In metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) deficiency results in phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) pathway activation, providing an independent proliferative drive, which cannot be suppressed by androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPIs), resulting in worse outcomes. Dual inhibition of PI3K/AKT and AR pathways with capivasertib and abiraterone may delay progression and improve disease outcomes.

Adjuvant chemotherapy in stage III colon cancer provides uncertain benefit at the individual level. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may help refine risk-adjusted treatment selection. In this multicenter, randomized, phase 2/3 trial, patients with stage III colon cancer underwent ctDNA testing 5-6 weeks after surgery and were assigned (1:1) to ctDNA-guided or standard management. In the ctDNA-guided arm, patients negative for ctDNA received de-escalated therapy, whereas ctDNA-positive patients received escalated therapy. Clinicians prespecified the standard regimen. Primary endpoints were 3-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) for ctDNA-negative patients and 2-year RFS for ctDNA-positive patients. Secondary endpoints included treatment-related hospitalization and ctDNA clearance. Among 968 evaluable patients, 702 (72.5%) were ctDNA negative. With a median follow-up of 47 months, ctDNA-negative patients experienced significantly fewer recurrences than ctDNA-positive patients (3-year RFS 87% versus 49%; P < 0.001). In ctDNA-negative patients, de-escalation reduced oxaliplatin use (34.8% versus 88.6%) and hospitalizations (8.5% versus 13.2%) but yielded slightly lower RFS than standard management (85.3% versus 88.1%), not meeting the non-inferiority margin. In ctDNA-positive patients, higher ctDNA burden correlated with recurrence risk (3-year RFS 77% to 23% across quartiles; P < 0.001). Escalated therapy did not improve outcomes over standard management (2-year RFS 51% versus 61%). There was no unexpected toxicity. Persistent ctDNA after treatment predicted markedly worse prognosis (3-year RFS 14% versus 79%). ctDNA is validated as a strong prognostic classifier. ctDNA-guided de-escalation reduced oxaliplatin exposure and adverse events with outcomes approaching standard of care, whereas exploratory chemotherapy intensification conferred no RFS benefit, suggesting a need for novel strategies in ctDNA-positive disease.Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry Identifier: ACTRN12617001566325 .

Re-treatment with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies offers a promising approach to extend the continuum of care of patients with RAS and BRAF wild-type (wt) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) with no mutations of resistance in their circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) at the time of treatment re-exposure.

Despite surgery, recurrence rates remain high in muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma (MIUC). The phase III randomized, double-blind, multicenter CheckMate 274 trial comparing adjuvant nivolumab versus placebo in patients with high-risk MIUC after radical surgery demonstrated that adjuvant nivolumab improved disease-free survival (DFS) versus placebo. We report results with 5-year minimum follow-up including exploratory analyses of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).

ALEX, a global, randomized, phase III trial evaluated alectinib versus crizotinib in patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This final analysis provides mature overall survival (OS), duration of response (DOR) and long-term safety data.

Hormone receptor (HR)-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous disease with low pathological complete response (pCR) to standard neoadjuvant treatment. Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitors with endocrine and anti-HER2 therapy have shown a potential for chemotherapy omission in this context.

The primary analysis of this trial showed that first-line treatment with osimertinib plus chemotherapy with a platinum-based agent and pemetrexed led to significantly longer progression-free survival than osimertinib monotherapy among patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Results from the planned final analysis of overall survival are needed.

Breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) requires personalized treatment given its variable natural history. This study reports the first prospective oncologic outcomes of radiotherapy decisions as guided by 12-gene molecular assay, the DCIS score (DS).

Quizartinib, an oral, selective, second-generation, type-II FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitor with high binding affinity to internal tandem duplication (ITD) and wild-type (WT) FLT3, has shown early clinical activity as monotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory FLT3-ITD-negative AML. The phase III QuANTUM-First trial showed that quizartinib significantly prolonged survival versus placebo when added to standard chemotherapy, followed by single-agent maintenance, in patients with newly diagnosed (ND) FLT3-ITD-positive AML. We investigated the safety and efficacy of quizartinib in patients with ND FLT3-ITD-negative AML.

In the phase 3 PhALLCON trial (NCT03589326), ponatinib demonstrated superior efficacy, patient-reported treatment tolerability, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) compared to imatinib in adults with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To explore the association between clinical response and HRQoL and substantiate the superior effect of ponatinib over imatinib on HRQoL, we analyzed the impact of clinical response and treatment tolerability on changes in HRQoL.HRQoL was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Leukemia (FACT-Leu) questionnaire and the EQ-5D-5 L. Treatment tolerability was assessed using the FACT-GP5 item "bothered by treatment side effects." Linear mixed-effects regression models were used to examine changes in HRQoL over time, with clinical response status and patient-reported overall treatment tolerability as time-varying predictors, while controlling for significant covariates.This analysis included data from 238 patients (159 ponatinib, 79 imatinib). Achieving clinical response (complete remission or incomplete remission) was associated with significantly better changes from baseline across all FACT-Leu domains and the EQ-visual analogue scale than not achieving clinical response (p < 0.05). Treatment-related side effects led to significantly and meaningfully worse changes in HRQoL than "not bothered by treatment," with higher levels of "bother" associated with greater worsening in HRQoL from baseline.Taken together with the better treatment tolerability and longer response duration of ponatinib compared to imatinib, these findings further substantiate the HRQoL benefit of ponatinib over imatinib in patients with Ph + ALL.

Low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1b (LRP1b) is a cell surface receptor, commonly altered in many cancers and associated with improved responses, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival with immune checkpoint inhibition.

In DESTINY-Breast04 ( NCT03734029 ), trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) significantly improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival compared with treatment of physician's choice of chemotherapy (TPC) for patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-low (HER2-low) (immunohistochemistry (IHC) 1+ or IHC 2+/in situ hybridization-negative) metastatic breast cancer. After an extended median follow-up of 32.0 months, median OS in the overall cohort was 22.9 months for T-DXd and 16.8 months for TPC (hazard ratio 0.69; 95% confidence interval 0.55-0.86). For the hormone receptor-positive cohort, median OS was 23.9 and 17.6 months for T-DXd and TPC, respectively (hazard ratio 0.69; 95% confidence interval 0.55-0.87). Median OS also favored T-DXd in exploratory analyses of hormone receptor-negative, estrogen receptor IHC 1%-10% and estrogen receptor IHC >10% cohorts. The overall safety profile of T-DXd was acceptable and generally manageable. Results confirm T-DXd as standard of care after prior chemotherapy in patients with HER2-low metastatic breast cancer. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03734029 .

High-risk (HR) or intermediate-risk (IR) non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) carries a high probability of recurrence and/or progression. We present the final analysis results of erdafitinib in HR- or IR-NMIBC with fibroblast growth factor receptor 3/2 alterations (FGFR3/2alt) from the phase 2 THOR-2 study.

Inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) after relapse on hormone therapy is well established for patients with prostate cancer with homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene alterations, but resistance often develops. We hypothesized that PARP inhibition within 6 months of starting androgen deprivation therapy for metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC) could be effective and improve radiographic progression-free survival when added to standard-of-care treatments. The double-blind AMPLITUDE trial evaluated combining niraparib, a potent and specific PARP inhibitor, with abiraterone acetate and prednisone (AAP) versus placebo and AAP in mCSPC with HRR gene alterations. Patients (n = 696) were randomized in a 1:1 ratio (348 per group). Median age was 68 years; 56% had BRCA1 or BRCA2 alterations; 78% had high-volume metastases; and 16% had received docetaxel. The primary endpoint was met, with a significant improvement in radiographic progression-free survival observed first in the BRCA subgroup (median not reached at the time of analysis for the niraparib and AAP group versus 26 months for the AAP group; hazard ratio = 0.52; 95% confidence interval: 0.37-0.72; P < 0.0001) and then in the intention-to-treat population (hazard ratio = 0.63; 95% confidence interval: 0.49-0.80; P = 0.0001). The data for overall survival, a key secondary endpoint, are immature (193/389 events) but favor niraparib (hazard ratio = 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.59-1.04); BRCA subgroup: hazard ratio = 0.75 (95% confidence interval: 0.51-1.11)). Incidence of grade 3 or 4 adverse events was 75% in the niraparib and AAP group and 59% in the AAP group; most frequent in the niraparib and AAP group were anemia (29%), with 25% of patients requiring a blood transfusion, and hypertension (27%). There were 14 treatment-emergent adverse events leading to deaths in the niraparib group and seven in the placebo group. Combining niraparib with AAP significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival in patients with mCSPC harboring BRCA1/BRCA2 or other HRR gene alterations, suggesting clinical benefit with this combination for these patients. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04497844 .

QuANTUM-First was a randomized trial that demonstrated that the addition of quizartinib, a potent and selective FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitor, to induction and consolidation chemotherapy, followed by monotherapy maintenance, improved the survival for patients with newly diagnosed FLT3-internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD)-mutated acute myeloid leukemia. We conducted a post hoc analysis of the trial data focusing on measurable residual disease (MRD) as assayed using an amplicon-based next-generation sequencing assay, and on the impact of molecular biomarkers such as FLT3-ITD insertion length and comutations. This is, to our knowledge, the first prospective, randomized trial of an FLT3 inhibitor in newly diagnosed patients in which FLT3-ITD MRD data were collected throughout therapy. We established that quizartinib induces deeper remissions with respect to FLT3-ITD MRD vs placebo, and that the amount of MRD at the completion of induction correlates with relapse and survival. We found that longer FLT3-ITD insertion mutations correlated with worse outcome, quizartinib was beneficial irrespective of insertion mutation length, and the FLT3-ITD MRD assay was more sensitive when bone marrow was used vs peripheral blood. Regardless of the presence of NPM1 (nucleophosmin 1) comutation, quizartinib increased the rates of MRD negativity at the end of induction vs placebo. Finally, comparison of the FLT3-ITD mutation length between the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with capillary electrophoresis assay obtained at screening and the PCR next-generation sequencing MRD assay performed at the end of induction showed a 96.2% concordance with the exact ITD length. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02668653.

Although neoadjuvant immunotherapy showed promising efficacy in locally advanced microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair-deficient (MSI-H/dMMR) colon cancer, whether dual immune checkpoint inhibition provides additional benefit over anti-PD-1 monotherapy remains unclear. This randomized phase 1b trial (NCT05890742) evaluated a neoadjuvant regimen of IBI310 (anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 [CTLA-4]) plus sintilimab (n = 52) versus sintilimab monotherapy (n = 49). Surgery was performed in 51 and 45 patients, respectively. The primary endpoint, pathological complete response (pCR) rate, was significantly higher in the combination compared to the monotherapy arm within the modified intent-to-treat (mITT) population (78.4% versus 46.7%, p = 0.0015), with consistent results in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population (76.9% versus 42.9%). Safety in both arms was comparable and manageable without new safety signals. After a median follow-up of 21.4 months, no disease recurrences occurred. One death occurred in each arm due to postoperative complication and adverse events. These findings demonstrate the added benefit of neoadjuvant IBI310 plus sintilimab over sintilimab monotherapy for locally advanced MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer.

:Tamoxifen undergoes bioactivation to its active metabolite (Z)-endoxifen, which blocks estrogen-dependent breast tumor growth at high potency. We tested the feasibility and safety of supplementing standard tamoxifen therapy with low-dose (Z)-endoxifen in patients with breast cancer with compromised tamoxifen bioactivation.

Primary endpoint treatment-change-free survival (TCFS), defined as time from randomization to death or initiation of a new disease-modifying treatment in the phase 2 DELTA trial. AML, acute myeloid leukemia; EPAG, eltrombopag; HMA, hypomethylating agents; IC, intensive chemotherapy.

Despite the use of FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitors, outcomes for patients with FLT3-mutated (FLT3mut) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remain suboptimal because of high rates of relapse. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the combination of daunorubicin, cytarabine (DA), gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO), and midostaurin (DAGO+m) for younger patients with newly diagnosed FLT3mut AML in the UK National Cancer Research Institute AML19 trial. A total of 195 patients were randomized to receive DA with either 1 or 2 doses of GO (DAGO1 and DAGO2). Overall, 77 had an FLT3 mutation and received midostaurin for 2 weeks after each chemotherapy course and then as maintenance for 1 year unless they received a transplant. A total of 39 patients received DAGO1+m and 38 DAGO2+m. Their median age was 51 years (range, 20-74), and 16 (20%) were aged >60 years. The overall response rate was 91%. Day 60 mortality was 0%, with no increase in toxicity compared with patients treated contemporaneously with DAGO1 and DAGO2 without midostaurin. Two-year overall survival was 77%. Two-year event-free survival and cumulative incidence of relapse were 62% and 31%, respectively. Measurable residual disease (MRD) clearance was enhanced compared with patients with FLT3mut AML treated with DAGO without midostaurin. Overall, 81% of evaluable patients were NPM1 MRD negative in the peripheral blood after course 2 (76% with DAGO1+m, and 86% with DAGO2+m), 79% were MRD negative in the bone marrow by FLT3-ITD next-generation sequencing, and all patients had FLT3-MRD levels <0.01%. DAGO+m appears safe and effective. DAGO2+m will now be evaluated in a randomized study. This trial was registered at www.isrctn.com as #ISRCTN78449203.

Despite recent advancements demonstrating the potential of tumor-agnostic biomarkers to guide effective therapies, randomized evidence supporting the clinical superiority of precision oncology approaches compared to standard therapies remains limited. The ROME trial was a multicenter, randomized, open-label phase 2 study comparing tailored treatment (TT) to standard of care (SoC) in patients with advanced solid tumors progressing after one or two lines of therapy. Comprehensive genomic profiling on tissue and blood was performed to identify actionable alterations. Overall response rate (ORR) was the primary endpoint, and progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), time to treatment failure (TTF), time to next treatment (TTNT) and safety were the secondary endpoints. Between November 2020 and August 2023, 1,794 patients were screened, 897 were evaluated by the molecular tumor board (MTB) and 400 were randomized to TT or SoC. TT achieved a significantly higher ORR (17.5% versus 10%; P = 0.0294) and improved median PFS (3.5 months versus 2.8 months; hazard ratio = 0.66 (0.53-0.82), P = 0.0002). TT also showed superior 12-month PFS rates (22.0% versus 8.3%). Median OS was similar, with a 52% crossover rate. Grade 3/4 adverse events were also similar (40% TT versus 52% SoC). These results highlight the potential of TT to improve outcomes for patients with diverse actionable genomic alterations. These results also provide relevant evidence supporting a tumor-agnostic precision oncology strategy and highlight the potential of TTs, guided by genomic profiling and MTB recommendations, to significantly improve outcomes for patients with diverse actionable genomic alterations. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04591431 .