Real-World Treatment Patterns and Outcomes in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: Point-in-Time Survey of Oncologists in Italy and Spain

Effects of tislelizumab on health-related quality of life in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer

BACKGROUND

This study evaluated health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the RATIONALE-309 (NCT03924986) intent-to-treat (ITT) population and in a subgroup of patients with liver metastases.

METHODS

Patients were randomized 1:1 to tislelizumab + chemotherapy or placebo + chemotherapy. As the secondary endpoint, HRQoL was evaluated using seven selected scores from the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ Head and Neck Cancer module (QLQ-H&N35).

RESULTS

Of 263 randomized patients in the ITT population (tislelizumab + chemotherapy n = 131, placebo + chemotherapy n = 132), 43% had liver metastases (tislelizumab + chemotherapy n = 56; placebo + chemotherapy n = 57). No differences in change in selected scores on the QLQ-C30 from baseline to cycle 4 or cycle 8 were observed for the ITT or liver metastases subgroup. No differences in selected QLQ-H&N35 scores were observed between the arms from baseline to cycle 4. In the ITT population and the liver metastases subgroup, a greater reduction from baseline to cycle 8 was observed in the tislelizumab + chemotherapy arm than the placebo + chemotherapy arm in QLQ-H&N35 pain score. At cycle 8 in the liver metastases subgroup, the tislelizumab + chemotherapy arm experienced greater improvement in the QLQ-H&N35 senses problems score than the placebo + chemotherapy arm. Differences in time to deterioration between arms were not observed.

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings, along with improved survival and favorable safety, suggests that tislelizumab + chemotherapy represents a potential first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer.

Quality of Life Evaluation in Patients with Follicular Cell Lymphoma: A Real-World Study in Europe and the United States

INTRODUCTION

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an indolent subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), characterized by a long natural course of remissions/relapses. We aimed to evaluate real-world quality of life (QoL) in patients with FL, by line of therapy (LOT), and across countries.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the Adelphi FL Disease Specific Programme™, a cross-sectional survey of physicians and their patients in Europe [France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom (UK)], and the United States (US) from June 2021 to January 2022. Patients provided demographics and patient-reported outcomes via the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). Bivariate analysis assessed QoL versus NHL, across LOT [first line (1L), second line (2L), third line or later (3L+)] and country.

RESULTS

Patients (n = 401) had a mean [standard deviation (SD)] age of 66.0 (9.24) years, 58.1% were male, and 41.9%/22.9% were Ann Arbor stage III/IV. Patients with FL mean EORTC global health status (GHS)/QoL, nausea/vomiting, pain, dyspnea, appetite loss, and diarrhea scores were statistically significantly worse (p < 0.05) versus the NHL reference values. Mean (SD) GHS/QoL worsened from 1L [56.5 (22.21)] to 3L+ [50.4 (20.11)]. Physical and role functioning, fatigue, pain, dyspnea, and diarrhea scores also significantly worsened across later LOTs (p < 0.05). Across all functional domains, mean scores were significantly lower (p < 0.05) and almost all symptom scores (excluding diarrhea) were significantly higher (p < 0.05) for European versus US patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with FL at later LOTs had significantly worse scores in most QoL aspects than earlier LOTs. European patients had significantly lower functioning and higher symptom burden than in the US. These real-world findings highlight the need for novel FL therapies that alleviate patient burden, positively impacting QoL.

The Effect of Xevinapant Combined with Ionizing Radiation on HNSCC and Normal Tissue Cells and the Impact of Xevinapant on Its Targeted Proteins cIAP1 and XIAP

The poor prognosis of HNSCC is partly due to treatment resistance. The SMAC mimetic Xevinapant is a promising new approach to targeted cancer therapy. Xevinapant inhibits cIAP1/2 and XIAP, leading to apoptosis, necroptosis and inhibition of prosurvival signaling. Combining Xevinapant with IR could improve therapeutic potential. The effect of Xevinapant in combination with IR on HNSCC and healthy tissue cells was investigated. Cell growth, cell death, clonogenic survival and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) were studied, and intracellular cIAP1 and XIAP levels were evaluated. Xevinapant had cytostatic and cytotoxic, as well as radiosensitizing, effects on the malignant cells, while healthy tissue cells were less affected. Apoptotic and necrotic cell death was particularly affected, but the increase in residual DSBs and the reduced survival implied an additional effect of Xevinapant on DNA damage repair and other cell inactivation mechanisms. cIAP1 and XIAP levels varied for each cell line and were affected by Xevinapant and IR treatment. There was an association between higher IAP levels and increased cell death. Xevinapant appears to be a potent new drug for HNSCC therapy, especially in combination with IR. IAP levels could be an indicator for impaired DNA damage repair and increased susceptibility to cellular stress.

Targeted therapy for head and neck cancer: signaling pathways and clinical studies

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is malignant, genetically complex and difficult to treat and is the sixth most frequent cancer, with tobacco, alcohol and human papillomavirus being major risk factors. Based on epigenetic data, HNC is remarkably heterogeneous, and treatment remains challenging. There is a lack of significant improvement in survival and quality of life in patients with HNC. Over half of HNC patients experience locoregional recurrence or distal metastasis despite the current multiple traditional therapeutic strategies and immunotherapy. In addition, resistance to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and some targeted therapies is common. Therefore, it is urgent to explore more effective and tolerable targeted therapies to improve the clinical outcomes of HNC patients. Recent targeted therapy studies have focused on identifying promising biomarkers and developing more effective targeted therapies. A well understanding of the pathogenesis of HNC contributes to learning more about its inner association, which provides novel insight into the development of small molecule inhibitors. In this review, we summarized the vital signaling pathways and discussed the current potential therapeutic targets against critical molecules in HNC, as well as presenting preclinical animal models and ongoing or completed clinical studies about targeted therapy, which may contribute to a more favorable prognosis of HNC. Targeted therapy in combination with other therapies and its limitations were also discussed.

ADC Values of Cytologically Benign and Cytologically Malignant 18 F-FDG PET-Positive Lymph Nodes of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Simple Summary

In squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, 18F-fluordeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration are commonly used imaging tools for nodal staging (N-staging). Although FDG-PET has good performance in nodal detection, it is still difficult to distinguish between PET-positive reactive and malignant nodes for the purpose of selecting nodes to be aspirated. DW-MRI can help to detect small lymph node metastases, and an inverse correlation with FDG uptake is expected. We found a mild negative correlation between SUVmax and ADC. Comparing the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values between PET-positive and PET-negative nodes, ADC was significantly higher in PET-negative nodes. Whereas no significantly lower ADC value of cytological malignant nodes could be found overall, in the subgroup of non-HPV-related nodes, the ADC values of cytologically malignant PET-positive nodes were significantly lower than in cytologically benign nodes. This finding might be helpful in selecting nodes for puncture.

Abstract

Nodal staging (N-staging) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is essential for treatment planning and prognosis. 18F-fluordeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) has high performance for N-staging, although the distinction between cytologically malignant and reactive PET-positive nodes, and consequently, the selection of nodes for ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (USgFNAC), is challenging. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) can help to detect nodal metastases. We aim to investigate the potential of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) as a metric to distinguish between cytologically reactive and malignant PET-positive nodes in order to improve node selection criteria for USgFNAC. PET-CT, real-time image-fused USgFNAC and DW-MRI to calculate ADC were available for 78 patients offered for routine N-staging. For 167 FDG-positive nodes, differences in the ADC between cytologically benign and malignant PET-positive nodes were evaluated, and both were compared to the ADC values of PET-negative reference nodes. Analyses were also performed in subsets of nodes regarding HPV status. A mild negative correlation between SUVmax and ADC was found. No significant differences in ADC values were observed between cytologically malignant and benign PET-positive nodes overall. Within the subset of non-HPV-related nodes, ADC_b0-200-1000 was significantly lower in cytologically malignant PET-positive nodes when compared to benign PET-positive nodes. ADC_b0-1000 and ADCb_0-200-1000 were significantly lower (p = 0.018, 0.016, resp.) in PET-negative reference nodes than in PET-positive nodes. ADC was significantly higher in PET-negative reference nodes than in PET-positive nodes. The non-HPV-related subgroup showed significantly (p = 0.03) lower ADC values in cytologically malignant than in cytologically benign PET-positive nodes, which should help inform the node selection procedure for puncture.