Efficacy and safety profile of combining vandetanib with chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis

Cardiovascular Toxicity of Targeted Therapies for Cancer: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

Background

Several targeted therapies for cancer have been associated with cardiovascular toxicity. The evidence for this association has not been synthesized systematically nor has the quality of evidence been considered. We synthesized systematic review evidence of cardiovascular toxicity of individual targeted agents.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for systematic reviews with meta-analyses of cardiovascular outcomes for individual agents published to May 2020. We selected reviews according to prespecified eligibility criteria (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42017080014). We classified evidence of cardiovascular toxicity as sufficient, probable, possible, or indeterminate for specific cardiovascular outcomes based on statistical significance, study quality, and size.

Results

From 113 systematic reviews, we found at least probable systematic review evidence of cardiovascular toxicity for 18 agents, including high- and all-grade hypertension for bevacizumab, ramucirumab, axitinib, cediranib, pazopanib, sorafenib, sunitinib, vandetanib, aflibercept, abiraterone, and enzalutamide, and all-grade hypertension for nintedanib; high- and all-grade arterial thromboembolism (includes cardiac and/or cerebral events) for bevacizumab and abiraterone, high-grade arterial thromboembolism for trastuzumab, and all-grade arterial thromboembolism for sorafenib and tamoxifen; high- and all-grade venous thromboembolism (VTE) for lenalidomide and thalidomide, high-grade VTE for cetuximab and panitumumab, and all-grade VTE for bevacizumab; high- and all-grade left ventricular ejection fraction decline or congestive heart failure for bevacizumab and trastuzumab, and all-grade left ventricular ejection fraction decline/congestive heart failure for pazopanib and sunitinib; and all-grade corrected QT interval prolongation for vandetanib.

Conclusions

Our review provides an accessible summary of the cardiovascular toxicity of targeted therapy to assist clinicians and patients when managing cardiovascular health.

Safety profile of combined therapy inhibiting EFGR and VEGF pathways in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: A meta-analysis of 15 phase II/III randomized trials

The efficacy of combined vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was well studied. However, few studies focused on the risk and adverse events (AEs) of combined targeted therapy. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the safety profile of combined targeted therapy against EFGR and VEGF in patients with advanced NSCLC. A comprehensive literature search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), ASCO Abstracts and ESMO Abstracts was conducted. Eligible studies were randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared safety profile of combined therapy inhibiting EFGR and VEGF pathways with control groups (placebo, single EGFR or VEGF inhibition therapy, chemotherapy or a combination of them) in patients with advanced NSCLC. The endpoints included treatment discontinuation, treatment-related deaths and AEs. The search identified 15 RCTs involving 6,919 patients. The outcomes showed that three of four pairwise comparisons detected more discontinuation due to AEs in combined targeted therapy, with odds ratio (OR) compared with the control groups ranged from 1.97 to 2.29. Treatment with combined inhibition therapy was associated with several all-grade and grade 3 or 4 AEs (e.g. rash, diarrhea and hypertension). Also, there was a significantly higher incidence of treatment-related deaths in combined inhibition using vandetanib versus single EGFR inhibition therapy (OR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.19-3.28). In conclusion, combined inhibition therapy against EGFR and VEGF in patients with advanced NSCLC was associated with increased toxicity. Increased AEs hinder patient compliance and reduce their quality of life, leading to dose reduction or discontinuation.

EGFR biomarkers predict benefit from vandetanib in combination with docetaxel in a randomized phase III study of second-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Analysis of tumor samples from the ZODIAC study showed that EGFR gene mutation or EGFR gene amplification predicted greater benefits from vandetanib plus docetaxel treatment compared with docetaxel treatment alone. In contrast, KRAS mutations were associated with poor outcomes to docetaxel therapy, and addition of vandetanib did not appear to confer any additional benefit over docetaxel alone.

Background

ZODIAC was a randomized phase III study of second-line treatment in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that evaluated the addition of vandetanib to docetaxel. The study showed a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival and objective response rate, but not in overall survival for unselected patients. This study evaluated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation, copy number gain, and protein expression, and KRAS gene mutation, in pretreatment tumor samples as potential biomarkers predicting benefit from vandetanib as second-line treatment of NSCLC.

Patients and methods

After progression following first-line chemotherapy, 1391 patients with locally advanced or metastatic (stage IIIB/IV) NSCLC were randomized 1 : 1 to receive vandetanib (100 mg/day) plus docetaxel (75 mg/m² every 21 days) or placebo plus docetaxel in the ZODIAC study. Archival tumor samples (n = 570) were collected from consenting patients (n = 958) for predefined, prospective biomarker analyses.

Results

Of evaluable samples, 14% were EGFR mutation positive, 35% were EGFR FISH positive, 88% were EGFR protein expression positive, and 13% were KRAS mutation positive. Compared with the overall study population, in which progression-free survival (PFS) [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.79] but not OS (HR = 0.91) were significantly improved with vandetanib, there was greater relative clinical benefit for patients with EGFR mutation-positive tumors [PFS HR 0.51, confidence interval (CI) 0.25–1.06 and OS HR 0.46, CI 0.14–1.57] and EGFR FISH-positive tumors (PFS HR 0.61, CI 0.39–0.94 and OS HR 0.48, CI 0.28–0.84). Similarly, patients with EGFR mutation or FISH-positive tumor samples who received vandetanib had an increased chance of objective tumor response (odds ratios 3.34, CI 0.8–13.89, and 3.90, CI 1.02–14.82, respectively). There did not appear to be benefit for vandetanib in patients with KRAS mutation-positive tumors.

Conclusions

High EGFR gene copy number or activating EGFR mutations may identify patient subgroups who receive increased clinical benefit from vandetanib in combination with docetaxel in second-line NSCLC.

ClinicalTrials.gov

NCT00312377.

Quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis identifies activation of the RET and IGF-1R/IR signaling pathways in neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is an embryonal tumor of childhood with a heterogenous clinical presentation that reflects differences in activation of complex biological signaling pathways. Protein phosphorylation is a key component of cellular signal transduction and plays a critical role in processes that control cancer cell growth and survival. We used shotgun LC/MS to compare phosphorylation between a human MYCN amplified neuroblastoma cell line (NB10), modeling a resistant tumor, and a human neural precursor cell line (NPC), modeling a normal baseline neural crest cell. 2181 unique phosphorylation sites representing 1171 proteins and 2598 phosphopeptides were found. Protein kinases accounted for 6% of the proteome, with a predominance of tyrosine kinases, supporting their prominent role in oncogenic signaling pathways. Highly abundant receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) phosphopeptides in the NB10 cell line relative to the NPC cell line included RET, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor/insulin receptor (IGF-1R/IR), and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1). Multiple phosphorylated peptides from downstream mediators of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and RAS pathways were also highly abundant in NB10 relative to NPC. Our analysis highlights the importance of RET, IGF-1R/IR and FGFR1 as RTKs in neuroblastoma and suggests a methodology that can be used to identify potential novel biological therapeutic targets. Furthermore, application of this previously unexploited technology in the clinic opens the possibility of providing a new wide-scale molecular signature to assess disease progression and prognosis.