Purpose

The primary goal of this trial was to determine the response rate of single-agent vorinostat in patients with metastatic breast cancer. The secondary goals included assessment of time to progression, evaluation of toxicities, and overall survival.

Experimental Design

From June 2005 to March 2006, fourteen patients received vorinostat, 200 mg orally, twice daily for 14 days of each 21 day cycle. Response and progression were evaluated using RECIST criteria.

Results

The median age for all patients was 60.5 years (range: 37–88). Eight patients were ER and/or PR positive, four were Her-2 positive. Sites of metastatic disease included brain, liver, lungs, bones, pelvis, pleura, chest wall, and distant lymph nodes. Patients received a median of 1.5 prior (range: 0–2) chemotherapeutic regimens for metastatic disease. Fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and lymphopenia were the most frequent clinically significant adverse effects. The median number of cycles delivered was two (range: 1–20). There were no complete or partial responses and the study was terminated after the first stage, however 4 patients were observed with stable disease with time to progression of 4,8,9 and 14 months. The median number of months that patients received treatment on this study was 1.7 (range: 0.5–14).

Conclusion

While not meeting the RECIST response criteria for adequate single-agent activity, the observed tolerable toxicities and the potential for clinical benefit in terms of stable disease suggest that further assessment of vorinostat as a part of combination therapy with either chemotherapeutic or targeted agents in metastatic breast might be undertaken.

Data and ongoing research on new cytotoxic and targeted therapies for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer are outlined, and new developments regarding approved but relatively new classes of cytotoxic and targeted agents and also new classes of targeted therapy that are undergoing clinical evaluation are highlighted.

Newer treatments have improved survival for patients with metastatic breast cancer over the last two decades, and a battery of new cytotoxic and targeted therapies is continuing to enhance this trend. This review outlines recent data and ongoing research in this area, by highlighting new developments (regarding approved but relatively new classes of cytotoxic and targeted agents) and also new classes of targeted therapy that are undergoing clinical evaluation. Mechanisms for synergy between agents are discussed where data are available, as is information on the rationale behind the development of agents that inhibit angiogenesis, DNA repair, histone deacetylases, heat shock proteins, or various signaling pathways in tumor proliferation. The abundance of clinical research surrounding anticancer agents, together with ongoing cancer biology research, is expected to further increase the available pool of therapeutic options for metastatic breast cancer. Concomitantly, in the absence of an effective targeted monotherapy, a better understanding of the interplay between biologic and cytotoxic anticancer agents will improve our ability to rationally design combination regimens with better efficacy and tolerability.

Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been recently detected in the circulation of cancer patients, where they are associated with clinical parameters. Discovery profiling of circulating small RNAs has not been reported in breast cancer (BC), and was carried out in this study to identify blood-based small RNA markers of BC clinical outcome.

Methods

The pre-treatment sera of 42 stage II-III locally advanced and inflammatory BC patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) followed by surgical tumor resection were analyzed for marker identification by deep sequencing all circulating small RNAs. An independent validation cohort of 26 stage II-III BC patients was used to assess the power of identified miRNA markers.

Results

More than 800 miRNA species were detected in the circulation, and observed patterns showed association with histopathological profiles of BC. Groups of circulating miRNAs differentially associated with ER/PR/HER2 status and inflammatory BC were identified. The relative levels of selected miRNAs measured by PCR showed consistency with their abundance determined by deep sequencing. Two circulating miRNAs, miR-375 and miR-122, exhibited strong correlations with clinical outcomes, including NCT response and relapse with metastatic disease. In the validation cohort, higher levels of circulating miR-122 specifically predicted metastatic recurrence in stage II-III BC patients.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that certain miRNAs can serve as potential blood-based biomarkers for NCT response, and that miR-122 prevalence in the circulation predicts BC metastasis in early-stage patients. These results may allow optimized chemotherapy treatments and preventive anti-metastasis interventions in future clinical applications.

Purpose

This study was designed to ascertain the dose-limiting toxicities (DLT) and maximally tolerated doses of the combination of fixed-dose tamoxifen and carboplatin, with escalating doses of topotecan, and to determine the pharmacokinetics of topotecan in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid.

Methods

Tamoxifen 100 mg po bid, topotecan 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, or 1.0 mg/m2/d IV, administered as a 72 h continuous infusion on days 1–3, followed by carboplatin AUC = 3, IV on day 3. Cycles were repeated every 4 weeks.

Results

Seventeen patients received 39 cycles of treatment: median 2, (range 1–5). The tumors included glioblastoma (6), anaplastic astrocytoma (2), metastatic non-small cell (3), small cell lung (2), and one each with medulloblastoma, ependymoma, and metastatic breast or colon carcinoma. The median Karnofsky performance status was 70% (range 60–90%) and age: 52 (range 24–75). Eleven patients were female and six male. Toxicities included thrombocytopenia (2), neutropenia without fever lasting 6 days (1), DVT (2), and emesis (1). Topotecan levels, total and lactone, were measured prior to the end of infusion in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). At 1.0 mg/m2/d, the median CSF/plasma ratio was 19.4% (range 15.1–59.1%). The total plasma topotecan in two pts with DLTs was 4.63 and 5.87 ng/ml, in three without DLTs at the same dose level the mean total plasma topotecan was 3.4 ng/ml (range 3.02–3.83). Plasma lactone levels were 33% of the total; CSF penetration was 20% of the total plasma levels. 4/8 pts with high-grade gliomas had stable disease (median: 3 cycles (range 2–5)). Two had minor responses. One patient with metastatic non-small cell and one with small cell lung cancer had objective PRs.

Conclusions

The recommended phase II doses are: tamoxifen 100 mg po bid, topotecan 0.75 mg/m2/d IV continuous infusion for 72 h, followed by carboplatin AUC = 3 IV on day 3. Measurable topotecan levels, both total and lactone, are observed in the CSF.

Papillary carcinoma of the breast represents approximately 0.5% of all newly diagnosed cases of breast cancer. The prevalence of both invasive and in situ papillary carcinoma seems to be greater older postmenopausal women, and -in relative terms-in males. Histologic features of the tumor include cellular proliferations surrounding fibrovascular cores, with or without invasion. In this review, characteristics of both in situ and invasive disease are outlined. Immunohistochemical analyses of papillary carcinoma suggest the utility of markers such as smooth muscle myosin heavy chain, calponin, p63 and high molecular weight keratins, which can characterize the myoepithelial cell layer. With respect to radiographic evaluation of papillary carcinoma, ultrasonography is the most extensively studied imaging modality, though magnetic resonance mammography has potential utility. Available data suggest improved outcome for papillary carcinoma as compared to invasive ductal carcinoma. Treatment-related information for patients with papillary carcinoma is limited, and patterns noted in available series suggest a variable approach to this disease. The scarcity of information underscores the need for further treatment- and outcome-related studies in papillary carcinoma of the breast.

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the organ biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, and tumor uptake of 111Indium (111In)-MxDTPA-trastuzumab in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-overexpressing breast cancers and to determine whether 90Y-MxDTPA-trastuzumab should be evaluated in subsequent clinical therapy trials.

Experimental Design

Patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancers who were to undergo planned trastuzumab therapy first received unlabeled trastuzumab (4–8 mg/kg IV), followed 4 hours later by 5 mCi 111In-MxDTPA-trastuzumab (10 mg antibody). Serial blood samples, 24-hour urine collections, and nuclear scans were performed at defined time points for 7 days.

Results

Eight (8) patients received 111In-MxDTPA-trastuzumab, which was well tolerated with no adverse side-effects. Three (3) of 7 patients with known lesions demonstrated positive imaging on nuclear scans. No antiantibody responses were observed for 2 months postinfusion. Organ doses (cGy/mCi) assuming radiolabeling with 90Y were 19.9 for heart wall, 17.6 for liver, 4.6 for red marrow, and 2.8 for the whole body. Tumor doses ranged from 24 to 172 cGy/mCi.

Conclusions

In summary, results from this study indicate that 90Y-MxDTPA-trastuzumab is an appropriate agent to evaluate in therapy trials. No evidence of an immune response to 111In-MxDTPA-trastuzumab was detected, predicting for the ability to administer multiple cycles. With the exception of cardiac uptake, pharmacokinetics and organ biodistribution were comparable to other 90Y-labeled monoclonal antibodies previously evaluated in the clinic. Cardiac uptake was comparable to hepatic uptake and therefore predicted to not be prohibitively high as to result in dose-limiting cardiotoxicity.

Although diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) usually occurs in the lymph nodes, approximately 30–40% of the time it can have an extranodal site of involvement and it can arise in nearly every body site such as intestine, bone, breast, liver, skin, lung, and central nervous system. Muscle involvement of DLBCL is especially uncommon, comprising 0.5% of extranodal NHL. We report a case of a 72-year-old man with extranodal DLBCL of a unique manifestation in the calf muscle, involving predominantly the gastrocnemius muscle. The patient achieved complete response and remained free of local recurrence or metastasis following diagnosis.

IL-6/Jak2 signaling is viewed critical for persistent Stat3 activation in cancer. However, IL-6-induced Stat3 activity is transient in normal physiology. Here we identify a mechanism important for persistent Stat3 activation in tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment. We show that sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1), a G-protein-coupled receptor for lysophospholipid sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), is elevated in Stat3-positive tumors. Stat3 is a transcription factor for the S1pr1 gene. Enhanced S1pr1 expression activates Stat3 and upregulates Il6 gene expression, thereby accelerating tumor growth and metastasis. Conversely, silencing S1pr1 in tumor cells or immune cells inhibits tumor Stat3 activity, tumor growth and metastasis. S1P/S1PR1-induced Stat3 activation is persistent, in contrast to transient Stat3 activation by IL-6. S1PR1 activates Stat3 in part by upregulating Jak2 tyrosine kinase activity. We demonstrate that Stat3-induced S1pr1 expression, as well as S1P/S1PR1 pathway, is important for persistent Stat3 activation in cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment and for malignant progression.

Background

GTI-2040 is a 20-mer antisense oligonucleotide targeting the mRNA of ribonucleotide reductase M2. It was combined with oxaliplatin and capecitabine in a phase I trial in patients with advance solid tumors based on previous studies demonstrating potentiation of chemotherapy with ribonucleotide reductase inhibitors.

Methods

Patients at least 18 years of age with advanced incurable solid tumors and normal organ function as well as a Karnofsky performance status of ≥60% were eligible. One prior chemotherapy regimen for advanced disease or relapse within 12 months of adjuvant chemotherapy was required. Patients could have received prior fluoropyrimidines, including capecitabine, but not oxaliplatin. Treatment cycles were 21 days. In each cycle, GTI-2040 was given as a continuous intravenous infusion over 14 days, oxaliplatin as a 2-h intravenous infusion on day 1, and capecitabine orally twice a day for 14 days. In cycle 1 only, oxaliplatin and capecitabine were started on day 2 to allow ribonucleotide reductase mRNA levels to be measured with and without oxaliplatin and capecitabine. Doses were escalated in cohorts of three patients using a standard 3 + 3 design until the maximum tolerated dose was established, defned as no more than one first-cycle dose-limiting toxicity among six patients treated at a given dose level.

Results

The maximum tolerated dose was estimated to be the combination of GTI-2040 3 mg/kg per day for 14 days, capecitabine 600 mg/m2 twice daily for 14 days, and oxaliplatin 100 mg/m2 every 21 days. Dose-limiting toxicities were hematologic. GTI-2040 pharmacokinetics, obtained at steady-state on days 7 and 14, showed the high inter-patient variability previously reported. Two of six patients had stable disease at the maximum tolerated dose and one patient, with heavily pre-treated non-small cell lung cancer, had a partial response at a higher dose level. In samples from a limited number of patients, there was no clear decrease in ribonucleotide reductase expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells during treatment.

Conclusion

A combination of GTI-2040, capecitabine and oxaliplatin is feasible in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Purpose

Trastuzumab is a monoclonal antibody targeted to the Her2 receptor and approved for treatment of Her2-positive breast cancer. Among patients who initially respond to trastuzumab therapy, resistance typically arises within one year. BT/HerR cells are trastuzumab-resistant variants of Her2-positive BT474 breast cancer cells. The salient feature of BT/HerR cells is failure to down-regulate PI3K/Akt signaling upon trastuzumab binding. The current work addresses the mechanism of sustained signaling in BT/HerR cells, focusing on the protein kinase A (PKA) pathway.

Experimental Design

We performed microarray analysis on BT/HerR and BT474 cell lines to identify genes that were up- or down-regulated in trastuzumab resistant cells. Specific genes in the PKA pathway were quantified using RT-PCR and Western hybridization. SiRNA transfection was used to determine the effects of gene knockdown on cellular response to trastuzumab. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays were used to measure cAMP-responsive element binding activity under defined conditions. Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze protein expression in clinical samples.

Results

BT/HerR cells had elevated PKA signaling activity and several genes in the PKA regulatory network had altered expression in these cells. Down-regulation of one such gene, the PKA-RIIα regulatory subunit, conferred partial trastuzumab resistance in Her2-positive BT474 and SK-Br-3 cell lines. Forskolin activation of PKA also produced significant protection against trastuzumab-mediated Akt dephosphorylation. In patient samples, PKA signaling appeared to be enhanced in residual disease remaining after trastuzumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy.

Conclusions

Activation of PKA signaling may be one mechanism contributing to trastuzumab resistance in Her2-positive breast cancer. We propose a molecular model by which PKA confers its effects.

Summary

Human breast tumors contain a breast cancer stem cell (BCSC) population with properties reminiscent of normal stem cells. We found 37 microRNAs that were differentially expressed between human BCSCs and non-tumorigenic cancer cells. Three clusters, miR-200c-141, miR-200b-200a-429 and miR-183-96-182 were down-regulated in human BCSCs, normal human and murine mammary stem/progenitor cells and embryonal carcinoma cells. Expression of BMI1, a known regulator of stem cell self-renewal, was modulated by miR-200c. MiR-200c inhibited the clonogenicity of breast cancer cells and suppressed the growth of embryonal carcinoma cells in vitro. Most importantly, miR-200c strongly suppressed the ability of normal mammary stem cells to form mammary ducts and tumor formation driven by human BCSCs in vivo. The coordinated down-regulation of three microRNA clusters and the similar functional regulation of clonogenicity by miR-200c provide a molecular link that connects breast cancer stem cells with normal stem cells.

Purpose

Cisplatin and gemcitabine have single-agent activity in metastatic breast cancer, and preclinical data support synergy of the combination. Two parallel, phase II trials were conducted to evaluate the response rate, response duration, and toxicities of the combination. Genetic polymorphisms were analyzed for correlation with outcomes.

Patients and Methods

Eligible women had measurable disease and heavily or minimally pretreated metastatic breast cancer. The heavily pretreated protocol required prior anthracycline and taxane therapy; cisplatin as part of high-dose therapy was allowed. All patients received cisplatin 25 mg/m2 on days 1 through 4 and gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 on days 2 and 8 of a 21-day cycle with prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in the heavily pretreated group. Sera from a subset of patients were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism for polymorphisms in 10 genes of interest.

Results

Of 136 women enrolled, 74 were heavily pretreated. Both protocols accrued to their two-stage design. The response rate for both the heavily and minimally pretreated cohorts was 26%, and the median durations of response were 5.3 and 5.9 months, respectively. In a multivariate analysis, hormone receptor–negative disease was associated with a higher response rate. The most common grades 3 or 4 toxicities were thrombocytopenia (71%), neutropenia (66%), and anemia (38%). In a subset of 55 patients, the xeroderma pigmentosum group D (XPD)–751, x-ray cross-complementing group 3 (XRCC3) and cytidine deaminase polymorphisms were significantly associated with clinical outcomes.

Conclusion

Combination cisplatin and gemcitabine is active in metastatic breast cancer regardless of prior therapy. Genetic polymorphisms may tailor which patients benefit from this regimen.

Metabolism of oxygen, while central to life, also produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) that have been implicated in processes as diverse as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and aging. It has recently been shown that central nervous system stem cells1, 2 and hematopoietic stem cells and early progenitors3-6 contain lower levels of ROS than their more mature progeny and that these differences appear to be critical for maintaining stem cell function. We hypothesized that epithelial tissue stem cells and their cancer stem cell (CSC) counterparts may also share this property. Here we show that normal mammary epithelial stem cells contain lower concentrations of ROS than their more mature progeny cells. Congruently, subsets of CSCs in some human and murine breast tumors contain lower ROS levels than corresponding non-tumorigenic cells (NTCs). Consistent with ROS being critical mediators of ionizing radiation-induced cell killing7, 8, CSCs in these tumors develop less DNA damage and are preferentially spared after irradiation compared to NTCs. Lower ROS levels in CSCs are associated with increased expression of free radical scavenging systems. Pharmacologic depletion of ROS scavengers in CSCs significantly decreases their clonogenicity and results in radiosensitization. These results indicate that, similar to normal tissue stem cells, subsets of CSCs in some tumors contain lower ROS levels and enhanced ROS defenses compared to their non-tumorigenic progeny, which may contribute to tumor radioresistance.

Background

Tumor DNA has been shown to be present both in circulating tumor cells in blood and as fragments in the plasma of metastatic cancer patients. The identification of ultra-rare tumor-specific mutations in blood would be the ultimate marker to measure efficacy of cancer therapy and/ or early recurrence. Herein we present a method for detecting microinsertions/deletions/indels (MIDIs) at ultra-high analytical selectivity. MIDIs comprise about 15% of mutations.

Methods and Findings

We describe MIDI-Activated Pyrophosphorolysis (MAP), a method of ultra-high analytical selectivity for detecting MIDIs. The high analytical selectivity of MAP is putatively due to serial coupling of two rare events: heteroduplex slippage and mis-pyrophosphorolysis. MAP generally has an analytical selectivity of one mutant molecule per >1 billion wild type molecules and an analytical sensitivity of one mutant molecule per reaction. The analytical selectivity of MAP is about 100,000-fold better than that of our previously described method of Pyrophosphorolysis Activated Polymerization-Allele specific amplification (PAP-A) for detecting MIDIs. The utility of this method is illustrated in two ways. 1) We demonstrate that two EGFR deletions commonly found in lung cancers are not present in tissue from four normal human lungs (107 copies of gDNA each) or in blood samples from 10 healthy individuals (107 copies of gDNA each). This is inconsistent, at least at an analytical sensitivity of 10−7, with the hypotheses of (a) hypermutation or (b) strong selection of these growth factor-mutated cells during normal lung development leads to accumulation of pre-neoplastic cells with these EGFR mutations, which sometimes can lead to lung cancer in late adulthood. Moreover, MAP was used for large scale, high throughput “gene pool” analysis. No germline or early embryonic somatic mosaic mutation was detected (at a frequency of >0.3%) for the 15/18 bp EGFR deletion mutations in 6,400 individuals, suggesting that early embryonic EGFR somatic mutation is very rare, inconsistent with hypermutation or strong selection of these deletions in the embryo. 2) The second illustration of MAP utility is in personalized monitoring of therapy and early recurrence in cancer. Tumor-specific p53 mutations identified at diagnosis in the plasma of six patients with stage II and III breast cancer were undetectable after therapy in four women, consistent with clinical remission, and continued to be detected after treatment in two others, reflecting tumor progression.

Conclusions

MAP has an analytical selectivity of one part per billion for detection of MIDIs and an analytical sensitivity of one molecule. MAP provides a general tool for monitoring ultra-rare mutations in tissues and blood. As an example, we show that the personalized cancer signature in six out of six patients with non-metastatic breast cancer can be detected and that levels over time are correlated with the clinical course of disease.

Thalidomide (Thal), a novel agent in the treatment of multiple myeloma, is presumed to act through a variety of mechanisms. In the present study, we examined the relationship between fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) expression and the therapeutic effect of Thal. The DNA synthesis of KMS-11 clone, which overexpresses FGFR3, was inhibited by Thal in a dose-dependent manner; whereas U266 cells, which lack FGFR3 expression, failed to respond to Thal inhibition. To further examine the intertwining of Thal's therapeutic effects, wild-type human full-length FGFR3 cDNA was transfected into U266 cells. FGFR3 transfected U266 clones revealed increased FGFR3 expression, but resulted in decreased DNA synthesis and increased apoptosis under Thal treatment. Under Thal treatment, the myeloma proliferation-related protein, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were decreased in U266 FGFR3 transfectant as well. These results suggest that Thal inhibits myeloma cell proliferation and may depend on FGFR3 expression status. To further confirm this observation, we transfected a plasmid constructed anti-FGFR3 ribozyme (Rz52) into KMS-11 cells. In the ribozyme transfectant KMS-11 clone, FGFR3 expression was decreased; whereas the effects of Thal in cell growth inhibition were abrogated in KMS-11 Rz52 clone. Further results suggested that Thal inhibition of DNA synthesis, induction of apoptosis, and down-regulation of VEGF and IL-6 might be dependent on FGFR3-associated signal transduction of the ERK and STAT3 phosphorylation pathway. Thus, FGFR3 may be a predictive/surrogate marker for selection of Thal treatment in myeloma.