [42%/44%/14%], 21% HER2-pos, 42% patients with ascites). Median OS was 5.82 months (95% CI 5.29-7.00) with a 1-year survival rate of 30% and median PFS of 1.84 months (95% CI 1.71-1.97). The DCR was 39.4% and the RR was 14.2% (95% CI 10.3-18.8) in 282 patients with measurable lesions. In 219 patients evaluable for TGR, 20.5% were identified as hyperprogressive disease (HPD). OS from the first evaluation of patients with HPD was shorter compared with non-HPD (HR 1.77, 95% CI 1.25-2.51, P = 0.001), but it was not worse than that of patients with progression and non-HPD (HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.72-1.53, P = 0.8). A multivariate analysis revealed the presence of peritoneal metastasis was a prognostic factor for OS and PFS.

CONCLUSIONS

Our real-world data demonstrated the comparable survival time to a previous clinical trial and revealed the frequency and prognosis of patients with HPD in advanced GC treated with nivolumab.

OUP accepted manuscript

The recent, rapid advances in immuno-oncology have revolutionized cancer treatment and spurred further research into tumor biology. Yet, cancer patients respond variably to immunotherapy despite mounting evidence to support its efficacy. Current methods for predicting immunotherapy response are unreliable, as these tests cannot fully account for tumor heterogeneity and microenvironment. An improved method for predicting response to immunotherapy is needed. Recent studies have proposed radiomics—the process of converting medical images into quantitative data (features) that can be processed using machine learning algorithms to identify complex patterns and trends—for predicting response to immunotherapy. Because patients undergo numerous imaging procedures throughout the course of the disease, there exists a wealth of radiological imaging data available for training radiomics models. And because radiomic features reflect cancer biology, such as tumor heterogeneity and microenvironment, these models have enormous potential to predict immunotherapy response more accurately than current methods. Models trained on preexisting biomarkers and/or clinical outcomes have demonstrated potential to improve patient stratification and treatment outcomes. In this review, we discuss current applications of radiomics in oncology, followed by a discussion on recent studies that use radiomics to predict immunotherapy response and toxicity.

Neoadjuvant immunotherapy with nivolumab and ipilimumab induces major pathological responses in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Surgery for locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) results in 30‒50% five-year overall survival. In IMCISION (NCT03003637), a non-randomized phase Ib/IIa trial, 32 HNSCC patients are treated with 2 doses (in weeks 1 and 3) of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) using nivolumab (NIVO MONO, n = 6, phase Ib arm A) or nivolumab plus a single dose of ipilimumab (COMBO, n = 26, 6 in phase Ib arm B, and 20 in phase IIa) prior to surgery. Primary endpoints are feasibility to resect no later than week 6 (phase Ib) and primary tumor pathological response (phase IIa). Surgery is not delayed or suspended for any patient in phase Ib, meeting the primary endpoint. Grade 3‒4 immune-related adverse events are seen in 2 of 6 (33%) NIVO MONO and 10 of 26 (38%) total COMBO patients. Pathological response, defined as the %-change in primary tumor viable tumor cell percentage from baseline biopsy to on-treatment resection, is evaluable in 17/20 phase IIa patients and 29/32 total trial patients (6/6 NIVO MONO, 23/26 COMBO). We observe a major pathological response (MPR, 90‒100% response) in 35% of patients after COMBO ICB, both in phase IIa (6/17) and in the whole trial (8/23), meeting the phase IIa primary endpoint threshold of 10%. NIVO MONO’s MPR rate is 17% (1/6). None of the MPR patients develop recurrent HSNCC during 24.0 months median postsurgical follow-up. FDG-PET-based total lesion glycolysis identifies MPR patients prior to surgery. A baseline AID/APOBEC-associated mutational profile and an on-treatment decrease in hypoxia RNA signature are observed in MPR patients. Our data indicate that neoadjuvant COMBO ICB is feasible and encouragingly efficacious in HNSCC.

Immune checkpoint blockade has become standard care for patients with recurrent metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Here the authors present the results of a non-randomized phase Ib/IIa trial, reporting safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant nivolumab monotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab prior to standard-of-care surgery in patients with HNSCC. .

Redefine Hyperprogressive Disease During Treatment With Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancer

Objective

Emerging evidence showed that immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) lead to hyperprogressive disease (HPD) in a small proportion of patients. There is no well-recognized standard for the evaluation of HPD. Comprehensive exploration of HPD definition system in gastrointestinal cancer treated with ICI is lacking to date.

Methods

A total of 126 patients with advanced or metastatic gastrointestinal cancer treated with ICI monotherapy were analyzed. Seven definitions of HPD were defined with tumor growth kinetics (TGK) or tumor growth rate (TGR) by including new lesions or not, and with different cutoffs. Incidence and performance of different criteria were compared. Clinicopathologic characteristics and baseline genomic variations associated with HPD were also explored.

Results

Tumor growth kinetics ratio of more than two fold that incorporated new lesions into calculation of HPD outperformed other definitions by successfully stratifying 14 patients (11.1%) with both accelerated disease progression (median PFS, 1.62 versus 1.93 months; hazard ratio, 1.85; 95% CI, 0.98 to 3.48; P = 0.059) and worse overall survival (median OS, 3.97 versus 10.23 months; hazard ratio, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.11 to 4.78; P = 0.021). Baseline genomic alterations in circulating tumor DNA, including SMARCA2, MSH6, APC signaling pathway, and Wnt signaling pathway, might be associated with the risk of HPD.

Conclusion

Incorporating new lesions emerging during the treatment was shown to be reliable for the assessment of TGK. TGK serves as a more convenient way to reflect tumor growth acceleration compared with TGR. Genomic alterations were suggested to be associated with the occurrence of HPD.

Immunotherapy Monitoring with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Based on [18F]FDG PET/CT in Metastatic Melanomas and Lung Cancer

Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors has prompted a major change not only in cancer treatment but also in medical imaging. In parallel with the implementation of new drugs modulating the immune system, new response criteria have been developed, aiming to overcome clinical drawbacks related to the new, unusual, patterns of response characterizing both solid tumors and lymphoma during the course of immunotherapy. The acknowledgement of pseudo-progression, hyper-progression, immune-dissociated response and so forth, has become mandatory for all imagers dealing with this clinical scenario. A long list of acronyms, i.e., irRC, iRECIST, irRECIST, imRECIST, PECRIT, PERCIMT, imPERCIST, iPERCIST, depicts the enormous effort made by radiology and nuclear medicine physicians in the last decade to optimize imaging parameters for better prediction of clinical benefit in immunotherapy regimens. Quite frequently, a combination of clinical-laboratory data with imaging findings has been tested, proving the ability to stratify patients into various risk groups. The next steps necessarily require a large scale validation of the most robust criteria, as well as the clinical implementation of immune-targeting tracers for immuno-PET or the exploitation of radiomics and artificial intelligence as complementary tools during the course of immunotherapy administration. For the present review article, a summary of PET/CT role for immunotherapy monitoring will be provided. By scrolling into various cancer types and applied response criteria, the reader will obtain necessary information for better understanding the potentials and limitations of the modality in the clinical setting.

Comparison of Different Methods for Defining Hyperprogressive Disease in NSCLC

Introduction

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) as a consequence of immune checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC has been reported in multiple studies. However, inconsistent results in incidence and survival outcomes within studies, together with different assessment methods, have led to increasing controversy regarding the concept of HPD.

Methods

Consecutive patients treated with nivolumab (N = 42) or docetaxel (N = 37) were evaluated. HPD was quantified by applying three different methods (tumor growth rate [TGR], tumor growth kinetics [TGK], and Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 [RECIST 1.1]). HPD rates were compared between and within both cohorts using the different methods.

Results

Using TGR, TGK, and RECIST 1.1, we identified seven (16.7%), seven (16.7%), and six (14.3%) patients with HPD in the nivolumab cohort and three (8.1%), four (10.8%), and five (13.6%) in the docetaxel cohort, respectively. We observed a higher concordance between TGR and TGK (90.1%) compared with RECIST 1.1 (31.3% and 37.5% with TGR and TGK, respectively). We found no significant differences in the overall survival between patients with progressive disease and HPD in either cohort.

Conclusions

TGR and TGK revealed high concordance rates for identifying patients with HPD in NSCLC. The incidence of HPD was numerically higher in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Standardization of methods for measuring HPD and its exploration in larger studies are needed to establish its clinical meaning in NSCLC.

Pancreatic Cancer Progression in a Patient With Lynch Syndrome Receiving Immunotherapy: A Cautionary Tale

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs) with DNA mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd) respond preferentially to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). However, a subset of MMRd PDACs does not respond to these agents. This report describes a patient with PDAC who experienced rapid disease progression suggestive of hyperprogressive disease. The case involved a 63-year-old man carrying a pathogenic germline PMS2 mutation who developed metastatic PDAC. His tumor showed isolated loss of PMS2 expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). He was treated with pembrolizumab, but his disease rapidly progressed. Whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing of a liver metastasis biopsy, acquired at disease progression, showed a retained wild-type PMS2 allele and hallmarks of microsatellite stability, including low tumor mutational burden and low MSIsensor score. PCR-based microsatellite instability (MSI) testing of the treatment-naïve tumor showed microsatellite stability. The ICI-treated tumor had a lower density of CD8+ T-cell infiltration than the treatment-naïve tumor, which is contrary to the expected evolution with ICI responsiveness. Through this case and a review of the literature, we highlight the low penetrance of PMS2 germline mutations in PDAC and discuss pitfalls in ascertaining MMRd and MSI based on IHC testing alone. An orthogonal confirmatory assay is warranted in the presence of uncommon immunophenotypes, such as isolated PMS2 loss, to optimize selection of patients with PDAC for immunotherapy.

Hyperprogression under immunotherapy: a new form of immunotherapy response?-a narrative literature review

OBJECTIVE

Update the last known review, and summarize the definitions, diagnostic criteria, reported risk factors, possible mechanisms and potential biomarkers of hyperprogressive disease (HPD) under immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND

Immunotherapy is a relatively new systemic therapy adding a new method of treatment of especially advanced cancer patients. In a variety of immunotherapies, however, an unexpected acceleration of tumor growth, known as HPD, is observed in approximately 30% of patients after immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment. HPD has a deleterious survival effect on patients and represents an urgent issue for both clinicians and patients. Existing literature has reviewed and summarized the definition, diagnostic criteria, reported risk factors and possible mechanisms of hyperprogression. However, with the gradual deepening of the exploration of HPD, researchers have made significant breakthroughs in elucidating the mechanism and mechanism of HPD and exploring biomarkers.

METHODS

The search was conducted on Google Scholar and PubMed in January and May of 2021. We searched among English papers with no limitation on the publication year. We have included retrospective studies, case reports and basic researches related to HPD in the collection, we also referred to some review articles on HPD in recent years. A qualitative-interpretive approach was used for data extraction.

CONCLUSIONS

HPD is considered to be an acceleration of tumor growth after ICI treatment that is not only due to immune infiltration but also due to real disease progression, with an incidence of about 4-30% in all retrospective published studies to date. Currently, the most widely used criteria of HPD contain Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and tumor growth rate (TGR) or tumor growth kinetics. The common risk factors and underlying mechanisms of HPD have not yet been fully elucidated. However, based on the poor prognosis of HPD, there have been many advances in the exploration of biomarkers in recent years, like the prediction of HPD, such as LDH levels of peripheral blood, liquid biopsy, and radiomics, etc.

Novel patterns of progression upon immunotherapy in other thoracic malignancies and uncommon populations

In the immunotherapy era, considering the prolonged survival benefit and responses observed with immunecheckpoint inhibitors (ICI) in many cancer types, the identification of patients with rapid progression (PD) and deaths upon ICI has found some skepticism and resistance among the scientific community. Nevertheless, an acceleration of tumour during ICI, defined as hyperprogressive disease (HPD), has been recognized across different cancer types and evidence regarding rapid PDs and deaths are emerging in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and thymic malignancies and in uncommon non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) populations. Of note, PD and early deaths (ED) rates upon single agent ICI were up to 60% and 30% in MPM and 70% and 38% in SCLC patients, respectively. Similarly, rapid PDs and deaths were observed in clinical trials and retrospective studies including patients with poor performance status (PS), HIV infection and rare NSCLC histologies. Atypical patterns of response, such as pseudoprogression (PsPD) may also occur in other thoracic malignancies (MPM) and in some uncommon populations (i.e., HIV patients), however probably at lower rate compared to HPD. The characterizations of HPD and PsPD mechanisms and the identification of common definition criteria are the next future challenges in this area of cancer research.

Excellent Response to Atezolizumab After Clinically Defined Hyperprogression Upon Previous Treatment With Pembrolizumab in Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), including programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) inhibitors, has revolutionized the systematic treatment of advanced and metastatic solid tumors. However, the response rate to ICIs is unsatisfactory, and unexpected hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is even observed in a small subgroup of patients. Patients with HPD usually have worsening clinical symptoms and poorer survival, and therapeutic strategies are extremely limited. Here, we presented a patient with HPD who had used a PD-L1 inhibitor and was highly responsive to the sequential use of a PD-1 inhibitor. A 67-year-old woman with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer was treated with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy after progression on previous multiple-line chemotherapy treatments. After 2 cycles of treatments, she rapidly developed HPD, as confirmed by radiological evaluation and worsening symptoms. At that time, pembrolizumab was discontinued, and she switched to the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab plus chemotherapy. This patient partially responded to atezolizumab plus chemotherapy without experiencing severe drug-related adverse effects. This is the first reported case of metastatic breast cancer in a patient with radiologically confirmed HPD after pembrolizumab therapy in which successful rechallenge with atezolizumab relieved clinical symptoms. Further studies with larger sample sizes involving a deeper translational investigation of HPD are needed to confirm the efficacy and mechanism of sequential application of different ICIs for the clinical management of HPD.

Hyperprogressive Disease: Main Features and Key Controversies

Along with the positioning of immunotherapy as a preferential treatment for a wide variety of neoplasms, a new pattern of response consisting in a sudden acceleration of tumor growth has been described. This phenomenon has received the name of "hyperprogressive disease", and several definitions have been proposed for its identification, most of them relying on radiological criteria. However, due to the fact that the cellular and molecular mechanisms have not been elucidated yet, there is still some debate regarding whether this fast progression is induced by immunotherapy or only reflects the natural course of some highly aggressive neoplasms. Moreover, contradictory results of trials including patients with different cancer types suggest that both the incidence, the associated factors and the implications regarding prognosis might differ depending on tumor histology. This article intends to review the main publications regarding this matter and critically approach the most controversial aspects.

Definition, Incidence, and Challenges for Assessment of Hyperprogressive Disease During Cancer Treatment With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

IMPORTANCE

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a recognized pattern of rapid tumor progression during immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment. Definitions of HPD have not been standardized, posing the risk of capturing different tumoral behaviors.

OBJECTIVES

To provide a systematic summary of definitions and the incidence of HPD in patients undergoing ICI treatment and discuss the challenges of current assessment of HPD.

DATA SOURCES

Articles that evaluated HPD published before March 3, 2020, were identified from MEDLINE and EMBASE.

STUDY SELECTION

Clinical trials and observational studies providing the incidence and definition of HPD from patients with cancer treated with ICIs.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Factors included in the analysis comprised authors, year of publication, cancer type, ICI type, number of previous treatment lines, definition of HPD, time frame used to assess HPD, number of patients with HPD, onset of HPD, and prognosis of patients with HPD. Quantitative and qualitative syntheses for the incidence of HPD were performed.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Definitions of HPD were categorized and the range of incidence of HPD was evaluated. Subgroup analysis on the incidence of HPD according to the category was performed and the challenges associated with current HPD assessment were evaluated.

RESULTS

Twenty-four studies with 3109 patients were analyzed. The incidence of HPD varied from 5.9% to 43.1%. The definitions were divided into 4 categories based on the calculation of tumor growth acceleration: tumor growth rate ratio (pooled incidence of HPD, 9.4%; 95% CI, 6.9%-12.0%), tumor growth kinetics ratio (pooled incidence, 15.8%; 95% CI, 8.0%-23.7%), early tumor burden increase (pooled incidence, 20.6%; 95% CI, 9.3%-31.8%), and combinations of the above (pooled incidence, 12.4%; 95% CI, 7.3%-17.5%). Hyperprogressive disease could be overestimated or underestimated if the assessment was limited to tumor growth rate or tumor growth kinetics ratio, target lesions, or response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST)-defined progressors, or if the assessment time frame conformed to RECIST. Study results on clinical outcome were heterogeneous on discriminating patients with HPD from those with natural progressive disease.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Definitions of HPD appear to be diverse, with the incidence of HPD varying from 5.9% to 43.1% across studies examined in this meta-analysis. Varying incidence and definitions of HPD indicate the need for establishing its uniform and clinically relevant criteria based on currently available evidence.

Is hyperprogressive disease a specific phenomenom of immunotherapy?

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a novel pattern of response during immunotherapy treatment. Several retrospective studies have evaluated its prevalence among various cancer types and, in particular, in non-small cell lung cancer patients, based on different definition criteria. If HPD is a just a typical phenomenon of immunotherapy is still an unsolved concern. This paper summarized the available data about HPD in other cancer treatments.

Definitions, outcomes, and management of hyperprogression in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

BACKGROUND

The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has been a breakthrough in the care of patients with non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC). However, physicians are now facing a previously unidentified clinical situation called hyperprogression (HP), which presents as a fast and unexpected increase in tumor burden. HP's existence and specificity to ICIs remains controversial because a widely acknowledged definition is currently lacking. Meanwhile, management remains elusive.

METHODS

Medical records from all consecutive NSCLC patients who were treated with ICI from 2015 to 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The HP incidence rate was calculated according to five definitions (tumor growth rate [TGR]ratio, ΔTGR, tumor growth kinetic [TGK], RECIST, and time to treatment failure [TTF]), and the agreement between such definitions was determined. The HP impact on overall survival (OS) was then assessed. The association between HP (defined using the TGRratio definition) and clinical and biological variables was also assessed. Clinical HP management and its impact on outcomes were described.

RESULTS

We identified 169 consecutive ICI-treated patients, with potential HP accounting for 11.3 %, 5.7 %, 17.0 %, 9.6 %, and 31.7 % patients, according to TGRratio, ΔTGR, TGK, RECIST, and TTF definitions. Agreement between the different HP definitions was highly heterogeneous (range 29 %-77 %) and globally poor. HP was associated with shorter OS, compared to standard RECIST progressive disease, but this difference only reached statistical significance when using the TTF definition. TGRratio-based HP was significantly associated with hepatic metastases. In TGRratio-based HP patients, neither resuming chemotherapy nor corticosteroids use was associated with statistically significant impact on overall survival.

CONCLUSION

We found fairly heterogeneous HP rates using different definitions. TTF was the only definition leading to significantly worsened OS. Further studies are needed to provide consensus recommendations for the assessment, definition, and management of HP, whose existence is likely real.

Hyperprogressive disease: A distinct pattern of progression to immune checkpoint inhibitors

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a novel pattern of progression attributed to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment and characterized by a dramatic tumor surge and poor survival. The concept of HPD is still controversial, while the definition varies widely across studies. Although HPD has been associated with multiple clinicopathological and molecular features, there is no biomarker to predict this detrimental effect of immunotherapy and the underlying mechanism remains unknown. The aim of this comprehensive review is to summarize current data on HPD and present the controversies and clinical care management challenges for oncologists treating patients with ICIs.