Neratinib as Extended Adjuvant Treatment of HER2-Positive/HR-Positive Early Breast Cancer Patients in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: Interim Results of the Prospective, Observational ELEANOR Study

Introduction

Prognosis of patients diagnosed with HER2+ early breast cancer (eBC) has substantially improved, but distant recurrences impacting quality of life and survival still occur. One treatment option for extended adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2+/HR+ eBC is neratinib, available in Europe for patients who completed adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy within 1 year. The ELEANOR study is investigating the real-world use of neratinib in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Results from an interim analysis of the first 200 patients observed for ≥3 months are reported.

Methods

The primary objective of this prospective, multicenter, observational study is to assess patient adherence to neratinib (defined as the percentage of patients taking neratinib on ≥75% prescribed days). Secondary objectives are patient characteristics and treatment outcomes.

Results

At cut-off (May 2, 2022), a total of 202 patients had been observed for ≥3 months, with neratinib treatment documented for 187 patients (median age: 53.0 years; 67.9% at increased risk of disease recurrence). In total, 151 (80.7%) patients had received prior neoadjuvant treatment; of these, 82 (54.3%) patients achieved a pathologically complete response. Neratinib was initiated at a median 3.6 months after trastuzumab-based treatment, with 36.4% starting at a dose <240 mg/day. Treatment is ongoing for 46.0% of patients, with median treatment duration of 11.2 (interquartile range 0.9-12.0) months. Diarrhea was the most common adverse event (78.6% any grade, 20.3% grade ≥3); pharmacologic prophylaxis was used in 85.6% of patients.

Conclusions

The pattern of anti-HER2 pretreatment observed reflected the current treatment for HER2+/HR+ eBC in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. These interim results suggest that neratinib as an extended adjuvant is a feasible option after various anti-HER2 pretreatments and that its tolerability can be managed and improved with proactive diarrhea management.

Updated Austrian treatment algorithm for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer

Approximately 15% of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients have neither hormone receptors expression nor HER2 overexpression and/or HER2/neu gene amplification. This subtype of breast cancer is known as Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), and carries a significantly elevated risk of local and distant recurrence. In comparison with other breast cancer subtypes, there is a higher rate of visceral and brain metastases. The majority of metastases of TNBC are diagnosed within three years after initial breast cancer diagnosis. While there have been major advances in hormone-receptor- positive and in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive disease over the past two decades, only limited improvements in outcomes for patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) have been observed. A group of Austrian breast cancer specialists therefore convened an expert meeting to establish a comprehensive clinical risk-benefit profile of available mTNBC therapies and discuss the role sacituzumab govitecan may play in the treatment algorithm of the triple-negative breast cancer patients.

Pretreatment 18-FDG-PET/CT parameters can serve as prognostic imaging biomarkers in recurrent NSCLC patients treated with reirradiation-chemoimmunotherapy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Our study aimed to assess whether quantitative pretreatment 18F-FDG-PET/CT parameters could predict prognostic clinical outcome of recurrent NSCLC patients who may benefit from ablative reirradiation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty-eight patients with recurrent NSCLC of all UICC stages who underwent ablative thoracic reirradiation were analyzed. Twenty-nine (60%) patients received immunotherapy with or without chemotherapy in addition to reirradiation. Twelve patients (25%) received reirradiation only and seven (15%) received chemotherapy and reirradiation. Pretreatment 18-FDG-PET/CT was mandatory in initial diagnosis and recurrence, based on which volumetric and intensity quantitative parameters were measured before reirradiation and their impact on overall survival, progression-free survival, and locoregional control was assessed.

RESULTS

With a median follow-up time of 16.7 months, the median OS was 21.8 months (95%-CI: 16.2-27.3). On multivariate analysis, OS and PFS were significantly influenced by MTV (p < 0.001 for OS; p = 0.006 for PFS), TLG (p < 0.001 for OS; p = 0.001 for PFS) and SUL peak (p = 0.0024 for OS; p = 0.02 for PFS) of the tumor and MTV (p = 0.004 for OS; p < 0.001 for PFS) as well as TLG (p = 0.007 for OS; p = 0.015 for PFS) of the metastatic lymph nodes. SUL peak of the tumor (p = 0.05) and the MTV of the lymph nodes (p = 0.003) were only PET quantitative parameters that significantly impacted LRC.

CONCLUSION

Pretreatment tumor and metastastic lymph node MTV, TLG and tumor SUL peak significantly correlated with clinical outcome in recurrent NSCLC patients treated with reirradiation-chemoimmunotherapy.

Management of metastatic colorectal cancer in patients ≥70 years - a single center experience

BACKGROUND

Age-standardized mortality rates for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) are highest among elderly patients. In current clinical guidelines, treatment recommendations for this patient population are based on a limited number of clinical trials.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In this monocentric, retrospective analysis we characterized patients aged ≥70 years undergoing systemic therapy for mCRC and overall survival (OS) was investigated.

RESULTS

We included 117 unselected, consecutive mCRC patients aged ≥70 years undergoing systemic therapy for mCRC between February 2009 and July 2022. Median OS was 25.6 months (95% CI: 21.8-29.4). The median age was 78 years (range: 70-90) and 21%, 48%, 26% and 5% had an ECOG performance score of 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The median number of systemic therapy lines was 2 (range: 1-5). The choice of first-line chemotherapy backbone (doublet/triplet versus mono) did not impact OS (HR: 0.83, p=0.50) or the probability of receiving subsequent therapy (p=0.697). Metastasectomy and/or local ablative treatment in the liver, lung, peritoneum and/or other organs were applied in 26 patients (22%) with curative intent. First-line anti-EGFR-based therapy showed a trend towards longer OS compared to anti-VEGF-based therapy or chemotherapy alone in left-sided mCRC (anti-EGFR: 39.3 months versus anti-VEGF: 27.3 months versus chemotherapy alone: 13.8 months, p=0.105). In multivariable analysis, metastasectomy and/or local ablative treatment with curative intent (yes versus no, HR: 0.22, p<0.001), the ECOG performance score (2 versus 0, HR: 3.07, p=0.007; 3 versus 0, HR: 3.66, p=0.053) and the presence of liver metastases (yes versus no, HR: 1.79, p=0.049) were independently associated with OS.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings corroborate front-line monochemotherapy in combination with targeted therapy as the treatment of choice for elderly mCRC patients with palliative treatment intent. Metastasectomy and/or local ablative treatment with curative intent are feasible and may improve OS in selected elderly mCRC patients.

Abstract P3-05-49: Number of involved organs at baseline is prognostic for overall survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer: Results from the AGMT_MBC-Registry

Background: Hormone-receptor (HR) status, HER2 Status, de novo metastatic disease, distant recurrence-free interval (DRFI), and visceral disease are known prognostic factors in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Therefore, in the majority of clinical trials, randomization is stratified for these parameters. Whether the number of involved organs at baseline has an additional prognostic value was examined in this analysis.

Patients and methods: The AGMT-MBC-Registry is a multicenter nationwide ongoing retrospective and prospective registry for MBC patients in Austria. In this analysis, patients with known HR status, HER2 status, and available survival data were included. Multivariable hazard ratios were estimated by COX proportional hazard models. For variable selection a backward stepwise model selection using the Akaike information criterion was performed.

Results: As of 04/05/2022, 2,235 patients have been included in the registry, of which 1,840 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. In two different multivariable COX proportional hazard models for overall survival, the number of involved organs was a highly statistically significant independent prognostic factor: (1) a model including the number of involved organs at baseline together with known prognostic factors (see Table 1); (2) a stepwise selection model additionally including menopausal status and involved metastatic organ sites (bone, liver, lung, brain, and lymph nodes) separately. This effect was maintained in sensitivity analysis taking different breast cancer subtypes as well as visceral and non-visceral disease into account.

Conclusion: The number of involved organs at baseline is an independent prognostic factor in MBC and should be considered as a stratification factor in randomized trials.

Table 1. Multivariable Model for overall survival.

Citation Format: Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Simon P. Gampenrieder, Christoph Tinchon, Andreas Petzer, Marija Balic, Sonja Heibl, Margit Sandholzer, August F. Zabernigg, Daniel Egle, Christopher Hager, Petra Pichler, Florian Roitner, Johannes Andel, Kathrin Strasser-Weippl, Michael Knauer, Michael Hubalek, Christian F. Singer, Richard Greil. Number of involved organs at baseline is prognostic for overall survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer: Results from the AGMT_MBC-Registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-05-49.

Abstract P2-01-01: Interim analysis (n=200) from ELEANOR: a multi-national, prospective, non-interventional study among patients with HER2+ and HR+ early breast cancer treated with extended adjuvant neratinib in the clinical routine

Background Recent advances in the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor positive (HER2+) early breast cancer (eBC) have led to a reduction in recurrence risk; still a relevant percentage of patients relapses over time, predominantly presenting with distant recurrence. Neratinib is registered in Europe as extended adjuvant treatment for adult patients with HER2+, hormone receptor positive (HR+) eBC, who completed adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy within one year prior to start of neratinib. In the ExteNET study, neratinib improved the absolute 5-year invasive disease-free survival (iDFS) rate by 5.1% versus placebo in this population (90.8% vs. 85.7%; HR 0.58 [95% CI 0.41-0.82]), mainly by reducing the rate of distant metastases. According to explorative analyses from ExteNET, the effect may be even more pronounced in patients with non-pCR after neoadjuvant trastuzumab treatment and/or in patients completing the full duration of neratinib therapy (i.e. ≥11 months of neratinib treatment). Diarrhea, the most common grade 3 adverse event (neratinib: 39% without primary diarrhea prophylaxis, median cumulative duration 5 days; placebo: 1%; no grade 4 events) can generally be managed through adequate prophylaxis and treatment management. ELEANOR is the first non-interventional study (NIS) of real-world use of neratinib and its management in eBC patients in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Methods Enrollment of 300 adult female patients with HER2+/HR+ eBC is planned in accordance with the SmPC specifications. Primary endpoint is the rate of patients adherent to neratinib treatment (i.e. neratinib use for ≥75% of treatment days). Secondary objectives include characterization of patients scheduled to receive neratinib, details on neratinib treatment, recurrences, safety/tolerability, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). CANKADO, an eHealth application developed to support patient/physician communication, is an integral part of the NIS. Here, we report results of the preplanned interim analysis based on 200 enrolled patients. Results At data cut-off (May 2022), 202 patients had been observed for 3 months; patient enrollment is ongoing. Median age was 53.0 years and 66.3% of patients were at increased risk of disease recurrence (defined as non-pCR or AJCC stage &gt; I). Most patients had received prior neoadjuvant treatment (79.7%). Post-neoadjuvant treatment included dual HER2 blockade with trastuzumab and pertuzumab (38.8%/23.9% of pCR/non-pCR patients) and trastuzumab-emtansine (T-DM1, 53.5% of non-pCR patients). Neratinib treatment had been documented for 187 patients, treatment was ongoing for 46.0% of patients. Diarrhea was the most common adverse event (78.6% any grade, 19.3% grade 3, 2 patients grade 4), but was markedly lower when indirectly compared to ExteNET (39% grade 3). The neratinib dose escalation schedule was chosen for 36.4% of patients and led to a decreased incidence of severe diarrhea (16.2% grade 3, no grade 4 events). 93.9% (95% CI: 87.9-97.5%) of 115 evaluable patients adhered to neratinib treatment. Conclusion The results of this preplanned interim analysis reflect the current treatment landscape in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. These results confirm, in line with the observed adherence data, that extended adjuvant neratinib use is feasible in typical clinical practice settings. Furthermore, treatment management strategies such as diarrhea prophylaxis or neratinib dose escalation are routinely used and can increase treatment tolerability markedly. The study is funded by Pierre Fabre Pharma GmbH (Freiburg, Germany), Pierre Fabre Pharma Austria (Wels, Austria) and Pierre Fabre Pharma AG (Allschwil, Switzerland).

Citation Format: Rupert Bartsch, Nadia Harbeck, Denise Wrobel, Matthias Zaiss, Jürgen Terhaag, Dagmar Guth, Andrea Distelrath, Rachel Wuerstlein, Mark-Oliver Zahn, Diana Lüftner, Michael Schwitter, Marija Balic, Christian Jackisch, Volkmar Müller, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Marcus Schmidt, Khalil Zaman, Timo Schinköthe, Anna Resch, Urs Breitenstein. Interim analysis (n=200) from ELEANOR: a multi-national, prospective, non-interventional study among patients with HER2+ and HR+ early breast cancer treated with extended adjuvant neratinib in the clinical routine [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-01-01.

Abstract P2-02-04: De-escalation of bone-targeted treatment: Does the number of 6-monthly adjuvant zoledronate infusions received affect treatment efficacy for early breast cancer? A sub-study of ABCSG-12

Background: The results of the Early Breast Cancer Trialist Group (EBCTCG) meta-analysis (Lancet 2015) led to the widespread adoption of bisphosphonates as adjuvant therapy for postmenopausal early-stage breast cancer (EBC). Despite evaluating multiple bisphosphonate agents and regimens, there was no signal of varying efficacy with different agents, routes of administration or dose/dose intensity. We evaluated the question of treatment de-escalation using long-term outcome data from the prospective randomized ABCSG-12 trial.

Patients and methods: Between 1999 and 2006, ABCSG-12 accrued 1803 patients with hormone-receptor positive EBC on ovarian function suppression for three years that were randomized to receive 4 mg zoledronic acid 6-monthly or not (and tamoxifen or anastrozole, in a 2:2 factorial design). In the current retrospective study, we evaluated whether the number of zoledronate infusions actually received had an impact on breast cancer-specific and fragility fracture outcomes. Based on the results of the EBCTCG meta-analysis, we hypothesized that amongst patients who receive less infusions than the planned seven zoledronate infusion in this trial, the number of infusions has no differential effect on these outcomes. Time to event endpoints were analyzed with Cox models and Kaplan Meier curves starting from a 3-year landmark. BMD subset analyses were restricted to patients who participated in the BMD sub-study with available BMD data.

Results: 725 patients who received at least one zoledronate infusion were included in the time-to-event-analysis. There was no statistically significant difference in disease-free survival (adjusted HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.48–1.44, p=0.51) or overall survival (HR 0.97, 95% 0.30-3.11, p=0.96) in patients who received ≤6 zoledronate infusions (n=170) compared to those who received ≥7 zoledronate infusions (n=555) (adjusted HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.48 – 1.44, p=0.51). Both subgroups show stable lumbar spine and total hip BMD measurements across the five years.

Conclusions: Comparable to the metastatic bone disease and fragility fracture settings, there was no evidence observed to indicate that a reduced number of zoledronate infusions is associated with reduced adjuvant efficacy. Further studies to define optimal regimens of adjuvant bone-targeted therapies (prospective evaluation of “how-low-can-you-go”) are required.

Table 1: Multivariate Cox Regression: DFS and OS

Table 2: BMD and percent change from baseline at the total hip and lumbar spine (L1-L4) over 60 months

Citation Format: Ana-Alicia Beltran-Bless, Mark Clemons, Christian Fesl, Dominik Hlauschek, Lidija Soelkner, Gregory R. Pond, Lisa Vandermeer, Richard Greil, Marija Balic, Vesna Bjelic-Radisic, Christian F. Singer, Guenther Steger, Ruth Helfgott, Daniel Egle, Simon P. Gampenrieder, Stephanie Kacerovsky-Strobl, Christoph Suppan, Magdalena Ritter, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Georg Pfeiler, Hannes Fohler, John Hilton, Michael Gnant. De-escalation of bone-targeted treatment: Does the number of 6-monthly adjuvant zoledronate infusions received affect treatment efficacy for early breast cancer? A sub-study of ABCSG-12 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-02-04.

Abstract P4-01-27: Prognosis and treatment landscape of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) before the availability of tucatinib and trastuzumab-deruxtecan: Results from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-Registry

Background: New anti-HER2 drugs such as tucatinib and trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) have shown to improve survival of HER2+ MBC in clinical phase III trials. To allow a future confirmation of this survival advantage in real world, we evaluated the prognosis of HER2+ MBC patients before the availability of tucatinib and T-DXd in Austria. Furthermore, we analyzed the treatment landscape and the drop-out rate between subsequent lines of therapy as documented in the MBC-Registry of the Austrian Study Group of Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT).

Patients and methods: The AGMT-MBC-Registry is a multicenter nationwide ongoing retrospective and prospective registry for MBC patients in Austria. In this analysis, patients with known HER2 status, available survival data, at least one treatment line and diagnosis of metastatic disease after 01/04/2013 (pertuzumab available) were included. Follow-up was censored at Dec 31, 2020, when tucatinib und T-DXd became available.

Results: As of 04/05/2022, 2,235 patients have been included in the registry. Out of 2,000 evaluable patients, 362 (18.1%) were HER2+, of which 171 (47.2%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Out of them 69.0% were hormone-receptor positive. In patients with metachronous metastatic disease (53.2%), 61.5% had received trastuzumab-based treatment for early breast cancer. Median overall survival (OS) for all patients was 50.1 months (95%CI 40.7-73.0), and 66.1 months (95%CI 50.1-NA) for those who received a pertuzumab combination as first-line treatment. The drop-out rate from 1st- to 5th-line was 26.9%, 24.4%, 28.3% and 36.7%, respectively. This yields an estimated percentage of patients that received at least 3, 4, and 5 treatment lines for advanced disease of 55.2%, 39.6% and 25.1%, respectively. In first line, 50.9% received trastuzumab plus pertuzumab and 11.1% T- DM1. In second line, 38.9% were treated with T-DM1 and 35.6% with trastuzumab-based chemotherapy or endocrine therapy. In third line, 11.3%, 17.0% and 49.1% received T-DM1, lapatinib-based and trastuzumab-based therapy, respectively. Outcomes according to treatment line are shown in Table 1.

Conclusion: Median overall survival of HER2+ MBC in Austria who received a pertuzumab combination treatment is comparable to the results reported in the registration CLEOPATRA trial. In this analysis, only ~40% of patients are estimated to receive more than three treatment lines and treatment benefit diminished from line to line. This underlines the importance of investigating and ultimately using the most effective compounds in early treatment lines in order to allow more patients to benefit from these life prolonging drugs.

Table 1: Outcome according to treatment line

Citation Format: Simon P. Gampenrieder, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Christoph Tinchon, Andreas Petzer, Marija Balic, Sonja Heibl, Margit Sandholzer, August F. Zabernigg, Daniel Egle, Christopher Hager, Petra Pichler, Florian Roitner, Johannes Andel, Kathrin Strasser-Weippl, Michael Knauer, Michael Hubalek, Christian F. Singer, Richard Greil. Prognosis and treatment landscape of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) before the availability of tucatinib and trastuzumab-deruxtecan: Results from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-Registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-01-27.

Influence of HER2 expression on prognosis in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer-results from an international, multicenter analysis coordinated by the AGMT Study Group

BACKGROUND

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with poor prognosis, and new treatment options are urgently needed. About 34%-39% of primary TNBCs show a low expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2-low), which is a target for new anti-HER2 drugs. However, little is known about the frequency and the prognostic value of HER2-low in metastatic TNBC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We retrospectively included patients with TNBC from five European countries for this international, multicenter analysis. Triple-negativity had to be shown in a metastatic site or in the primary breast tumor diagnosed simultaneously or within 3 years before metastatic disease. HER2-low was defined as immunohistochemically (IHC) 1+ or 2+ without ERBB2 gene amplification. Survival probabilities were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated by Cox regression models.

RESULTS

In total, 691 patients, diagnosed between January 2006 and February 2021, were assessable. The incidence of HER2-low was 32.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 28.5% to 35.5%], with similar proportions in metastases (n = 265; 29.8%) and primary tumors (n = 425; 33.4%; P = 0.324). The median overall survival (OS) in HER2-low and HER2-0 TNBC was 18.6 and 16.1 months, respectively (HR 1.00; 95% CI 0.83-1.19; P = 0.969). Similarly, in multivariable analysis, HER2-low had no significant impact on OS (HR 0.95; 95% CI 0.79-1.13; P = 0.545). No difference in prognosis was observed between HER2 IHC 0/1+ and IHC 2+ tumors (HR 0.89; 95% CI 0.69-1.17; P = 0.414).

CONCLUSIONS

In this large international dataset of metastatic TNBC, the frequency of HER2-low was 32.0%. Neither in univariable nor in multivariable analysis HER2-low showed any influence on OS.

Does the number of 6-monthly adjuvant zoledronate infusions received affect treatment efficacy for early breast cancer? A sub-study of ABCSG-12

BACKGROUND

The widespread adoption of adjuvant bisphosphonate therapy for postmenopausal early breast cancer (EBC) patients was based on results of the Early Breast Cancer Trialist Group (EBCTCG) meta-analysis. Despite multiple regimens evaluated, there was no signal of varying efficacy with type, dose/dose intensity of bisphosphonate administration. We evaluated the effect of early treatment cessation using long-term outcome data from the ABCSG-12 trial.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

ABCSG-12 randomized 1803 hormone-receptor positive EBC patients on ovarian suppression between 1999 and 2006 to receive 4 mg zoledronic acid 6-monthly or not (and tamoxifen or anastrozole, 2:2 factorial design). In the current study, we evaluated whether the number of zoledronate infusions had an impact on breast cancer-specific outcomes. We hypothesized that amongst patients who received at least one zoledronate infusion, the number of infusions had no effect on outcomes. Time-to-event endpoints were analysed with Cox models and Kaplan Meier curves starting from a 3-year landmark. BMD analysis was restricted to patients who participated in the BMD sub-study.

RESULTS

725 patients who received at least one zoledronate infusion were included in the time-to-event analysis. There was no statistically significant difference in disease-free or overall survival in the patients who received ≤6 zoledronate infusions (n = 170) compared to those who received ≥7 zoledronate infusions (n = 555).

CONCLUSIONS

Comparable to efforts to de-escalate treatment duration in metastatic bone disease, there was no evidence to indicate that a reduced number of zoledronate infusions is associated with reduced adjuvant efficacy. Further studies to define optimal regimens of adjuvant bone-targeted therapies are required.

Long-Term Outcomes of Adjuvant Denosumab in Breast Cancer

Outcomes of Adjuvant Denosumab in Breast CancerIn this long-term report of a prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor in postmenopausal patients with early hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, adjuvant denosumab therapy improved disease-free survival by 3.5 percentage points, bone metastasis-free survival by 2.5 percentage points, and overall survival by 1.0 percentage point at 9 years of follow-up.

Austrian treatment algorithms in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: a 2022 update

In the past 12 months a plethora of relevant novel data for the treatment of metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer were published. To bring this new evidence into a clinical perspective, a group of Austrian breast cancer specialists updated their previously published treatment algorithm for those patients. For this consensus paper a total of eight scenarios were developed in which treatment strategies appropriate for specific patient profiles were evaluated. Consensus was established by detailed discussions of each scenario and by reaching full consensus.

Body composition dynamics and impact on clinical outcome in gastric and gastro-esophageal junction cancer patients undergoing perioperative chemotherapy with the FLOT protocol

PURPOSE

Perioperative chemotherapy with FLOT constitutes a standard of care approach for locally advanced, resectable gastric or gastro-esophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. We aimed at investigating anthropometric, CT-based and FDG-PET-based body composition parameters and dynamics during this multidisciplinary approach and the impact on clinical outcomes.

METHODS

This retrospective, single-center study was based on medical records and (FDG-PET)-CT images among gastric/GEJ cancer patients undergoing perioperative FLOT chemotherapy.

RESULTS

Between 2016 and 2021, 46 gastric/GEJ cancer patients started perioperative FLOT at our tertiary cancer center (Salzburg, Austria). At a median follow-up of 32 months median PFS was 47.4 months and median OS was not reached. The skeletal muscle index (SMI, cm²/m²) turned out to be the only body composition parameter with a statistically significant decrease during pre-operative FLOT (51.3 versus 48.8 cm²/m², p = 0.02). Neither pre-FLOT body mass index (BMI), nor SMI had an impact on the duration of pre-operative FLOT, the time interval from pre-operative FLOT initiation to surgery, the necessity of pre-operative or post-operative FLOT de-escalation or the likelihood of the start of postoperative chemotherapy. Pre-FLOT BMI (overweight versus normal, HR: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.02-0.65, p = 0.02) and pre-FLOT SMI (sarcopenia versus no sarcopenia, HR: 5.08, 95% CI: 1.27-20.31, p = 0.02) were statistically significantly associated with PFS in the multivariable analysis.

CONCLUSION

The statistically significant SMI loss during pre-operative FLOT and the meaningful impact of baseline SMI and BMI on PFS argue for the implementation of a nutritional screening and support program prior to the initiation of pre-operative FLOT in clinical routine.

Long-term outcomes of adjuvant denosumab in breast cancer: Fracture reduction and survival results from 3,425 patients in the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled ABCSG-18 trial

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Background: State-of-the-art adjuvant endocrine therapy with aromatase inhibitors (AI) compromises bone health in postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer, increasing fracture incidence. Adjuvant treatment with the anti-RANK ligand denosumab (Dmab) counteracts these side effects and may improve outcomes. We here report the final long-term outcomes of the ABCSG-18 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00556374). Methods: In this prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial, 3,425 postmenopausal patients with early HR+ breast cancer on AI therapy were randomised in 58 trial centers between 2006 and 2013 to receive either Dmab 60 mg or placebo s.c. every 6 months (q6m). The primary endpoint was time to first clinical fracture, secondary disease outcome-related endpoints were disease-free survival (DFS), bone-metastasis free survival (BMFS), and overall survival (OS). In addition to the main endpoint analyses reported previously, exploratory long-term follow-up was conducted in ABCSG-18. Main time-to-event analyses were based on stratified Cox models. Sensitivity analyses accounting for treatment cross-over associated with a late Dmab open-label phase, as well as for receiving any anti-resorptive agents were performed. Results: For this final protocol-defined analysis, median follow-up is 8 years (Q1,3: 6, 9.6), and all patients had ended their randomly assigned double-blind treatment (Dmab 60mg s.c. q6m n = 1711; placebo s.c. q6m n = 1709) for a median of 5 years. DFS was improved in the Dmab group versus the placebo group (309 versus 368 DFS events, hazard ratio (HR) 0.83, 95% CI 0.71-0.97, p = 0.016), resulting in an absolute 9-year DFS difference of 3.5% (79.4% vs 75.9%, respectively). When censoring for late cross-over and use of anti-resorptive agents, the DFS difference was confirmed (HR 0.82, p = 0.010). BMFS was improved by 19 per cent (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.65-1.00, p = 0.047) in the Dmab group, and OS was improved by 20 per cent in the uncensored analysis (127 versus 158 OS events, HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.64-1.01, p = 0.065), and 26 per cent after censoring (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.58-0.94, p = 0.013). The previously reported marked reduction in clinical fractures persisted even long-term, with 201 fractures in the Dmab and 255 fractures in the placebo group (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.63-0.92, p = 0.004). No new toxicities for this (low) bone-protective dose of adjuvant Dmab were reported, particularly no ONJ occured.. Conclusions: Adjuvant Dmab 60mg every 6 months during AI therapy is safe, and markedly reduces treatment-induced clinical fractures even in the long-term. DFS, BMFS, and OS are improved in this descriptive final long-term analysis of ABCSG-18. Adjuvant denosumab should be considered for routine clinical use in postmenopausal patients with HR+ breast cancer. Clinical trial information: NCT00556374.

Abstract P2-13-30: First interim analysis from ELEANOR: A multi-national, prospective, non-interventional study (NIS) in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor positive (HER2+) early breast cancer observing real-life extended adjuvant treatment with neratinib

Background: Recent advances in (post-)/(neo)adjuvant treatment for HER2+ breast cancer have led to a major reduction in recurrence risk; still a relevant percentage of patients relapses over time, predominantly presenting with distant recurrence. Neratinib is registered in Europe as extended adjuvant treatment for adult patients with HER2+, HR+ early-stage breast cancer (eBC), who completed adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy less than one year ago. In the ExteNET study, neratinib improved the 5-year iDFS absolute-rate by 5.1% versus placebo in this population (90.8% vs. 85.7%; HR 0.58 [95% CI 0.41-0.82]), mainly by prolonging time to development of distant metastases. According to explorative (post-hoc) analyses from ExteNET, the effect might be even more pronounced in patients with non-pCR after neoadjuvant trastuzumab treatment and/or in patients with completion of neratinib therapy (i.e. ≥11 months of neratinib treatment). Diarrhea, the most common grade 3 adverse event (neratinib: 39% without primary diarrhea prophylaxis, median cumulative duration 5 days; placebo: 1%; no grade 4 events) can generally be managed through adequate prophylaxis and treatment management. ELEANOR is the first international NIS to investigate real-world use of neratinib and its treatment management in eBC patients in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Methods: The primary objective of this ongoing NIS is to investigate the rate of patients being adherent to neratinib treatment (i.e. neratinib intake for ≥75% of treatment days). Secondary objectives include detailed patient and disease characteristics, details on prior trastuzumab-based therapies (including pertuzumab and T-DM1), neratinib doses, dose modifications and neratinib treatment management, relapses, safety/tolerability, and quality of life (QoL), among others. 300 adult female patients with HER2+/HR+ eBC are planned in accordance with the SmPC specifications (planned end of documentation: 2023). CANKADO, an application developed to support patient/physician communication, is an integral part of the NIS. Different CANKADO modules can be used optionally, including QoL documentation (EQ-5D-5L- and diarrhea-specific questionnaires) and continuous documentation of health status and symptoms. Results: Between July 2020 and July 2021, 141 patients have been enrolled; patient enrollment is ongoing. The first pre-planned interim analysis will be performed after the 100th patient has been observed for 3 months (data cut July 2021). Here, we will present baseline demographic and tumor characteristics for the first 100 patients, as well as prior trastuzumab-based treatments and first safety and tolerability data of real-world neratinib use. Conclusion: The results of the first interim analysis present a preliminary snapshot of the current treatment landscape and real-life neratinib use in Germany and Austria. The ELEANOR NIS should help to understand adherence to neratinib treatment and use of extended adjuvant HER2-targeted therapy in the current treatment landscape focussing on treatment management after different pre-therapies. The study is funded by Pierre Fabre Pharma GmbH (Freiburg, Germany), Pierre Fabre Pharma Austria (Wels, Austria) and Pierre Fabre Pharma AG (Allschwil, Switzerland).

Citation Format: Diana Lüftner, Rupert Bartsch, Urs Breitenstein, Marija Balic, Christian Jackisch, Volkmar Müller, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Marcus Schmidt, Michael Schwitter, Khalil Zaman, Denise Wrobel, Dagmar Guth, Jürgen Terhaag, Matthias Zaiss, Timo Schinköthe, Nadia Harbeck. First interim analysis from ELEANOR: A multi-national, prospective, non-interventional study (NIS) in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor positive (HER2+) early breast cancer observing real-life extended adjuvant treatment with neratinib [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-13-30.

Abstract P1-21-08: Brain metastases (BM) from breast cancer: Real-word data from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-registry

Background: BM are generally associated with poor prognosis and with neurological impairments making BM a major limitation of life expectancy and quality of life in MBC. Real-world data are needed in order to quantify and better characterize this special clinical situation. Here, we present data from the MBC registry of the Austrian Study Group for Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT-MBC-Registry). Methods: The AGMT-MBC-Registry is an ongoing multicenter registry for MBC patients in Austria. Patients with available hormone receptor and HER2 status and sufficient outcome data were included in this analysis. Unadjusted, univariate overall survival (OS) probabilities were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test; multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HR) were estimated by Cox regression models. HR were estimated with diagnosis of BM as time-dependent variable. Logistic regression was performed to investigate the probability of developing BM. Multivariable analyses included the following parameters: breast cancer subtype (luminal-like vs. HER2+ vs. TNBC), age at diagnosis of metastatic disease (continuous, in Cox regression as interaction with menopausal status), DFS (de novo metastatic or ≥ 24 months vs. &lt; 24 months), visceral disease (yes vs. no) and number of metastatic sites (1 vs 2-3 vs. ≥4) at diagnosis of metastatic disease. Results: As of 15/04/2021, 2024 patients were included in the registry. Out of 1691 evaluable patients, 306 (18.1%) had documented BM. The incidence at diagnosis of metastatic disease and the overall incidence during the course of disease was significantly higher in HER2+ (9.5% [13/137] and 36.5% [50/137]) and triple-negative tumors (11.9% [38/318] and 27.7% [88/318]) compared to luminal-like tumors (3.3% [41/1236] and 13.6% [168/1236]) (both P&lt;0.001). Besides subtype, ≥4 metastatic sites at diagnosis of metastatic disease and age were statistically significant associated with BM in logistic regression analysis.Median time to BM calculated from the date of diagnosis of metastatic disease was 11.3 months (95%CI 9.3-13.3) in the total population with BM, 12.7 months (95%CI 7.3-16.0) in HER2+, 5.2 months (95%CI 1.8-10.3) in triple-negative and 15.4 months (95%CI 8.4-19.5) in luminal disease, respectively. Interestingly, 13.7% of patients (42/306) had BM as first metastatic site without extracranial disease. The median number of systemic therapy-lines before and after diagnosis of BM was 1 (range 0-8) and 1 (range 0-10), respectively. Most of the patients with BM (80.1%) received radiotherapy; 12.7% focal radiotherapy, 69.8% whole brain irradiation and 9.0% both types of radiotherapy (8.5% unknown). After a median follow-up of 72.3 months (95%-CI 68.6-80.0), patients with BM had a significantly shorter median OS (7.5 months) compared to patients without BM (38.4 months) both in univariate (HR 3.58; 95%CI 3.11-4.11; P&lt;.001) and multivariable analysis (HR 3.70; 95%CI 3.18-4.32; P&lt;.001). OS in patients with BM differed significantly between the three breast cancer subtypes with a median OS of 36.3 months (95%CI 30.5-47.9), 33.5 months (95%CI 22.9-45.5) and 13.2 months (95%CI 11.1-18.4) in luminal, HER2+ and TNBC, respectively (overall log-rank P&lt;0.001). Similarly, the time from diagnosis of BM and death was significantly shorter in TNBC (4.1 months; 95%CI 3.4-6.3) compared to luminal (9.7 months; 95%CI 6.8-13.7) and HER2+ breast cancer (10.7 months; 95%CI 9.1-26.2) (overall log-rank P&lt;0.001). Conclusion: Almost 20% of patients with MBC develop BM during their course of disease, with a higher incidence in HER2+ and triple-negative disease. Besides effective prevention strategies improved systemic and local therapies are needed to minimize morbidity and improve outcome in these patients.

Citation Format: Simon Peter Gampenrieder, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Christoph Tinchon, Andreas Petzer, Marij Balic, Sonja Heibl, August F Zabernigg, Daniel Egle, Margit Sandholzer, Florian Roitner, Johannes Andel, Petra Pichler, Christopher Hager, Michael Knauer, Michael Hubalek, Christian F Singer, Richard Greil. Brain metastases (BM) from breast cancer: Real-word data from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-21-08.

Abstract P1-16-03: Response pattern to chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer (MBC): Real-word data from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-Registry

Background: Despite the advances by targeted therapies, particularly in HER2-positive and hormone receptor (HR)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC), chemotherapy remains a mainstay of the treatment in all breast cancer subtypes. Response probabilities to chemotherapy seem to decrease with increasing lines of treatment, but little is known about the response dependency on the previous therapy line. Here, we present data from the MBC registry of the Austrian Study Group for Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT-MBC-Registry). Methods: The AGMT-MBC-Registry is an ongoing multicenter registry for MBC patients in Austria. Patients with available hormone receptor and negative HER2 status, at least two consecutive lines of chemotherapy and sufficient progression-free survival (PFS) data were included in this analysis. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for PFS were estimated by Cox regression models and included the following parameters: age, HR status, disease-free survival (de novo metastatic or ≥ 24 months vs. &lt; 24 months), visceral disease, number of involved metastatic sites at diagnosis of MBC, chemotherapy treatment line, and response in previous treatment line. Response was defined as PFS &gt; 4 month and non-response as a PFS ≤ 4 month. Cox model was extended as proposed by Andersen and Gill due to possibility of multiple events per patient and thereby resulting dependencies (Sousa-Ferreira & Abreu, 2019). Results: As of 15/04/2021, 2024 patients were included in the registry. Out of them, 405 patients (20.0%) had documented HER2 negative disease with at least two lines of consecutive chemotherapy. Median PFS for first-, second-, third-, and forth-line chemotherapy were 6.0 months (95% CI 5.5-6.5), 3.7 months (95% CI 3.1-4.3), 2.9 months (95% CI 2.5-3.2), and 2.8 months (95% CI 2.6-3.2), respectively. Median overall survival was 31.8 months (95% CI 27.2-34.8). Median number of chemotherapy lines was 3 (range 2-8). The most commonly used cytotoxic agents were paclitaxel and capecitabine in first- and second-line, and eribulin in third-, and fourth-line chemotherapy. Combinations of more than one cytotoxic drug were given in 36%, 29%, 28% in first-, second-, and third/fourth-line. Patients who did not respond to the previous therapy line, had a response in 43% (95% CI 33-53), 34% (95% CI 25-43), and 30% (95% CI 21-39) to second-, third-, and fourth-line. In those patients, investigator assessed overall response rate (partial remission or complete remission) was 27% (95% CI 13-40), 23% (95% CI 9-37), and 33% (95% CI 16-51), respectively. A response to third-line chemotherapy in patients who did not respond to first- and second-line therapy, was seen in 16.7% of patients. Ratios between PFS of interest and PFS of the previous treatment line were 0.63 (95% CI 0.55-0.68), 0.57 (95% CI 0.41-0.62), and 0.76 (95% CI 0.58-0.9) in second-, third-, and forth-line therapy. In multivariable analysis, responses in second- to fourth-line therapy were statistically significant associated with disease-free survival (HR 0.75, P=0.022), and treatment line (HR 1.17 per increasing treatment line, P=0.004), but not for the response to the previous treatment line (HR 0.85, P=0.068). Conclusion: A continuously decreasing PFS for cytotoxic drugs from treatment line to treatment line was confirmed in our analysis. However, in multivariable analysis, response, defined as PFS &gt; 4 months, was not statistically associated with response to the previous treatment line. Therefore, a lack of response to first, second-, - or third-line chemotherapy should not trigger discontinuation of anticancer therapy in case of further available treatment options.

Citation Format: Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Simon P Gampenrieder, Christoph Tinchon, Andreas Petzer Petzer, Marija Balic, Heibl Sonja, August F Zabernigg, Daniel Egle, Margit Sandholzer, Florian Roitner, Johannes Andel, Petra Pichler, Christophe Hager, Michael Hubalek, Michael Knauer, Christian F Singer, Richard Greil. Response pattern to chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer (MBC): Real-word data from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-Registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-16-03.

Persistence of ctDNA in Patients with Breast Cancer During Neoadjuvant Treatment Is a Significant Predictor of Poor Tumor Response

PURPOSE

Accurate response assessment during neoadjuvant systemic treatment (NST) poses a clinical challenge. Therefore, a minimally invasive assessment of tumor response based on cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be beneficial to guide treatment decisions.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

We profiled 93 genes in tissue from 193 patients with early breast cancer. Patient-specific assays were designed for 145 patients to track ctDNA during NST in plasma. ctDNA presence and levels were correlated with complete pathological response (pCR) and residual cancer burden (RCB) as well as clinicopathologic characteristics of the tumor to identify potential proxies for ctDNA release.

RESULTS

At baseline, ctDNA could be detected in 63/145 (43.4%) patients and persisted in 25/63 (39.7%) patients at mid-therapy (MT) and 15/63 (23.8%) patients at the end of treatment. ctDNA detection at MT was significantly associated with higher RCB (OR = 0.062; 95% CI, 0.01-0.48; P = 0.0077). Of 31 patients with detectable ctDNA at MT, 30 patients (96.8%) were nonresponders (RCB II, n = 8; RCB III, n = 22) and only one patient responded to the treatment (RCB I). Considering all 145 patients with baseline (BL) plasma, none of the patients with RCB 0 and only 6.7% of patients with RCB I had ctDNA detectable at MT, whereas 30.6% and 29.6% of patients with RCB II/III, respectively, had a positive ctDNA result.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, our results demonstrate that the detection and persistence of ctDNA at MT may have the potential to negatively predict response to neoadjuvant treatment and identify patients who will not achieve pCR or be classified with RCB II/III.

Transferring MINDACT to Daily Routine: Implementation of the 70-Gene Signature in Luminal Early Breast Cancer - Results from a Prospective Registry of the Austrian Group Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT)

Background

For hormone receptor (HR)-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative early breast cancer (EBC), adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) is recommended in the case of high-risk features only. The MINDACT trial showed that patients with high clinical risk (CR) but low genomic risk (GR) defined by the 70-gene signature (MammaPrint®; 70-GS) did not benefit from ACT. In this registry, we investigated the frequency and feasibility of 70-GS and concurrent 80-gene subtyping (BluePrint®) use in HR-positive, HER2-negative EBC. Furthermore, we recorded the frequency of ACT recommendation and the adherence to it when the "MINDACT strategy" was used.

Methods

This prospective registry included patients from 2 Austrian cancer centers. Similar to MINDACT, a modified version of Adjuvant!Online was used to determine CR, and 70-GC was used to determine GR in high-CR patients. ACT was recommended to patients with high CR and high GR.

Results

Of 224 enrolled patients, 76 (33.9%) had high CR and 67 (88.2%) received genomic testing. Of those, 43 (64.2%) were classified as low and 24 (35.8%) as high GR, respectively. All 24 patients with high CR and GR (10.7% of all patients) received the recommendation for ACT, but ACT was started in only 15 patients (62.5%). The median time from surgery to the start of ACT was 45 days (range 32-68), and the median time from test decision to the test result was 15 days (range 9-56).

Conclusion

We showed that the results of the MINDACT trial are reproducible in an Austrian population. Incorporating 70-GS into the daily clinical routine is feasible and mostly accepted by physicians for the guidance of treatment recommendations.

Updated Austrian treatment algorithm in HER2+ metastatic breast cancer

A group of Austrian breast cancer specialists met in December 2020 to establish a comprehensive clinical benefit-risk profile of available HER2-targeted therapies based on recent data and to develop an updated treatment algorithm by consensus over several months in 2021. A total of four scenarios were developed in which treatment strategies appropriate for specific patient profiles were evaluated. Consensus was established by detailed discussions of each scenario and by reaching full consensus.

Checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic gastric and GEJ cancer: a multi-institutional retrospective analysis of real-world data in a Western cohort

Background

Safety and efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer could be demonstrated in predominantly Asian cohorts, whereas data in Western patients outside of clinical trials are vastly missing.

Methods

In this multi-institutional retrospective analysis conducted at nine oncologic centers in Austria, we tried to assess feasibility of checkpoint inhibitors in advanced gastric/GEJ cancer in a real-world Western cohort.

Results

In total, data from 50 patients with metastatic gastric/GEJ cancer who received nivolumab or pembrolizumab in a palliative setting between November 2015 and April 2020 have been evaluated. The median number of previous palliative therapy lines was two. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 2.1 (95% CI: 1.4–2.8) and 6.3 (95% CI: 3.3–9.3) months, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in median OS according to microsatellite or PD-L1 status. However, a trend towards prolonged PFS and OS for the microsatellite instability high subgroup could be observed. Patients with an ECOG Performance Status (PS) ≥ 2 displayed a significantly worse outcome than those with an ECOG PS ≤ 1 (p = .03). Only one patient discontinued immunotherapy due to treatment-related toxicity.

Conclusions

Our results support feasibility of nivolumab and pembrolizumab in pre-treated patients with metastatic gastric and GEJ cancer in a Western real-world cohort. Further phase II/III studies are needed to confirm clinical efficacy.

Sex-Based Clinical Outcome in Advanced NSCLC Patients Undergoing PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitor Therapy-A Retrospective Bi-Centric Cohort Study

Simple Summary

Retrospective analyses suggest that men treated with immune-checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) monotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have better outcomes than women. However, female patients have more favorable responses when chemotherapy (CHT) is given together with ICI. We aimed to explore the clinical impact of such sex differences in two cohorts, receiving ICI monotherapy or ICI-CHT combination, respectively. We found no significant difference in outcomes between men and women treated with either therapeutic regimen. However, known predictive factors for ICI response such as the expression of programmed-death ligand 1 (PD-L1) on tumor cells or patient performance status had significant implications for men rather than for women. Our results warrant increased research efforts to clarify sex-specific differences in anti-tumor immune response mechanisms and in the efficacy of ICI therapies, especially in women.

Abstract

Men with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a more favorable response to immune-checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) monotherapy, while women especially benefit from ICI-chemotherapy (CHT) combinations. To elucidate such sex differences in clinical practice, we retrospectively analyzed two cohorts treated with either ICI monotherapy (n = 228) or ICI-CHT combination treatment (n = 80) for advanced NSCLC. Kaplan–Meier analyses were used to calculate progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS), influencing variables were evaluated using Cox-regression analyses. No significant sex differences for PFS/OS could be detected in either cohort. Men receiving ICI monotherapy had a statistically significant independent impact on PFS by Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG) ≥2 (hazard ratio (HR) 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10–3.29, p = 0.021), higher C-reactive protein (CRP; HR 1.06, 95%CI: 1.00–1.11, p = 0.037) and negative programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status (HR 2.04, 95%CI: 1.32–3.15, p = 0.001), and on OS by CRP (HR 1.09, 95%CI: 1.03–1.14, p = 0.002). In men on ICI-CHT combinations, multivariate analyses (MVA) revealed squamous histology (HR 4.00, 95%CI: 1.41–11.2, p = 0.009) significant for PFS; and ECOG ≥ 2 (HR 5.58, 95%CI: 1.88–16.5, p = 0.002) and CRP (HR 1.19, 95%CI: 1.06–1.32, p = 0.002) for OS. Among women undergoing ICI monotherapy, no variable proved significant for PFS, while ECOG ≥ 2 had a significant interaction with OS (HR 1.90, 95%CI 1.04–3.46, p = 0.037). Women treated with ICI-CHT had significant MVA findings for CRP with both PFS (HR 1.09, 95%CI: 1.02–1.16, p = 0.007) and OS (HR 1.11, 95%CI: 1.03–1.19, p = 0.004). Although men and women responded similarly to both ICI mono- and ICI-CHT treatment, predictors of response differed by sex.

Landscape of HER2-low metastatic breast cancer (MBC): results from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-Registry

Background

About 50% of all primary breast cancers show a low-level expression of HER2 (HER2-low), defined as immunohistochemically 1+ or 2+ and lack of HER2 gene amplification measured by in situ hybridization. This low HER2 expression is a promising new target for antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) currently under investigation. Until now, little is known about the frequency and the prognostic value of low HER2-expression in metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Patients and methods

The MBC-Registry of the Austrian Study Group of Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT) is a multicenter nationwide ongoing registry for MBC patients in Austria. Unadjusted, univariate survival probabilities of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method and compared by the log-rank test. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios were estimated by Cox regression models. In this analysis, only patients with known HER2 status and available survival data were included.

Results

As of 11/15/2020, 1,973 patients were included in the AGMT-MBC-Registry. Out of 1,729 evaluable patients, 351 (20.3%) were HER2-positive, 608 (35.2%) were HER2-low and 770 (44.5%) were completely HER2-negative (HER2-0). Low HER2-expression was markedly more frequent in the hormone-receptor(HR)+ subgroup compared to the triple-negative subgroup (40% vs. 23%). In multivariable analysis, low HER2 expression did not significantly influence OS neither in the HR+ (HR 0.89; 95% CI 0.74–1.05; P = 0.171) nor in the triple-negative subgroup (HR 0.92; 95% CI 0.68–1.25; P = 0.585), when compared to completely HER2-negative disease. Similar results were observed when HER2 IHC 2+ patients were compared to IHC 1+ or 0 patients.

Conclusion

Low-HER2 expression did not have any impact on prognosis of metastatic breast cancer in this real-world population.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13058-021-01492-x.

Capecitabine in combination with bendamustine in pretreated women with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer: results of a phase II trial (AGMT MBC-6)

Background:

Bendamustine, a medication approved for the treatment of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, has already shown anticancer activity in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Here, we present the results of a phase II trial of bendamustine in combination with capecitabine in pre-treated patients with MBC.

Patients and methods:

AGMT MBC-6 is a multicentre, open-label, single-arm phase II study in HER2-negative MBC. All patients were pre-treated with anthracyclines and/or taxans and had measurable disease. Patients received per os 1000 mg/m² capecitabine twice daily on days 1 to 14 in combination with 80 mg/m² bendamustine intravenously on days 1 and 8 of a 3-week cycle for a maximum of eight cycles, followed by a capecitabine maintenance therapy. The primary endpoint was overall response rate (ORR).

Results:

From September 2013 to May 2015, 40 patients were recruited in eight Austrian centres. The median age was 60 years (range 29–77). Twenty-five per cent of patients had triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and 93% showed visceral involvement. With 17 partial and one complete remission, ORR was 46%. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 7.5 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 6.1–10.7]. The most common non-haematological adverse events (AEs) of grade 3 were hand-foot syndrome (13%), fatigue (10%), nausea (8%), and dyspnoea (8%). One grade 4 non-haematological AE (hepatic failure) and three grade 4 haematological AEs (neutropenia) were observed. One patient died of restrictive cardiomyopathy, in which a relationship to capecitabine cannot be excluded, but seems unlikely.

Conclusion:

The combination of capecitabine and bendamustine shows promising efficacy and moderate toxicity. Further evaluation of this drug combination is warranted.

The clinical trial AGMT MBC-6 was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, (https://clinicaltrials.gov/; identifier: NCT01891227).

Sustained response to brigatinib in a patient with refractory metastatic pheochromocytoma harboring R1192P anaplastic lymphoma kinase mutation: a case report from the Austrian Group Medical Tumor Therapy next-generation sequencing registry and discussion of the literature

Metastatic pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) are rare diseases with dismal prognosis and standard therapies are lacking. We herein report the first case of a germline anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutation in a patient with chemorefractory metastatic pheochromocytoma in the absence of mutations of known PPGL-associated predisposing genes. Therapy with the ALK inhibitor (ALKi) brigatinib led to dramatic and durable disease remission, despite previous disease progression on the ALKi alectinib. This case underscores the potential clinical use of molecular profiling in rare diseases with limited treatment options and suggests that the ALK-R1192P point mutation might predict sensitivity to brigatinib.

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First case of a germline ALK mutation in a patient with metastatic pheochromocytoma.

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Durable response to the ALKi brigatinib after disease progression on combination chemotherapy and alectinib.

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A germline ALK mutation in a patient with pheochromocytoma in the absence of mutations of known PPGL-associated genes.

Results of a hospitalization policy of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic COVID-19-positive long-term care facility residents in the province of Salzburg-a report from the AGMT COVID-19 Registry

COVID-19-associated case fatality rates up to 48% were reported among nursing facility residents. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, routine SARS-CoV-2 testing in long-term care facilities in the Province of Salzburg and centralized hospitalization in the COVID-19 unit of the Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg (Austria) irrespective of symptoms was implemented. Baseline characteristics and the course of COVID-19 disease were assessed among hospitalized long-term care facility residents within the COVID-19 Registry of the Austrian Group Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT; NCT04351529). Between the 24th of March and the 20th of April 2020, 50 COVID-19-positive residents were hospitalized. The median age was 84.5 years (range: 79-88) and the median number of comorbidities and baseline medication classes was 6 (IQR: 4-7) and 5 (IQR: 3-6), respectively. At admission, 31 residents (62%) were symptomatic, nine residents (18%) pre-symptomatic whereas ten residents (20%) remained asymptomatic. The 30-day mortality rate from hospitalization was 32% and significantly higher in symptomatic residents at admission when compared to asymptomatic residents including pre-symptomatic residents (48% [95% CI: 27-63%] versus 5% [95% CI: 0-15%], p=0.006). The Early Warning Score (EWS) at admission was associated with 30-day mortality: high risk: 100%, intermediate risk: 50% (95% CI: 0-78%), and low risk: 21% (95% CI: 7-32%) (p<0.001). In light of comparably low mortality rates between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic hospitalized COVID-19-positive residents, we suggest the supply of comparable intensity and quality of monitoring and care in long-term care facilities as an alternative to immediate hospitalization upon a positive COVID-19 test in asymptomatic residents.

Duration of Adjuvant Aromatase-Inhibitor Therapy in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND

For postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, the most effective duration for adjuvant therapy with an aromatase inhibitor remains unclear.

METHODS

In this prospective, phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer who had received 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy to receive the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole for an additional 2 years (2-year group, receiving a total of 7 years) or an additional 5 years (5-year group, receiving a total of 10 years). The primary end point was disease-free survival. The primary analysis included all the patients who were still participating in the trial and who had no recurrence 2 years after randomization (i.e., when treatment in the 2-year group had ended). Secondary end points were overall survival, contralateral breast cancer, second primary cancer, and clinical bone fracture.

RESULTS

Among the 3484 women who were enrolled in the trial, 3208 remained in the trial without disease progression after the first 2 years of extended anastrozole treatment following randomization. Among these women, disease progression or death occurred in 335 women in each treatment group in the primary-analysis set at 8 years (hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85 to 1.15; P = 0.90). No between-group differences occurred in most secondary end points, and subgroup analyses did not indicate differences in any particular subgroup. The risk of clinical bone fracture was higher in the 5-year group than in the 2-year group (hazard ratio, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.84).

CONCLUSIONS

In postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer who had received 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy, extending hormone therapy by 5 years provided no benefit over a 2-year extension but was associated with a greater risk of bone fracture. (Funded by AstraZeneca and the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group; ABCSG-16/SALSA ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00295620.).

Deregulated glutamate to pro-collagen conversion is associated with adverse outcome in lung cancer and may be targeted by renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAS) inhibition

BACKGROUND

The tumor-microenvironment (TME) represents an attractive therapeutic target in NSCLC and plays an important role for efficacy of cancer therapeutics. We hypothesized that upregulation of collagen synthesis might be associated with adverse outcome in NSCLC. Literature evidence suggests that renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi) decrease collagen deposition. Therefore, we aimed to explore the prognostic role of RASi intake and their influence on the TME in NSCLC.

METHODS

Four publicly available datasets were used to evaluate the impact of key enzymes involved in collagen biosynthesis. To investigate the influence of RASi intake on the TME and prognosis we evaluated a cohort of metastatic NSCLC patients and performed histopathological characterization of the TME. A three-dimensional microtissue in vitro model was developed to define the impact of RASi on collagen synthesis.

RESULTS

Expression of three genes of the collagen synthesis pathway, ALDH18A1, PLOD2 and P4HA1, was upregulated in NSCLC compared to normal lung tissue and linked to shortened overall survival in all investigated cohorts. Together, these genes formed a 'Collagen Signature' which represents an independent unfavourable prognostic factor in two NSCLC cohorts and was linked to alterations of the extracellular matrix deposition and cell cycle pathways. In the cohort of metastatic NSCLC, RASi intake was linked to improved overall response rate and survival. Exploratory in vitro experiments revealed that RASi led to a dose dependent reduction of collagen deposition and degradation of three-dimensional lung cancer cell spheroids.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrate that collagen synthesis is a key upregulated process in the NSCLC TME and its transcriptional readout, the three gene Collagen Signature is independently associated with poor outcome. Pharmacological targeting of this pathways e.g. by RASi bears potential of improving outcome in NSCLC.

Influence of Height on Risk and Outcome of Patients with Early Breast Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of 4,925 Patients from 5 Randomized Trials of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG)

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Associations between height, cancer risk and worse outcome have been reported for several cancers including breast cancer. We hypothesized that in breast cancer clinical trials, tall women should be overrepresented and might have worse prognosis. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Data of 4,935 women, included from 1990 to 2010 in 5 trials of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), were analyzed retrospectively. The primary objective was to determine differences in height distribution between the ABCSG cohort and the Austrian female population according to a cross-sectional health survey conducted by the Austrian Statistic Center in 2006 and 2007. Secondary endpoints were disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in different height classes and differences of body mass index (BMI) distribution. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Breast cancer patients in the ABCSG cohort were only slightly but statistically significantly smaller compared to unselected Austrian adult females (mean 164.3 vs. 164.8 cm; <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.0001) and significantly more patients were seen in the lower body height class (50 vs. 46%; <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.0001) when using the median as a cutoff. However, after adjustment for age, the difference in body height between the two cohorts was no longer significant (<i>p</i> = 0.089). DFS and OS in the two upper height groups (≥170 cm) compared to the two lowest height groups (&#x3c;160 cm) was not significantly different (5-year DFS: 84.7 vs. 83.0%; HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.73–1.13, <i>p</i> = 0.379; 5-year OS: 94.8 vs. 91.7%; HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.55–1.00, <i>p</i> = 0.051). The BMI of ABCSG patients was significantly higher than in the reference population (mean BMI 24.64 vs. 23.96; <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.0001). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Our results do not confirm previous findings that greater body height is associated with a higher breast cancer risk and worse outcome.

Prognostic and Predictive Factors in Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous disease arising from the mucosa of the upper aerodigestive tract. Despite multimodality treatments approximately half of all patients with locally advanced disease relapse and the prognosis of patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC is dismal. The introduction of checkpoint inhibitors improved the treatment options for these patients and pembrolizumab alone or in combination with a platinum and fluorouracil is now the standard of care for first-line therapy. However, approximately only one third of unselected patients respond to this combination and the response rate to checkpoint inhibitors alone is even lower. This shows that there is an urgent need to improve prognostication and prediction of treatment benefits in patients with HNSCC. In this review, we summarize the most relevant risk factors in the field and discuss their roles and limitations. The human papilloma virus (HPV) status for patients with oropharyngeal cancer and the combined positive score are the only biomarkers consistently used in clinical routine. Other factors, such as the tumor mutational burden and the immune microenvironment have been highly studied and are promising but need validation in prospective trials.

Abstract PS12-21: First-line treatment of hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in everyday practice: Results from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-Registry

Background: International guidelines recommend endocrine-based first-line therapy [ET] in hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2- or luminal) metastatic breast cancer (MBC), nowadays in combination with a CDK4/6 inhibitor. Several real-word data suggest, however, that in daily practice up to 40% of patients with luminal MBC receive chemotherapy in first-line. To clarify the treatment landscape in an Austrian population of HR+/HER2- MBC patients, we analyzed the data from the MBC registry of the Austrian Study Group for Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT-MBC-Registry). In addition, we investigated the influence of different treatment strategies on overall survival (OS). Methods: The AGMT-MBC-Registry is an ongoing multicenter registry for MBC patients in Austria. Only patients with HR+/HER2- MBC with available ER and HER2 status and sufficient outcome data were included in this analysis. Unadjusted, univariate survival probabilities of PFS and OS were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test, multivariate hazard ratios (HR) were estimated by Cox regression models. A multivariate analysis including the following parameters was performed for first-line PFS and OS: age (continuous, as interaction with menopausal status), menopausal status (pre- vs postmenopausal vs unknown,), DFS (de novometastatic vs &lt; 24 months vs ≥ 24 months), (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy (yes vs no), grading (1+2 vs 3 vs unknown), visceral disease (yes vs no) and number of metastatic sites (1 vs 2-3 vs ≥4), first-line treatment (ET+CDK4/6i vs ET vs chemotherapy +/- bevacizumab +/- ET). Results: As of 24/06/2020, 1904 patients were included in the AGMT-MBC-Registry. Out of 1633 evaluable patients, 931 (57.01%) had HR+/HER2- disease and had received at least one treatment line for metastatic disease. In first-line, 577 (62.0%) patients received endocrine-based therapy (356 [61.7%] ET, 172 [29.8%] ET+CDK4/6i, 49 [8.5%] ET+Targeted other), and 354 (38.0%) received chemotherapy. The proportion of chemotherapy treated patients was slightly higher in pre- vs. postmenopausal women (41/94=43.6% vs. 222/664=33.4%) but decreased significantly over time (&lt;2010: 60.3%; 2010-2015: 44.8%; &gt;2015: 19.7%). In multivariate analysis, both ET and ET+CDK4/6i were significantly associated with longer first-line PFS and OS compared to chemotherapy (Table 1).

The most frequently used drugs across all treatment-lines were aromatase inhibitors (77.9%), fulvestrant (53.9%; 39.8% in first-line and 36.3% in second-line), tamoxifen (17.2%), CDK4/6 inhibitors (40.0%; 48.9% in first-line and 21.8% in second-line), everolimus (18.9%; 30.7% in second-line and 69.3% in ≥ third-line), taxanes (41.6%), capecitabine (35.0%), anthracyclines (28.6%), vinorelbine (17.0%) and eribulin (12.6%). Conclusion: In our registry, first-line chemotherapy for luminal MBC was significantly associated with an inferior PFS and OS compared to endocrine-based therapy. Because of the retrospective design of the study, biases influencing these results cannot be fully excluded, however, our data suggest that first-line chemotherapy should be avoided in luminal MBC.

Adjusted analysisET vs. chemotherapyET+CDK4/6i vs. chemotherapy1st-line PFSHR 0.63; 95%CI 0.52-0.77; P&lt;0.001HR 0.19; 95%CI 0.13-0.29; P&lt;0.001OSHR 0.59; 95%CI 0.49-0.72; P&lt;0.001HR 0.35; 95%CI 0.23-0.51, P&lt;0.001

Citation Format: Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Simon P Gampenrieder, Christoph Tinchon, Andreas Leo Petzer, Christoph Suppan, Sonja Heibl, Daniela Voskova, August F Zabernigg, Daniel Egle, Margit Sandholzer, Christian F Singer, Florian Roitner, Johannes Andel, Michael Hubalek, Michael Knauer, Richard Greil. First-line treatment of hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in everyday practice: Results from the Austrian AGMT_MBC-Registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS12-21.

Abstract PS1-41: Does complete surgical removal of metastases in oligometastatic breast cancer improve survival? A matched-pair analysis of the AGMT_MBC-registry

Background: Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is generally thought to be a systemic and incurable disease requiring systemic therapy. However, surgical resection of oligometastatic disease might be of benefit similar to other malignant diseases. Here, we present the results from a matched analysis of patients undergoing radical surgery of metastases.

Methods: The MBC registry of the Austrian Study Group for Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT) is an ongoing multicenter registry for MBC patients in Austria. Patients undergoing surgical removal of all metastatic sites (+/- primary tumor and lymph node dissection) were identified and matched 1:1 according to disease-free survival (de novo metastatic vs. &lt; 24 vs. ≥ 24 months), location of metastases, subtype (HR+/HER2- vs. HR+/HER2+ vs. HR-/HER2+ vs. triple-negative) and age (≥ 60 vs. &lt; 60). OS was defined as time from diagnosis of metastatic disease until death. Only patients with available matching parameters and sufficient outcome data were included in this analysis.

Results: As of 24/06/2020, 1904 patients were enrolled into the AGMT_MBC-Registry; 24 of them received surgery of metastases and 23 had a complete match with patients without surgery. In the surgery group, five patients (21.7%) received immediate postperative chemotherapy and 80.0% received further chemotherapy after surgery. Out of patients with HR+ disease (n=15), 86.7% received endocrine therapy prior and/or after surgery. We found a numerically but not statistically significant longer overall OS in patients undergoing surgery (47.4 vs. 29.6 months, HR 0.61; 95%CI 0.30-1.24; P=0.171). Two, five and ten year survival estimates were 82.6% (95%CI 68.5-99.6), 31.3% (95%CI 15.7-62.5) and 31.3% (95%CI 15.7-62.5) in the surgery group and 59.1% (95%CI 41.7-83.7), 24.8% (95%CI 11.7-52.6) and 13.2% (95%CI 4.0-43.1) in the non-surgery group, respectively. The largest benefit for surgery was found in the luminal and HER2-positive subtypes, while no benefit was observed in the triple-negative subgroup.

Conclusion: Radical surgery of all metastases seems to improve survival, especially in luminal and HER2-positive subtypes, however, the analysis did not reach statistical significance, most probably due to the low patient number. Furthermore, because of the retrospective and non-randomized design, a systematic bias cannot be totally excluded.

Citation Format: Simon Peter Gampenrieder, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Christoph Tinchon, Andreas Leo Petzer, Christoph Suppan, MD, Sonja Heibl, Daniela Voskova, August F Zabernigg, MD, Daniel Egle, MD, Margit Sandholzer, MD, Christian F Singer, Florian Roitner, Johannes Andel, Michael Hubalek, Michael Knauer, Richard Greil. Does complete surgical removal of metastases in oligometastatic breast cancer improve survival? A matched-pair analysis of the AGMT_MBC-registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS1-41.

Spatial Heterogeneity in Large Resected Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Bulks Analysed by Massively Parallel Sequencing of Multiple Synchronous Biopsies

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) usually needs to be treated immediately after diagnosis from a single lymph node biopsy. However, several reports in other malignancies have shown substantial spatial heterogeneity within large tumours. Therefore, we collected multiple synchronous biopsies of twelve patients that had diagnostic or therapeutic resections of large lymphoma masses and performed next-generation sequencing of 213 genes known to be important for lymphoma biology. Due to the high tumour cell content in the biopsies, we were able to detect several mutations which were present with a stable allelic frequency across all the biopsies of each patient. However, ten out of twelve patients had spatially discordant mutations and similar results were found by the analysis of copy number variants. The median Jaccard similarity coefficient, a measure of the similarity of a sample set was 0.77 (range 0.47-1), and some of the involved genes such as CARD11, CD79B, TP53, and PTEN have a known prognostic or therapeutic relevance in DLBCL. This shows that single biopsies underestimate the complexity of the disease and might overlook possible mechanisms of resistance and therapeutic targets. In the future, the broader application of liquid biopsies will have to overcome these obstacles.

Clonal evolution in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with central nervous system recurrence

BACKGROUND

The prognosis of patients with secondary central nervous system lymphoma (SCNSL) is poor and despite massive advances in understanding the mutational landscape of primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the genetic comparison to SCNSL is still lacking. We therefore collected paired samples from six patients with DLBCL with available biopsies from a lymph node (LN) at primary diagnosis and the central nervous system (CNS) at recurrence.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A targeted, massively parallel sequencing approach was used to analyze 216 genes recurrently mutated in DLBCL. Healthy tissue from each patient was also sequenced in order to exclude germline mutations. The results of the primary biopsies were compared with those of the CNS recurrences to depict the genetic background of SCNSL and evaluate clonal evolution.

RESULTS

Sequencing was successful in five patients, all of whom had at least one discordant mutation that was not detected in one of their samples. Four patients had mutations that were found in the CNS but not in the primary LN. Discordant mutations were found in genes known to be important in lymphoma biology such as MYC, CARD11, EP300 and CCND3. Two patients had a Jaccard similarity coefficient below 0.5 indicating substantial genetic differences between the primary LN and the CNS recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis gives an insight into the genetic landscape of SCNSL and confirms the results of our previous study on patients with systemic recurrence of DLBCL with evidence of substantial clonal diversification at relapse in some patients, which might be one of the mechanisms of treatment resistance.

Position Paper on the Value of Extended Adjuvant Therapy with Neratinib for Early HER2+/HR+ Breast Cancer

<b><i>Background:</i></b> In August 2018, neratinib – an oral, irreversible pan-HER-tyrosine-kinase inhibitor – was approved by the European Commission for the extended adjuvant treatment of adult patients with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive (HR+), HER2 overexpressed/amplified (HER2+) breast cancer who completed trastuzumab-based adjuvant therapy within the last year. Despite recent improvements in long-term outcome, there is still an unmet need to further reduce the risk of recurrence, especially in patients with poor response to neoadjuvant treatment. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> National and international guidelines included recommendations for using neratinib. Based on the health technology assessment for neratinib, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) in Germany has granted an added benefit for neratinib compared with the standard “watch and wait” strategies. Inclusion in the Reimbursement Code, however, was rejected by the Austrian social insurance companies in July 2020, and neratinib is now in the “No Box” for individual head physician reimbursement. <b><i>Key Messages:</i></b> We analysed the value of extended adjuvant therapy with neratinib in early HER2+/HR+ breast cancer based on current data and made recommendations for the evidence-based and economical use of neratinib in Austria. In particular, prognostic factors associated with an increased risk of recurrence following standard therapy are considered. Extended adjuvant therapy should be offered primarily to nodal-positive patients at surgery. For nodal-negative patients, neratinib therapy may be considered in case of large and/or inflammatory primary tumours (T3–4) without pathological complete response after neoadjuvant therapy. For all other patients, neratinib may be considered depending on additional risk factors on an individual basis that should be evaluated by interdisciplinary tumour conferences.

A clinical validation study of MammaPrint in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer from the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group 8 (ABCSG-8) biomarker cohort

Background

MammaPrint is a prognostic assay based on gene expression in tumors from patients with early breast cancer. MammaPrint has been extensively validated and Food and Drug Administration cleared in fresh and formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue. We aimed to assess its prognostic performance in the biomarker cohort of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group 8 (ABCSG-8) patient population, and to obtain a higher level of evidence with regard to its clinical validity after RNA extraction from FFPE biobank tissue.

Patients and methods

A prespecified retrospective analysis to test the prognostic performance of the MammaPrint test to predict distant recurrence-free survival at 5 and 10 years as primary end point was carried out. MammaPrint risk, clinicopathological factors (after central pathological review), and clinical risk (using a modified version of Adjuvant! Online) were evaluated by Cox regression analyses.

Results

From 1347 available samples, 607 (45%) failed quality control after RNA extraction. In total, 658 (49%) patients were included in survival analyses: MammaPrint low risk versus high risk is a significant prognostic factor for distant recurrence-free survival at 5 years (94.0% versus 91.6%) with a significant risk reduction of 6.5% at 10 years (log-rank P value = 0.017, low risk 91.3% versus high risk 84.8%). The multivariable models suggest that hazard ratio (HR) is primarily driven by tumor stage (5-year HR 3.89; confidence interval 1.97-7.71) and nodal status (5-year HR 1.73; confidence interval 0.91-3.21). After adjustment for clinical risk groups, MammaPrint HRs remain stable with values just below 2.0 after the first 3 years.

Conclusions

The MammaPrint test showed significant prognostic performance at 5 and 10 years of follow-up. In the particular cohort of ABCSG-8, the statistical independence from clinically assessed covariates remains unclear, and no conclusions concerning the clinical validity of the test can be drawn.

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MammaPrint is a prognostic assay based on gene expression in tumors from patients with early breast cancer.

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MammaPrint has been extensively and successfully validated- but mostly in fresh tissue.

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We aimed to assess its prognostic performance in FFPE tissue from the ABCSG 8 biomarker cohort.

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The MammaPrint test showed significant prognostic performance at 5 and 10 years of follow-up.

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The statistical independence from clinically assessed covariates is unclear- the clinical validity in ABCSG 8 uncertain.

Overcoming negative predictions of microRNA expressions to gemcitabine response with FOLFIRINOX in advanced pancreatic cancer patients

FOLFIRINOX is superior to gemcitabine in patients with pancreatic cancer, but this regimen is associated with toxicity and biomarkers for response are warranted. MicroRNAs can mediate drug resistance and could provide predictive information. Altered expressions of several microRNAs including miR-21-5p, miR-10b-5p and miR-34a-5p have been previously linked to a worse response to gemcitabine. We investigated the influence of expression levels in tumor tissue of those three microRNAs on outcome to FOLFIRINOX. Twenty-nine patients with sufficient formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue were identified. There was no significant association between high and low expression groups for these three microRNA. We conclude that polychemotherapy combination can overcome intrinsic negative prognostic factors.

Treatment Landscape for Patients with HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Review on Emerging Treatment Options

The prognosis of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) has radically changed in recent years and continues to improve due to the broad application of effective therapies like monoclonal antibodies and small molecules targeting HER2. Persistent dependency of tumor cells on the oncogene HER2, on one hand, as well as low expression levels in healthy tissue, on the other hand, make this protein an ideal target for anti-cancer therapy. New HER2 targeting strategies including targeted delivery of cytotoxic drugs via HER2 receptor have been developed. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved three new drugs for the treatment of HER2-positive MBC: the antibody–drug conjugate trastuzumab deruxtecan and the two tyrosine kinase inhibitors neratinib and tucatinib. Here, we summarize recent publications and developments of novel anti-HER2 therapies like monoclonal antibodies with improved properties compared to trastuzumab and bispecific antibodies, which bind two different HER-epitopes or bring T cells closer to tumor cells. Furthermore, novel antibody-drug conjugates and small molecules against HER2 are discussed. These developments coupled with new combination strategies (eg, with CDK4/6 inhibitors or immunotherapy) will change the treatment landscape for patients with HER2-positive MBC very soon and will hopefully further improve clinical outcomes.

Hospitalizations and Clinical Outcome in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer During Regorafenib or TAS-102 Therapy

Simple Summary

Regorafenib and TAS-102 showed a survival benefit against placebo, and both drugs are approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) beyond second-line. The highly differential toxicity profile of both substances has led to a potentially biased perception of drug tolerability and complications—such as hospitalization—in the oncologic community. The aim of this retrospective analysis was to investigate hospitalization frequency during regorafenib and TAS-102 treatment and the impact of hospitalizations on survival. Treatment with regorafenib as well as a low Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status turned out to be independent risk factors for hospitalization. Hospitalizations due to gastrointestinal toxicity were only seen with regorafenib. However, hospitalizations during regorafenib or TAS-102 treatment did not impact survival. In light of increased gastrointestinal toxicity leading to hospitalization during regorafenib treatment, we call for increased awareness to drug-specific toxicities, in order to prevent unnecessary complications by the early detection of adverse events and prompt counteraction.

Abstract

Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines recommend regorafenib or trifluridine/tipiracil (TAS-102) for the third-line therapy of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). In this analysis, we evaluated hospitalizations during regorafenib or TAS-102 treatment and the impact of hospitalizations on overall survival (OS). This retrospective analysis was based on unselected, consecutive mCRC patients treated with regorafenib and/or TAS-102 at the tertiary cancer centers in Salzburg and Wels-Grieskirchen, Austria. Between January 2013 and May 2019, 93 patients started third- or fourth-line therapy with regorafenib or TAS-102. Tumor therapy (regorafenib versus TAS-102, HR: 1.95 [95% CI: 1.07–3.54], p = 0.03) and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (2–3 versus 0–1, HR: 4.04 [95% CI: 2.11–7.71], p < 0.001) showed a statistically significant association with hospitalization risk in multivariate analysis. The corresponding hospitalization probability from initiation of third- or fourth-line was 30% with regorafenib versus 18% with TAS-102 at five weeks and 41% versus 28% at ten weeks, respectively. Hospitalizations irrespective of cause during regorafenib or TAS-102 therapy did neither impact median survival in patients undergoing only third-line therapy (never-hospitalized: 5.7 months [95% CI: 3.9–10.5] versus hospitalized: 5.4 months [95% CI: 2.8–9.6], p = 0.45), nor in patients receiving third- and fourth-line therapy (12.2 months [95% CI: 10.6–28.8] versus 18.6 months [95% CI: 6.3-not reached], p = 0.90). In conclusion, apart from poor ECOG performance status, regorafenib therapy was associated with an increased hospitalization probability during palliative systemic third- and fourth-line therapy in mCRC. However, hospitalizations during regorafenib or TAS-102 therapy did not impact OS beyond second-line therapy.

Impact of PD-L1 Scores and Changes on Clinical Outcome in Rectal Cancer Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy

Reports on the prognostic role of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in rectal cancer are controversial. We investigated expression patterns and changes of PD-L1 in rectal cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Seventy-two patients diagnosed with rectal cancer and/or treated with fluorouracil-based neoadjuvant CRT at the Department of Internal Medicine III of the Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg (Austria) between January 2003 and October 2012 were included. PD-L1 scoring was performed according to the tumor proportion score (TPS), combined positive score (CPS), and immune cell score (IC). PD-L1 TPS prior to neoadjuvant CRT had a statistically significant impact on survival (median: ≤1%: 95.4 months (95% CI: 51.8-not reached) vs. >1%: not reached, p = 0.03, log-rank). Patients with a PD-L1 TPS ≤1% prior to and after CRT showed an inferior survival compared to all other patients (median: 56.7 months (95% CI: 51.4-not reached) vs. not reached, p = 0.005, log-rank). In multivariate analysis, PD-L1 TPS prior to neoadjuvant CRT (>1% vs. ≤1%, hazard ratio: 0.29 (95% CI: 0.11-0.76), p = 0.01) remained independently associated with survival. In conclusion, low PD-L1 TPS was associated with inferior survival in rectal cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant CRT. A prospective validation of the prognostic value of PD-L1 expression in rectal cancer patients within a clinical trial is necessitated.

Therapy Line and Associated Predictors of Response to PD-1/PD-L1-Inhibitor Monotherapy in Advanced Non-small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Bi-centric Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

Evidence on PD-1/PD-L1-directed immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is mainly based on clinical trials in first- or second-line settings.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to investigate response and prognostic factors with special regard to third- or later-line therapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed all patients who had received ICI monotherapy with nivolumab, pembrolizumab, or atezolizumab for advanced NSCLC. Computed tomography evaluations were analyzed using response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST, version 1.1). Kaplan-Meier analyses were conducted to calculate progression-free (PFS) and overall (OS) survival; the impact of influencing variables was evaluated using uni- and multivariate Cox-regression analyses.

RESULTS

Among 153 patients (59% men, mean age 66 years), median PFS was 4 months [mo; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 3-5], OS was 13 mo (10-17), and objective response rate (ORR) was 22%. Therapy line ≥ 3 was associated with significantly inferior PFS (p = 0.003) and OS (p = 0.001). In first-line therapy PFS, OS, and ORR were 7 mo (3-11), 17 mo [9-not evaluable (n.e.)], and 36%; in second-line 4 mo (3-7), 18 mo (13-n.e.) and 19%, and in ≥ third-line 2 mo (1-3), 9 mo (4-12), and 13%. PFS was significantly influenced by PD-L1 expression in first-line therapy (p = 0.006). In ≥ third-line patients, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status significantly affected PFS and OS (both p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Third- or later-line single-agent anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy is less efficacious as compared to first- and second-line treatment. In that setting, ECOG performance status predominates known predictors like PD-L1 expression or presence of an alteration in EGFR or ALK.

Comparison of high tone therapy and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy in chemotherapy-induced polyneuropathy

INTRODUCTION

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a worldwide concern in patients receiving neurotoxic agents for cancer therapy. High tone external muscle stimulation is a promising therapeutic approach to alleviate symptoms of CIPN.

METHODS

This pilot study aims to investigate whether the application of home-based high-tone external muscle stimulation therapy (HTEMS) improves symptoms of CIPN. The trial is planned as a therapist- and assessor-blinded, 1:1 randomized controlled study. A total of 50 patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral polyneuropathy will be included. All patients will perform therapy at home. Study participants will be allocated randomly to the HTEMS therapy (intervention group) or to the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS, control group), respectively, following a standardized therapy schedule. Compliance of participants can be verified by reading out the tool box. Outcomes will be evaluated at baseline and after 8 weeks of home-based therapy. The primary outcome includes improvement of CIPN according to the patient-reported EORTC QLQ-CIPN 20 questionnaire. Secondary outcomes are the patient-reported change in health-related quality of life and clinician-reported changes of vibration sensibility, tendon reflexes, temperature sensibility, perception of touch, and strength of the lower leg muscles. Further a safety- and process evaluation will be performed.

DISCUSSION

This pilot RCT aims to evaluate the impact of home-based HTEMS as compared to TENS in CIPN. There is a need for an effective treatment for CIPN and the results of this study are expected to possibly identify a novel and effective treatment strategy in the future.

Combination Strategies for Immune-Checkpoint Blockade and Response Prediction by Artificial Intelligence

The therapeutic concept of unleashing a pre-existing immune response against the tumor by the application of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has resulted in long-term survival in advanced cancer patient subgroups. However, the majority of patients do not benefit from single-agent ICI and therefore new combination strategies are eagerly necessitated. In addition to conventional chemotherapy, kinase inhibitors as well as tumor-specific vaccinations are extensively investigated in combination with ICI to augment therapy responses. An unprecedented clinical outcome with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-)T cell therapy has led to the approval for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma and B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia whereas response rates in solid tumors are unsatisfactory. Immune-checkpoints negatively impact CAR-T cell therapy in hematologic and solid malignancies and as a consequence provide a therapeutic target to overcome resistance. Established biomarkers such as programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and tumor mutational burden (TMB) help to select patients who will benefit most from ICI, however, biomarker negativity does not exclude responses. Investigating alterations in the antigen presenting pathway as well as radiomics have the potential to determine tumor immunogenicity and response to ICI. Within this review we summarize the literature about specific combination partners for ICI and the applicability of artificial intelligence to predict ICI therapy responses.

Abstract P5-06-29: Prognosis of triple negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC): Results from the AGMT_MBC-Registry

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprises a heterogeneous group of diseases which are generally associated with poor prognosis. In recent years, major progress has been made in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC), especially for hormone receptor (HR) positive and HER2 positive MBC. In contrast, for most TNBC patients no targeted treatment options are available. Population-based data on overall survival (OS) of triple negative MBC are scarce and were totally missing for the Austrian population. Here, we present the overall survival (OS) results of triple-negative breast cancer patients included the MBC registry of the Austrian Study Group for Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT). Patients and methods: The AGMT_MBC-Registry is a multicenter nationwide ongoing retrospective and prospective registry for MBC patients in Austria. Unadjusted, univariate survival probabilities of OS were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate hazard ratios (HR) were estimated by Cox regression models. In this analysis only patients with triple-negative MBC with available survival data were included. Results: As of 31/01/2019, 1,253 patients were included in the AGMT-MBC-Registry. Out of 1,219 evaluable patients with available survival data, 192 (17.8%) were triple-negative. Mean age at diagnosis of MBC was 59 (range 27-89), 44 patients (22.9%) were diagnosed with de novometastatic disease, 89 patients (46.4%) with metachronous MBC had a disease free survival (DFS) &lt; 24 months, 134 (69.8%) were treated with (neo)adjuvant therapy, 114 (59.4%) had visceral disease at diagnosis of MBC, and number of involved metastatic sites at diagnosis was 1 in 102 (53.1%), 2 in 49 (25.5%), 3 in 24 (12.5%) and &gt; 3 sites in 17 (8.9%) patients. Fifty-nine patients (49.5%) received at least one treatment-line which included bevacizumab. Bevacizuamb was combined with capecitabine, paclitaxel and gemcitabine in 38, 68 and 5 patients, respectively. Median OS of TNBC was 15.2 months (95% CI 11.4-18.9), compared to 32.9 months (95% CI 29.7-35.7) in the overall cohort. In multivariate analysis including established risk factors and clinically relevant variables, only three variables were significantly associated with OS in TNBC patients: disease free survival (&lt;24 months vs ≥ 24 months or de novo MBC: HR 1.80 [95% CI 1.29-2.51]), visceral disease (yes vs no: HR 1.75 [95% CI 1.22-2.52]), and number of metastatic sites at initial diagnosis (2-3 vs 1: HR 1.81 [95% CI 1.26-2.60], &gt; 3 vs 1: HR 3.05 [95% CI 1.66-5.61]). Conclusion: The poor prognosis of TNBC was confirmed in this population-based analysis. Besides known prognostic factors like de novo metastatic disease, DFS and visceral disease, the number of metastatic sites at initial diagnosis was identified as a novel independent prognostic factor in TNBC.

Citation Format: Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Simon P Gampenrieder, Andreas Petzer, Christoph Tinchon, David Fuchs, Marija Balic, Sonja Heibl, Holger Rumpold, Daniel Egle, August F Zabernigg, Christian F Singer, Johannes Andel, Michael Hubalek, Michael Knauer, Richard Greil. Prognosis of triple negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC): Results from the AGMT_MBC-Registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-06-29.

Abstract P3-08-29: Landscape of HER2-low metastatic breast cancer (MBC): Results from the AGMT-MBC-Registry

Background: About 50% of all primary breast cancers show a low-level expression of HER2 (HER2-low), defined as immunohistochemically 1+ or 2+ and lack of HER2 gene amplification measured by in-situ hybridization. This low HER2 expression is a promising new target for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) currently under development. Until now, little is known about the frequency and the prognostic value of low HER2-expression in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Patients and methods: The MBC-Registry of the Austrian Study Group of Medical Tumor Therapy (AGMT) is a multicenter nationwide ongoing retrospective and prospective registry for MBC patients in Austria. Unadjusted, univariate survival probabilities of PFS and OS were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test, multivariate hazard ratios (HR) were estimated by Cox regression models. In this analysis patients with known HER2 status and available survival data were included. Results: As of 31/01/2019, 1,253 patients were included in the AGMT-MBC-Registry. Out of 1,079 evaluable patients, 262 (24.3%) were HER2-positive, 372 (34.5%) were HER2-low and 445 (41.2%) were completely HER2-negative (HER2-0). The distribution of hormone receptor (HR) expression is shown in Table 1. Median OS and median first-line PFS for these three subgroups in dependency of HR expression is presented in Table 2. Neither in univariate (p=0.821) nor in multivariate analysis including HR status, disease-free survival (DFS), age and visceral disease (p=0.590, HR 1.06), low HER2 expression had a significant impact on prognosis compared to completely HER2-negative disease. Overall 13/372 (3.5%) of the HER2-low and 11/445 (2.5%) of the HER2-0 patients received anti-HER2 treatment. In the HER2+ cohort 200/262 (76.3%) were treated with trastuzumab, 106 (40.5%) with pertuzumab and 49 (18.7%) with T-DM1. In the HR+ subgroup, 11/162 (6.8%), 78/302 (25.8%) and 89/323 (27.6%) patients were treated with a CDK4/6 inhibitor in the HER2+, HER2-low and HER2-0 subgroup, respectively. Conclusion: Low-HER2 expression did not have any impact on prognosis or choice of treatment in metastatic breast cancer in this real-world population.

Table 1HER2-positive (IHC 3+ or ISH+)HER2-low (IHC1+ or 2+ and ISH-)completely HER2-negative (IHC 0)All (n=1,079)262 (24.3%)372 (34.5%)445 (41.2%)HR+ (n=787)162 (20.6%)302 (38.4%)323 (41.0%)HR- (n=292)100 (34.2%)70 (24.0%)122 (41.8%)

Table 2HER2+ months (95%CI)HER2-low months (95%CI)HER2-0 months (95%CI)Log-rankPMedian OSAll (n=1,079)42.7 (32.5-52.9)32.2 (27.3-37.1)30.8 (26.0-35.7)0.007HR+ (n=787)49.6 (40.1-59.1)35.8 (31.4-40.2)40.5 (35.4-45.5)0.120HR- (n=292)26.4 (19.9-33.0)16.8 (12.9-20.7)14.3 (10.0-18.6)&lt; 0.001Median 1st-line PFS All (n=913)*12.4 (10.1-14.8)11.0 (9.3-12.7)11.3 (9.6-12.9)0.123HR+ (n=684)*14.6 (10.8-18.4)12.4 (10.3-14.5)14.7 (12.1-17.4)0.348HR- (n=229)*11.0 (8.2-13.9)5.6 (3.9-7.2)6.0 (4.4-7.5)&lt; 0.001* only patients with at least one line of therapy for metastatic disease and sufficiently documented medical records allowing calculation of PFS were included.

Citation Format: Simon Peter Gampenrieder, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Andreas Petzer, Christoph Tinchon, David Fuchs, Marija Balic, Sonja Heibl, Holger Rumpold, Daniel Egle, August Felix Zabernigg, Christian Fridolin Singer, Johannes Andel, Michael Hubalek, Michael Knauer, Richard Greil. Landscape of HER2-low metastatic breast cancer (MBC): Results from the AGMT-MBC-Registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-08-29.