Alliance E-News | January 2025
Spotlight on Alliance Research

 

Alliance Research at ASCO GI 2025

The 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held in San Francisco, CA from January 23-25, showcased cutting-edge scientific advancements, practical solutions, and collaborative approaches to GI cancer treatment, research, and patient care. The conference also featured expert-led discussions and presentations on the future of GI cancer care. Additionally, Alliance presented seven abstracts, including one late-breaking abstract, highlighting the latest research and findings in the field.

Take a look.

Results from Alliance A021602/CABINET(Randomized, double-blinded phase III study of cabozantinib versus placebo in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors after progression on prior therapy) focused on a subgroup analysis of patients with extra-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (epNET) arising in the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts. The analysis showed cabozantinib was associated with an improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with placebo in patients with advanced GI neuroendocrine tumors (NET), which was a subgroup of the epNET cohort. These new findings strengthen the CABINET trial results, showing cabozantinib’s effectiveness for a broad range of neuroendocrine tumor patients, and highlight its potential as a key treatment for GI NET, which is the most common form of this tumor. Jonathan Strosberg, MD (H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute) is the lead author. 

 

Efficacy and safety of cabozantinib for advanced gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors (NET) after progression on prior therapy: A subgroup analysis of the phase III CABINET trial (Alliance A021602)

Abstract 666

 

Jonathan Nowak, MD, PhD (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital) presented a subsequent data analysis from CALGB (Alliance)/SWOG 80702 (A phase III trial of 6 versus 12 treatments of adjuvant FOLFOX plus celecoxib or placebo for patients with resected stage III colon cancer). The original prospective trial assessed the benefit of adding celecoxib, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), to FOLFOX chemotherapy in the postoperative treatment of stage III colorectal cancer (CRC) without selecting patients based on specific biomarkers. Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) is the senior author. Dr. Meyerhardt is also Co-Chair of the Alliance Gastrointestinal Committee. 

 

Prognostic and predictive role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in stage III colon cancer treated with celecoxib: Findings from CALGB (Alliance)/SWOG 80702

LBA14 - Oral Abstract

The following five investigators, all from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Keck School of Medicine, presented findings based on data from CALGB (Alliance)/SWOG 80405 - A phase III trial of irinotecan / 5-FU / leucovorin or oxaliplatin / 5-FU/ leucovorin with bevacizumab, or cetuximab (C225), or with the combination of bevacizumab and cetuximab for patients with untreated metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum. This randomized, open-label phase III trial looked at how well cetuximab and/or bevacizumab worked when combined with chemotherapy to treat metastatic colorectal cancer.

Sandra Algaze, MD (USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine) presented findings based on evaluating CSF1R, a protein found on the surface of certain immune cells, as a potential marker for predicting outcomes in colorectal cancer (CRC). 

 

Evaluation of CSF1R as a potential prognostic biomarker in colorectal cancer (Alliance)

Abstract 285

Hiroyuki Arai, MD, PhD (USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine) presented results based on evaluating the relationship between SLFN11 expression levels and survival outcomes in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with irinotecan or oxaliplatin, comparing patients with high versus low SLFN11 expression. 

 

The prognostic impact of SLFN11 gene expression in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC)

Abstract 254

Karam Ashouri, MD (USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine) presented findings based on evaluating the clinical and molecular roles of FAP and SPP1 in colorectal cancer, focusing on their expression, association with immune cell infiltration, EMT, inflammatory signaling, and potential as prognostic and therapeutic targets.

 

Clinical and molecular characterization of FAP and SPP1 in colorectal cancer (CRC), CALGB (Alliance)/SWOG 80405 and real-world data

Abstract 276

Francesca Battaglin, MD (USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine) presented results based on investigating the impact of the intratumoral expression of four major metabolic genes (PKM, SLC2A1, SLC16A1, and CAV1) on treatment response and survival outcomes in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, suggesting that targeting metabolic pathways could be a promising therapeutic strategy.

 

Impact of expression of metabolic genes on patient (pts) outcomes in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC): Data from CALGB/SWOG 80405 (Alliance)

Abstract 224

Pooja Mittal, PhD (USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine) presented results based on looking at how the expression of sirtuin genes (SIRT1-7) in tumors affects treatment outcomes in metastatic colorectal cancer, finding SIRT3 as a potential prognostic marker and SIRT1 and SIRT5 as predictive markers, especially for cetuximab treatment.

 

Impact of sirtuin genes expression on first-line treatment outcomes in patients (pts) with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) enrolled in CALGB/SWOG 80405 (Alliance)

Abstract 269