Faculty Bibliography

PURPOSE: To investigate whether recurrence score (RS) as determined using a commercial reference laboratory test influences clinicians' treatment recommendations and eventual treatment in patients with early-stage breast cancer. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 74 patients from a community-based oncology practice with estrogen receptor (ER) -positive, lymph node (LN) -negative stage I or II breast cancer for which RS was obtained. Demographic and pathology information was extracted from medical records. Ten-year relapse-free survival was calculated using Adjuvant! Online. Treatment recommendations before the RS knowledge were compared with treatment recommendations after RS knowledge and to the treatment eventually administered. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A weak correlation was found between RS and both patient age and tumor size, modest correlation between RS and tumor grade, and modest correlation between RS and 10-year recurrence as determined by Adjuvant! Online. For 21% and 25% of patients, knowledge of the RS changed the clinicians' treatment recommendations and eventual treatment, respectively. The decision to change from hormone therapy to chemotherapy (with or without hormone therapy) was generally associated with high RS (high distant recurrence risk as determined by the commercial reference laboratory test), whereas the decision to change from chemotherapy to hormone therapy was generally associated with low RS (low distant recurrence risk as determined by the commercial reference laboratory test). Knowledge of the RS changed treatment recommendations and eventual treatment in patients with ER-positive/LN-negative early-stage breast cancer. Use of genomic-based prognosis may result in more accurate estimates of true recurrence risk than currently possible with commonly used prognostic factors (such as patient age, tumor size, and tumor grade) alone and thus lead to an increase in appropriate adjuvant therapy decision making

BACKGROUND: Few studies have evaluated concomitant pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) plus trastuzumab as therapy for HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer (MBC). This open-label, prospective, phase II trial assessed the safety and efficacy of this regimen, with cardiac tolerance as the principal focus. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Women with HER2-overexpressing recurrent MBC, baseline left ventricular ejection fraction >or= 55%, and no history of serious cardiac illness were eligible; preexisting cardiac risk factors, including previous anthracyclines and previous trastuzumab for MBC, were allowed. Patients received weekly trastuzumab and every-3-week PLD until progression, prohibitive toxicity, or patient refusal. Left ventricular ejection fraction was assessed during and after therapy. Grade 3/4 congestive heart failure (CHF) was monitored for premature closure. RESULTS: The trial closed after 2.5 years for slow accrual. Twelve patients were enrolled: 7 had received adjuvant anthracyclines; 9 had received previous MBC treatment, of whom 7 had received trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy. Patients received a mean of 4.8 cycles of PLD; 8 patients experienced stable disease; 4 patients experienced progression. Mean left ventricular ejection fraction levels did not change substantially: 60.4%, 57%, 60.3%, and 56.8% at baseline, after cycle 2, after cycle 4, and after completion of treatment, respectively. No patients experienced grade 4 CHF. One patient discontinued treatment after grade 3 CHF. Three patients experienced grade 2 left ventricular dysfunction, of whom 2 discontinued treatment. Cardiac function improved in all 4 patients after going off study. Other adverse events were generally mild (grade 1/2) and infrequent. CONCLUSION: Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin plus trastuzumab might be an option for heavily pretreated patients with recurrent HER2-overexpressing MBC

INTRODUCTION: A retrospective review of 91 patients with brain metastases from malignant melanoma treated at New York University Medical Center between 1989-1999. Overall survival was the outcome evaluated. METHODS: Charts of 91 patients having malignant melanoma with brain metastases were reviewed. Cases were stratified according to therapy: surgical excision, surgical excision plus whole brain radiation therapy, gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery, gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery plus whole brain radiation therapy, and whole brain radiation therapy alone. Patients treated with gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery plus radiation therapy were combined with patients treated with surgical excision plus radiation therapy and compared to those treated with radiation therapy alone. Prognostic characteristics of the two groups were compared and survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to control for prognostic factors that differed between the groups. RESULTS: Patients treated with gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery or surgical excision plus radiation therapy were younger, less likely to present with symptoms, and presented with fewer metastases to the brain than patients treated with radiation therapy alone. A survival benefit of 7.3 months (p = 0.05) was found to be associated with gamma knife radiosurgery or surgical excision plus radiation therapy over radiation therapy alone after controlling for differences in age, number of brain lesions, and presence of symptoms. DISCUSSION: This retrospective study of 91 patients treated for melanoma metastases to the brain attempts to examine the effectiveness of different treatments in prolonging survival. Our results suggest that surgical excision or stereotactic radiosurgery with gamma knife in addition to radiation therapy may be more effective than radiation alone at prolonging survival for patients with a limited number of brain lesions. CONCLUSION: Survival of patients with melanoma metastases to the brain may be prolonged by treatment with gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery or surgical excision plus whole brain radiation therapy

Local therapies have been highly effective in the treatment of melanoma. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of a novel intralesional chemotherapy - cisplatin/adrenaline injectable gel - for the treatment of refractory or recurrent cutaneous and soft tissue melanoma metastases. The gel is injected directly into the lesion and delivers high concentrations of cisplatin at the injection site, where it is retained for extended periods, with little systemic exposure. A total of 28 patients with refractory or recurrent melanoma were enrolled in this open-label, multicentre study. Of these, 25 patients with 244 lesions were evaluable for efficacy. Lesions were injected with 0.5 ml (2 mg cisplatin + 0.05 mg adrenaline) of gel/cm(3) of tumour. Patients received up to six weekly treatments within an 8 week period. The objective response rate (complete responses [CRs] plus partial responses [PRs]) for all the tumours treated (1-72 per patient) was 53% (130 out of 244; 114 CRs, 16 PRs). The response rate for the target tumours (i.e. each patient's single, most symptomatic, largest or most threatening tumour) was 44%. The median response duration for all tumours was 347 days (range 30-783 days) and median number of treatments per tumour was five (range one to twelve). Systemic toxicity was negligible; local adverse reactions such as erythema, necrosis or pain occurred frequently, but were easily managed in most cases. In conclusion, cisplatin/adrenaline injectable gel was well tolerated, easy to administer, and effective in treating metastatic melanoma confined to the skin or soft tissues

As melanoma cells are present in the circulation of many patients with this cancer, decreases in their number could provide an early indication of therapy effectiveness. To evaluate this possibility, we examined the effect of treatment with a melanoma vaccine on the number of melanoma cells present in the circulation. PCR was used to detect melanoma cells that expressed the melanoma-associated antigens MART-1, MAGE-3, tyrosinase and/or gp100 in 91 patients with melanoma. Melanoma cells that expressed one or more of these markers were present more often in advanced disease, i.e. in 80% of patients with advanced stage IV compared to in less than one-third of patients with less advanced disease. We then measured circulating melanoma cells in a subset of 43 of these patients who were treated with a polyvalent, shed antigen, melanoma vaccine. The vaccine contains multiple melanoma-associated antigens including MART-1, MAGE-3, tyrosinase and gp100. Immunizations were given intradermally q2-3 weeks x4 and then monthly x3. Prior to vaccine treatment, circulating melanoma cells were detected in 14 (32%) patients. Following 4 and 7 months of vaccine treatment, melanoma cells that expressed any of these markers were present in only nine (21%) and three (7%) of patients, respectively. Thus, vaccine therapy was associated with clearance of melanoma cells from the circulation in 78% of initially positive patients. As the number of these cells declined steadily with increasing length of therapy, it is unlikely that this was due to a random change in their number. Rather it suggests that the decline was a result of the therapy. These observations suggest that the presence of melanoma cells in the circulation is related to the extent of the melanoma, and that their disappearance may provide an early marker of the efficacy of therapy. However, the practical utility of assaying circulating tumor cells as a guide to the effectiveness of therapy or of prognosis will need to be confirmed by correlations with clinical outcome

A polyvalent melanoma vaccine prepared from shed antigens stimulates humoral and cellular immune responses and improves survival compared with historical controls. We conducted a double-blind, prospectively randomized, placebo-controlled trial to assess whether this vaccine could slow the progression of resected melanoma. Thirty-eight patients with resected melanoma metastatic to regional nodes (American Joint Committee on Cancer stage III) who had a particularly poor prognosis on the basis of the nodes being clinically positive or two or more histologically positive nodes were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to treatment with 40 microg of melanoma or placebo (human albumin) vaccine, both of which were bound to alum as an adjuvant. Immunizations were given intradermally into the extremities every 3 weeks x 4, monthly x 3, every 3 months x 2, and then every 6 months for 5 years or until disease progression. Twenty-four patients were treated with the melanoma, and 14 patients were treated with the placebo vaccine. The groups were evenly balanced with respect to prognostic factors. Median length of observation was 2.5 years. There was no local or systemic toxicity. By Kaplan-Meier analysis, median time to disease progression was two and a half times longer in patients treated with melanoma vaccine compared with that in patients treated with placebo vaccine, i.e., 1.6 years (95% confidence interval, 1.0-3.0 years) compared with 0.6 year [95% confidence interval, 0.3-1.9 year(s)]. By Cox proportional hazards analysis, this difference was significant at P = 0.03. Overall survival was 40% longer in the melanoma vaccine-treated group (median overall survival of 3.8 years versus 2.7 years), but this difference was not statistically significant. In a double-blind and placebo-controlled trial, these results suggest that immunization with a melanoma vaccine may be able to slow the progression of melanoma. Although statistically significant, these results must be interpreted with caution because they are based on a small number of patients