A substantial number of clinical trials using antiangiogenic therapies are ongoing worldwide. How to achieve the maximum benefit from these therapies and how to monitor patient response are of paramount concern to investigators. There are currently no markers of the net angiogenic activity of a tumor available to aid investigators in the design of antiangiogenic treatment schemes. It stands to reason that quantification of various aspects of tumor vasculature might provide an indication of angiogenic activity. One often-quantified aspect of tumor vasculature is microvessel density. Studies over the last decade have demonstrated the value of using tumor microvessel density as a prognostic indicator for a wide range of cancers. In this context, measurement of microvessel density facilitates assessments of disease stage and the likelihood of recurrence and helps guide treatment decisions. Recently, however, it has been assumed by some investigators that measurements of microvessel density may also reveal the degree of angiogenic activity in a tumor. Based on this assumption, quantification of microvessel density is thought to constitute a surrogate marker for the efficacy of antiangiogenic agents as well as a means by which to assess which patients are good candidates for antiangiogenic therapy prior to treatment. Here we contend that, although microvessel density is a useful prognostic marker, it is not, by itself, an indicator of therapeutic efficacy, nor should it be used to guide the stratification of patients for therapeutic trials. In this review, we discuss the evidence for these assertions and what can and cannot be determined from measurements of microvessel density.

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Clinical Application of Antiangiogenic Therapy: Microvessel Density, What It Does and Doesn't Tell Us

Prognostic Factors in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Decade of Progress

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) have been considered as potential therapeutic targets in cholangiocarcinoma, but no studies have yet clarified the clinicopathological or prognostic significance of these molecules. Immunohistochemical expression of these molecules was assessed retrospectively in 236 cases of cholangiocarcinoma, as well as associations between the expression of these molecules and clinicopathological factors or clinical outcome. The proportions of positive cases for EGFR, VEGF, and HER2 overexpression were 27.4, 53.8, and 0.9% in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC), and 19.2, 59.2, and 8.5% in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHCC), respectively. Clinicopathologically, EGFR overexpression was associated with macroscopic type (P=0.0120), lymph node metastasis (P=0.0006), tumour stage (P=0.0424), lymphatic vessel invasion (P=0.0371), and perineural invasion (P=0.0459) in EHCC, and VEGF overexpression with intrahepatic metastasis (P=0.0224) in IHCC. Multivariate analysis showed that EGFR expression was a significant prognostic factor (hazard ratio (HR), 2.67; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.52–4.69; P=0.0006) and also a risk factor for tumour recurrence (HR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.05–3.39, P=0.0335) in IHCC. These results suggest that EGFR expression is associated with tumour progression and VEGF expression may be involved in haematogenic metastasis in cholangiocarcinoma.

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Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of EGFR, VEGF, and HER2 expression in cholangiocarcinoma

Angiogenesis in non-small cell lung cancer: the prognostic impact of neoangiogenesis and the cytokines VEGF and bFGF in tumours and blood.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. with survival restricted to a subset of those patients able to undergo surgical resection. However, even with surgery, recurrence rates range from 30% to 60%, depending on the pathologic stage. With the advent of partially effective, but potentially toxic adjuvant chemotherapy, it has become increasingly important to discover biomarkers that will identify those patients who have the highest likelihood of recurrence and who thus might benefit most from adjuvant chemotherapy. Hundreds of papers have appeared over the past several decades proposing a variety of molecular markers or proteins that may have prognostic significance in non-small cell lung cancer. This review analyzes the largest and most rigorous of these studies with the aim of compiling the most important prognostic markers in early stage non-small cell lung cancer. In this review, we focused on biomarkers primarily involved in one of three major pathways: cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. Although no single marker has yet been shown to be perfect in predicting patient outcome, a profile based on the best of these markers may prove useful in directing patient therapy. The markers with the strongest evidence as independent predictors of patient outcome include cyclin E, cyclin B1, p21, p27, p16, survivin, collagen XVIII, and vascular endothelial cell growth factor.

https://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/clincanres/11/11/3974.full.pdf

Prognostic implications of cell cycle, apoptosis, and angiogenesis biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer: a review.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. We investigated the prognostic significance of VEGF overexpression, intratumoral microvessel density (MVD), and angiolymphatic invasion in stage Ia-b non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Eighty-five patients undergoing complete surgical resection of pathologic stage Ia-b NSCLC were evaluated. The mean and median clinical follow-up were 37.1 and 39.0 months (range, 30–44 months), respectively. Paraffin-embedded tumor specimens were stained with VEGF and CD31 (a specific endothelial marker) using immunohistochemical methods. VEGF staining was evaluated, by combining both percentage of positive tumor cells and staining intensity, as low (negative and 20% of tumor cells showing strong positivity). CD31 staining was expressed as MVD per high power field at 400× magnification. Angiolymphatic invasion was expressed as either presence or absence. Results: Low VEGF expression was seen in 25 (29%) patients, and high VEGF expression was seen in 60 (71%) patients. The survival rate in patients with low VEGF expression was significantly higher (80%) than that in those with high VEGF expression (48%, P = .018). The mean MVD in the low VEGF group was 23.7 ± 5.7 vs. 34.4 ± 9.3 in the high VEGF group (P = .001). Patients with high MVD also had a significantly lower survival rate than did those with low MVD count (46% vs. 73%, P = .0053). Age, sex, tumor type, and tumor differentiation were not found to be associated with overall survival. The presence of angiolymphatic invasion and T2 stage (i.e., tumor size > 3 cm) were associated with decreased survival. High VEGF expression, tumor size, and angiolymphatic invasion emerged as three independent factors predicting worsening prognosis using multivariate analysis. Conclusion: High VEGF expression within stage I NSCLC is closely associated with high intratumoral angiogenesis and poor prognosis. Immunohistochemical evaluation of T stage and VEGF expression along with examination of angiolymphatic invasion perioperatively may aid in predicting prognosis. Adjuvant therapies aimed at retarding tumor angiogenesis may be considered for stage I NSCLC patients with high VEGF levels.

Vascular endothelial growth factor expression in stage I non-small cell lung cancer correlates with neoangiogenesis and a poor prognosis.

460MO Preliminary results from a phase I study using the bispecific, human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) zanidatamab zovodotin (ZW49) in solid cancers

1404P A phase II study of ZEN-3694 (ZEN), enzalutamide (ENZ), and pembrolizumab (P) in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC): Interim safety results

B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) consists of dozens of subtypes defined by distinct gene expression profiles (GEPs) and various genetic lesions. With the application of transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq), multiple novel subtypes have been identified, which lead to an advanced B-ALL classification and risk-stratification system. However, the complexity of analyzing RNA-seq data for B-ALL classification hinders the implementation of the new B-ALL taxonomy. Here, we introduce MD-ALL (Molecular Diagnosis of ALL), a user-friendly platform featuring sensitive and accurate B-ALL classification based on GEPs and sentinel genetic alterations. In this study, we systematically analyzed 2,955 B-ALL RNA-seq samples and generated a reference dataset representing all the reported B-ALL subtypes. Using multiple machine learning algorithms, we identified the feature genes and then established highly accurate models for B-ALL classification using either bulk or single-cell RNA-seq data. Importantly, this platform integrates the key genetic lesions, including sequence mutations, large-scale copy number variations, and gene rearrangements, to perform comprehensive and definitive B-ALL classification. Through validation in a hold-out cohort of 974 samples, our models demonstrated superior performance for B-ALL classification compared with alternative tools. In summary, MD-ALL is a user-friendly B-ALL classification platform designed to enable integrative, accurate, and comprehensive B-ALL subtype classification.

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Helen Han

Papers

Vascular endothelial growth factor expression in stage I non-small cell lung cancer correlates with neoangiogenesis and a poor prognosis.

460MO Preliminary results from a phase I study using the bispecific, human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) zanidatamab zovodotin (ZW49) in solid cancers

1404P A phase II study of ZEN-3694 (ZEN), enzalutamide (ENZ), and pembrolizumab (P) in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC): Interim safety results

MD-ALL: an Integrative Platform for Molecular Diagnosis of B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia