Browsing by Author "Naqash, Abdul Rafeh"

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    Clinical Outcomes Among Immunotherapy-Treated Patients With Primary Cardiac Soft Tissue Sarcomas: A Multicenter Retrospective Study
    (Elsevier, 2024-01-16) Nassar, Amin H.; El-Am, Edward; Denu, Ryan; Alaiwi, Sarah Abou; El Zarif, Talal; Macaron, Walid; Abdel-Wahab, Noha; Desai, Aakash; Smith, Caleb; Parikh, Kaushal; Abbasi, Muhannad; Farhat, Elias Bou; Williams, James M.; Collins, Jeremy D.; Al-Hader, Ahmad; McKay, Rana R.; Malvar, Carmel; Sabra, Mohamad; Zhong, Caiwei; El Alam, Raquelle; Chehab, Omar; Lima, Joao; Phan, Minh; Pria, Hanna Ferreira Dalla; Trevino, Alexandra; Neilan, Tomas G.; Kwan, Jennifer M.; Ravi, Vinod; Deshpande, Hari; Demetri, George; Choueiri, Toni K.; Naqash, Abdul Rafeh; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: Primary cardiac soft tissue sarcomas (CSTS) affect young adults, with dismal outcomes. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical outcomes of patients with CSTS receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Methods: A retrospective, multi-institutional cohort study was conducted among patients with CSTS between 2015 and 2022. The patients were treated with ICI-based regimens. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Objective response rates were determined according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1. Treatment-related adverse events were graded per the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0. Results: Among 24 patients with CSTS, 17 (70.8%) were White, and 13 (54.2%) were male. Eight patients (33.3%) had angiosarcoma. At the time of ICI treatment, 18 patients (75.0%) had metastatic CSTS, and 4 (16.7%) had locally advanced disease. ICIs were administered as the first-line therapy in 6 patients (25.0%) and as the second-line therapy or beyond in 18 patients (75.0%). For the 18 patients with available response data, objective response rate was 11.1% (n = 2 of 18). The median PFS and median OS in advanced and metastatic CSTS (n = 22) were 5.7 months (95% CI: 2.8-13.3 months) and 14.9 months (95% CI: 5.7-23.7 months), respectively. The median PFS and OS were significantly shorter in patients with cardiac angiosarcomas than in those with nonangiosarcoma CSTS: median PFS was 1.7 vs 11 months, respectively (P < 0.0001), and median OS was 3.0 vs 24.0 months, respectively (P = 0.008). Any grade treatment-related adverse events occurred exclusively in the 15 patients with nonangiosarcoma CSTS (n = 7 [46.7%]), of which 6 (40.0%) were grade ≥3. Conclusions: Although ICIs demonstrate modest activity in CSTS, durable benefit was observed in a subset of patients with nonangiosarcoma, albeit with higher toxicity.
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    Differential Infiltration of Key Immune T-Cell Populations Across Malignancies Varying by Immunogenic Potential and the Likelihood of Response to Immunotherapy
    (MDPI, 2024-12-03) Eljilany, Islam; Coleman, Sam; Tan, Aik Choon; McCarter, Martin D.; Carpten, John; Colman, Howard; Naqash, Abdul Rafeh; Puzanov, Igor; Arnold, Susanne M.; Churchman, Michelle L.; Spakowicz, Daniel; Salhia, Bodour; Marin, Julian; Ganesan, Shridar; Ratan, Aakrosh; Shriver, Craig; Hwu, Patrick; Dalton, William S.; Weiner, George J.; Conejo-Garcia, Jose R.; Rodriguez, Paulo; Tarhini, Ahmad A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: Solid tumors vary by the immunogenic potential of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the likelihood of response to immunotherapy. The emerging literature has identified key immune cell populations that significantly impact immune activation or suppression within the TME. This study investigated candidate T-cell populations and their differential infiltration within different tumor types as estimated from mRNA co-expression levels of the corresponding cellular markers. Methods: We analyzed the mRNA co-expression levels of cellular biomarkers that define stem-like tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), tissue-resident memory T-cells (TRM), early dysfunctional T-cells, late dysfunctional T-cells, activated-potentially anti-tumor (APA) T-cells and Butyrophilin 3A (BTN3A) isoforms, utilizing clinical and transcriptomic data from 1892 patients diagnosed with melanoma, bladder, ovarian, or pancreatic carcinomas. Real-world data were collected under the Total Cancer Care Protocol and the Avatar® project (NCT03977402) across 18 cancer centers. Furthermore, we compared the survival outcomes following immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) based on immune cell gene expression. Results: In melanoma and bladder cancer, the estimated infiltration of APA T-cells differed significantly (p = 4.67 × 10-12 and p = 5.80 × 10-12, respectively) compared to ovarian and pancreatic cancers. Ovarian cancer had lower TRM T-cell infiltration than melanoma, bladder, and pancreatic (p = 2.23 × 10-8, 3.86 × 10-28, and 7.85 × 10-9, respectively). Similar trends were noted with stem-like, early, and late dysfunctional T-cells. Melanoma and ovarian expressed BTN3A isoforms more than other malignancies. Higher densities of stem-like TILs; TRM, early and late dysfunctional T-cells; APA T-cells; and BTN3A isoforms were associated with increased survival in melanoma (p = 0.0075, 0.00059, 0.013, 0.005, 0.0016, and 0.041, respectively). The TRM gene signature was a moderate predictor of survival in the melanoma cohort (AUROC = 0.65), with similar findings in testing independent public datasets of ICI-treated patients with melanoma (AUROC 0.61-0.64). Conclusions: Key cellular elements related to immune activation are more heavily infiltrated within ICI-responsive versus non-responsive malignancies, supporting a central role in anti-tumor immunity. In melanoma patients treated with ICIs, higher densities of stem-like TILs, TRM T-cells, early dysfunctional T-cells, late dysfunctional T-cells, APA T-cells, and BTN3A isoforms were associated with improved survival.
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    Safety and Activity of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in People Living With HIV and Cancer: A Real-World Report From the Cancer Therapy Using Checkpoint Inhibitors in People Living With HIV-International (CATCH-IT) Consortium
    (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2023) El Zarif, Talal; Nassar, Amin H.; Adib, Elio; Fitzgerald, Bailey G.; Huang, Jiaming; Mouhieddine, Tarek H.; Rubinstein, Paul G.; Nonato, Taylor; McKay, Rana R.; Li, Mingjia; Mittra, Arjun; Owen, Dwight H.; Baiocchi, Robert A.; Lorentsen, Michael; Dittus, Christopher; Dizman, Nazli; Falohun, Adewunmi; Abdel-Wahab, Noha; Diab, Adi; Bankapur, Anand; Reed, Alexandra; Kim, Chul; Arora, Aakriti; Shah, Neil J.; El-Am, Edward; Kozaily, Elie; Abdallah, Wassim; Al-Hader, Ahmad; Ghazal, Batool Abu; Saeed, Anwaar; Drolen, Claire; Lechner, Melissa G.; Drakaki, Alexandra; Baena, Javier; Nebhan, Caroline A.; Haykal, Tarek; Morse, Michael A.; Cortellini, Alessio; Pinato, David J.; Pria, Alessia Dalla; Hall, Evan; Bakalov, Veli; Bahary, Nathan; Rajkumar, Aarthi; Mangla, Ankit; Shah, Vishal; Singh, Parminder; Nana, Frank Aboubakar; Lopetegui-Lia, Nerea; Dima, Danai; Dobbs, Ryan W.; Funchain, Pauline; Saleem, Rabia; Woodford, Rachel; Long, Georgina V.; Menzies, Alexander M.; Genova, Carlo; Barletta, Giulia; Puri, Sonam; Florou, Vaia; Idossa, Dame; Saponara, Maristella; Queirolo, Paola; Lamberti, Giuseppe; Addeo, Alfredo; Bersanelli, Melissa; Freeman, Dory; Xie, Wanling; Reid, Erin G.; Chiao, Elizabeth Y.; Sharon, Elad; Johnson, Douglas B.; Ramaswami, Ramya; Bower, Mark; Emu, Brinda; Marron, Thomas U.; Choueiri, Toni K.; Baden, Lindsey R.; Lurain, Kathryn; Sonpavde, Guru P.; Naqash, Abdul Rafeh; Graduate Medical Education, School of Medicine
    Purpose: Compared with people living without HIV (PWOH), people living with HIV (PWH) and cancer have traditionally been excluded from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) trials. Furthermore, there is a paucity of real-world data on the use of ICIs in PWH and cancer. Methods: This retrospective study included PWH treated with anti-PD-1- or anti-PD-L1-based therapies for advanced cancers. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Objective response rates (ORRs) were measured per RECIST 1.1 or other tumor-specific criteria, whenever feasible. Restricted mean survival time (RMST) was used to compare OS and PFS between matched PWH and PWOH with metastatic NSCLC (mNSCLC). Results: Among 390 PWH, median age was 58 years, 85% (n = 331) were males, 36% (n = 138) were Black; 70% (n = 274) received anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 monotherapy. Most common cancers were NSCLC (28%, n = 111), hepatocellular carcinoma ([HCC]; 11%, n = 44), and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC; 10%, n = 39). Seventy percent (152/216) had CD4+ T cell counts ≥200 cells/µL, and 94% (179/190) had HIV viral load <400 copies/mL. Twenty percent (79/390) had any grade immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and 7.7% (30/390) had grade ≥3 irAEs. ORRs were 69% (nonmelanoma skin cancer), 31% (NSCLC), 16% (HCC), and 11% (HNSCC). In the matched mNSCLC cohort (61 PWH v 110 PWOH), 20% (12/61) PWH and 22% (24/110) PWOH had irAEs. Adjusted 42-month RMST difference was -0.06 months (95% CI, -5.49 to 5.37; P = .98) for PFS and 2.23 months (95% CI, -4.02 to 8.48; P = .48) for OS. Conclusion: Among PWH, ICIs demonstrated differential activity across cancer types with no excess toxicity. Safety and activity of ICIs were similar between matched cohorts of PWH and PWOH with mNSCLC.