SUMMARY: The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2023, approximately 82,290 new cases of Bladder Cancer will be diagnosed and 16,710 patients will die of the disease. Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men, but it is less common in women. A third of the patients initially present with locally invasive or metastatic disease. Patients with urothelial carcinoma are currently treated in the first line setting with a Platinum based chemotherapy regimen and a checkpoint Inhibitor (PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor) in the second line setting. Treatment options for patients who progress after first and second line therapies are limited, with poor outcomes. The response rates with standard chemotherapy in this patient population, is about 10%. Approximately 50% of patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma are ineligible for Cisplatin-based chemotherapy. There is therefore a critical need for effective and tolerable first line treatment options in locally advanced or metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma.
Enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (PADCEV®) is an Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) that targets Nectin-4, a cell adhesion molecule highly expressed in urothelial cancers and other solid tumors. Nectin-4 has been implicated in tumor cell growth and proliferation. Following binding to Nectin-4 on the cell surface, Enfortumab vedotin becomes internalized and is processed by lysosomes, with the liberation of its cytotoxic payload, Monomethyl auristatin E, which in turn disrupts microtubule assembly, leading to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Enfortumab vedotin resulted in significantly longer Overall Survival, Progression Free Survival, and a higher Overall Response Rate, than standard chemotherapy, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma, who had previously received Platinum-based treatment and a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor. However there are limited data available on biomarkers predictive of outcomes when treated with Enfortumab vedotin.
The researchers in this study investigated potential biomarkers of response to Enfortumab vedotin by analyzing data from the UNITE (Urothelial Cancer Network to Investigate Therapeutic Experiences) database. This analysis include 170 patients from 16 different sites, with available Next Generation Sequencing using institutional or commercial platforms, treated with Enfortumab vedotin alone, outside of a clinical trial setting, for whom outcomes were available. The median age was 70 years, 78% were men, 65% had pure urothelial histology, 69% had primary bladder tumor, and 68% had 2 or more lines of therapy before Enfortumab vedotin.
The following molecular biomarkers were assessed: Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB), PD-L1 status, presence of 1 or more DNA damage response mutations such as BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, CHEK2, CDK12, BARD1, PPP2R2A, or RAD51B, and somatic alterations such as TERTp, TP53, ARID1A, CDKN2A, CDKN2B, FGFR3, ERBB2, CCND1, KDM6A, MTAP, PIK3CA, RB1, TSC1, in 10% or more of patients. Investigators determined observed response to Enfortumab vedotin in patients with scans after one or more doses of the therapy.
For all patients included in this analysis, the Observed Response Rate was 47%, median Progression Free Survival was 6 months and median Overall Survival was 12 months. The Observed Response Rates were higher in patients with ERBB2 and TSC1 alterations versus wild-type (67% versus 44%; P=0.05 and 68% versus 25%; P=0.04, respectively). Shorter median Progression Free Survival was noted in patients with CDKN2A, CDKN2B, and MTAP alterations, whereas patients with high Tumor Mutation Burden (10 or more Mut/Mb) had longer median Overall Survival.
It was concluded that analysis of this large, multicenter, retrospective cohort of patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma, identified several potential biomarkers associated with differential outcomes to Enfortumab vedotin, and these findings may help inform clinical decision making and potential therapy sequencing.
Biomarkers of response to enfortumab vedotin (EV) in patients (pts) with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC): Analysis of the UNITE study. Jindal T, Kilari D, Alhalabi O, et al.DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2023.41.6_suppl.450 Journal of Clinical Oncology.
