Kazumi Nishino

PURPOSE: Examination of somatic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations is now a diagnostic routine for treatment of cancer using EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI). Circulating tumor DNA is a promising target for noninvasive diagnostics. We evaluated its utility by quantitatively detecting activating and resistant mutations, which were measured with BEAMing (beads, emulsion, amplification, and magnetics). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Twenty-three patients with lung cancer with progressive disease after EGFR-TKI treatment and 21 patients who had never been treated with EGFR-TKIs were studied. Their primary tumors were confirmed to have activating mutations. In the plasma DNA of each patient, the activating mutation found in the corresponding primary tumor and the T790M resistance mutation were quantified by BEAMing. RESULTS: In 32 of 44 patients, activating mutations were detected in the plasma DNA [72.7%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 58.0%-83.6%]. The T790M mutation was detected in 10 of 23 patients in the first group (43.5%; 95% CI, 25.6%-53.4%). The ratio of T790M to activating mutations ranged from 13.3% to 94.0%. The peak of the distribution of the mutation allele fraction in the plasma DNA was in the 0.1% to 1% range. CONCLUSIONS: The major advantage of BEAMing is its ability to calculate the fraction of T790M-positive alleles from the alleles with activating mutations. This feature enables the detection of increases and decreases in the number of T790M mutations in cancer cells, regardless of normal cell DNA contamination, which may be useful for monitoring disease progression. Circulating tumor DNA could potentially be used as an alternative method for EGFR mutation detection.

IMPORTANCE: Although treatment with first-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) plus antiangiogenic inhibitor has shown promising efficacies in patients with EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma, recent single-arm studies have suggested that osimertinib plus antiangiogenic inhibitor might not work synergistically. OBJECTIVE: To explore the efficacy and safety of osimertinib plus bevacizumab compared with osimertinib alone in patients with lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR T790M mutation. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma that progressed with prior EGFR-TKI treatment (other than third-generation TKI) and acquired EGFR T790M mutation were enrolled. This study comprises a lead-in part with 6 patients and a subsequent phase 2 part. In phase 2, patients were randomized to osimertinib plus bevacizumab or osimertinib alone in a 1:1 ratio. INTERVENTIONS: The combination arm received oral osimertinib (80 mg, every day) plus intravenous bevacizumab (15 mg/kg, every 3 weeks) until progression or unacceptable toxic effects. The control arm received osimertinib monotherapy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS) assessed by investigators. Secondary end points consisted of overall response rate, time to treatment failure, overall survival, and safety. RESULTS: From August 2017 through September 2018, a total of 87 patients were registered (6 in the lead-in part and 81 in the phase 2 part [intention-to-treat population]). Among those randomized, the median (range) age was 68 (41-82) years; 33 (41%) were male; 37 (46%) had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0; and 21 (26%) had brain metastasis. Although the overall response rate was better with osimertinib plus bevacizumab than osimertinib alone (68% vs 54%), median PFS was not longer with osimertinib plus bevacizumab (9.4 months vs 13.5 months; adjusted hazard ratio, 1.44; 80% CI, 1.00 to 2.08; P = .20). Median time to treatment failure was also shorter in the combination arm vs the osimertinib arm (8.4 months vs 11.2 months; P = .12). Median overall survival was not different in the combination arm vs osimertinib arm (not reached vs 22.1 months; P = .96). In the combination arm, common adverse events of grade 3 or higher were proteinuria (n = 9; 23%), hypertension (n = 8; 20%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this randomized clinical trial comparing osimertinib plus bevacizumab vs osimertinib alone, the combination arm failed to show prolongation of PFS in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR T790M mutation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry Identifier: UMIN000023761.

Interleukin (IL)-10 has been shown to reduce many inflammatory reactions. We investigated the in vivo effects of IL-10 on a bleomycin-induced lung injury model. Hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ)-liposomes containing a human IL-10 expression vector (hIL10-HVJ) or a balanced salt solution as a control (Cont-HVJ) was intraperitoneally injected into mice on day -3. This was followed by intratracheal instillation of bleomycin (0.8 mg/kg) on day 0. Myeloperoxidase activity of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and tumor necrosis factor-alpha mRNA expression in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells on day 7 and hydroxyproline content of the whole lung on day 21 were inhibited significantly by hIL10-HVJ treatment. However, Cont-HVJ treatment could not suppress any of these parameters. We also examined the in vitro effects of IL-10 on the human lung fibroblast cell line WI-38. IL-10 significantly reduced constitutive and transforming growth factor-beta-stimulated type I collagen mRNA expression. However, IL-10 did not affect the proliferation of WI-38 cells induced by platelet-derived growth factor. These data suggested that exogenous IL-10 may be useful in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.

PURPOSE Telisotuzumab vedotin (Teliso-V) is a c-Met–directed antibody-drug conjugate with a monomethyl auristatin E cytotoxic payload. The phase II LUMINOSITY trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03539536 ) aimed to identify the optimal c-Met protein–overexpressing non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) population for treatment with Teliso-V (stage I) and expand the selected group for efficacy evaluation (stage II). Stage II enrolled patients with nonsquamous epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR )-wildtype NSCLC. METHODS Eligible patients had locally advanced/metastatic c-Met protein–overexpressing NSCLC and ≤2 previous lines of therapy (including ≤1 line of systemic chemotherapy). c-Met protein overexpression in nonsquamous EGFR -wildtype NSCLC was defined as ≥25% tumor cells with 3+ staining (high [≥50% 3+]; intermediate [≥25%–<50%]). Teliso-V was administered at 1.9 mg/kg once every 2 weeks. The primary end point was overall response rate (ORR) by independent central review. RESULTS In total, 172 patients with nonsquamous EGFR -wildtype NSCLC received Teliso-V in stages I and II. ORR was 28.6% (95% CI, 21.7 to 36.2; c-Met high, 34.6% [95% CI, 24.2 to 46.2]; c-Met intermediate, 22.9% [95% CI, 14.4 to 33.4]). The median duration of response was 8.3 months (95% CI, 5.6 to 11.3; c-Met high, 9.0 [95% CI, 4.2 to 13.0]; c-Met intermediate: 7.2 [95% CI, 5.3 to 11.5]). The median overall survival was 14.5 months (95% CI, 9.9 to 16.6; c-Met high, 14.6 [95% CI, 9.2 to 25.6]; c-Met intermediate, 14.2 [95% CI, 9.6 to 16.6]). The median progression-free survival was 5.7 months (95% CI, 4.6 to 6.9; c-Met high, 5.5 [95% CI, 4.1 to 8.3]; c-Met intermediate: 6.0 [95% CI, 4.5 to 8.1]). Most common any-grade treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were peripheral sensory neuropathy (30%), peripheral edema (16%), and fatigue (14%); the most common grade ≥3 AE was peripheral sensory neuropathy (7%). CONCLUSION Teliso-V was associated with durable responses in c-Met protein–overexpressing nonsquamous EGFR -wildtype NSCLC, especially in those with high c-Met. AEs were generally manageable.