Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Therapy Approaches to Gastric Cancer

OPINION STATEMENT

Gastric cancer is an aggressive malignancy, requiring a multimodality approach to achieve optimal curative rates even when the disease is amenable to surgical resection. Neoadjuvant and adjuvant approaches differ across the globe-a preference for peri-operative chemotherapy exists in Europe, in contrast to the adoption of adjuvant chemotherapy in Asia and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in North America. There are nuances and limitations associated with each therapeutic strategy and an understanding of these distinct approaches is integral to judicious clinical application of the available data. Although a multimodal approach provides a clear survival benefit above a surgical-only approach, data report low completion rates of adjuvant therapy components and strongly suggest a need to refine patient selection particularly for ongoing treatment in the post-operative period. This may be achieved using a risk-stratified strategy. Hence, there is a need to transition from a generalised approach to a multimodality treatment towards one guided by individual patient clinical features and biomarker profiles in order to improve tolerability and patient outcomes irrespective of geographical variation in clinical practice. While the evidences supporting molecular features such as microsatellite instability and predictive gene signatures are provocative, prospective validation is required before these can be confidently used to direct clinical decision-making.

Design of a randomized controlled phase III study of dose dense methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin and cisplatin (dd-MVAC) or gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC) as peri-operative chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced transitional cell cancer of the bladder. The French GETUG/AFU V05 VESPER trial

The main objective of the French GETUG/AFU V05 VESPER randomized phase III study was to assess the efficacy of dd-MVAC and GC in term of progression-free survival in patients for whom chemotherapy has been decided, before or after surgery.

A total of 500 patients have been randomized in 28 reference centers. Inclusion criteria were urothelial carcinoma without neuro-endocrine variant, disease defined by a T2, T3 or T4a N0 (pelvic lymph node ≤ 10 mm on CT scan) M0 staging for patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy or pT3 or pT4 or pN+ and M0 for patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Secondary endpoints include overall survival, safety, response rate. The peri-operative chemotherapy schedule was experimental arm dd-MVAC for a total of 6 cycles versus standard arm GC 4 cycles. The toxicity was evaluated according to NCI CTCAE (v 4.0). The progression-free survival rate will be estimated at 3 years by the Kaplan-Meier method. All the patients will be followed for 5 years.

The last patient was randomized in March 2018 and the primary endpoint results are expected for mid-2021. As the dd-MVAC schedule is associated with higher response rates in metastatic disease, the real question today is to confirm such benefit in the peri-operative setting, taking also in consideration the chemotherapy toxicity. Tomorrow, the challenge may be the best chemotherapy and immunotherapy association, the authors hope that final Vesper Trial results will help to determine the gold standard chemotherapy.

Role of Peri-operative Chemotherapy in Stage II (pT2N0) Gallbladder Cancers

BACKGROUND

Evidence for adjuvant chemotherapy in gallbladder cancer (GBC) is conflicting, with a postulated beneficial effect reported in T2 stage or higher, and node-positive tumours. This study aims to assess the survival benefit of peri-operative chemotherapy in stage II (pT2N0) GBCs.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of stage II GBCs who underwent curative surgical resection was done. Patients receiving neo-adjuvant therapy (NACT) prior to resection of the gallbladder primary were excluded. Primary endpoint was disease-free survival, and outcomes of patients who received chemotherapy were compared to those who did not. Survival curves were plotted using a Kaplan-Meier analysis and difference between the survival curves was analysed using a log-rank test.

RESULTS

Two hundred seventy-six patients of stage II GBC were included, of whom 188 (68.1%) received chemotherapy and 88 (31.8%) did not. Forty-one (21.8%) patients received chemotherapy in the neo-adjuvant setting. There was no significant difference in the survival of patients who did and did not receive chemotherapy (5-year DFS 67.8% vs 66%, p = 0.795). There was no significant difference in the survival of patients who received chemotherapy in the adjuvant or neo-adjuvant setting (5-year DFS 66.4% vs 71.8%, p = 0.541). There was no statistically significant difference in the survival of patients with high-risk histologic features and who did and did not receive chemotherapy (3-year DFS 72.4% vs 56%; p = 0.379).

CONCLUSIONS

Routine use of chemotherapy, either in the adjuvant or neo-adjuvant setting, offers no survival advantage in stage II (pT2N0) gallbladder cancers.

Operable gastro-oesophageal junctional adenocarcinoma: Where to next?

Oesophageal junctional adenocarcinoma is a challenging and increasingly common disease. Optimisation of pre-operative staging and consolidation of surgery in large volume centres have improved outcomes, however the preferred adjunctive treatment approach remains a matter of debate. This review examines the benefits of neoadjuvant, peri-operative, and post-operative chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy in this setting in an attempt to reach an evidence based conclusion. Recent findings relating to the molecular characterisation of oesophagogastric cancer and their impact on therapeutics are explored, in addition to the potential benefits of fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) directed therapy. Finally, efforts to decrease the incidence of junctional adenocarcinoma using early intervention in Barrett’s oesophagus are discussed, including the roles of screening, endoscopic mucosal resection, ablative therapies and chemoprevention.