Functional imaging and circulating biomarkers of response to regorafenib in treatment-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer patients in a prospective phase II study

Molecular mechanisms of HER2-targeted therapy and strategies to overcome the drug resistance in colorectal cancer

HER2 amplification is one of the mechanisms that induce drug resistance to anti-EGFR therapy in colorectal cancer. In recent years, data from several randomized clinical trials show that anti-HER2 therapies improved the prognosis of patients with HER2-positive colorectal cancer. These results indicate that HER2 is a promising therapeutic target in advanced colorectal cancer. Despite the anti-HER2 therapies including monoclonal antibodies, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and antibody-drug conjugates improving the outcomes, less than 30 % of the patients achieve objective response and eventually have drug resistance. It is necessary to explore the primary and secondary mechanisms for the resistance to anti-HER2 therapies, which will pave the way to overcome the drug resistance. Several studies have reported the potential mechanisms for the resistance to anti-HER2 therapies. In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in clinical research, mechanisms of treatment resistance, and strategies for reversing resistance in HER2-positive colorectal cancer patients.

Emerging Therapeutic Targets and Future Directions in Advanced Gastric Cancer: A Comprehensive Review

Metastatic gastric cancer (GC) still represents a critical clinical challenge, with limited treatment options and a poor prognosis. Most patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, limiting the chances of surgery and cure. The identification of molecular targets and the possibility of combining immune checkpoint inhibitors with chemotherapy have recently reshaped the therapeutic landscape of metastatic gastric cancer. The new classification of gastric cancer, mainly based on immunologic and molecular criteria such as programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), microsatellite instability (MSI), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), has made it possible to identify and differentiate patients who may benefit from immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or chemotherapy alone. All relevant and available molecular and immunological targets in clinical practice for the systemic treatment of this disease are presented. Particular attention is given to possible future approaches, including circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) for therapeutic monitoring, new targeting agents against molecular pathways such as fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) and MET, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells, and cancer vaccines. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of current targets in advanced gastric cancer and to offer valuable insights into future directions of research and clinical practice in this challenging disease.

Clinical application of liquid biopsy in colorectal cancer: detection, prediction, and treatment monitoring

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies affecting the gastrointestinal tract and is ranked third among cancers with the highest incidence and second-highest mortality rate worldwide. CRC exhibits a slow progression providing a wide treatment window. The currently employed CRC screening methods have shown great potential to prevent CRC and reduce CRC-related morbidity and mortality. The diagnosis of CRC is achieved by colonoscopy and tissue biopsy, with studies showing that liquid biopsy is more effective in detecting and diagnosing early CRC patients. Increasing number of studies have shown that the tumor components shed into circulating blood can be detected in liquid form, and can be applied in the clinical management of CRC. Analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), or tumor-associated platelets (TEPs) in the blood can be used for early screening and diagnosis of CRC, aid tumor staging, treatment response monitoring, and prediction of CRC recurrence and metastasis in a minimally invasive manner. This chapter provides an updated review of CTCs, ctDNA, and TEPs as novel biomarkers for CRC, highlighting their strengths and limitations.

Circulating microRNA Analysis in a Prospective Co-clinical Trial Identifies MIR652-3p as a Response Biomarker and Driver of Regorafenib Resistance Mechanisms in Colorectal Cancer

PURPOSE

The multi-kinase inhibitor (mKi) regorafenib has demonstrated efficacy in chemorefractory patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). However, lack of predictive biomarkers and concerns over significant toxicities hamper the use of regorafenib in clinical practice.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Serial liquid biopsies were obtained at baseline and monthly until disease progression in chemorefractory patients with mCRC treated with regorafenib in a phase II clinical trial (PROSPECT-R n = 40; NCT03010722) and in a multicentric validation cohort (n = 241). Tissue biopsies collected at baseline, after 2 months and at progression in the PROSPECT-R trial were used to establish patient-derived organoids (PDO) and for molecular analyses. MicroRNA profiling was performed on baseline bloods using the NanoString nCounter platform and results were validated by digital-droplet PCR and/or ISH in paired liquid and tissue biopsies. PDOs co-cultures and PDO-xenotransplants were generated for functional analyses.

RESULTS

Large-scale microRNA expression analysis in longitudinal matched liquid and tissue biopsies from the PROSPECT-R trial identified MIR652-3p as a biomarker of clinical benefit to regorafenib. These findings were confirmed in an independent validation cohort and in a "control" group of 100 patients treated with lonsurf. Using ex vivo co-culture assays paired with single-cell RNA-sequencing of PDO established pre- and post-treatment, we modeled regorafenib response observed in vivo and in patients, and showed that MIR652-3p controls resistance to regorafenib by impairing regorafenib-induced lethal autophagy and by orchestrating the switch from neo-angiogenesis to vessel co-option.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results identify MIR652-3p as a potential biomarker and as a driver of cell and non-cell-autonomous mechanisms of resistance to regorafenib.

Three-Dimensional Tumor Models to Study Cancer Stemness-Mediated Drug Resistance

Solid tumors often contain genetically different populations of cancer cells, stromal cells, various structural and soluble proteins, and other soluble signaling molecules. The American Cancer society estimated 1,958,310 new cancer cases and 609,820 cancer deaths in the United States in 2023. A major barrier against successful treatment of cancer patients is drug resistance. Gain of stem cell-like states by cancer cells under drug pressure or due to interactions with the tumor microenvironment is a major mechanism that renders therapies ineffective. Identifying approaches to target cancer stem cells is expected to improve treatment outcomes for patients. Most of our understanding of drug resistance and the role of cancer stemness is from monolayer cell cultures. Recent advances in cell culture technologies have enabled developing sophisticated three-dimensional tumor models that facilitate mechanistic studies of cancer drug resistance. This review summarizes the role of cancer stemness in drug resistance and highlights the various tumor models that are used to discover the underlying mechanisms and test potentially novel therapeutics.

The Liquid Biopsy Consortium: Challenges and opportunities for early cancer detection and monitoring

The emerging field of liquid biopsy stands at the forefront of novel diagnostic strategies for cancer and other diseases. Liquid biopsy allows minimally invasive molecular characterization of cancers for diagnosis, patient stratification to therapy, and longitudinal monitoring. Liquid biopsy strategies include detection and monitoring of circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA, and extracellular vesicles. In this review, we address the current understanding and the role of existing liquid-biopsy-based modalities in cancer diagnostics and monitoring. We specifically focus on the technical and clinical challenges associated with liquid biopsy and biomarker development being addressed by the Liquid Biopsy Consortium, established through the National Cancer Institute. The Liquid Biopsy Consortium has developed new methods/assays and validated existing methods/technologies to capture and characterize tumor-derived circulating cargo, as well as addressed existing challenges and provided recommendations for advancing biomarker assays.

Validation of the Labcorp Plasma Focus Test to Facilitate Precision Oncology Through Cell-Free DNA Genomic Profiling of Solid Tumors

Genomic profiling is critical for precision oncology to guide treatment decisions. Liquid biopsy testing is a complementary approach to tissue testing, particularly when tissue is not readily available. The Labcorp Plasma Focus test is a circulating cell-free DNA genomic profiling test that identifies actionable variants in solid cancers, including non-small-cell lung, colorectal, melanoma, breast, esophageal, gastroesophageal junction, and gastric cancers. This study highlights the analytical validation of the test, including accuracy compared with orthogonal methods, as well as sensitivity, specificity, precision, reproducibility, and repeatability. Concordance with orthogonal methods showed percent positive agreement of 98.7%, 89.3%, and 96.2% for single nucleotide variants (SNVs), insertion/deletions (indels), and copy number amplifications (CNAs), respectively, and 100.0% for translocations and microsatellite instability (MSI). Analytical sensitivity revealed a median limit of detection of 0.7% and 0.6% for SNVs and indels, 1.4-fold for CNAs, 0.5% variant allele frequency for translocations, and 0.6% for MSI. Specificity was >99% for SNVs/indels and 100% for CNAs, translocations, and MSI. Average positive agreement from precision, reproducibility, and repeatability experiments was 97.5% and 88.9% for SNVs/indels and CNAs, and 100% for translocations and MSI. Taken together, these data show that the Labcorp Plasma Focus test is a highly accurate, sensitive, and specific approach for cell-free DNA genomic profiling to supplement tissue testing and inform treatment decisions.

Necrosis score as a prognostic factor in stage I-III colorectal cancer: a retrospective multicenter study

BACKGROUND

Tumor necrosis results from failure to meet the requirement for rapid proliferation of tumor, related to unfavorable prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, previous studies used traditional microscopes to evaluate necrosis on slides, lacking a simultaneous phase and panoramic view for assessment. Therefore, we proposed a whole-slide images (WSIs)-based method to develop a necrosis score and validated its prognostic value in multicenter cohorts.

METHODS

Necrosis score was defined as the proportion of necrosis in the tumor area, semi-quantitatively classified into 3-level score groups by the cut-off of 10% and 30% on HE-stained WSIs. 768 patients from two centers were enrolled in this study, divided into a discovery (N = 445) and a validation (N = 323) cohort. The prognostic value of necrosis score was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curves and the Cox model.

RESULT

Necrosis score was associated with overall survival, with hazard ratio for high vs. low in discovery and validation cohorts being 2.62 (95% confidence interval 1.59-4.32) and 2.51 (1.39-4.52), respectively. The 3-year disease free survival rates of necrosis-low, middle, and high were 83.6%, 80.2%, and 59.8% in discovery cohort, and 86.5%, 84.2%, and 66.5% in validation cohort. In necrosis middle plus high subgroup, there was a trend but no significant difference in overall survival between surgery alone and adjuvant chemotherapy group in stage II CRC (P = .075).

CONCLUSION

As a stable prognostic factor, high-level necrosis evaluated by the proposed method on WSIs was associated with unfavorable outcomes. Additionally, adjuvant chemotherapy provide survival benefits for patients with high necrosis in stage II CRC.

Molecular and functional imaging in cancer-targeted therapy: current applications and future directions

Targeted anticancer drugs block cancer cell growth by interfering with specific signaling pathways vital to carcinogenesis and tumor growth rather than harming all rapidly dividing cells as in cytotoxic chemotherapy. The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor (RECIST) system has been used to assess tumor response to therapy via changes in the size of target lesions as measured by calipers, conventional anatomically based imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and other imaging methods. However, RECIST is sometimes inaccurate in assessing the efficacy of targeted therapy drugs because of the poor correlation between tumor size and treatment-induced tumor necrosis or shrinkage. This approach might also result in delayed identification of response when the therapy does confer a reduction in tumor size. Innovative molecular imaging techniques have rapidly gained importance in the dawning era of targeted therapy as they can visualize, characterize, and quantify biological processes at the cellular, subcellular, or even molecular level rather than at the anatomical level. This review summarizes different targeted cell signaling pathways, various molecular imaging techniques, and developed probes. Moreover, the application of molecular imaging for evaluating treatment response and related clinical outcome is also systematically outlined. In the future, more attention should be paid to promoting the clinical translation of molecular imaging in evaluating the sensitivity to targeted therapy with biocompatible probes. In particular, multimodal imaging technologies incorporating advanced artificial intelligence should be developed to comprehensively and accurately assess cancer-targeted therapy, in addition to RECIST-based methods.

The circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) alteration level predicts therapeutic response in metastatic breast cancer: Novel prognostic indexes based on ctDNA

Purpose

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has good clinical guiding value for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. This study aimed to apply a novel genetic analysis approach for therapeutic prediction based on ctDNA alterations.

Method

This nonrandomized, multicenter study recruited 223 MBC patients (NCT05079074). Plasma samples were collected for target-capture deep sequencing of ctDNA at baseline, after the 2nd cycle of treatment, and when progressive disease (PD) was evaluated. Samples were categorized into four levels according to the number of ctDNA alterations: level 1 (no alterations), level 2 (1–2 alterations), level 3 (3–4 alterations) and level 4 (≥5 alterations). According to ctDNA alteration level and variant allele frequency (VAF), a novel ctDNA-level Response Evaluation Criterion in Solid Tumors (ctle-RECIST) was established to assess treatment response and predict progression-free survival (PFS).

Results

The median PFS in level 1 (6.63 months) patients was significantly longer than that in level 2–4 patients (level 2: 5.70 months; level 3–4: 4.90 months, p < 0.05). After 2 cycles of treatment, based on ctle-RECIST, the median PFS of level-based disease control rate (lev-DCR) patients was significantly longer than that of level-based PD (lev-PD) patients [HR 2.42 (1.52–3.85), p < 0.001]. In addition, we found that ctDNA level assessment could be a good supplement to radiologic assessment. The median PFS in the dual-DCR group tended to be longer than that in the single-DCR group [HR 1.41 (0.93–2.13), p = 0.107].

Conclusion

The ctDNA alteration level and ctle-RECIST could be novel biomarkers of prognosis and could complement radiologic assessment in MBC.

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Based on the number of ctDNA alterations, samples were categorized into four levels: level 1 to level 4.

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ctDNA alterations differed in different alteration level groups.

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Higher ctDNA alteration levels (levels 3–4) were associated with a higher probability of liver metastasis.

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According to ctDNA alteration level and variant allele frequency, a novel ctDNA-level RECIST (ctle-RECIST) was established to assess treatment response.

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ctle-RECIST can not only independently predict PFS, but also assist radiologic assessment and improve the clinical application value of prediction.

Circulating tumour DNA and its clinical utility in predicting treatment response or survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

We investigate the current knowledge on circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) and its clinical utility in predicting outcomes in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched. Last search 16/12/2020. We included studies on patients with mCRC reporting the predictive or prognostic value of ctDNA. We performed separate random-effects meta-analyses to investigate if baseline ctDNA and early changes in ctDNA levels during treatment were associated with survival. The risk of bias was assessed according to the Quality in Prognosis Studies tool.

RESULTS

Seventy-one studies were included with 6930 patients. Twenty-four studies were included in meta-analyses. High baseline ctDNA level was associated with short progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 2.2; 95% CI 1.8-2.8; n = 509) and overall survival (OS) (HR = 2.4; 95% CI 1.9-3.1; n = 1336). A small or no early decrease in ctDNA levels during treatment was associated with short PFS (HR = 3.0; 95% CI 2.2-4.2; n = 479) and OS (HR = 2.8; 95% CI 2.1-3.9; n = 583). Results on clonal evolution and lead-time were inconsistent. A majority of included studies (n = 50/71) had high risk of bias in at least one domain.

CONCLUSIONS

Plasma ctDNA is a strong prognostic biomarker in mCRC. However, true clinical utility is lacking.

New insights into antiangiogenic therapy resistance in cancer: Mechanisms and therapeutic aspects

Angiogenesis is a hallmark of cancer and is required for tumor growth and progression. Antiangiogenic therapy has been revolutionarily developing and was approved for the treatment of various types of cancer for nearly two decades, among which bevacizumab and sorafenib continue to be the two most frequently used antiangiogenic drugs. Although antiangiogenic therapy has brought substantial survival benefits to many cancer patients, resistance to antiangiogenic drugs frequently occurs during clinical treatment, leading to poor outcomes and treatment failure. Cumulative evidence has demonstrated that the intricate interplay among tumor cells, bone marrow-derived cells, and local stromal cells critically allows for tumor escape from antiangiogenic therapy. Currently, drug resistance has become the main challenge that hinders the therapeutic efficacies of antiangiogenic therapy. In this review, we describe and summarize the cellular and molecular mechanisms conferring tumor drug resistance to antiangiogenic therapy, which was predominantly associated with redundancy in angiogenic signaling molecules (e.g., VEGFs, GM-CSF, G-CSF, and IL17), alterations in biological processes of tumor cells (e.g., tumor invasiveness and metastasis, stemness, autophagy, metabolic reprogramming, vessel co-option, and vasculogenic mimicry), increased recruitment of bone marrow-derived cells (e.g., myeloid-derived suppressive cells, tumor-associated macrophages, and tumor-associated neutrophils), and changes in the biological functions and features of local stromal cells (e.g., pericytes, cancer-associated fibroblasts, and endothelial cells). We also review potential biomarkers to predict the response to antiangiogenic therapy in cancer patients, which mainly consist of imaging biomarkers, cellular and extracellular proteins, a certain type of bone marrow-derived cells, local stromal cell content (e.g., pericyte coverage) as well as serum or plasma biomarkers (e.g., non-coding RNAs). Finally, we highlight the recent advances in combination strategies with the aim of enhancing the response to antiangiogenic therapy in cancer patients and mouse models. This review introduces a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms and biomarkers associated with the evasion of antiangiogenic therapy in cancer, providing an outlook for developing more effective approaches to promote the therapeutic efficacy of antiangiogenic therapy.

DCE-MRI is more sensitive than IVIM-DWI for assessing anti-angiogenic treatment-induced changes in colorectal liver metastases

BACKGROUND

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) with intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) modelling can inform on tissue perfusion without exogenous contrast administration. Dynamic-contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI can also characterise tissue perfusion, but requires a bolus injection of a Gadolinium-based contrast agent. This study compares the use of DCE-MRI and IVIM-DWI methods in assessing response to anti-angiogenic treatment in patients with colorectal liver metastases in a cohort with confirmed treatment response.

METHODS

This prospective imaging study enrolled 25 participants with colorectal liver metastases to receive Regorafenib treatment. A target metastasis > 2 cm in each patient was imaged before and at 15 days after treatment on a 1.5T MR scanner using slice-matched IVIM-DWI and DCE-MRI protocols. MRI data were motion-corrected and tumour volumes of interest drawn on b=900 s/mm2 diffusion-weighted images were transferred to DCE-MRI data for further analysis. The median value of four IVIM-DWI parameters [diffusion coefficient D (10-3 mm2/s), perfusion fraction f (ml/ml), pseudodiffusion coefficient D* (10-3 mm2/s), and their product fD* (mm2/s)] and three DCE-MRI parameters [volume transfer constant Ktrans (min-1), enhancement fraction EF (%), and their product KEF (min-1)] were recorded at each visit, before and after treatment. Changes in pre- and post-treatment measurements of all MR parameters were assessed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests (P<0.05 was considered significant). DCE-MRI and IVIM-DWI parameter correlations were evaluated with Spearman rank tests. Functional MR parameters were also compared against Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumours v.1.1 (RECIST) evaluations.

RESULTS

Significant treatment-induced reductions of DCE-MRI parameters across the cohort were observed for EF (91.2 to 50.8%, P<0.001), KEF (0.095 to 0.045 min-1, P<0.001) and Ktrans (0.109 to 0.078 min-1, P=0.002). For IVIM-DWI, only D (a non-perfusion parameter) increased significantly post treatment (0.83 to 0.97 × 10-3 mm2/s, P<0.001), while perfusion-related parameters showed no change. No strong correlations were found between DCE-MRI and IVIM-DWI parameters. A moderate correlation was found, after treatment, between Ktrans and D* (r=0.60; P=0.002) and fD* (r=0.67; P<0.001). When compared to RECIST v.1.1 evaluations, KEF and D correctly identified most clinical responders, whilst non-responders were incorrectly identified.

CONCLUSION

IVIM-DWI perfusion-related parameters showed limited sensitivity to the anti-angiogenic effects of Regorafenib treatment in colorectal liver metastases and showed low correlation with DCE-MRI parameters, despite profound and significant post-treatment reductions in DCE-MRI measurements.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT03010722 clinicaltrials.gov; registration date 6th January 2015.

ALA-Net: Adaptive Lesion-Aware Attention Network for 3D Colorectal Tumor Segmentation

Accurate and reliable segmentation of colorectal tumors and surrounding colorectal tissues on 3D magnetic resonance images has critical importance in preoperative prediction, staging, and radiotherapy. Previous works simply combine multilevel features without aggregating representative semantic information and without compensating for the loss of spatial information caused by down-sampling. Therefore, they are vulnerable to noise from complex backgrounds and suffer from misclassification and target incompleteness-related failures. In this paper, we address these limitations with a novel adaptive lesion-aware attention network (ALA-Net) which explicitly integrates useful contextual information with spatial details and captures richer feature dependencies based on 3D attention mechanisms. The model comprises two parallel encoding paths. One of these is designed to explore global contextual features and enlarge the receptive field using a recurrent strategy. The other captures sharper object boundaries and the details of small objects that are lost in repeated down-sampling layers. Our lesion-aware attention module adaptively captures long-range semantic dependencies and highlights the most discriminative features, improving semantic consistency and completeness. Furthermore, we introduce a prediction aggregation module to combine multiscale feature maps and to further filter out irrelevant information for precise voxel-wise prediction. Experimental results show that ALA-Net outperforms state-of-the-art methods and inherently generalizes well to other 3D medical images segmentation tasks, providing multiple benefits in terms of target completeness, reduction of false positives, and accurate detection of ambiguous lesion regions.

Current and Emerging Applications of Droplet Digital PCR in Oncology: An Updated Review

In the era of personalized medicine and targeted therapies for the management of patients with cancer, ultrasensitive detection methods for tumor genotyping, such as next-generation sequencing or droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR), play a significant role. In the search for less invasive strategies for diagnosis, prognosis and disease monitoring, the number of publications regarding liquid biopsy approaches using ddPCR has increased substantially in recent years. There is a long list of malignancies in which ddPCR provides a reliable and accurate tool for detection of nucleic acid-based markers derived from cell-free DNA, cell-free RNA, circulating tumor cells, extracellular vesicles or exosomes when isolated from whole blood, plasma and serum, helping to anticipate tumor relapse or unveil intratumor heterogeneity and clonal evolution in response to treatment. This updated review describes recent developments in ddPCR platforms and provides a general overview about the major applications of liquid biopsy in blood, including its utility for molecular response and minimal residual disease monitoring in hematological malignancies or the therapeutic management of patients with colorectal or lung cancer, particularly for the selection and monitoring of treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Although plasma is the main source of genetic material for tumor genomic profiling, liquid biopsy by ddPCR is being investigated in a wide variety of biologic fluids, such as cerebrospinal fluid, urine, stool, ocular fluids, sputum, saliva, bronchoalveolar lavage, pleural effusion, mucin, peritoneal fluid, fine needle aspirate, bile or pancreatic juice. The present review focuses on these "alternative" sources of genetic material and their analysis by ddPCR in different kinds of cancers.

3D tumor angiogenesis models: recent advances and challenges

The development of blood vessels, referred to as angiogenesis, is an intricate process regulated spatially and temporally through a delicate balance between the qualitative and quantitative expression of pro and anti-angiogenic molecules. As angiogenesis is a prerequisite for solid tumors to grow and metastasize, a variety of tumor angiogenesis models have been formulated to better understand the underlying mechanisms and associated clinical applications. Studies have demonstrated independent mechanisms inducing angiogenesis in tumors such as (a) HIF-1/VEGF mediated paracrine interactions between a cancer cell and endothelial cells, (b) recruitment of progenitor endothelial cells, and (c) vasculogenic mimicry. Moreover, single-cell sequencing technologies have indicated endothelial cell heterogeneity among organ systems including tumor tissues. However, existing angiogenesis models often rely upon normal endothelial cells which significantly differ from tumor endothelial cells exhibiting distinct (epi)genetic and metabolic signatures. Besides, the existence of intra-individual variations necessitates the development of improved tumor vascular model systems for personalized medicine. In the present review, we summarize recent advancements of 3D tumor vascular model systems which include (a) tissue engineering-based tumor models; (b) vascular organoid models, and (c) organ-on-chips and their importance in replicating the tumor angiogenesis along with the associated challenges to design improved models.

Personalized Therapy and Liquid Biopsy-A Focus on Colorectal Cancer

(1) Background: Resistance mechanisms represent a barrier to anti-cancer therapies. Liquid biopsies would allow obtaining additional information in order to develop targeted therapies to thwart the resistance phenomena but also to follow in time real response to treatment and be able to adapt it the most quickly possible way in case of resistance. (2) Methods: herein we summarize the different liquid biopsies which are currently under research; we then review the literature and focalize on one of their potential roles: the theranostic one and especially in the cases of colorectal cancers. (3) Results: few studies targeting liquid biopsy as a potential tool to adapt cancer treatments are present in the literature and encompass few patients. (4) Conclusions: further research is needed to prove the efficiency of LB. Indeed, it seems a promising tool to guide treatment by targeting actionable mutations with detection of resistant mutations.

Monitoring levels of circulating cell-free DNA in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer as a potential biomarker of responses to regorafenib treatment

Circulating cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) contains circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), which can be obtained from serial liquid biopsies to enable tumor genome analysis throughout the course of treatment. We investigated cfDNA and mutant ctDNA as potential biomarkers to predict the best outcomes of regorafenib‐treated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. We analyzed longitudinally collected plasma cfDNA of 43 mCRC patients prospectively enrolled in the phase II TEXCAN trial by IntPlex qPCR. Qualitative (KRAS, NRAS, BRAF^V600E mutations) and quantitative (total cfDNA concentration, mutant ctDNA concentration, mutant ctDNA fraction) parameters were correlated with overall survival (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS). When examined as classes or continuous variables, the concentrations of total cfDNA, mutant ctDNA, and, partly, mutant ctDNA fraction prior to regorafenib treatment correlated with OS. Patients with baseline cfDNA > 26 ng·mL⁻¹ had shorter OS than those with cfDNA value below this threshold (4.0 vs 6.9 months; log‐rank P = 0.0366). Patients with baseline mutant ctDNA > 2 ng·mL⁻¹ had shorter OS than those with mutant ctDNA below this threshold (log‐rank P = 0.0154). We show that pretreatment cfDNA and mutant ctDNA levels may identify mCRC patients that may benefit from regorafenib treatment.

Coiled-Coil Domain-Containing 68 Downregulation Promotes Colorectal Cancer Cell Growth by Inhibiting ITCH-Mediated CDK4 Degradation

Coiled-coil domain-containing 68 (CCDC68) plays different roles in cancer and is predicted as a tumor suppressor in human colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the specific role of CCDC68 in CRC and the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we showed that CCDC68 expression was lower in CRC than that in corresponding normal tissues, and CCDC68 level was positively correlated with disease-free survival. Ectopic expression of CCDC68 decreased CRC cell proliferation in vitro and suppressed the growth of CRC xenograft tumors in vivo. CCDC68 caused G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, downregulated CDK4, and upregulated ITCH, the E3 ubiquitin ligase responsible for CDK4 protein degradation. This increased CDK4 degradation, which decreased CDK4 protein levels and inhibited CRC tumor growth. Collectively, the present results identify a novel CDK4 regulatory axis consisting of CCDC68 and ITCH, which suggest that CCDC68 is a promising target for the treatment of CRC.

Genomic and epigenomic biomarkers in colorectal cancer: From diagnosis to therapy

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Despite ongoing efforts aimed at increasing screening for CRC and early detection, and development of more effective therapeutic regimens, the overall morbidity and mortality from this malignancy remains a clinical challenge. Therefore, identifying and developing genomic and epigenomic biomarkers that can improve CRC diagnosis and help predict response to current therapies are of paramount importance for improving survival outcomes in CRC patients, sparing patients from toxicity associated with current regimens, and reducing the economic burden associated with these treatments. Although efforts to develop biomarkers over the past decades have achieved some success, the recent availability of high-throughput analytical tools, together with the use of machine learning algorithms, will likely hasten the development of more robust diagnostic biomarkers and improved guidance for clinical decision-making in the coming years. In this chapter, we provide a systematic and comprehensive overview on the current status of genomic and epigenomic biomarkers in CRC, and comment on their potential clinical significance in the management of patients with this fatal malignancy, including in the context of precision medicine.

What Is Known about Theragnostic Strategies in Colorectal Cancer

Despite the paradigmatic shift occurred in recent years for defined molecular subtypes in the metastatic setting treatment, colorectal cancer (CRC) still remains an incurable disease in most of the cases. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new tools and biomarkers for both early tumor diagnosis and to improve personalized treatment. Thus, liquid biopsy has emerged as a minimally invasive tool that is capable of detecting genomic alterations from primary or metastatic tumors, allowing the prognostic stratification of patients, the detection of the minimal residual disease after surgical or systemic treatments, the monitoring of therapeutic response, and the development of resistance, establishing an opportunity for early intervention before imaging detection or worsening of clinical symptoms. On the other hand, preclinical and clinical evidence demonstrated the role of gut microbiota dysbiosis in promoting inflammatory responses and cancer initiation. Altered gut microbiota is associated with resistance to chemo drugs and immune checkpoint inhibitors, whereas the use of microbe-targeted therapies including antibiotics, pre-probiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation can restore response to anticancer drugs, promote immune response, and therefore support current treatment strategies in CRC. In this review, we aim to summarize preclinical and clinical evidence for the utilization of liquid biopsy and gut microbiota in CRC.

Clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA as a response and follow-up marker in cancer therapy

Response evaluation for cancer treatment consists primarily of clinical and radiological assessments. In addition, a limited number of serum biomarkers that assess treatment response are available for a small subset of malignancies. Through recent technological innovations, new methods for measuring tumor burden and treatment response are becoming available. By utilization of highly sensitive techniques, tumor-specific mutations in circulating DNA can be detected and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can be quantified. These so-called liquid biopsies provide both molecular information about the genomic composition of the tumor and opportunities to evaluate tumor response during therapy. Quantification of tumor-specific mutations in plasma correlates well with tumor burden. Moreover, with liquid biopsies, it is also possible to detect mutations causing secondary resistance during treatment. This review focuses on the clinical utility of ctDNA as a response and follow-up marker in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer. Relevant studies were retrieved from a literature search using PubMed database. An overview of the available literature is provided and the relevance of ctDNA as a response marker in anti-cancer therapy for clinical practice is discussed. We conclude that the use of plasma-derived ctDNA is a promising tool for treatment decision-making based on predictive testing, detection of resistance mechanisms, and monitoring tumor response. Necessary steps for translation to daily practice and future perspectives are discussed.

Circulating tumour DNA as a biomarker in resectable and irresectable stage IV colorectal cancer; a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

For patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, stratification for treatment (surgery or chemotherapy) is often based on crude clinicopathological characteristics like tumour size and number of lesions. Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) acts as a potential biomarker of disease trajectory and biology, allowing better stratification. This study aims to systematically review ctDNA in stage IV colorectal cancer to assess its potential role as a prospective biomarker to guide management decisions.

METHODS

A literature search was performed to identify studies where the measurement of ctDNA in stage IV colorectal cancer was correlated with a clinical outcome (radiological response, secondary resection rate, PFS, DFS or OS).

RESULTS

Twenty-eight studies were included, reporting on 2823 patients. Circulating tumour DNA was detectable in between 80% and 90% of patients prior to treatment. Meta-analysis identified a strong correlation between detectable ctDNA after treatment (surgery or chemotherapy) and overall survival (HR 2.2, 95% CI 1.79-2.69, p < 0.00001), as well as progression-free survival (HR 3.15, 95% CI 2.10-4.73, p < 0.00001). ctDNA consistently offered an early marker of long-term prognosis in irresectable disease, with changes after one cycle of systemic therapy demonstrating prognostic value. In resectable disease treated with curative intent, detection of ctDNA offered a lead time over radiological recurrence of 10 months.

CONCLUSION

Circulating tumour DNA is detectable in the majority of resectable and irresectable patients. The presence of ctDNA is clearly associated with shorter overall survival, with changes in ctDNA an early biomarker of adverse disease behaviour. Prospective trials are essential to test its clinical efficacy.

Diagnostic Accuracy and Safety of Coaxial System in Oncology Patients Treated in a Specialist Cancer Center With Prospective Validation Within Clinical Trial Data

BACKGROUND

Image-guided tissue biopsies are critically important in the diagnosis and management of cancer patients. High-yield samples are also vital for biomarker and resistance mechanism discovery through molecular/genomic analyses.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

All consecutive patients who underwent plugged image-guided biopsy at Royal Marsden from June 2013 until September 2016 were included in the analysis. In the next step, a second cohort of patients prospectively treated within two clinical trials (PROSPECT-C and PROSPECT-R) were assessed for the DNA yield from biopsies assessed for complex genomic analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 522 plugged core biopsies were performed in 457 patients [men, 52%; median age, 63 years (range, 17-93)]. Histological diagnosis was achieved in 501 of 522 (96%) performed biopsies. Age, gender, modality, metastatic site, and seniority of the interventionist were not found to be significant factors associated with odds of failure on a logistic regression. Seventeen (3.3%) were admitted due to biopsy-related complications; nine, three, two, one, one, and one were admitted for grade I/II pain control, sepsis, vasovagal syncope, thrombosis, hematuria, and deranged liver functions, respectively; two patients with right upper quadrant pain after liver biopsy were found to have radiologically confirmed subcapsular hematoma requiring conservative treatment. One patient (0.2%) developed grade III hemorrhage following biopsy of a gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). Overall molecular analysis was successful in 89% (197/222 biopsies). Prospective validation in 62 biopsies gave success rates of 92.06 and 79.03% for DNA extraction of >1 μm and tmour content of >20%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The probability of diagnostic success for complex molecular analysis is increased with plugged large coaxial needle biopsy technique, which also minimizes complications and reduces hospital stay. High-yield DNA acquisition allows genomic molecular characterization for personalized medicine.

The Liquid Biopsy in the Management of Colorectal Cancer: An Overview

Currently, there is a crucial need for novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers with high specificity and sensitivity in patients with colorectal cancer. A "liquid biopsy" is characterized by the isolation of cancer-derived components, such as circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and proteins, from peripheral blood or other body fluids and their genomic or proteomic assessment. The liquid biopsy is a minimally invasive and repeatable technique that could play a significant role in screening and diagnosis, and predict relapse and metastasis, as well as monitoring minimal residual disease and chemotherapy resistance in colorectal cancer patients. However, there are still some practical issues that need to be addressed before liquid biopsy can be widely used in clinical practice. Potential challenges may include low amounts of circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA in samples, lack of pre-analytical and analytical consensus, clinical validation, and regulatory endorsement. The aim of this review was to summarize the current knowledge of the role of liquid biopsy in the management of colorectal cancer.

The Application of Circulating Tumor DNA in the Screening, Surveillance, and Treatment Monitoring of Colorectal Cancer

Precision medicine with genetic profiling of tumor tissue has become an essential part of routine clinical practice in colorectal cancer. However, tissue genetic profiling suffers from clonal evolution, tumor heterogeneity, and time needed to deliver critical information for prompt clinical decision making. In contrast, liquid biopsy with plasma circulating tumor DNA provides genetic and epigenetic information from both the primary and metastatic colorectal cancer, which can potentially capture tumor heterogeneity and evolution with time and treatment. In addition, liquid biopsy with circulating tumor DNA is minimally invasive, quicker, and easily repeatable with high patient compliance to provide both qualitative and quantitative molecular information in real-time. We provide an overview on the potential clinical applications of circulating tumor DNA in the screening, surveillance, and treatment monitoring of colorectal cancer.

Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Receiving Regorafenib

Regorafenib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with chemotherapy refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Regorafenib inhibits signaling through multiple receptors associated with angiogenesis, metastasis, and tumor immunity. Here, we report biomarker results from LCCC1029, a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase II trial of chemotherapy ± regorafenib in patients with second-line mCRC. A panel of 20 soluble protein biomarkers (termed the Angiome) was assessed in the plasma of 149 patients from the LCCC1029 trial both at baseline and along the treatment continuum. Baseline protein levels were analyzed for prognostic and predictive value for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Changes in protein levels during treatment were analyzed for potential pharmacodynamic effects. Six markers (HGF, IL6, PlGF, VEGF-R1, OPN, and IL6R) were found to be prognostic for PFS. Nine markers (IL6, TIMP-1, PlGF, VCAM-1, ICAM-1, OPN, TSP-2, HGF, and VEGF-R1) were prognostic for OS. Higher baseline levels of OPN (P _intx = 0.0167), VCAM-1 (P _intx = 0.0216), and PDGF-AA (P _intx = 0.0435) appeared to predict for PFS benefit from regorafenib compared with placebo. VCAM-1 was also potentially predictive of OS benefit from regorafenib compared with placebo (P _intx = 0.0124). On-treatment changes of six markers reflected potential on-target effect of regorafenib. Consistent results were observed in an Italian cohort where 105 patients with late-stage mCRC received regorafenib monotherapy. The key findings of this study suggest that VCAM-1 may be a predictive biomarker for regorafenib benefit, while multiple protein markers may be prognostic of outcome in patients with mCRC.

Efficacy and safety of regorafenib as beyond second-line therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: an adjusted indirect meta-analysis and systematic review

Background:

The evidence base for optimum third-line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is not conclusive. Recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of regorafenib as third-line therapy in mCRC. This indirect meta-analysis compared the efficacy and safety of regorafenib with other available third-line therapies for mCRC.

Methods:

A literature search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library for studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of fruquintinib, regorafenib, TAS-102, and nintedanib as third-line therapies in patients with mCRC. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were the primary outcomes, while objective response rate (ORR) and safety were the secondary outcomes. Hazard ratio (HR) and relative risk (RR) with their respective 95% confidence interval (CI) were used for analysis of survival, clinical response, and safety data. An adjusted indirect meta-analysis with placebo as the common comparator was performed.

Results:

We identified eight RCTs comparing regorafenib (two studies), fruquintinib (two studies), TAS-102 (three studies), and nintedanib (one study) against placebo. The OS with regorafenib was significantly better when compared with nintedanib (HR = 0.66; 95% CI: 0.45, 0.95, p = 0.02) but was similar to that of fruquintinib (HR = 1.01; 95% CI: 0.67, 1.52, p = 0.94) and TAS-102 (HR = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.38, p = 0.88). The PFS and ORR for regorafenib were slightly better than those of TAS-102 (PFS: HR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.54, 1.37, p = 0.5; ORR: RR = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.11, 11.05, p = 0.92) and nintedanib (PFS: HR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.42, 1.10, p = 0.12; ORR: not reported) but were lower than those for fruquintinib (PFS: HR = 1.53, 95% CI: 0.93, 2.52, p = 0.08; ORR: RR = 0.68269, 95% CI: 0.045, 10.32, p = 0.79). Safety analysis showed that the RR of adverse events (AEs) was lesser in patients treated with regorafenib in comparison with that in patients treated with fruquintinib, but was similar to that in patients treated with nintedanib and TAS-102.

Conclusion:

Regorafenib has efficacy similar to that of TAS-102 and better safety when compared with fruquintinib. Considering the mechanism of action of regorafenib, which targets multiple factors in the angiogenic pathway, it could be an ideal option for treatment in the beyond second-line setting.

Circulating Tumour DNAs and Non-Coding RNAs as Liquid Biopsies for the Management of Colorectal Cancer Patients

Circulating tumour DNAs and non-coding RNAs present in body fluids have been under investigation as tools for cancer diagnosis, disease monitoring, and prognosis for many years. These so-called liquid biopsies offer the opportunity to obtain information about the molecular make-up of a cancer in a minimal invasive way and offer the possibility to implement theranostics for precision oncology. Furthermore, liquid biopsies could overcome the limitations of tissue biopsies in capturing the complexity of tumour heterogeneity within the primary cancer and among different metastatic sites. Liquid biopsies may also be implemented to detect early tumour formation or to monitor cancer relapse of response to therapy with greater sensitivity compared with the currently available protein-based blood biomarkers. Most colorectal cancers are often diagnosed at late stages and have a high mortality rate. Hence, biomolecules as nucleic acids present in liquid biopsies might have prognostic potential and could serve as predictive biomarkers for chemotherapeutic regimens. This review will focus on the role of circulating tumour DNAs and non-coding RNAs as diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers in the context of colorectal cancer.

Comparison of a coaxial versus non-coaxial liver biopsy technique in an oncological setting: diagnostic yield, complications and seeding risk

Objectives

Percutaneous liver biopsy (PLB) poses specific challenges in oncological patients such as bleeding and tumour seeding. This study’s aim was to compare a coaxial (C-PLB) and non-coaxial (NC-PLB) biopsy technique in terms of diagnostic yield, safety and seeding risk of image-guided PLB techniques in an oncological setting.

Methods

Local research committee approval was obtained for this single-site retrospective study. Patients who underwent a PLB between November 2011 and December 2017 were consecutively included. Medical records were reviewed to determine diagnostic yield and complications. Follow-up imaging was re-reviewed for seeding, defined as visible tumour deposits along the PLB track. Mann-Whitney U and chi-squared tests were performed to investigate differences between biopsy techniques in sample number, complications and seeding rate.

Results

In total, 741 patients (62 ± 13 years, 378 women) underwent 932 PLB (C-PLB 72.9% (679/932); NC-PLB 27.1% (253/932)). More tissue cores (p < 0.001) were obtained with C-PLB (median 4 cores; range 1–12) compared with NC-PLB (2 cores; range 1–4) and diagnostic yield was similar for both techniques (C-PLB 92.6% (629/679); NC-PLB 92.5% (234/253); p = 0.940). Complication rate (9.3%; 87/932) using C-PLB (8.2% (56/679)) was lower compared with NC-PLB (12.3% (31/253); p = 0.024). Major complications were uncommon (C-PLB 2.7% (18/679); NC-PLB 2.8% (7/253)); bleeding developed in 1.2% (11/932; C-PLB 1.2% (8/679); NC-PLB 1.2% (3/253)). Seeding was a rare event, occurring significantly less in C-PLB cases (C-PLB 1.3% (7/544); NC-PLB 3.1% (6/197); p = 0.021).

Conclusions

C-PLB allows for high diagnostic tissue yield with a lower complication and seeding rate than a NC-PLB and should be the preferred method in an oncological setting.

Key Points

• A coaxial percutaneous liver biopsy achieves a significant higher number of cores and fewer complications than a non-coaxial biopsy technique.

• The risk of tumour seeding is very low and is significantly lower using the coaxial biopsy technique.

• In this study, a larger number of cores (median = 4) could be safely acquired using the coaxial technique, providing sufficient material for advanced molecular analysis.

FGFR aberrations increase the risk of brain metastases and predict poor prognosis in metastatic breast cancer patients

Background:

The survival status of patients with breast cancer and brain metastasis (BCBM) receiving current treatments is poor.

Method:

We designed a real-world study to investigate using patients’ clinical and genetic aberrations to forecast the prognoses of BCBM patients. We recruited 146 BCBM patients and analyzed their clinical features to evaluate the overall survival (OS). For genetic testing, 30 BCBM and 165 non-brain-metastatic (BM) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients from Hunan Cancer Hospital, and 86 BCBM and 1416 non-BM MBC patients from the Geneplus database who received circulating tumor DNA testing, were compared and analyzed.

Results:

Ki67 >14% and >3 metastatic brain tumors were significant risk factors associated with poor OS, while chemotherapy and brain radiotherapy were beneficial factors for better OS. Compared with non-BM MBC patients, BCBM patients had more fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) aberrations. The combination of FGFR, TP53 and FLT1 aberrations plus immunohistochemistry HER2-positive were associated with an increased risk of brain metastasis (AUC = 77.13%). FGFR aberration alone was not only a predictive factor (AUC = 67.90%), but also a significant risk factor for poor progression-free survival (Logrank p = 0.029). FGFR1 aberration was more frequent than other FGFR family genes in BCBM patients, and FGFR1 aberration was significantly higher in BCBM patients than non-BM MBC patients. Most FGFR1-amplified MBC patients progressed within 3 months of the late-line (>2 lines) treatment.

Conclusion:

A group of genetic events, including FGFR, TP53 and FLT1 genetic aberrations, and HER2-positivity, forecasted the occurrence of BM in breast cancers. FGFR genetic aberration alone predicted poor prognosis.

Imaging and clinical correlates with regorafenib in metastatic colorectal cancer

In colorectal cancer (CRC), imaging is important in determining tumor stage, selecting treatment strategies, and in assessing response to therapy. However, some challenges remain with established imaging techniques, such as computed tomography, and with some commonly used response criteria, such as Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, which measures change in size of several target lesions instead of change in tumor morphology or metabolic function. In addition, these assessments are not typically conducted until after 8 weeks of treatment, meaning that potential non-responders are often not identified in a timely manner. Regorafenib, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of metastatic CRC, blocks the activity of several protein kinases involved in angiogenesis, oncogenesis, metastasis, and tumor immunity. Timely differentiation of regorafenib responders from non-responders using appropriate imaging techniques that recognize not only changes in tumor size but also changes in tumor density or vasculature, may reduce unnecessary drug-related toxicity in patients who are unlikely to respond to treatment. This review discusses the latest developments in computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography tumor imaging modalities, and how these aid in identifying patients with metastatic CRC who are responders or non-responders to regorafenib treatment.

Multicenter Cohort Study to Assess the Association between Changes on Imaging and Outcome after Regorafenib Treatment (KSCC1603)

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Molecular targeted drugs having angiogenesis-inhibiting properties allow the induction of necrosis inside tumors. We retrospectively investigated the relationship between changes on imaging associated with regorafenib (REGO) and treatment outcomes using real-world data. <b><i>Patients and Methods:</i></b> The eligibility criteria included an ECOG PS of 0–1, a starting dose of 120 or 160 mg/day of REGO, and a duration of treatment of at least 35 days. Regarding changes on imaging, cavitation in lung lesions (CLL), morphologic response of liver lesions (MRL), and change of liver metastasis density (CLD) were evaluated. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We finally screened 671 cases, and 226 cases were eligible. In total, 172 and 145 patients had lung and liver metastases, respectively. Among the patients with lung metastasis, CLL was found in 69 patients (40.0%). The median progression-free survival (PFS) of the patients with and those without CLL was 3.2 and 2.4 months, respectively (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.758; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.529–1.087), and the median overall survival (OS) of these groups was 10.5 and 8.9 months, respectively (HR = 0.862; 95% CI: 0.579–1.285). MRL and CLD of liver metastasis were analyzed in 145 and 90 patients, respectively. The median OS with and without MRL was 8.9 and 8.2 months, respectively, whereas the median OS with and without CLD was 11.6 and 7.7 months, respectively (HR = 0.523; 95% CI: 0.275–0.992). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> CLL may predict PFS but not OS among patients with lung metastasis. CLD was predictive of favorable outcomes for REGO in patients with liver metastasis.

Multimodal Approach to Outcome Prediction in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer by Integrating Functional Imaging and Plasma DNA Analysis

PURPOSE

Biomarkers for treatment personalization in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) could help improve patient outcomes. Multiple tests on blood have reported associations with poorer outcome, including serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), chromogranin A (CGA), neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and, recently, copy number (CN) of androgen receptor (AR) in plasma DNA. Biologic data suggest an association between choline uptake and AR signaling. We aimed to integrate 18F-fluorocholine (FCH) uptake on positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scanning with plasma AR CN and other routinely obtained circulating biomarkers to evaluate their association with outcome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We determined plasma AR CN by digital droplet polymerase chain reaction from 105 mCRPC samples collected before abiraterone (n = 65) or enzalutamide (n = 40) therapy in the before (n = 26) and after (n = 79) chemotherapy settings. Pretreatment serum LDH, CGA, and NLR were also measured. FCH-PET/CT scan was performed at baseline, and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), total lesion activity (TLA), and metabolic tumor volume (MTV) were calculated. Main end points were the correlation of FCH-PET/CT parameters with circulating biomarkers and their impact on outcome.

RESULTS

Plasma AR CN gain was observed in 27 patients (25.7%), and it correlated significantly with higher median SUVmax, TLA, and MTV values ( P < .001). Kaplan-Meier curves showed significantly worse progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with plasma AR gain and higher SUVmax, TLA, and MTV values ( P < .001 in each prognostic group). Conversely, no association was reported for prostate-specific antigen response. On multivariable analysis of overall survival, we showed as independent factors AR gain (hazard ratio [HR], 1.92; 95% CI, 1.07 to 3.47; P = .029), presence of visceral metastasis (HR, 3.04; 95% CI, 1.66 to 5.58; P = < .001), LDH (HR, 2.95; 95% CI, 1.72 to 5.05; P < .001), NLR (HR, 3.51; 95% CI, 2.14 to 5.74; P < .001), serum CGA (HR, 3.36; 95% CI, 1.99 to 5.67; P < .001), and MTV (HR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.25 to 3.50; P = .005).

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate the potential usefulness of integrating functional imaging with plasma DNA analysis and other noninvasive biomarkers as a tool to improve treatment selection for CRPC. A larger prospective evaluation is warranted.

Molecular insight of regorafenib treatment for colorectal cancer

Regorafenib is a multi-targeting kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer patients in refractory to standard chemotherapy. Similarly to sorafenib, this agent was originally developed as a RAF1 inhibitor. However, the kinase inhibitory profile is distinct from sorafenib. A broad-spectrum of kinase inhibition induces wide-range drug sensitivity, irrespective of mutation status of major oncogenes. This agent's main therapeutic effects are anti-angiogenesis and the remodeling of tumor microenvironment through several mechanisms of action. The dual blockade of VEGF receptors and TIE2 can lead to both additive anti-angiogenesis effects and the suggestive unique regulation of vessel stability. Additionally, it inhibits molecular escape pathways to VEGF inhibition (e.g., FGF, PIGF, and PDGF signaling), enabling its continuous antiangiogenic effect even in tumors resistant to VEGF inhibitors. Furthermore, regorafenib has the important effect of enhancing anti-tumor immunity via macrophage modulation. Based on this concept, clinical trials have been recently launched for the development of a combination strategy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Contrary to regorafenib induced clinical benefits and advances in the novel strategy, currently no predictive biomarkers have been identified. In the present review, we revisit and summarize regorafenib's unique mechanisms of action. The review could highlight molecular insights and provide some perspective for the search of predictive biomarkers used in metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with regorafenib.

The Use of Circulating Tumor DNA to Monitor and Predict Response to Treatment in Colorectal Cancer

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and has a high mortality rate following disease recurrence. Treatment efficacy is maximized by providing tailored cancer treatment, ideally involving surgical resection and personalized neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and increasingly, targeted therapy. Early detection of recurrence or disease progression results in more treatable disease and is essential to improving survival outcomes. Recent advances in the understanding of tumor genetics have resulted in the discovery of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). A growing body of evidence supports the use of these sensitive biomarkers in detecting residual disease and diagnosing recurrence as well as enabling targeted and tumor-specific adjuvant therapies. Methods: A literature search in Pubmed was performed to identify all original articles preceding April 2019 that utilize ctDNA for the purpose of monitoring response to colorectal cancer treatment. Results: Ninety-two clinical studies were included. These studies demonstrate that ctDNA is a reliable measure of tumor burden. Studies show the utility of ctDNA in assessing the adequacy of surgical tumor clearance and changes in ctDNA levels reflect response to systemic treatments. ctDNA can be used in the selection of targeted treatments. The reappearance or increase in ctDNA, as well as the emergence of new mutations, correlates with disease recurrence, progression, and resistance to therapy, with ctDNA measurement allowing more sensitive monitoring than currently used clinical tools. Conclusions: ctDNA shows enormous promise as a sensitive biomarker for monitoring response to many treatment modalities and for targeting therapy. Thus, it is emerging as a new way for guiding treatment decisions-initiating, altering, and ceasing treatments, or prompting investigation into the potential for residual disease. However, many potentially useful ctDNA markers are available and more work is needed to determine which are best suited for specific purposes and for improving specific outcomes.

Anti-angiogenic Treatment in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Current Issues and Future Aims

:

Blocking angiogenesis represents a fundamental process in Colorectal Cancer (CRC) treatment. VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) pathway is implicated in various processes that regulate tumor vascularization and proliferation. In the last years, great efforts have been made thanks to the discovery of targeted drugs that block VEGF and its receptors conferring a benefit in a variety of tumors, including CRC. To date, four drugs have been approved for the treatment of metastatic CRC (mCRC): bevacizumab, aflibercept, ramucirumab and regorafenib. Unfortunately, patients relapse due to the appearance of resistance. The VEGF family, its role in the angiogenesis and complex heterogeneity of mechanisms that escape tumor blockade are not completely understood and there is a lack of biomarkers of response to anti-angiogenic drugs. We describe the principal mechanisms of resistance to anti-VEGF therapy and discuss potential biomarkers to be investigated in the near future.

The Impact of Different Augmentative Methods on the Expression of Inflammatory Factors

Many animal studies show that an intact periosteum plays an important role in osseous regeneration. The potential effect of an in vivo periosteal barrier membrane on the expression of specific proteins has not been examined sufficiently. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of the flap preparation method and collagen membrane on the emission of inflammatory factors. This study examines 20 patients with dental implants who had previously undergone an augmentation. A soft tissue sample was taken during augmentation and 3 months later from the same location. Samples were always taken from the margins of a previously prepared mucoperiosteal flap. The flap was raised with a conventional periosteal elevator in the control group and with a piezoelectric device in the test group. In both groups, we covered half of the augmented bone with a native collagen membrane (NCM; Geistlich Bio-Gide). This allowed us to examine the same incision area with and without a membrane. An immunohistochemical analysis was performed for collagen IV, fibronectin, and inflammatory factors such as cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and interleukin 6 (IL-6). There was a clear difference in the expression of specific proteins after the piezoelectric device and the periosteal elevator were used. The expression of fibronectin, IL-6, and COX-2 was higher after preparation with the periosteal elevator than after piezoelectric periosteum dissection. The expression of collagen IV was higher after the piezoelectric procedure. No difference was observed for CD31. The membrane had no effect on the expression of collagen IV, fibronectin, IL-6, and COX-2. The type of periosteal preparation influences the expression of specific proteins. With regard to the factors examined here, NCM did not appear to influence the wound healing cascade.

High Circulating Methylated DNA Is a Negative Predictive and Prognostic Marker in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients Treated With Regorafenib

Background: Regorafenib improves progression free survival (PFS) in a subset of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients, although no biomarkers of efficacy are available. Circulating methylated DNA (cmDNA) assessed by a five-gene panel was previously associated with outcome in chemotherapy treated mCRC patients. We hypothesized that cmDNA could be used to identify cases most likely to benefit from regorafenib (i.e., patients with PFS longer than 4 months). Methods: Plasma samples from mCRC patients were collected prior to (baseline samples N = 60) and/or during regorafenib treatment (N = 62) for the assessment of cmDNA and total amount of cell free DNA (cfDNA). Results: In almost all patients, treatment with regorafenib increased the total cfDNA, but decreased cmDNA warranting the normalization of cmDNA to the total amount of circulating DNA (i.e., cmDNA/ml). We report that cmDNA/ml dynamics reflects clinical response with an increase in cmDNA/ml associated with higher risk of progression (HR for progression = 1.78 [95%CI: 1.01-3.13], p = 0.028). Taken individually, high baseline cmDNA/ml (above median) was associated with worst prognosis (HR for death = 3.471 [95%CI: 1.83-6.57], p < 0.0001) and also predicted shorter PFS (<16 weeks with PPV 86%). In addition, high cmDNA/ml values during regorafenib treatment predicted with higher accuracy shorter PFS (<16 weeks with a PPV of 96%), therefore associated with increased risk of progression (HR for progression = 2.985; [95%CI: 1.63-5.46; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Our data highlight the predictive and prognostic value of cmDNA/ml in mCRC patients treated with regorafenib.

Predictive Biomarkers in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review

PURPOSE

The development and use of predictive biomarkers to guide treatment decisions are paramount not only for improving survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), but also for sparing them from unnecessary toxicity and reducing the economic burden of expensive treatments. We conducted a systematic review of published studies and evaluated the predictive biomarker landscape in the mCRC setting from a molecular and clinical viewpoint.

METHODS

Studies analyzing predictive biomarkers for approved therapies in patients with mCRC were identified systematically using electronic databases. Preclinical studies and those providing no relevant information were excluded.

RESULTS

A total of 173 studies comprising 148 biomarkers were selected for final analysis. Of all the biomarkers analyzed, 1.4% (two of 148) were explored in a prospective manner, whereas 98.6% (146 of 148) were evaluated in retrospective studies. Of the latter group, 78.8% (115 of 146) were not tested in subsequent phases, 9.6% (14 of 146) were tested in other retrospective cohorts, 8.9% (13 of 146) were retrospectively tested in at least one or more randomized cohorts, and only 2.7% (four of 146) were prospectively tested in a clinical trial. Finally, only 1.4% (two of 148) were validated sufficiently and are recognized as biomarkers for guiding treatment decision making in patients with mCRC. These markers were RAS mutational status for anti-EGFR antibodies and microsatellite instability status for anti-programmed cell death-1 drugs.

CONCLUSION

Despite notable efforts to identify predictive biomarkers for various therapies used in the mCRC setting, because of a lack of data beyond retrospective studies and successful biomarker-driven approaches, only two molecular biomarkers have thus far found their translation into the clinic, highlighting the imperative need for implementing novel strategies and additional research in this clinically important field.

Chemotherapy Modulates Endocrine Therapy-Related Resistance Mutations in Metastatic Breast Cancer

PURPOSE: Accumulation of PIK3CA, ESR1, and GATA3 mutations results in resistance to endocrine therapy in breast cancer patients; however, the response of these genes to chemotherapy is unclear. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the genetic response of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer patients. METHODS: The mutation frequency of 1021 genes was examined prior to chemotherapy in ctDNA of 44 estrogen receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer patients. These genes were evaluated again in a subset of patients (n=24) following chemotherapy. Mutation frequency was defined as the percentage of mutations found in ctDNA compared to total cell-free DNA. RESULTS: Prior to chemotherapy, PIK3CA was the most commonly mutated gene, with mutation found in 22 of the metastatic breast cancer patients. Following chemotherapy, 16 patients exhibited progressive disease (PD), and 8 patients experienced no progression (non-PD). PIK3CA mutation frequency increased in 56.25% (9/16) of the PD patients but decreased in 62.5% (5/8) of the non-PD patients. As a result, more PD patients exhibited increased PIK3CA mutation frequency than non-PD patients (56.25% vs 0%, P=.002). Further, ESR1 and GATA3 mutations correlated with PIK3CA mutation. Interestingly, patients receiving the mTOR inhibitor everolimus exhibited a lower progression rate (0% vs 62.5%, P=.001), and the combination of everolimus and chemotherapy effectively suppressed PIK3CA, ESR1, and GATA3 gene mutations. CONCLUSION: Together, these results suggest that mTOR inhibition may be a useful chemotherapy adjuvant to suppress chemotherapy-induced gene mutations that render tumors resistant to endocrine therapy in metastatic breast cancer patients with PD.

Circulating tumor DNA applications in monitoring the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer patients

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. New cancer treatment strategies such as monoclonal antibodies against growth factor and angiogenesis receptors have improved the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. However, acquired resistance could happen after these therapies. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is the DNA fraction derived from tumor cells which could be applied as a non-invasive method for detecting tumor mutations before, during, and after therapies. Here, we reviewed most of the studies examining ctDNA as treatment monitoring in mCRC patients who receive different target therapies. Also, we compared ctDNA with other existing cancer-treatment monitoring methods.

Advantage of Next-Generation Sequencing in Dynamic Monitoring of Circulating Tumor DNA over Droplet Digital PCR in Cetuximab Treated Colorectal Cancer Patients

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) blockade resistance is common in the treatment of RAS wide type colorectal cancer (CRC). During the treatment of cetuximab, acquired resistant genomic alterations always occurs earlier than disease progression observed by medical images. Identification of genomic alterations dynamically might have certain clinical significance. Because of the limitation of repeated tissue biopsy, liquid biopsy is increasingly recognized. Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) is the main detection methods for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), however, the application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for ctDNA detection becomes more and more popular. Here we develop a NGS-based ctDNA assay and evaluated its sensitivity and specificity while using ddPCR as control. These two technologies were both used for genomic alteration detection for the peripheral blood samples from cetuximab-treated colorectal cancer patients dynamically. Fifteen patients were enrolled in this study, including eight males and seven females. The sensitivity and specificity of our NGS assay were 87.5% and 100% respectively, and liner regression analysis comparing variant allele frequency (VAF) revealed high concordance between NGS and ddPCR (R² = 0.98). NGS actually found more mutation information than ddPCR such as the additional dynamic changes of TP53 which were observed in the disease progression patients. Moreover, the variant allele fraction of TP53 was also found by NGS to be changed along with the clinical efficacy evaluation dynamically during the whole treatment process. In conclusion, our newly developed NGS-based ctDNA assay shows similar performance with ddPCR but have more advantages of its high throughput of multigenetic detection for the dynamic monitoring during the treatment of cetuximab in metastasis CRC patients.

Longitudinal Liquid Biopsy and Mathematical Modeling of Clonal Evolution Forecast Time to Treatment Failure in the PROSPECT-C Phase II Colorectal Cancer Clinical Trial

Sequential profiling of plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) holds immense promise for early detection of patient progression. However, how to exploit the predictive power of cfDNA as a liquid biopsy in the clinic remains unclear. RAS pathway aberrations can be tracked in cfDNA to monitor resistance to anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. In this prospective phase II clinical trial of single-agent cetuximab in RAS wild-type patients, we combine genomic profiling of serial cfDNA and matched sequential tissue biopsies with imaging and mathematical modeling of cancer evolution. We show that a significant proportion of patients defined as RAS wild-type based on diagnostic tissue analysis harbor aberrations in the RAS pathway in pretreatment cfDNA and, in fact, do not benefit from EGFR inhibition. We demonstrate that primary and acquired resistance to cetuximab are often of polyclonal nature, and these dynamics can be observed in tissue and plasma. Furthermore, evolutionary modeling combined with frequent serial sampling of cfDNA allows prediction of the expected time to treatment failure in individual patients. This study demonstrates how integrating frequently sampled longitudinal liquid biopsies with a mathematical framework of tumor evolution allows individualized quantitative forecasting of progression, providing novel opportunities for adaptive personalized therapies.Significance: Liquid biopsies capture spatial and temporal heterogeneity underpinning resistance to anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies in colorectal cancer. Dense serial sampling is needed to predict the time to treatment failure and generate a window of opportunity for intervention. Cancer Discov; 8(10); 1270-85. ©2018 AACR. See related commentary by Siravegna and Corcoran, p. 1213 This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1195.

Magnolin promotes autophagy and cell cycle arrest via blocking LIF/Stat3/Mcl-1 axis in human colorectal cancers

Magnolin is a multi-bioactive natural compound that possesses underlying anti-cancer properties. However, the mechanisms underlying remain to be elucidated. Here, we report the role of magnolin in suppressing human colorectal cancer (CRC) cells via activating autophagy and cell cycle arrest in vitro and in vivo. Pre-treatment of cells with specific autophagy inhibitor (3-methyladenine) or knockdown of endogenous LC-3B by siRNA significantly abrogates magnolin-induced cell cycle arrest. Molecular validation mechanistically shows that magnolin-induced autophagy and cell cycle arrest in CRC cells is correlated with decreased transcriptional levels of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), and we further find that inhibition of LIF decreases phosphorylation level of Stat3 and represses transcriptional expression of Mcl-1. Furthermore, magnolin-induced autophagy and cell cycle arrest suppress the growth of xenograft colorectal tumors without apparent toxicity. Finally, we evaluate the clinical correlation of LIF/Stat3/Mcl-1 in CRC patient tissues. As expected, LIF, p-Stat3, and Mcl-1 levels are high in CRC tissue but are scarcely found in normal colon tissue. High positive expressions of LIF or Mcl-1 are associated with poor prognosis. Doubly positive cases have shown the worst outcome. Taken together, our results have clarified a novel molecular mechanism whereby magnolin induces autophagy and cell cycle arrest through LIF/Stat3/Mcl-1 pathway in CRCs. Our results also have revealed that magnolin has a promising therapeutic potential in CRCs.