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F. Puma



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    MS05 - Modern Management of Neuroendocrine Tumours (ID 22)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Mini Symposia
    • Track: Surgery
    • Presentations: 1
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      MS05.3 - Mediastinal Neuroendocrine Tumours (ID 478)

      14:45 - 15:05  |  Author(s): F. Puma

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Abstract
      INTRODUCTION Mediastinal Neuroendocrine Tumors occur most frequently in the thymus. Primary Thymic Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) are rare and highly aggressive neoplasms; a little more than 350 cases have been described in the literature, many of which are single case reports. We collected one of the largest series ever reported through a multicenter International study, with the aim to evaluate factors influencing survival and recurrence development in patients with Thymic NETs. MATERIAL AND METHODS A multicenter retrospective study of patients operated for NETs between 1989 and 2012 in 9 high-volume International Thoracic Surgery Institutions, was conducted. According to the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG) outcome measures, primary and secondary outcome were Cause Specific Survival (CSS) and Disease Free Survival (DFS). Competing-risks regression models (Fine and Gray method), taking into account death by any causes as competing event, were used to identify the association between individual factors and tumor related death. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to define association between individual factors and DFS, considering R0 cases only. Univariate and multivariate analyses were also performed. RESULTS There were 52 patients (41 males –79%-, median age 49 years). The tumor was asymptomatic in 22 cases (42%). Endocrine paraneoplastic syndromes were observed in 23 cases (44%): 13 Cushing’s syndrome and 10 MEN-1 syndrome. Well differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (Typical and Atypical Carcinoid) was the commonest histological subtype (30 cases –58%-). Eight patients (15%) received induction therapy (3 chemotherapy, 2 chemo+radiotherapy, 2 biological therapy and 1 chemo+radio+biological therapy), because of their radiological invasiveness. Median sternotomy was the commonest surgical approach (29 cases). The median tumor size was 8 cm (range 1 – 31 cm); a complete resection (R0) was achieved in 48 cases (92%). Advanced Masaoka-Koga stage (III-IV) was observed in 35 patients (67%). Postoperative treatment was offered to 26 (50%): radiotherapy in 17, chemotherapy in 1, chemo+radiotherapy in 5 and chemo+radio+biological therapy in 3 patient, respectively. Three, 5 and 10-year survival rates were 89%, 76% and 51% (Figure 1). Recurrences were observed in 32 cases (62%): 11 local, 10 intrathoracic and 11 distant. Cumulative incidence of recurrence was 41% at 2 years and 70% at 3 years (Figure 2). Variables influencing survival were: tumor size (p< 0.00) and recurrences (p=0.01). Independents DFS predictors were: age > 50 (p= 0.02), paraneoplastic syndromes (p=0.02), symptoms at presentation (p= 0.01) and poor differentiated histology (p= 0.04). CONCLUSIONS We have confirmed that Thymic NETs are rare mediastinal tumors presenting with an aggressive biological behavior; surgery remains the mainstay of treatment and it should be proposed whenever possible, even in case of advanced diseases. Recurrences are frequent, especially in the first years after operation. Survival is statistically related to the tumor size and to the presence of recurrences, whereas, surprisingly, it is not influenced by induction/adjuvant treatment. A global International effort is needed to collect larger series and to confirm these conclusions. Figure 1: Thymic NETs overall survival curveFigure 1Figure 2: Thymic NETs: cumulative incidence of tumor recurrencesFigure 2

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    P1.02 - Poster Session 1 - Novel Cancer Genes and Pathways (ID 144)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Poster Session
    • Track: Biology
    • Presentations: 1
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      P1.02-005 - Prognostic role of expression levels of FABP3, H19, TFPI2, AKR1B10 CYP3A5, SCGB3A2 genes in adenocarcinoma stage I patients (ID 3208)

      09:30 - 09:30  |  Author(s): F. Puma

      • Abstract

      Background
      In resected lung cancer, no reliable clinical or molecular predictors are currently available for identifying patients with high risk for developing recurrent disease. In a previous study, we compared gene expression profiling from adenocarcinoma specimens and normal lung tissue with non relapse (NR) and early relapse (ER), using Affimetrix human microarray HG-U133Plus 2.0. We selected 5 genes up-regulated and 4 genes down-regulated were predictive for clustering patients in ER and NR (Siggillino et al. ECCO 2011). Here, we validate our results using an independent cohort of patients with lung adenocarcinoma stage I to identify novel genes involved in the risk of ER compared to NR disease.

      Methods
      From tissue banking of 180 consecutive resected NSCLC stage I patients at two Italian institutions, we selected 58 frozen specimens of lung adenocarcinoma tissue with corresponding normal lung. Total RNA was isolated from tumor and normal lung specimens using RNA Universal Tissue Kit and automatically purified by Biorobot-EZ1 instrument (Qiagen). Quantification of mRNA expression levels of 9 genes (5 up-regulated: CLCA2, FABP3, H19, TFPI2, AKR1B10 and 4 down-regulated: CYP3A5, ALDH3A1, SCGB3A2, SCGB1A1, were analyzed by real-time one-step RT-PCR using QuantiFast technology by RotorGeneQ instrument (Qiagen), and the results were compared considering β-actin as the internal reference gene and as calibrator the pool of normal tissues of analyzed patients. The gene expression of all evaluated genes and their association with relapse disease measures were assessed by t-test and logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis.

      Results
      Fifteen-eight adenocarcinoma stage I patients were evaluable, 17% of which had an ER. Patients characteristics were as follows: median age was 65.8 years (38.7-81.5), 67.2% were male, 91.3% were PS 0, 70.7% were ever-smokers. The expression median values of 9 genes: CLCA2, FABP3, H19, TFPI2, AKR1B10, CYP3A5, ALDH3A1, SCGB3A2, SCGB1A1 were 0.30, 0.71, 0.34, 1.10, 0.26, 0.24, 0.42, 0.53, 0.09, respectively. Among all genes evaluated, the NR vs ER mean expression levels of two genes down-regulated (CYP3A5, 1.09 vs 0.30; SCGB3A2, 2.28 vs 0.98) and two genes up-regulated (AKR1B10, 4.53 vs 34.20; FABP3 1.25 vs 1.55) were superimposable respect to the results of previous microarray analysis. The median disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were 21 and 23 months, respectively. In the logistic multivariate analysis the mean expression levels of all genes showed a tendency to predict the ER in the overall population (p=0.07). Nevertheless considering only the expression levels of genes (FABP3, H19, TFPI2, AKR1B10, CYP3A5, SCGB3A2) identified as significant with t-test, the covariates in multivariate analysis increased their capacity of ER prediction (p= 0.028).

      Conclusion
      Our results indicate that it is possible to define, through gene expression, a characteristic gene profiling of early relapse tumor patients with an increased risk of relapse disease. The contemporary expression levels of 6 genes (FABP3, H19, TFPI2, AKR1B10, CYP3A5, SCGB3A2) predicted a worse DFS. Such features may have important implications for future targeted therapies. We thank Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) for supporting the study.