0000000000007335
AUTHOR
Paolo G. Casali
showing 29 related works from this author
PML expression in soft tissue sarcoma: Prognostic and predictive value in alkylating agents/antracycline-based first line therapy
2012
Soft tissue sarcomas are aggressive tumors representing <1% of all adult neoplasms. Aim of our study was to evaluate promyelocytic leukemia gene expression value as prognostic factor and as a factor predicting response to alkylating agents/antracycline-based first line therapy. One hundred eleven patients affected by locally advanced and metastatic soft tissue sarcoma were selected. PML expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis in pathological samples and in the corresponding normal tissue from each case. PML immunohistochemical results were correlated with prognosis and with radiological response to alkylating agents/antracycline-based first line therapy. PML expression was …
An observational, multicenter, retrospective, Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG) study of trabectedin in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS).
2018
e23502Background: Trabectedin (T) is approved for patients (pts) with STS after failure of anthracyclines (A) and ifosfamide (I), or pts unsuited to receive AI. ISG performed a retrospective study ...
Systemic Treatment in Advanced Phyllodes Tumor of the Breast: A Multi-institutional European Retrospective Case-series Analyses
2022
Abstract Background: We aimed at investigating outcome of systemic treatments in advanced breast PT. Methods: All cases of advanced breast PT treated with systemic treatments from 1999 to 2019, in one of the referral sarcoma centres involved in the study, were retrospectively reviewed. Results: 56 female patients were identified. Median age was 52 (range 25-76) years. Patients re-ceived a median number of 2 systemic treatments (range 1-4). Best responses according to RECIST were: 1 (3.7%) CR, 11 (40.7%) PR, 6 (22.2%) SD, 9 (33.3%) PD with anthracyclines plus ifosfamide (AI); 2 (16.7%) PR, 4 (33.3%) SD, 6 (50.0%) PD with anthracycline alone; 3 (18.8%) PR, 4 (25.0%) SD, 9 (56.3%) PD with high…
Tumor response assessment by Choi criteria in localized high-risk soft tissue sarcoma (STS) treated with chemotherapy (CT): Update at 10-year follow-…
2016
11044Background: We already reported (Cancer 2012;118:5857) on better correlation of Choi criteria (Choi) than RECIST with the outcome of pts affected by high-risk STS entering a multicentric Itali...
Tumor response assessment by modified Choi criteria in localized high-risk soft tissue sarcoma treated with chemotherapy.
2012
BACKGROUND. The objective of this study was to compare the prognostic relevance of Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) versus Choi criteria for the assessment of response in patients with high-risk soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities or trunk wall who received preoperative chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy in a phase 3 trial. METHODS. Patients received 3 cycles of preoperative epirubicin þ ifosfamide with or without radiotherapy. The diagnostic concordance between RECIST and Choi criteria and their correlation with overall survival (OS) and freedom from progression (FFP) were evaluated in a univariate Cox regression model. RESULTS. In 243 of 321 eligible patient…
Imatinib rechallenge in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors following progression with imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib
2018
Background: Rechallenge with imatinib is an option in advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients following progression with standard tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs), imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib. We retrospectively collected data from metastatic Italian GIST patients treated with imatinib resumption after progression to conventional TKIs. Methods: A total of 104 eligible advanced GIST patients, previously treated with imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib, were collected from six referral Italian institutions. Mutational analysis was recorded and correlated with survival and response according to RECIST 1.1 or CHOI criteria. Results: Overall, 71 patients treated with ima…
PML down-regulation in soft tissue sarcomas
2010
To date, little is known concerning the promyelocytic leukemia gene (PML) status in tumors of different origin, and its expression has never been evaluated in soft tissue sarcoma. The aim of the present study is focused on the identification of differences in terms of PML protein expression between different types of soft tissue sarcoma and the corresponding normal surrounding tissue. PML protein expression has been assessed by immunohistochemistry in six different histologic types of soft tissue sarcoma (synovial sarcoma, myofibroblastic sarcoma, angiosarcoma, liposarcoma, pleomorphic sarcoma, and leiomyosarcoma) and in the corresponding normal surrounding tissue. PML resulted significantl…
Adjuvant Imatinib in Patients with GIST Harboring Exon 9 KIT Mutations : Results from a Multi-institutional European Retrospective Study
2022
[Purpose] The effect of high-dose imatinib (800 mg/day) on survival in the adjuvant treatment of patients with resected KIT exon 9–mutated gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) is not established. Here, the association of dose and other clinicopathologic variables with survival was evaluated in a large multi-institutional European cohort.
Rechallenge in advanced GIST progressing to imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib: An Italian survey.
2017
11038 Background: We retrospectively collected data from metastatic Italian GIST patients treated with imatinib or sunitinib reintroduction after progression to conventional three or four lines of therapy. Methods: 82 eligible advanced GIST patients, previously treated with imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib, were collected in the present analysis from 6 cancer centres. All patients received all three standard kinase inhibitors. Imatinib dose increase as active second line or 800 mg upfront in exon 9 mutant GIST were allowed. Specific mutations were recorded if available (deletion versus others) and correlated with survival and response according to RECIST 1.1 or CHOI criteria. Results: S…
Human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 as a predictor of efficacy to gemcitabine in angiosarcoma and leiomyosarcoma.
2016
11062Background: Human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1) is the major gemcitabine transporter into cells. Gemcitabine is an active drug in different sarcoma subtypes including leiomyos...
High-risk soft tissue sarcomas treated with perioperative chemotherapy: Improving prognostic classification in a randomised clinical trial
2018
Background: Patients with extremity and trunk wall soft tissue sarcoma (STS) with high malignancy grade and size >5 cm are at high-risk of death. This risk varies depending also on other patient and tumour features, including histologic subtype. This study investigated whether a prognostic nomogram can improve risk assessment of these patients. Methods: Data from high-risk STS patients enrolled in a randomised controlled trial investigating different perioperative chemotherapy regimens were analysed. Ten-year probability of overall survival (OS) and incidence of distant metastasis (DM) were computed using the prognostic nomogram Sarculator (pr-OS and inc-DM, respectively). Tumour response a…
Short, full-dose neoadjuvant chemotherapy in localized high-risk adult soft tissue sarcomas (STS): An exploratory subgroup analysis on responding pat…
2018
11558Background: We already reported (Cancer 2012;118:5857) the correlation of Choi criteria (Choi) and RECIST with outcome of pts affected by high-risk STS entering a multicentric Italian/Spanish ...
Personalization of regorafenib treatment in metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumours in real-life clinical practice
2017
Background: Regorafenib (REG) has now been approved as the standard third-line therapy in metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) patients at the recommended dose and schedule of 160 mg once daily for the first 3 weeks of each 4-week cycle. However, it has a relevant toxicity profile that mainly occurs within the first cycles of therapy, and dose and schedule adjustments are often required to reduce the frequency or severity of adverse events and to avoid early treatment discontinuation. To date, large amounts of data on the use of REG in metastatic GIST patients in daily clinical practice are not available, and we lack information about how this treatment personalization really a…
Career opportunities and benefits for young oncologists in the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)
2016
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) is one of the leading societies of oncology professionals in the world. Approximately 30% of the 13 000 ESMO members are below the age of 40 and thus meet the society's definition of young oncologists (YOs). ESMO has identified the training and development of YOs as a priority and has therefore established a comprehensive career development programme. This includes a leadership development programme to help identify and develop the future leaders in oncology. Well-trained and highly motivated future generations of multidisciplinary oncologists are essential to ensure the optimal evolution of the field of oncology with the ultimate goal of pro…
Guidelines for time-to-event end point definitions in sarcomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) trials: results of the DATECAN initiative (…
2015
ABSTRACT The DATECAN initiative (Definition for the Assessment of Time-to-event Endpoints in CANcer trials) aims to provide recommendations for definitions of time-to-event end points in cancer randomized controlled trials. We relied on a consensus method based on a multidisciplinary panel of experts to develop these guidelines for trials on sarcomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Background The use of potential surrogate end points for overall survival, such as disease-free survival (DFS) or time-to-treatment failure (TTF) is increasingly common in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in cancer. However, the definition of time-to-event (TTE) end points is rarely precise and lacks unif…
Randomized Phase 3 Trial of Regorafenib in Patients (Patients) with Metastatic and/or Unresectable Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) Progressing …
2012
LBA10008 Background: Oral multikinase inhibitor regorafenib (REG) demonstrated substantial activity in a phase II trial in pts with GIST after failure of both IM and SU (J Clin Oncol. 2011; 29:606s; abstr 10007). This phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of REG for this unmet clinical need. Methods: Eligible pts had metastatic and/or unresectable GIST, objective failure of both prior IM and SU (progressive disease [PD] on, or intolerance to, IM and PD on SU), ≥1 measurable lesion, ECOG performance status 0 or 1. Pts were randomized 2:1 to receive best supportive care plus either REG 160 mg po once daily (3 wks on/1 wk off) or placeb…
Short, full-dose adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) in high-risk adult soft tissue sarcomas (STS): long-term follow-up of a randomized clinical trial from th…
2016
[Background] To report on long-term results of a phase 3 trial comparing three versus five cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) with full-dose epirubicin+ifosfamide in high-risk soft tissue sarcomas (STS).
The sarculator stratified prognosis of patients with high-risk soft tissue sarcomas (STS) of extremities and trunk wall treated with perioperative ch…
2017
11016 Background: Patients with extremity and trunk wall STS with high malignancy grade and size larger than 5cm are considered at high risk of death, but in fact this risk varies broadly depending on histologic subtype and size. The Sarculator, a nomogram for STS, can improve prognostic assessment of these patients. This tool was evaluated for stratifying risk of distant metastasis (DM) and overall survival (OS) in a RCT investigating perioperative chemotherapy. Methods: High-risk STS patients were randomly assigned to receive either three cycles of preoperative chemotherapy with epirubicin (120 mg/m2) and ifosfamide (9 g/m2) or the same three preoperative cycles followed by two further p…
Results from a phase III trial (GRID) evaluating regorafenib (REG) in metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST): Subgroup analysis of outcome…
2013
10551 Background: REG, an oral receptor kinase inhibitor with activity against KIT, PDGFR, VEGFR, FGFRs, and other oncologic targets, demonstrated significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) over placebo (PL) in a phase III study (GRID) of patients (pts) with advanced GIST following failure of at least imatinib (IM) and sunitinib (SU). To understand the impact of pts’ baseline characteristics on outcome, we performed an exploratory analysis of REG effects across pt subgroups based on sex, age, and mitotic index of primary GIST tissue, as well as duration and number of lines of previous therapies. Methods: Adult pts with metastatic GIST (n=199) progressing after at least IM a…
Weekly cisplatin with or without imatinib in advanced chordoma: A retrospective case-series analysis from the Italian Rare Cancers Network
2021
Background: To report on a retrospective case-series analysis of weekly cisplatin (wCDDP) as a single agent or combined with imatinib (wCDDP/I) in patients with advanced chordoma treated within the Italian Rare Cancer Network. Methods: Adult patients with a diagnosis of advanced, brachyury-positive chordoma, treated from April 2007 to October 2020 with wCDDP or wCDDP/I were retrospectively identified. Imatinib was withheld at the same time as wCDDP. Response according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed. Results: Thirty-three consecutive patients were identified (wCDDP as front-line n = 8 [24.2%]; wCDDP as…
Mutational analysis of plasma DNA from patients (pts) in the phase III GRID study of regorafenib (REC) versus placebo (PL) in tyrosine kinase inhibit…
2013
10503 Background: The phase III GRID study showed that REG provides a significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with PL in pts with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) following failure of at least imatinib (IM) and sunitinib (SU; HR 0.27, p<0.0001). Determining GIST genotype in TKI-refractory disease has proven challenging due to inter-tumoral heterogeneity and pt preference to avoid serial biopsies. To overcome this, we analysed circulating DNA in plasma as a source of tumor DNA and studied the correlation between mutational status and clinical outcome. Methods: DNA was isolated from both archival tumor tissue (n=102) and plasma at baseline (n=163…
Preclinical and clinical evidence of activity of pazopanib in solitary fibrous tumour
2014
Abstract Background To explore the activity of pazopanib in solitary fibrous tumour (SFT). Patients and methods In a preclinical study, we compared the activity of pazopanib, sorafenib, sunitinib, regorafenib, axitinib and bevacizumab in a dedifferentiated-SFT (DSFT) xenotransplanted into Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. Antiangiogenics were administered at their reported optimal doses when mean tumour volume (TV) was 80 mm3. Drug activity was assessed as TV inhibition percentage (TVI%). From May 2012, six consecutive patients with advanced SFT received pazopanib, on a national name-based programme. In one case sunitinib was administered after pazopanib failure. Results In the …
Imatinib dose escalation versus sunitinib as a second line treatment in KIT exon 11 mutated GIST: a retrospective analysis
2015
We retrospectively reviewed data from 123 patients (KIT exon 11 mutated) who received sunitinib or dose-escalated imatinib as second line. All patients progressed on imatinib (400 mg/die) and received a second line treatment with imatinib (800 mg/die) or sunitinib (50 mg/die 4 weeks on/2 off or 37.5 mg/day). Deletion versus other KIT 11 mutation was recorded, correlated with clinical benefits. 64% received imatinib, 36% sunitinib. KIT exon 11 mutation was available in 94 patients. With a median follow-up of 61 months, median time to progression (TTP) in patients receiving sunitinib and imatinib was 10 (95% CI 9.7–10.9) and 5 months (95% CI 3.6–6.7) respectively (P = 0.012). No difference wa…
Doxorubicin plus dacarbazine (DTIC) in advanced solitary fibrous tumor (SFT): An Italian retrospective case series analysis.
2016
11042Background: The reported response rate to chemotherapy (CT) in SFT is low both with anthracycline-based regimens ( ≤ 20%) and with trabectedin ( < 10%). DTIC can be active. We report on the co...
Clinical prognostic factors in advanced epithelioid haemangioendothelioma: a retrospective case series analysis within the Italian Rare Cancers Netwo…
2021
Background This multicentric, retrospective study conducted within the Italian Rare Cancer Network describes clinical features and explores their possible prognostic relevance in patients with advanced epithelioid haemangioendothelioma (EHE) started on surveillance. Patients and methods We collected data on adult patients with molecularly confirmed, advanced EHE consecutively referred at five sarcoma reference centres between January 2010 and June 2018, with no evidence of progressive disease (PD) and started on surveillance. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) univariable and multivariable Cox analyses were performed. In the latter, due to the low number of cases and …
Pazopanib for treatment of typical solitary fibrous tumours: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial
2020
[Background] Solitary fibrous tumour is an ultra-rare sarcoma, which encompasses different clinicopathological subgroups. The dedifferentiated subgroup shows an aggressive course with resistance to pazopanib, whereas in the malignant subgroup, pazopanib shows higher activity than in previous studies with chemotherapy. We designed a trial to test pazopanib activity in two different cohorts of solitary fibrous tumour: the malignant-dedifferentiated cohort, which was previously published, and the typical cohort, which is presented here.
Abstract LB-295: Detection of oncogenic kinase mutations in circulating plasma DNA and correlation with clinical benefit in the phase III GRID study …
2013
Abstract Background: GRID is a phase III study for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) following failure of imatinib (I) and sunitinib (S) who were randomized to receive either the multikinase inhibitor regorafenib (R) or placebo (P). R demonstrated a highly significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with P (HR 0.27, p&lt;0.0001). A preplanned retrospective biomarker analysis was conducted to assess GIST genotypes in GRID patients and to explore the possible impact of different driver oncogene mutations on clinical outcomes. Methods: DNA was isolated from archival tumor tissue and analyzed for KIT mutations via Sanger sequencing. The expectat…
Human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 gene expression is associated with gemcitabine efficacy in advanced leiomyosarcoma and angiosarcoma
2017
Background: The expression of human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1), the major gemcitabine transporter into cells, has been thoroughly investigated as a predictive marker of response to gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer and biliary tract cancers. Since gemcitabine is widely used in the treatment of leiomyosarcoma and angiosarcoma, we investigated the correlation between hENT1 expression and gemcitabine efficacy in these sarcoma subtypes.Methods: We retrospectively identified 71 patients affected by advanced angiosarcoma (26) or leiomyosarcoma (45) treated within five Italian referral centres for sarcoma; among them, 49 patients (15 angiosarcoma, 34 leiomyosarcoma) were treated…
Rare Cancers Europe (RCE) methodological recommendations for clinical studies in rare cancers: A European consensus position paper
2015
While they account for one-fifth of new cancer cases, rare cancers are difficult to study. A higher than average degree of uncertainty should be accommodated for clinical as well as for population-based decision making. Rules of rational decision making in conditions of uncertainty should be rigorously followed and would need widely informative clinical trials. In principle, any piece of new evidence would need to be exploited in rare cancers. Methodologies to explicitly weigh and combine all the available evidence should be refined, and the Bayesian logic can be instrumental to this end. Likewise, Bayesian-design trials may help optimize the low number of patients liable to be enrolled in …