1.
A Novel Online Calculator Based on Serum Biomarkers to Detect Hepatocellular Carcinoma among Patients with Hepatitis B.
Yang, T, Xing, H, Wang, G, Wang, N, Liu, M, Yan, C, Li, H, Wei, L, Li, S, Fan, Z, et al
Clinical chemistry. 2019;(12):1543-1553
Abstract
BACKGROUND Early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients remains a challenge, especially in China. We sought to create an online calculator of serum biomarkers to detect HCC among patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). METHODS Participants with HBV-HCC, CHB, HBV-related liver cirrhosis (HBV-LC), benign hepatic tumors, and healthy controls (HCs) were recruited at 11 Chinese hospitals. Potential serum HCC biomarkers, protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II), α-fetoprotein (AFP), lens culinaris agglutinin A-reactive fraction of AFP (AFP-L3) and α-l-fucosidase (AFU) were evaluated in the pilot cohort. The calculator was built in the training cohort via logistic regression model and validated in the validation cohort. RESULTS In the pilot study, PIVKA-II and AFP showed better diagnostic sensitivity and specificity compared with AFP-L3 and AFU and were chosen for further study. A combination of PIVKA-II and AFP demonstrated better diagnostic accuracy in differentiating patients with HBV-HCC from patients with CHB or HBV-LC than AFP or PIVKA-II alone [area under the curve (AUC), 0.922 (95% CI, 0.908-0.935), sensitivity 88.3% and specificity 85.1% for the training cohort; 0.902 (95% CI, 0.875-0.929), 87.8%, and 81.0%, respectively, for the validation cohort]. The nomogram including AFP, PIVKA-II, age, and sex performed well in predicting HBV-HCC with good calibration and discrimination [AUC, 0.941 (95% CI, 0.929-0.952)] and was validated in the validation cohort [AUC, 0.931 (95% CI, 0.909-0.953)]. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrated that a web-based calculator including age, sex, AFP, and PIVKA-II accurately predicted the presence of HCC in patients with CHB. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER NCT03047603.
2.
Sorafenib in combination with capecitabine: an oral regimen for patients with HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
Baselga, J, Segalla, JG, Roché, H, Del Giglio, A, Pinczowski, H, Ciruelos, EM, Filho, SC, Gómez, P, Van Eyll, B, Bermejo, B, et al
Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 2012;(13):1484-91
Abstract
PURPOSE Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor with antiangiogenic/antiproliferative activity. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase IIB trial assessed sorafenib with capecitabine for locally advanced or metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -negative breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were randomly assigned to first- or second-line capecitabine 1,000 mg/m(2) orally twice a day for days 1 to 14 of every 21-day cycle with sorafenib 400 mg orally twice a day or placebo. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS In total, 229 patients were enrolled. The addition of sorafenib to capecitabine resulted in a significant improvement in PFS versus placebo (median, 6.4 v 4.1 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.81; P = .001) with sorafenib favored across subgroups, including first-line (HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.30 to 0.82) and second-line (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.41 to 1.04) treatment. There was no significant improvement for overall survival (median, 22.2 v 20.9 months; HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.61 to 1.23; P = .42) and overall response (38% v 31%; P = .25). Toxicities (sorafenib v placebo) of any grade included rash (22% v 8%), diarrhea (58% v 30%), mucosal inflammation (33% v 21%), neutropenia (13% v 4%), hypertension (18% v 12%), and hand-foot skin reaction/hand- foot syndrome (HFSR/HFS; 90% v 66%); grade 3 to 4 toxicities were comparable between treatment arms except HFSR/HFS (44% v 14%). Reasons for discontinuation in the sorafenib and placebo arms included disease progression (63% v 82%, respectively), adverse events (20% v 9%, respectively), and death (0% v 1%, respectively). CONCLUSION Addition of sorafenib to capecitabine improved PFS in patients with HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. The dose of sorafenib used in this trial resulted in unacceptable toxicity for many patients. A phase III confirmatory trial has been initiated with a reduced sorafenib dose.