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ABSTRACT: Purpose
The addition of bevacizumab to cytotoxic chemotherapy has demonstrated a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit in the first-line and second-line treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC). However, the addition of bevacizumab to capecitabine in heavily pretreated MBC patients did not show a PFS benefit (AVF2119g phase III trial). The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of novel putative biomarkers as predictors of benefit from bevacizumab in retrospective subset analyses of the AVF2119g trial.Experimental design
In the AVF2119g trial, 462 patients with MBC were randomly assigned to receive capecitabine or capecitabine plus bevacizumab. Primary tumor tissue and outcome data were available for 223 patients. Biomarker expression was assessed by in situ hybridization (VEGF-A, VEGF-B, thrombospondin-2 and Flt4) or immunohistochemistry (VEGF-C, PDGF-C, neuropilin-1, delta-like ligand (Dll) 4, Bv8, p53 and thymidine phosphorylase) on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue. PFS was associated with these variables in retrospective subset analyses.Results
Patients with low scores for Dll4, VEGF-C, and neuropilin-1 showed trends toward improvement in PFS associated with the addition of bevacizumab to capecitabine (P values = 0.01, 0.05, and 0.07, respectively). These observations were not statistically significant following correction for multiple hypothesis testing.Conclusion
These retrospective subset analyses suggest that expression of Dll4, VEGF-C, and neuropilin-1 may predict benefit from bevacizumab. Such observations are not conclusive but warrant additional testing.
SUBMITTER: Jubb AM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3023787 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Jubb Adrian M AM Miller Kathy D KD Rugo Hope S HS Harris Adrian L AL Chen Dafeng D Reimann James D JD Cobleigh Melody A MA Schmidt Maike M Langmuir Virginia K VK Hillan Kenneth J KJ Chen Daniel S DS Koeppen Hartmut H
Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research 20110111 2
<h4>Purpose</h4>The addition of bevacizumab to cytotoxic chemotherapy has demonstrated a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit in the first-line and second-line treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC). However, the addition of bevacizumab to capecitabine in heavily pretreated MBC patients did not show a PFS benefit (AVF2119g phase III trial). The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of novel putative biomarkers as predictors of benefit from bevacizumab in retrospect ...[more]