Aaron James Scott

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• Klempner, S. J., Sonbol, M. B., Wainberg, Z. A., Uronis, H. E., Chiu, V. K., Scott, A. J., Iqbal, S., Tejani, M. A., Chung, V., Stilian, M. C., Thoma, M., Zhang, Y., Kagey, M. H., Baum, J., Sirard, C. A., Altura, R. A., & Ajani, J. A. (2025). DKN-01 in Combination With Tislelizumab and Chemotherapy as First-Line Therapy in Advanced Gastric or Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma: DisTinGuish. Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 43(3), 339-349.
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  The outcomes of anti-PD-1 agents plus fluoropyrimidine/platinum in frontline advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas (aGEAs) remain poor. We investigated the safety, tolerability, and activity of fluoropyrimidine/oxaliplatin and tislelizumab with the DKK1-neutralizing antibody DKN-01 in aGEAs in a phase IIa open-label study.
• Scott, A. J., Kennedy, E. B., & Gholami, S. (2025). Reply to: Should Total Neoadjuvant Therapy Be the First-Line Treatment for Patients With Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer?. Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, JCO2402435.
• Arai, H., Gandhi, N., Battaglin, F., Wang, J., Algaze, S., Jayachandran, P., Soni, S., Zhang, W., Yang, Y., Millstein, J., Lo, J. H., Sohal, D., Goldberg, R., Hall, M. J., Scott, A. J., Hwang, J. J., Lou, E., Weinberg, B. A., Marshall, J., , Goel, S., et al. (2024). Role of gene expression in colorectal cancer: a comprehensive molecular profiling study. Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 12(11).
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  In patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), the therapeutic effects of conventional immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting the adaptive immune system are largely limited to those with microsatellite instability-high tumors. Meanwhile, new immunotherapies targeting the innate immune system are attracting increasing attention. CD47 is a representative innate immune checkpoint involved in the evasion of tumor cell phagocytosis by macrophages. This large-scale study comprehensively examined the molecular significance of gene expression in CRC.
• Gainor, J. F., Patel, M. R., Weber, J. S., Gutierrez, M., Bauman, J. E., Clarke, J. M., Julian, R., Scott, A. J., Geiger, J. L., Kirtane, K., Robert-Tissot, C., Coder, B., Tasneem, M., Sun, J., Zheng, W., Gerbereux, L., Laino, A., Porichis, F., Pollard, J. R., , Hou, P., et al. (2024). T-cell Responses to Individualized Neoantigen Therapy mRNA-4157 (V940) Alone or in Combination with Pembrolizumab in the Phase 1 KEYNOTE-603 Study. Cancer discovery, 14(11), 2209-2223.
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  mRNA-4157 (V940) is an individualized neoantigen therapy targeting up to 34 patient-specific tumor neoantigens to induce T-cell responses and potentiate antitumor activity. We report mechanistic insights into the immunogenicity of mRNA-4157 via characterization of T-cell responses to neoantigens from the first-in-human, phase 1, KEYNOTE-603 study (NCT03313778) in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer (Part A: 1-mg mRNA-4157, n = 4) or resected cutaneous melanoma (Part D: 1-mg mRNA-4157 + 200-mg pembrolizumab, n = 12). Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity were assessed. All patients experienced ≥1 treatment-emergent adverse event; there were no grade 4/5 adverse events or dose-limiting toxicities. mRNA-4157 alone induced consistent de novo and strengthened preexisting T-cell responses to targeted neoantigens. Following combination therapy, sustained mRNA-4157-induced neoantigen-specific T-cell responses and expansion of cytotoxic CD8 and CD4 T cells were observed. These findings show the potential of a novel mRNA individualized neoantigen therapy approach in oncology. Significance: The safety and immunogenicity results from this phase 1 study of mRNA-4157 as adjuvant monotherapy or combination therapy with pembrolizumab show generation of de novo and enhancement of existing neoantigen-specific T-cell responses and provide mechanistic proof of concept to support further development of mRNA-4157 for patients with resected solid tumors. See related commentary by Berraondo et al., p. 2021.
• Scott, A. J., Kennedy, E. B., Berlin, J., Brown, G., Chalabi, M., Cho, M. T., Cusnir, M., Dorth, J., George, M., Kachnic, L. A., Kennecke, H. F., Loree, J. M., Morris, V. K., Perez, R. O., Smith, J. J., Strickland, M. R., & Gholami, S. (2024). Management of Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: ASCO Guideline. Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 42(28), 3355-3375.
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  . .PURPOSETo provide evidence-based guidance for clinicians who treat patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.METHODSA systematic review of the literature published from 2013 to 2023 was conducted to identify relevant systematic reviews, phase II and III randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and observational studies where applicable.RESULTSTwelve RCTs, two systematic reviews, and one nonrandomized study met the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. Expert Panel members used available evidence and informal consensus to develop evidence-based guideline recommendations.RECOMMENDATIONSFollowing assessment with magnetic resonance imaging, for patients with microsatellite stable or proficient mismatch repair locally advanced rectal cancer, total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT; ie chemoradiation [CRT] and chemotherapy) should be offered as initial treatment for patients with tumors located in the lower rectum and/or patients who are at higher risk for local and/or distant metastases. Patients without higher-risk factors may discuss chemotherapy with selective CRT depending on extent of response, TNT, or neoadjuvant long-course CRT or short-course radiation. For patients who are candidates for TNT, the preferred timing for chemotherapy is after radiation, and neoadjuvant long-course CRT is preferred over short-course radiation therapy (RT), however short-course RT may also be a viable treatment option depending on circumstances. Nonoperative management may be discussed as an alternative to total mesorectal excision for patients who have a clinical complete response to neoadjuvant therapy. For patients whose tumors are microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient, immunotherapy is recommended.Additional information is available at http://www.asco.org/gastrointestinal-cancer-guidelines.
• Scott, A. J., Kennedy, E. B., Berlin, J., Kachnic, L., Kennecke, H., & Gholami, S. (2024). Management of Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: ASCO Guideline Clinical Insights. JCO oncology practice, OP2400550.
• Shroff, R. T., King, G., Colby, S., Scott, A. J., Borad, M. J., Goff, L., Matin, K., Mahipal, A., Kalyan, A., Javle, M. M., El Dika, I., Tan, B., Cheema, P., Patel, A., Iyer, R., Kelley, R. K., Thumar, J., El-Khoueiry, A., Guthrie, K. A., , Chiorean, E. G., et al. (2024). SWOG S1815: A Phase III Randomized Trial of Gemcitabine, Cisplatin, and Nab-Paclitaxel Versus Gemcitabine and Cisplatin in Newly Diagnosed, Advanced Biliary Tract Cancers. Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, JCO2401383.
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  SWOG S1815 was a randomized, open label phase III trial, evaluating gemcitabine, nab-paclitaxel, and cisplatin (GAP) versus gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC) in patients with newly diagnosed advanced biliary tract cancers (BTCs).
• Scott, A. J., Lentz, R. W., Hu, J., Blatchford, P. J., Pitts, T., Leal, A. D., Kim, S. S., Davis, S. L., Lieu, C. H., Boland, P. M., Hochster, H. S., & Messersmith, W. A. (2023). Trial in progress: A phase II study (with safety run-in) of evorpacept (ALX148), cetuximab, and pembrolizumab in patients with refractory microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer (AGICC-ALX148 21CRC01).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 41(4_suppl), TPS257-TPS257. doi:10.1200/jco.2023.41.4_suppl.tps257
• Scott, A. J., Lenz, H., Xiu, J., Goel, S., Marshall, J., Weinberg, B. A., Lou, E., Hwang, J. J., Hall, M. J., Goldberg, R. M., Sohal, D. P., Lo, J. H., Wu, Z., Soni, S., Jayachandran, P., Algaze, S., Battaglin, F., Baca, Y., & Arai, H. (2023). The role of gene expression of CDC37 in colorectal cancer (CRC).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 41(4_suppl), 237-237. doi:10.1200/jco.2023.41.4_suppl.237
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  237 Background: CDC37-HSP90 axis is an essential chaperoning system for stabilization of kinases. CDC37 determines selectivity of client kinases recognized by HSP90. We previously showed patients with CDC37-dependent ( CDC37 high expression) colorectal cancer (CRC) derived more benefit from regorafenib and bevacizumab both of which target HSP90 client kinases or signaling pathway, but not from cetuximab which targets HSP90 non-client kinase. However, molecular characteristics and interaction with relevant signaling pathways in CDC37-dependent CRC are largely unknown. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed CRC patient samples submitted to a commercial CLIA-certified laboratory (Caris Life Sciences, Phoenix AZ). Next-generation sequencing of DNA and RNA (whole-transcriptome sequencing) and immunohistochemistry were performed. Molecular profiles between top quartile transcripts per million for CDC37 expression (Q4, CDC37-high: n = 5056) and bottom quartile (Q1, CDC37-low: n = 5056) were compared for gene mutations, microsatellite instability (MSI) status, PD-L1 expression, co-expression of HSP90 genes ( HSP90AA1 and HSP90AB1), MAPK pathway activity score (MPAS), T-cell inflamed signature, and cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment (TME) assessed by QuantiSEQ. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed between CDC37-high (Q4) and CDC37-low (Q1) tumors. Results: KRAS mutations trended higher in CDC37-high tumors compared to CDC37-low tumors (49.5% vs 47.1%) while APC (76.9% vs 72.3%), TP53 (75.5% vs 71.8%) and TCF7L2 (5.0% vs 3.5%) mutations were significantly higher in CDC37-high tumors compared to CDC37-low tumors (q < 0.05). No significance in expression quartiles were observed for dMMR/MSI-H or PD-L1 expression. HSP90AA1 and HSP90AB1 expression levels were significantly higher in CDC37-high tumors (2.9-fold and 2.6-fold in median, respectively; both q< 0.05). Both MPAS and T-cell inflamed signatures were significantly higher in CDC37-high tumors ( q< 0.05). Infiltration of NK cells, Tregs, neutrophils, M1 macrophages, and B-cells were greater in CDC37-high tumors (q < 0.05). GSEA showed several signaling pathways, such as KRAS, TGF-beta, hypoxia, WNT-beta catenin, and PI3K-AKT-MTOR, were enriched in CDC37-high tumors. Conclusions: Highly CDC37-expressed (CDC37-dependent) CRC was associated with aberrant TME where abundance of immune cell infiltrate and broad activation of kinase-related signaling pathways were evident. Our results support the kinase-stabilizing function of CDC37 in CRC. Further investigations combined with survival data are warranted to address the prognostic and predictive values of CDC37 expression in targeted therapies of CRC.
• Arai, H., Elliott, A., Millstein, J., Xiu, J., Ou, F. S., Innocenti, F., Wang, J., Battaglin, F., Jayachandran, P., Kawanishi, N., Soni, S., Zhang, W., Sohal, D., Goldberg, R. M., Hall, M. J., Scott, A. J., Khushman, M., Hwang, J. J., Lou, E., , Weinberg, B. A., et al. (2022). Molecular characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with Neurofibromin 1-altered metastatic colorectal cancer. Oncogene, 41(2), 260-267.
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  Loss-of-function alterations of Neurofibromin 1 (NF1) activate RAS, a driver of colorectal cancer. However, the clinical implications of NF1 alterations are largely unknown. We performed a comprehensive molecular profiling of NF1-mutant colorectal cancer using data from 8150 patients included in a dataset of commercial CLIA-certified laboratory (Caris Life Sciences). In addition, NF1 expression levels were tested for associations with clinical outcomes using data from 431 patients in the CALGB/SWOG 80405 trial. In the Caris dataset, 2.2% of patients had pathogenic or presumed pathogenic NF1 mutations. NF1-mutant tumors more frequently harbored PIK3CA (25.0% vs. 16.7%) and PTEN mutations (24.0% vs. 4.2%) than wild type tumors. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that MAPK and PI3K pathway signatures were enriched in NF1-mutant tumors. In the CALGB/SWOG 80405 cohort, low NF1 expression was associated with poor prognosis, and high NF1 expression was associated with better efficacy of cetuximab than bevacizumab. Together, we revealed concurrent genetic alterations in the PI3K pathways in NF1-mutant tumors, suggesting the need to simultaneously block MAPK and PI3K pathways in treatment. The potential of NF1 alteration as a novel biomarker for targeted therapy was highlighted, warranting further investigations in clinical settings.
• Durando, M. L., Menghani, S. V., Baumann, J. L., Robles, D. G., Day, T. A., Vaziri, C., & Scott, A. J. (2022). Four-Year Disease-Free Remission in a Patient With POLE Mutation-Associated Colorectal Cancer Treated Using Anti-PD-1 Therapy. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN, 20(3), 218-223.
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  The stability of the human genome depends upon a delicate balance between replication by high- and low-fidelity DNA polymerases. Aberrant replication by error-prone polymerases or loss of function of high-fidelity polymerases predisposes to genetic instability and, in turn, cancer. DNA polymerase epsilon (Pol ε) is a high-fidelity, processive polymerase that is responsible for the majority of leading strand synthesis, and mutations in Pol ε have been increasingly associated with various human malignancies. The clinical significance of Pol ε mutations, including how and whether they should influence management decisions, remains poorly understood. In this report, we describe a 24-year-old man with an aggressive stage IV high-grade, poorly differentiated colon carcinoma who experienced a dramatic response to single-agent checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy after rapidly progressing on standard chemotherapy. His response was complete and durable and has been maintained for more than 48 months. Genetic testing revealed a P286R mutation in the endonuclease domain of POLE and an elevated tumor mutational burden of 126 mutations per megabase, both of which have been previously associated with response to immunotherapy. Interestingly, tumor staining for PD-L1 was negative. This case study highlights the importance of genetic profiling of both early and late-stage cancers, the clinical significance of POLE mutations, and how the interplay between genetic instability and immune-checkpoint blockade can impact clinical decision-making.
• Scott, A. (2022). A Phase II Study Investigating Cabozantinib in Patients with Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (AGICC 17CRC01)
  
  . Cancer Research Communication (AACR), 2(10), 1188–1196. doi:https://doi.org/10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0169
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  Cancer Research Communications (2022)
• Scott, A. (2022). Four-Year Disease-Free Remission in a Patient With POLE Mutation-Associated Primary Colorectal Cancer Treated Using Anti-PD-1 Therapy. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Molecular insights in patient care. doi:10.6004/jnccn.2021.7115
• Scott, A. J., Arai, H., Elliott, A., Farrell, A., Wang, J., Battaglin, F., Kawanishi, N., Jayachandran, P., Soni, S., Wu, Z., Sohal, D. P., Goldberg, R. M., Hall, M. J., Khushman, M., Hwang, J. J., Lou, E., Weinberg, B. A., Marshall, J., Korn, W. M., & Lenz, H. (2022). Landscape of endocytosis pathway in colorectal cancer (CRC).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 40(16_suppl), 3148-3148. doi:10.1200/jco.2022.40.16_suppl.3148
• Scott, A. J., Basu Mallick, A., Dotan, E., Cohen, S. J., Gold, P. J., Hochster, H. S., Subramaniam, S., Barzi, A., Watts, G. S., Blatchford, P. J., & Messersmith, W. A. (2022). A Phase II Study Investigating Cabozantinib in Patients with Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (AGICC 17CRC01). Cancer research communications, 2(10), 1188-1196.
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  Multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have shown clinical activity in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Cabozantinib, a multi-TKI, exhibited potent antitumor activity superior to regorafenib in preclinical colorectal cancer patient-derived tumor xenograft models. This phase II study aimed to investigate cabozantinib, a multi-TKI, in patients with refractory, metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).
• Scott, A. J., Durando, M. L., Menghani, S. V., Baumann, J. L., Robles, D. G., Day, T. A., & Vaziri, C. (2022). Four-Year Disease-Free Remission in a Patient With POLE Mutation–Associated Colorectal Cancer Treated Using Anti–PD-1 Therapy. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 20(3), 218-223. doi:10.6004/jnccn.2021.7115
• Scott, A. J., Morris, V. K., Yothers, G., Kopetz, S., Jacobs, S. A., Lucas, P. C., Iqbal, A., Boland, P. M., Deming, D. A., Lim, H. J., Hong, T. S., Wolmark, N., & George, T. J. (2022). Phase II/III study of circulating tumor DNA as a predictive biomarker in adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II colon cancer: NRG-GI005 (COBRA).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 40(4_suppl), TPS233-TPS233. doi:10.1200/jco.2022.40.4_suppl.tps233
• Scott, A. J., Sharman, R., & Shroff, R. T. (2022). Precision Medicine in Biliary Tract Cancer. Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 40(24), 2716-2734.
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  Precision medicine has become a dominant theme in the treatment of biliary tract cancers (BTCs). Although prognosis remains poor, technologies for improved molecular characterization along with the US Food and Drug Administration approval of several targeted therapies have changed the therapeutic landscape of advanced BTC. The hallmark of BTC oncogenesis is chronic inflammation of the liver and biliary tract regardless of the anatomical subtype. Subtypes of BTC correspond to distinct molecular characteristics, making BTC a molecularly heterogenous collection of tumors. Collectively, up to 40% of BTCs harbor a potentially targetable molecular abnormality, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend molecular profiling for all patients with advanced BTC. Use of circulating tumor DNA, immunohistochemistry, and next-generation sequencing continues to expand the utility for biomarker-driven management and molecular monitoring of BTC. Improving outcomes using biomarker-agnostic treatment for nontargetable tumors also remains a priority, and combinational treatment strategies such as immune checkpoint inhibition plus chemotherapy hold promise for this subgroup of patients.
• Shroff, R. T., Sharman, R., & Scott, A. J. (2022). Precision Medicine in Biliary Tract Cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 40(24), 2716-2734. doi:10.1200/jco.21.02576
• Wang, Z., Li, W., Park, J., Gonzalez, K. M., Scott, A. J., & Lu, J. (2022). Camptothesome elicits immunogenic cell death to boost colorectal cancer immune checkpoint blockade. Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society, 349, 929-939.
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  Camptothesome is an innovative nanovesicle therapeutic comprising the sphingomyelin-derived camptothecin (CPT) lipid bilayer. In this work, we deciphered that Camptothesome was taken up by colorectal cancer (CRC) cells through primarily the clathrin-mediated endocytotic pathway and displayed the potential of eliciting robust immunogenic cancer cell death (ICD) via upregulating calreticulin, high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB-1), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), three hallmarks involved in the induction of ICD. In addition, use of dying MC38 tumor cells treated with Camptothesome as vaccine prevented tumor growth in 60% mice that received subsequent injection of live MC38 cells on the contralateral flank, validating Camptothesome was a legitimate ICD inducer in vivo. Camptothesome markedly reduced the acute bone marrow toxicity and gastrointestinal mucositis associated with free CPT and beat free CPT and Onivyde on anti-CRC efficacy and immune responses in a partially interferon gamma (IFN-γ)-dependent manner. Furthermore, Camptothesome enhanced the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors to shrink late-stage orthotopic MC38 CRC tumors with diminished tumor metastasis and markedly prolonged mice survival.
• Arai, H., Elliott, A., Xiu, J., Wang, J., Battaglin, F., Kawanishi, N., Soni, S., Zhang, W., Millstein, J., Sohal, D., Goldberg, R. M., Hall, M. J., Scott, A. J., Khushman, M., Hwang, J. J., Lou, E., Weinberg, B. A., Marshall, J. L., Lockhart, A. C., , Stafford, P., et al. (2021). The Landscape of Alterations in DNA Damage Response Pathways in Colorectal Cancer. Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 27(11), 3234-3242.
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  Defective DNA damage response (DDR) is a hallmark of cancer leading to genomic instability and is associated with chemosensitivity. Although the mismatch repair system has been extensively studied, the clinical implications of other mechanisms associated with DDR alterations in patients with colorectal cancer remain unclear. This study aimed to understand DDR pathways alterations and their association with common clinical features in patients with colorectal cancer.
• Lockhart, A. C., Scott, A. J., Arai, H., Elliott, A., Xiu, J., Wang, J., Battaglin, F., Kawanishi, N., Soni, S., Zhang, W., Millstein, J., Sohal, D., Goldberg, R. M., Hall, M. J., Khushman, M., Hwang, J. J., Lou, E., Weinberg, B. A., Marshall, J. L., , Stafford, P., et al. (2021). The Landscape of Alterations in DNA Damage Response Pathways in Colorectal Cancer. Clinical Cancer Research, 27(11), 3234-3242. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-20-3635
• Nfonsam, V. N., Scott, A., Elquza, E., Tiwari, H., Ayotunde, O., Alattar, Z., Hamidi, M., & Ewongwo, A. (2019). Contributing Factors and Short-Term Surgical Outcomes of Patients with Early-Onset Rectal Cancer. The American Journal of Surgery.
• Scott, A. J., Babiker, H. M., Tolcher, A., Chung, V., Kim, E., Moser, J., Karim, R., Vandross, A., Sommerhalder, D., Fakih, M., Massarelli, E., Adams, J., Stewart, J., Bossard, C., Do, L., White, M., Beaupre, D. M., & Borazanci, E. (2021). Abstract CT112: Initial results from a Phase 1 trial of a first-in-class pan-CDC-like kinase inhibitor (SM08502) with proof of mechanism in subjects with advanced solid tumors. Cancer Research, 81(13_Supplement), CT112-CT112. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.am2021-ct112
• Scott, A. J., Morris, V. K., Yothers, G., Kopetz, S., Jacobs, S. A., Lucas, P. C., Iqbal, A., Boland, P. M., Deming, D. A., Lim, H. J., Wolmark, N., & George, T. J. (2021). Phase II/III study of Circulating tumOr DNA as a predictive BiomaRker in Adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II colon cancer: NRG-GI005 (COBRA).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 39(15_suppl), TPS3622-TPS3622. doi:10.1200/jco.2021.39.15_suppl.tps3622
• Shroff, R. T., Chalasani, P., Wei, R., Pennington, D., Quirk, G., Schoenle, M. V., Peyton, K. L., Uhrlaub, J. L., Ripperger, T. J., Jergović, M., Dalgai, S., Wolf, A., Whitmer, R., Hammad, H., Carrier, A., Scott, A. J., Nikolich-Žugich, J., Worobey, M., Sprissler, R., , Dake, M., et al. (2021). Immune responses to two and three doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in adults with solid tumors. Nature medicine, 27(11), 2002-2011.
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  Vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have shown high efficacy, but immunocompromised participants were excluded from controlled clinical trials. In this study, we compared immune responses to the BNT162b2 mRNA Coronavirus Disease 2019 vaccine in patients with solid tumors (n = 53) who were on active cytotoxic anti-cancer therapy to a control cohort of participants without cancer (n = 50). Neutralizing antibodies were detected in 67% of patients with cancer after the first immunization, followed by a threefold increase in median titers after the second dose. Similar patterns were observed for spike protein-specific serum antibodies and T cells, but the magnitude of each of these responses was diminished relative to the control cohort. In most patients with cancer, we detected spike receptor-binding domain and other S1-specific memory B cell subsets as potential predictors of anamnestic responses to additional immunizations. We therefore initiated a phase 1 trial for 20 cancer cohort participants of a third vaccine dose of BNT162b2 ( NCT04936997 ); primary outcomes were immune responses, with a secondary outcome of safety. At 1 week after a third immunization, 16 participants demonstrated a median threefold increase in neutralizing antibody responses, but no improvement was observed in T cell responses. Adverse events were mild. These results suggest that a third dose of BNT162b2 is safe, improves humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and could be immunologically beneficial for patients with cancer on active chemotherapy.
• Vij, P., Hsieh, C. C., Chen, D., Elquza, E., Scott, A., & Nfonsam, V. N. (2019). Racial Disparities in the Incidence of Colon Cancer in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology.
• Wang, Z., Little, N., Chen, J., Lambesis, K. T., Le, K. T., Han, W., Scott, A. J., & Lu, J. (2021). Immunogenic camptothesome nanovesicles comprising sphingomyelin-derived camptothecin bilayers for safe and synergistic cancer immunochemotherapy. Nature nanotechnology, 16(10), 1130-1140.
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  Despite the enormous therapeutic potential of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), it benefits only a small subset of patients. Some chemotherapeutics can switch 'immune-cold' tumours to 'immune-hot' to synergize with ICB. However, safe and universal therapeutic platforms implementing such immune effects remain scarce. We demonstrate that sphingomyelin-derived camptothecin nanovesicles (camptothesomes) elicit potent granzyme-B- and perforin-mediated cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses, potentiating PD-L1/PD-1 co-blockade to eradicate subcutaneous MC38 adenocarcinoma with developed memory immunity. In addition, camptothesomes improve the pharmacokinetics and lactone stability of camptothecin, avoid systemic toxicities, penetrate deeply into the tumour and outperform the antitumour efficacy of Onivyde. Camptothesome co-load the indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase inhibitor indoximod into its interior using the lipid-bilayer-crossing capability of the immunogenic cell death inducer doxorubicin, eliminating clinically relevant advanced orthotopic CT26-Luc tumours and late-stage B16-F10-Luc2 melanoma, and achieving complete metastasis remission when combined with ICB and folate targeting. The sphingomyelin-derived nanotherapeutic platform and doxorubicin-enabled transmembrane transporting technology are generalizable to various therapeutics, paving the way for transformation of the cancer immunochemotherapy paradigm.
• Dasari, A., Morris, V. K., Allegra, C. J., Atreya, C., Benson, A. B., Boland, P., Chung, K., Copur, M. S., Corcoran, R. B., Deming, D. A., Dwyer, A., Diehn, M., Eng, C., George, T. J., Gollub, M. J., Goodwin, R. A., Hamilton, S. R., Hechtman, J. F., Hochster, H., , Hong, T. S., et al. (2020). ctDNA applications and integration in colorectal cancer: an NCI Colon and Rectal-Anal Task Forces whitepaper. Nature reviews. Clinical oncology, 17(12), 757-770.
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  An increasing number of studies are describing potential uses of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in the care of patients with colorectal cancer. Owing to this rapidly developing area of research, the Colon and Rectal-Anal Task Forces of the United States National Cancer Institute convened a panel of multidisciplinary experts to summarize current data on the utility of ctDNA in the management of colorectal cancer and to provide guidance in promoting the efficient development and integration of this technology into clinical care. The panel focused on four key areas in which ctDNA has the potential to change clinical practice, including the detection of minimal residual disease, the management of patients with rectal cancer, monitoring responses to therapy, and tracking clonal dynamics in response to targeted therapies and other systemic treatments. The panel also provides general guidelines with relevance for ctDNA-related research efforts, irrespective of indication.
• Ewongwo, A., Hamidi, M., Alattar, Z., Ayotunde, O. P., Tiwari, H. A., Elquza, E., Scott, A., Hanna, K., & Nfonsam, V. (2020). Contributing factors and short-term surgical outcomes of patients with early-onset rectal cancer. American journal of surgery, 219(4), 578-582.
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  The aim of this study was to evaluate patient factors that contribute to increased incidence of early onset rectal cancer and analyze the short-term surgical outcomes of patients undergoing surgery.
• Futscher, B. W., Scott, A. J., Shroff, R. T., Elquza, E., Gavini, H., Babiker, H. M., Wertheim, B. C., Gavini, H., Vrba, L., Munugala, N., Shroff, R. T., Hammad, H., Vrba, L., Scott, A. J., Oshiro, M., Roe, D. J., Pennington, D., Wertheim, B., Oshiro, M. M., , Roe, D., et al. (2020). Detection of pancreatic cancer using a novel blood-based DNA methylation signature.. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 38(15_suppl), e15546-e15546. doi:10.1200/jco.2020.38.15_suppl.e15546
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  e15546Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a high mortality malignancy typically found when curative surgery is not an option. Liquid biopsies are a minimally invasive option that may allow earlie...
• Holokai, L., Chakrabarti, J., Lundy, J., Croagh, D., Adhikary, P., Richards, S. S., Woodson, C., Steele, N., Kuester, R., Scott, A., Khreiss, M., Frankel, T., Merchant, J., Jenkins, B. J., Wang, J., Shroff, R. T., Ahmad, S. A., & Zavros, Y. (2020). Murine- and Human-Derived Autologous Organoid/Immune Cell Co-Cultures as Pre-Clinical Models of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Cancers, 12(12).
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  : Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has the lowest five-year survival rate of all cancers in the United States. Programmed death 1 receptor (PD-1)-programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint inhibition has been unsuccessful in clinical trials. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are known to block anti-tumor CD8+ T cell immune responses in various cancers including pancreas. This has led us to our objective that was to develop a clinically relevant in vitro organoid model to specifically target mechanisms that deplete MDSCs as a therapeutic strategy for PDAC. : Murine and human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) autologous organoid/immune cell co-cultures were used to test whether PDAC can be effectively treated with combinatorial therapy involving PD-1 inhibition and MDSC depletion. : Murine in vivo orthotopic and in vitro organoid/immune cell co-culture models demonstrated that polymorphonuclear (PMN)-MDSCs promoted tumor growth and suppressed cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) proliferation, leading to diminished efficacy of checkpoint inhibition. Mouse- and human-derived organoid/immune cell co-cultures revealed that PD-L1-expressing organoids were unresponsive to nivolumab in vitro in the presence of PMN-MDSCs. Depletion of arginase 1-expressing PMN-MDSCs within these co-cultures rendered the organoids susceptible to anti-PD-1/PD-L1-induced cancer cell death. : Here we use mouse- and human-derived autologous pancreatic cancer organoid/immune cell co-cultures to demonstrate that elevated infiltration of polymorphonuclear (PMN)-MDSCs within the PDAC tumor microenvironment inhibit T cell effector function, regardless of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition. We present a pre-clinical model that may predict the efficacy of targeted therapies to improve the outcome of patients with this aggressive and otherwise unpredictable malignancy.
• Keating, K., Zhou, H., Scott, A., Robert-tissot, C., Patel, M. R., Mody, K., Meehan, R. S., Keating, K. N., Julian, R. A., Gutierrez, M., Gainor, J. F., Frederick, J., Cohen, P. S., Clarke, J. M., Cho, D., Burris, H. A., & Bauman, J. E. (2020). 798 Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of mRNA-4157 in combination with pembrolizumab in subjects with unresectable solid tumors (KEYNOTE-603): an update. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 8. doi:10.1136/jitc-2020-sitc2020.0798
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  Background T-cell targeting of mutation-derived epitopes (neoantigens) has shown to drive anti-tumor responses. Immunizing patients against such neoantigens in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) may elicit greater anti-tumor responses than CPI alone. Mutations are rarely shared between patients, thus requiring a personalized approach to vaccine design. mRNA-4157 is a lipid encapsulated mRNA based personalized cancer vaccine encoding neoantigens selected using a proprietary algorithm to induce neoantigen specific T cells and associated anti-tumor responses. This report includes updates from the mRNA-4157 Phase1(P1) study. The initial data was presented at ASCO2019.1 Methods This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of mRNA-4157 as monotherapy in patients with resected solid tumors (Part A) and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced/metastatic solid tumors (Parts B). The selected solid tumors in Part A-B includes melanoma, bladder carcinoma, HPV-negative (HPV-neg) HNSCC, NSCLC, SCLC, MSI-High (MSI-h), or TMB-High cancers. Expansion cohorts includes patients with CPI-naive MSS-CRC and HPV-neg HNSCC (Part C) and with resected melanoma (Part D). Patients receive up to 9 cycles (Q3W) of mRNA-4157 by intramuscular injection at up to 1 mg alone (Part A) or in combination with pembrolizumab (200 mg IV Q3W, Parts B-D). Pembrolizumab is administered for two cycles before the first dose of mRNA-4157 and may continue after 9 cycles of combination. Endpoints include safety, tolerability, efficacy and biomarker assessments. Results 79 patients received mRNA-4157; 16 as monotherapy and 63 in combination with pembrolizumab. Only low grade and reversible treatment related AEs were reported. 14/16 Part A patients (3 melanoma, 11 NSCLC, 2 MSI-h CRC) remained disease free on study. 28 patients in Parts B (6 bladder, 2 HNSCC, 3 melanoma, 10 NSCLC, 2 SCLC, 4 MSI-h tumor, 1 TMB-h tumor), 27 patients in Part C (10 HNSCC and 17 MSS-CRC), and 8 patients with resected melanoma (Part D) received combination. 3 CR (1 HNSCC, 1 MSI-h CRC and 1 MSI-h prostate), and 8 PR (1 bladder, 4 HNSCC, 2 SCLC and 1 MSI-h endometrial) were observed with combination. Of 10 CPI-naive HPV-neg HNSCC patients, the response rate was 50% (1CR, 4PR, 4SD) mPFS 9.8months, which compared favorably to published rates of ~14.6% mPFS 2.0months for pembrolizumab monotherapy.2 3 Biomarker assessments including immune gene expression profiling will be presented. Conclusions mRNA-4157 has an acceptable safety profile along with observed clinical responses in combination with pembrolizumab. Preliminary efficacy analysis from CPI-naive relapsed/refractory HPV-neg HNSCC cohort suggests activity of this combination. Study is ongoing. Trial Registration NCT03313778 Ethics Approval The study was approved by each participating sites’ local IRB. References Burris H, et al. A phase I multicenter study to assess the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of mRNA-4157 alone in patients with resected solid tumors and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with unresectable solid tumors. Journal of Clinical Oncology20 May 2019;37(15):2523-2523. Seiwert T, et al. Safety and clinical activity of pembrolizumab for treatment of recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (KEYNOTE-012): an open-label, multicentre, phase 1b trial. Lancet Oncol 2016;17:956–65. Cohen E, et al. Pembrolizumab versus methotrexate, docetaxel, or cetuximab for recurrent or metastatic head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (KEYNOTE-040): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 study. Lancet 2019;393:10167:156-16.
• Menghani, S. V., Barbosa, A., Sagerman, P., Beal, M. W., & Scott, A. (2020). Gastric Cardia Adenocarcinoma with Metastasis to the Scalp: A Case Report. Cureus, 12(1), e6781.
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  Cutaneous metastasis is a rare manifestation of advanced gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Gastric adenocarcinoma rarely presents with cutaneous metastasis, as cutaneous manifestations occur in less than 1% of upper GI tract malignancies. Here, we present the case of a patient with advanced gastric cardia adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the right occipital region of the scalp. Following shave biopsy, the immunohistochemistry (IHC) and molecular profile of the scalp lesion were analyzed, both of which confirmed metastasis and guided the treatment approach. The lesion demonstrated programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), an immune checkpoint protein, positivity by IHC, which led to the recommendation for treatment with immunotherapy as per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. Clinicians should conduct dermatologic examinations in patients with a history of gastric cancer or who are currently undergoing chemotherapy for gastric cancer in order to monitor for disease progression or metastatic lesions. The aim of this report is to increase awareness of scalp metastasis as an indicator of advanced internal visceral carcinoma for earlier diagnosis and improved management of the condition.
• Recio-Boiles, A., Vondrak, J., Veeravelli, S., Mancuso, J. J., Saboda, K., Roe, D. J., Riaz, I. B., Scott, A. J., Elquza, E., McBride, A., & Babiker, H. M. (2020). Analyzing outcomes of neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment for borderline-resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma in the perioperative period at an academic institution. Annals of pancreatic cancer, 3.
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  Only 15-20% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients are upfront surgical candidates at presentation, and for this cohort of patients, the 5-year survival is a mere 20% despite adjuvant therapy. Previous data indicate that in clinical practice most of these cases are "borderline-resectable," and there is currently no mature data on perioperative treatment.
• Scott, A. (2020). Murine- and Human-Derived Autologous Organoid/Immune Cell Co-Cultures as Pre-Clinical Models of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Cancers.
• Scott, A. J., Babiker, H. B., Lenz, H., Rahimian, S., & Overman, M. J. (2020). Abstract CT265: A phase 2 multicenter study to evaluate the efficacy of tilsotolimod in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab for treatment of microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer (ILLUMINATE-206). Cancer Research, 80(16_Supplement), CT265-CT265. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.am2020-ct265
• Scott, A. J., Omesiete, P. N., Nfonsam, V. N., Nfonsam, L. E., Jecius, H. C., Jandova, J., Janda, J., & Elquza, E. (2020). Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) promotes cell proliferation in early-onset colon cancer tumorigenesis.. Surgical endoscopy, 34(9), 3992-3998. doi:10.1007/s00464-019-07185-z
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  Colon cancer (CC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the USA. While the overall incidence is declining, it is rising alarmingly in young patients (EOCC). CC in young patients tends to be more aggressive and often diagnosed at more advanced stages and portend poorer prognosis. Our recently published data showed that EOCC is a distinct disease with unique molecular features compared to late-onset CC (LOCC). The Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein (COMP) was shown to be significantly upregulated in EOCC and correlated with poor survival. However, the role of COMP in CC tumorigenesis, especially in young patients, is not well understood. Thus, the aim of this study was to elucidate the role of COMP in CC tumorigenesis by modulating COMP levels in vitro and test how it affects proliferation. Then, patient samples were evaluated by testing the levels of proliferation marker Ki67. In addition, this study investigates whether higher transcriptional mRNA levels of COMP seen in more aggressive early-onset CC correlate with protein levels compared to late-onset CC..COMP mRNA levels in fresh frozen colon tumors (young: n = 5; old: n = 5) were assessed by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Additionally, CC cell lines were profiled for COMP expression to choose an in vitro model to study the role of COMP in CC tumorigenesis. HT-29 (low COMP expression) and CaCo-2 (high COMP expression) cells were used for in vitro proliferation studies. Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis was conducted to assess COMP and Ki67 protein levels in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) colon tumors..Significantly higher COMP expression levels were observed in fresh frozen EOCC compared to LOCC tumors. This observation confirmed our previously reported results from NanoString gene expression assay using FFPE samples. Cell proliferation was significantly increased in HT-29 and CaCo-2 cells upon treatment with human recombinant COMP protein after 48 and 72 h (P < 0.05). This increase was more profound in HT-29 cells. Staining for COMP and Ki67 revealed high COMP protein levels in EOCC compared to LOCC patients..COMP mRNA and protein levels are significantly higher in EOCC patients. Higher COMP levels correlate with increased proliferation suggesting a role in CC tumorigenesis.
• Scott, A., Rahimian, S., Overman, M. J., Lenz, H., & Babiker, H. B. (2020). Abstract CT265: A phase 2 multicenter study to evaluate the efficacy of tilsotolimod in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab for treatment of microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer (ILLUMINATE-206). Cancer Research, 80. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.am2020-ct265
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  The checkpoint inhibitors pembrolizumab, nivolumab as monotherapy, and nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab are approved in the US for treatment of patients with previously treated microsatellite instability-high (MSI-high) or mismatch repair-deficient metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). However, checkpoint inhibitors are not currently approved for treatment of microsatellite-stable (MSS) CRC, and patients do not appear likely to respond to these regimens. Tilsotolimod, an investigational Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist, stimulates the innate and adaptive immune systems. In an ongoing phase 1/2 clinical study in patients with advanced melanoma who progressed on or after anti-PD-1 therapy (NCT02644967), intratumoral tilsotolimod in combination with ipilimumab was generally well-tolerated at the recommended phase 2 dose, with durable responses in some patients. Biopsies revealed localized activation of the Type-I interferon pathway, maturation of dendritic cells, and induction of MHC class I antigen presentation. Furthermore, dominant T cell clones are shared between injected and distant, non-injected lesions in responding patients.1 ILLUMINATE-206 (NCT03865082) is a phase 2 multicenter, open-label study of intratumoral tilsotolimod 8 mg in combination with ipilimumab and nivolumab at specified doses and schedules for all 3 agents. ILLUMINATE-206 will comprise multiple cohorts, including patients with immunotherapy-naive, MSS-CRC who have received at least 2 prior regimens of therapy for advanced or metastatic disease including fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based regimens. Eligible patients are ≥18 years with histologically-confirmed CRC, confirmed MSS status, measurable lesion(s) accessible for injection and RECIST assessment, ECOG performance status 0-1, life expectancy ≥4 months, adequate organ function, no prior TLR or immuno-oncology treatment, and no unstable CNS disease. The primary endpoint is objective response rate based on RECIST v1.1 and duration of response. Safety is a secondary endpoint, and paired blood or biopsy samples may be evaluated for tumor genetics, immune infiltrates, and gene expression. Additional patients may be enrolled in Part 1 after review of the data from the initial safety run-in of 10 patients. Based on data from Part 1, the cohort may be expanded during Part 2. Reference Diab A, et al. Ann Oncol 2018;29(suppl_8):Abstract 1245PD. Citation Format: Hani B. Babiker, Heinz-Josef Lenz, Aaron J. Scott, Shah Rahimian, Michael J. Overman. A phase 2 multicenter study to evaluate the efficacy of tilsotolimod in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab for treatment of microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer (ILLUMINATE-206) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr CT265.
• Shroff, R. T., & Scott, A. J. (2020). Moving the Needle Forward With Locoregional Treatment in Unresectable Cholangiocarcinoma—The Jury Is Still Out. JAMA Oncology, 6(1), 29. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.3691
• Abraham, I., Scott, A. J., Patel, H., Mcbride, A., Malangone, S., Hollings, J., Elquza, E., Eckstrom, J., Bartels, T., & Abraham, I. (2019). A single-arm, retrospective analysis of the incidence of febrile neutropenia using same-day versus next-day pegfilgrastim in patients with gastrointestinal cancers treated with FOLFOX or FOLFIRI.. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 27(3), 873-878. doi:10.1007/s00520-018-4373-0
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  Practice patterns of same-day versus next-day pegfilgrastim vary in numerous practice settings across the country. Current utilization with same-day pegfilgrastim reduced overall visits and reduced treatment time for chemotherapy administration..To assess the efficacy and safety of same-day versus next-day pegfilgrastim in patients with colorectal cancer..Patient data was extracted through electronic health records (EHR) search of ICD-9 codes that matched patients with CRC and treated with FOLFOX or FOLFIRI from November 2013 to January 2016. The incidence rates of primary and secondary endpoints were estimated for patients who received either FOLFOX or FOLFIRI and same-day pegfilgrastim with 2-sided 95% confidence intervals. Fisher's exact test for 2 × 2 contingency tables was used to compare the incidence of primary and secondary endpoints between the two study groups performed at the α = 0.05 significance level. A study by Hecht et al. served as a historical control for next-day pegfilgrastim..A total of 109 out of an initial 330 patients with appropriate ICD-9 criteria were eligible for study inclusion. The primary endpoint of incidence of FN recorded over 4 chemotherapy cycles with either FOLFOX6 or FOLFIRI occurred in 3.7% of patients (95% CI, 1.1-9.4%). Secondary endpoints also occurred with a relatively low incidence: 13 patients developed grades 3/4 neutropenia (11.9%; 95% CI, 7.0-19.5%); 11 patients required dose reductions because of neutropenia or FN (10.1%; 95% CI, 5.6-17.3%); and 5 patients were hospitalized due to neutropenia or FN (4.6%; 1.7-10.6%). There were 4 reported events of FN (3.2%; 95% CI, 1.0-8.3%) for those who received next-day pegfilgrastim compared to 11 events in the placebo group (9.4%; 95% CI, 5.1-16.4%). The incidence of dose delays or dose reductions due to neutropenia or FN were 5 (4.1%, 95% CI, 1.5-9.4%) in the next-day pegfilgrastim group versus 26 (22.1%, 95% CI, 15.5-30.4%) in the placebo group..The study was retrospective in design and utilized a historical control for the comparator..Our study results suggest that same-day pegfilgrastim administration may be a safe and effective alternative to 24-h post-chemotherapy administration in patients with esophageal, gastric, appendiceal, or colorectal cancer undergoing treatment with FOLFOX or FOLFIRI.
• Catenacci, D. V., Tesfaye, A., Tejani, M., Cheung, E., Eisenberg, P., Scott, A. J., Eng, C., Hnatyszyn, J., Marina, N., Powers, J., & Wainberg, Z. (2019). Bemarituzumab with modified FOLFOX6 for advanced FGFR2-positive gastroesophageal cancer: FIGHT Phase III study design. Future oncology (London, England), 15(18), 2073-2082.
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  Bemarituzumab is an afucosylated monoclonal antibody against FGFR2b (a FGF receptor) with demonstrated monotherapy clinical activity in patients with late-line gastric cancer whose tumors overexpress FGFR2b (NCT02318329). We describe the rationale and design of the FIGHT trial (NCT03343301), a global, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III study evaluating the role of bemarituzumab in patients with previously untreated, FGFR2b-overexpressing advanced gastroesophageal cancer. Patients are randomized in a blinded fashion to the combination of mFOLFOX6 and bemarituzumab or mFOLFOX6 and placebo. Eligible patients are selected based on the presence of either FGFR2b protein overexpression determined by immunohistochemistry or gene amplification determined by circulating tumor DNA. The primary end point is overall survival, and secondary end points include progression-free survival, objective response rate and safety.
• Choi, B., McBride, A., & Scott, A. J. (2019). Treatment with pembrolizumab after hypersensitivity reaction to nivolumab in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, 76(21), 1749-1752.
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  The options for immunotherapy treatment are limited for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. In this case study, we report a case of successful alternation of one PD-1 inhibitor for another after a hypersensitivity reaction.
• Nfonsam, V. N., Jecius, H., Chen, D., Omesiete, P. N., Ewongwo, A. N., Elquza, E., Scott, A. J., & Jandova, J. (2019). Increasing Incidence of Colon Cancer in the Young: Assessing the Tumor Biology. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 229(1), 79-90.
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  The overall incidence of colon cancer (CC) is decreasing, but with increasing early-onset colon cancer (EOCC < 50 years old). Our recent study revealed unique overexpression of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) in EOCC and its association with aggressiveness. The aim of this study was to assess CC biology, especially in the young, by evaluating the role of COMP in CC carcinogenesis and cancer progression, detecting COMP in serum and its association with disease stage.
• Recio-Boiles, A., Hammad, H., Howell, K., Kalb, B. T., Nfonsam, V. N., Scott, A. J., Babiker, H. M., & Elquza, E. (2019). Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer Evaluation by Magnetic Resonance Imaging after Neoadjuvant Therapy on Decision Making: Cancer Center Experience and Literature Review. Journal of gastrointestinal cancer.
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  An accurate clinical and radiological staging is the pyramid of treatment decisions in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Guidelines recommended neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) followed by surgical resection for fit patients with LARC. Determining the aggressiveness of intervention while avoiding needless morbidity according to patient risk remains an unmet pre-operative decision-making need. With newer magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques and image acquisition available at our Cancer Center, we seek to retrospectively review the correlation between pre- and post-CRT MRI response to the surgical pathological stage in order to aide multidisciplinary team decision making.
• Recio-Boiles, A., Veeravelli, S., Vondrak, J., Babiker, H. M., Scott, A. J., Shroff, R. T., Patel, H., Elquza, E., & McBride, A. (2019). Evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of direct oral anticoagulants and low molecular weight heparin in gastrointestinal cancer-associated venous thromboembolism. World journal of gastrointestinal oncology, 11(10), 866-876.
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  Gastrointestinal cancer (GICA) is associated with a higher incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared to other solid tumors, moreover, recurrent VTE and major bleeding (MB) complications during anticoagulation treatment have an associated increase rate. GICA-VTE remains a challenging clinical scenario with MB concerns for utilization of direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC), especially with active cancer therapies.
• Scott, A. J., & Shroff, R. T. (2019). Moving the Needle Forward With Locoregional Treatment in Unresectable Cholangiocarcinoma-The Jury Is Still Out. JAMA oncology.
• Scott, A. J., Catenacci, D. V., Tesfaye, A., Tejani, M., Cheung, E., Eisenberg, P., Eng, C., Hnatyszyn, J., Marina, N., Powers, J., & Wainberg, Z. (2019). Bemarituzumab with modified FOLFOX6 for advanced FGFR2-positive gastroesophageal cancer: FIGHT Phase III study design. Future Oncology, 15(18), 2073-2082. doi:10.2217/fon-2019-0141
• Scott, A. J., Choi, B., & McBride, A. (2019). Treatment with pembrolizumab after hypersensitivity reaction to nivolumab in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 76(21), 1749-1752. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxz189
• Scott, A. J., Tejani, M. A., Cheung, E., Eisenberg, P. D., Tesfaye, A. A., Dreiling, L., Eng, C., Marina, N., Mitra, S., Xiang, H., Yan, X., & Catenacci, D. V. (2019). Phase I results from the phase 1/3 FIGHT study evaluating bemarituzumab and mFOLFOX6 in advanced gastric/GEJ cancer (GC).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 37(4_suppl), 91-91. doi:10.1200/jco.2019.37.4_suppl.91
• Scott, A., Quake, S. R., Phillips, T., Ning, Y., Mccarthy, E., Levy, S., Ku, C., Guler, G., Ellison, C. K., Collin, F., Chau, K., & Ashworth, A. (2019). Abstract 1372: Detection of early stage pancreatic cancer using 5–hydroxymethylcytosine signatures in circulating cell free DNA. Cancer Research. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.sabcs18-1372
• Vondrak, J., Veeravelli, S., Scott, A. J., Mcbride, A., Elquza, E., Boiles, A. R., & Babiker, H. M. (2019). An analysis of the safety and efficacy of rivaroxaban (Riv) and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in gastrointestinal cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (GICA-VTE).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 37(4_suppl), 374-374. doi:10.1200/jco.2019.37.4_suppl.374
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  374Background: CAVTE has a significant morbidity and mortality burden, with higher incidence and bleeding complications of anticoagulation (AC) in GICA. Current guidelines prefer LMWH, and recently...
• Eckstrom, J., Bartels, T., Abraham, I., Patel, H., Elquza, E., Scott, A. J., Malangone, S., Hollings, J., & McBride, A. (2018). A single-arm, retrospective analysis of the incidence of febrile neutropenia using same-day versus next-day pegfilgrastim in patients with gastrointestinal cancers treated with FOLFOX or FOLFIRI. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer.
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  Practice patterns of same-day versus next-day pegfilgrastim vary in numerous practice settings across the country. Current utilization with same-day pegfilgrastim reduced overall visits and reduced treatment time for chemotherapy administration.
• Howe, C. L., Elliott, C. M., Zahid, U., Scott, A. J., Riaz, I. B., Mahadevan, D., Howe, C. L., Elquza, E., Elliott, C. M., Boiles, A. R., Babiker, H. M., & Acharya, U. H. (2018). Analyzing the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA): A systematic review and meta-analysis.. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 36(4_suppl), 512-512. doi:10.1200/jco.2018.36.4_suppl.512
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  512Background: The tumor microenvironment in PDA is heterogeneous and immunosuppressive given the presence of regulatory T cells and exhausted effector T cells. Despite the upsurge of effective immunotherapeutic agents (IA) in other tumor types, the role in PDA remains unknown. We conducted a meta-analysis of IA in PDA. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Elsevier/Embase, Wiley/Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrials.gov. Articles were selected per the following criteria: (1) Study participants had a diagnosis of PDA; (2) An IA was used in the trial. Titles, abstracts and full text articles were reviewed by 2 independent reviewers; disagreements were resolved by a third. Data extraction and analysis were performed by 3 independent reviewers. Descriptive analysis, mean, median, confidence interval and forest plots were used for statistical analysis. Results: We found 20,792 studies through the database, 16,105 remained after duplicates were removed and 15,889 were excluded due to ...
• Liau, J., Scott, A. J., Saboda, K., Mahadevan, D., Liu, A. J., Liau, J., Elquza, E., Boiles, A. R., & Babiker, H. M. (2018). Correlative analysis of circulating tumor (ct) DNA and tumor mutational analysis (TMA) in patients with advanced pancreatobilliary malignancies (PBM).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 36(4_suppl), 235-235. doi:10.1200/jco.2018.36.4_suppl.235
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  235Background: Tumor archival tissue (TT) MA of PBM is challenging due to insufficient specimen acquired from fine needle aspirations. This is a barrier to analyzing specimens for targeted therapy ...
• Schreiber, A., Scott, A. J., Arcaroli, J. J., Bagby, S. M., Yahn, R., Huber, K. M., Serkova, N. J., Nguyen, A., Kim, J., Thorburn, A., Vogel, J., Quackenbush, K. S., Capasso, A., Blatchford, P., Klauck, P. J., Pitts, T. M., Eckhardt, S. G., & Messersmith, W. A. (2018). Cabozantinib Exhibits Potent Antitumor Activity in Colorectal Cancer Patient-Derived Tumor Xenograft Models via Autophagy and Signaling Mechanisms. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 17(10), 2112-2122. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.mct-17-0131
• Scott, A. J., Arcaroli, J. J., Bagby, S. M., Yahn, R., Huber, K. M., Serkova, N. J., Nguyen, A., Kim, J., Thorburn, A., Vogel, J., Quackenbush, K. S., Capasso, A., Schreiber, A., Blatchford, P., Klauck, P. J., Pitts, T. M., Eckhardt, S. G., & Messersmith, W. A. (2018). Cabozantinib Exhibits Potent Antitumor Activity in Colorectal Cancer Patient-Derived Tumor Xenograft Models via Autophagy and Signaling Mechanisms. Molecular cancer therapeutics, 17(10), 2112-2122.
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  Antiangiogenic therapy used in treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) inevitably succumbs to treatment resistance. Upregulation of MET may play an essential role to acquired anti-VEGF resistance. We previously reported that cabozantinib (XL184), an inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) including MET, AXL, and VEGFR2, had potent antitumor effects in mCRC patient-derived tumor explant models. In this study, we examined the mechanisms of cabozantinib sensitivity, using regorafenib as a control. The tumor growth inhibition index (TGII) was used to compare treatment effects of cabozantinib 30 mg/kg daily versus regorafenib 10 mg/kg daily for a maximum of 28 days in 10 PDX mouse models. angiogenesis and glucose uptake were assessed using dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI and [F]-FDG-PET imaging, respectively. RNA-Seq, RTK assay, and immunoblotting analysis were used to evaluate gene pathway regulation and Analysis of TGII demonstrated significant antitumor effects with cabozantinib compared with regorafenib (average TGII 3.202 vs. 48.48, respectively; = 0.007). Cabozantinib significantly reduced vascularity and glucose uptake compared with baseline. Gene pathway analysis showed that cabozantinib significantly decreased protein activity involved in glycolysis and upregulated proteins involved in autophagy compared with control, whereas regorafenib did not. The combination of two separate antiautophagy agents, SBI-0206965 and chloroquine, plus cabozantinib increased apoptosis Cabozantinib demonstrated significant antitumor activity, reduction in tumor vascularity, increased autophagy, and altered cell metabolism compared with regorafenib. Our findings support further evaluation of cabozantinib and combinational approaches targeting autophagy in colorectal cancer. .
• Scott, A. J., Catenacci, D. V., Enzinger, P. C., Tesfaye, A. A., Tejani, M. A., Powers, J., Zhang, C., Marina, N., Eng, C., Cheung, E., & Eisenberg, P. D. (2018). FIGHT: A phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study evaluating (bemarituzumab) FPA144 and modified FOLFOX6 (mFOLFOX6) in patients with previously untreated advanced gastric and gastroesophageal cancer with a dose finding phase 1 lead-in.. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 36(15_suppl), TPS4135-TPS4135. doi:10.1200/jco.2018.36.15_suppl.tps4135
• Scott, A. J., Mcbride, A., Malangone, S., Elquza, E., Boiles, A. R., & Babiker, H. M. (2018). An analysis of the efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in gastrointestinal cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (GI-CAVTE).. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 36(4_suppl), 505-505. doi:10.1200/jco.2018.36.4_suppl.505
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  505Background: Two major trials and meta-analysis of patients (pts) with active cancer and VTE suggests that apixaban (A) and rivaroxaban (R) showed similar efficacy to enoxaparin and warfarin whil...
• Gaither, J., Scott, A. J., Minckler, M. R., Conser, E., Figueroa, J. J., & Amini, R. (2017). The Semantics of Priapism and the First Sign of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Case Reports in Emergency Medicine, 2017, 1-3. doi:10.1155/2017/2656203
• Gastelum, Z. N., Biggs, D. M., & Scott, A. (2017). Multiple Myeloma Presenting as Acute Renal Failure in the Absence of Other Characteristic Features. Cureus, 9(9), e1703.
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  This case report describes a 54-year-old, asymptomatic man who presented with hyperkalemia on routine lab testing who was later found to have acute renal failure, unresponsive to fluid resuscitation, with minimal improvement after hemodialysis. After a comprehensive evaluation ruled out common causes of acute renal failure, the patient underwent testing with a bone survey, urine protein electrophoresis (UPEP), serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP), and immunoelectrophoresis for suspected plasma cell dyscrasia and received plasmapheresis for hyperviscosity syndrome and nephrotoxicity, which resulted in improved renal function. Lab results showed monoclonal gammopathy, elevated serum free light chains, and Bence Jones protein in the urine with a follow-up bone marrow biopsy indicating plasma cell dyscrasia. The patient received a diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM) and was started on chemotherapy and immunosuppression. In patients presenting with acute renal failure with an evaluation ruling out prerenal and postrenal causes, multiple myeloma should be considered.
• Minckler, M. R., Conser, E., Figueroa, J. J., Scott, A. J., Gaither, J., & Amini, R. (2017). The Semantics of Priapism and the First Sign of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Case reports in emergency medicine, 2017, 2656203.
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  Priapism is defined as an erection that persists beyond four hours, lasting beyond or unrelated to sexual stimulation (Salonia et al., 2014). Because the risk of ischemic damage and impotence is high with priapism (35%), management guidelines are directed towards rapid treatment of this condition (Salonia et al., 2014). This report describes the rare case of an 18-year-old male who presented to the Emergency Department (ED) three times with recurrent and worsening episodes of sustained penile erections. On the patient's third visit, he presented with priapism of greater than six-hour duration that was found to be the result of chronic myeloid leukemia. Clinician awareness of the diagnostic semantics and differential diagnosis surrounding priapism is pivotal in its urgent management.
• Scott, A. J., Song, E. K., Bagby, S., Purkey, A., McCarter, M., Gajdos, C., Quackenbush, K. S., Cross, B., Pitts, T. M., Tan, A. C., Eckhardt, S. G., Fenton, H., Arcaroli, J., & Messersmith, W. A. (2017). Evaluation of the efficacy of dasatinib, a Src/Abl inhibitor, in colorectal cancer cell lines and explant mouse model. PloS one, 12(11), e0187173.
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  Dysregulation of the Src pathway has been shown to be important at various stages of cancer. Dasatinib is a potent Src/Abl inhibitor and has demonstrated to have anti-proliferative and anti-invasive activity in many preclinical models. The objective of this study was to determine the anti-tumor activity of dasatinib using in vitro and in vivo preclinical colorectal (CRC) models.
• Vondrak, J., Scott, A., Mcbride, A., Elquza, E., Boiles, A. R., Babiker, H. M., & Abbate, K. J. (2017). Clinical Risk Factors Associated with Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism and Major Bleeding in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients Receiving Doacs for Secondary Thromboprophylaxis. Blood, 130, 4918-4918. doi:10.1182/blood.v130.suppl_1.4918.4918
• Yahn, R., Serkova, N. J., Scott, A. J., Messersmith, W. A., Huber, K. M., Bagby, S. M., & Arcaroli, J. J. (2016). Abstract 1019: Investigation of cabozantinib, a MET and VEGFR2 inhibitor, on tumor metabolism and efficacy in a colorectal cancer patient-derived tumor explant model. Cancer Research, 76, 1019-1019. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.am2016-1019
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  Background: Anti-angiogenic therapy is commonly used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Although patients derive some clinical benefit, treatment resistance inevitably occurs. Upregulation of MET in response to anti-VEGF therapy may play an essential role in treatment resistance. Based on this premise, we investigated cabozantinib, an inhibitor of kinases including MET and VEGFR2, in mCRC patient-derived tumor explant (PDTX) models. Based on initial observations of anti-tumor activity, we hypothesized that cabozantinib may alter tumor metabolism concurrent with its antitumor effects, and compared its efficacy with regorafenib in our models. Material and Methods: Ten CRC PDTX models were treated with cabozantinib (30 mg/kg daily) or regorafenib (10 mg/kg daily) and treatment responses were determined after 28 days. The tumor growth inhibition index (TGII) was calculated to compare treatment effects on tumor growth between cabozantinib and regorafenib. RNA Seq was used to assess gene expression and pathways modulated by cabozantinib treatment. Proteins involved in metabolism and autophagy were evaluated by immunoblotting at day 3, 7 and 28. The effects of cabozantinib on tumor glucose metabolism were investigated by 18FDG-PET at baseline, 7 and 28 days following treatment. Lastly, combination effects of cabozantinib and an ULK1 inhibitor, an autophagy inhibitor, were evaluated on the HCT116 cell line by a clonogenic assay. Results: Cabozantinib (average TGII: 3.202) demonstrated antitumor effects among all 10 CRC explants that compared favorably to regorafenib (average TGII: 48.48). In addition, cabozantinib significantly reduced glucose uptake measured by 18FDG-PET at days 7 and 28. A comprehensive pathway analysis using RNA Seq post-cabozantinib treatment revealed a significant reduction in pyruvate metabolism and the TCA cycle in the most sensitive tumors. Protein analyses showed downregulation of hexokinase 1 and pyruvate dehydrogenase and a marked increase in many components of oxidative phosphorylation and autophagy (LC3 and Beclin) at day 7 and 28 following cabozantinib treatment. The combination of an ULK1 inhibitor and cabozantinib enhanced the activity of cabozantinib in the HCT116 CRC cell line. Conclusions: Cabozantinib showed significant antitumor activity compared to regorafenib in our CRC PDTX models. Alterations in glucose metabolism and autophagy were identified in cabozantinib sensitive tumors, suggesting that a shift in cellular metabolism facilitates the survival of tumor cells following treatment. The combination effect of cabozantinib and an ULK1 inhibitor supports the hypothesis that induction of autophagy may be a mechanism of cabozantinib resistance. These findings support further evaluation of cabozantinib in patients with mCRC. Acknowledgements: Exelixis for providing cabozantinib. Citation Format: Aaron J. Scott, Rachel Yahn, Stacey Bagby, Kendra Huber, Natalie Serkova, Wells Messersmith, John Arcaroli. Investigation of cabozantinib, a MET and VEGFR2 inhibitor, on tumor metabolism and efficacy in a colorectal cancer patient-derived tumor explant model. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1019.
• O'Neil, B. H., Scott, A. J., Ma, W. W., Cohen, S. J., Leichman, L., Aisner, D. L., Menter, A. R., Tejani, M. A., Cho, J. K., Granfortuna, J., Coveler, L., Olowokure, O. O., Baranda, J. C., Cusnir, M., Phillip, P., Boles, J., Nazemzadeh, R., Rarick, M., Cohen, D. J., , Radford, J., et al. (2015). A phase II/III randomized study to compare the efficacy and safety of rigosertib plus gemcitabine versus gemcitabine alone in patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer. Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology, 26(12), 2505.
• Scott, A. J., Lieu, C. H., & Messersmith, W. A. (2016). Therapeutic Approaches to RAS Mutation. Cancer journal (Sudbury, Mass.), 22(3), 165-74.
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  The study of oncogenic RAS mutations has led to crucial discoveries regarding cancer molecular biology and behavior and has been integral in shaping the era of targeted cancer therapy. RAS mutations are one of the most common oncogenic drivers in human cancer, and intense efforts to find a clinically effective inhibitor are ongoing. Despite these efforts, targeting RAS mutations has remained elusive, so much so that some have termed oncogenic RAS mutations as "undruggable." In this review, we will summarize current understanding of RAS biology, explore strategies to inhibit RAS oncoproteins and its downstream effectors, and discuss recently described complexities that have shed new light on this pursuit.
• Scott, A. J., Messersmith, W. A., & Jimeno, A. (2015). Apatinib: a promising oral antiangiogenic agent in the treatment of multiple solid tumors. Drugs of today (Barcelona, Spain : 1998), 51(4), 223-9.
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  Aberrant proangiogenic pathways have long been implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis. Antiangiogenic therapies have shown efficacy in the treatment of a variety of solid tumors including lung, breast, colon, glioblastomas, and other solid tumor types. Apatinib, a small-molecule inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2), is an orally bioavailable agent currently being studied in multiple tumor types. Apatinib has shown a survival benefit in gastric cancer in a phase III trial and non-small cell lung cancer in a phase II trial. With a favorable side effect profile and improved outcomes, apatinib has demonstrated a substantial potential to augment therapeutic options in a variety of tumor types.
• Scott, A., Messersmith, W. A., Jimeno, A., & Davies, S. L. (2014). Panitumumab in the treatment of colon cancer: A biomarker dilemma. Drugs of today (Barcelona, Spain : 1998), 50(10), 679-90.
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  Panitumumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) approved for use in colorectal cancer (CRC). Critical information regarding biomarkers in CRC has been discovered through the investigation of panitumumab treatment. The discovery of anti-EGFR resistance in the setting of Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene (KRAS) and more recently, neuroblastoma RAS viral oncogene (NRAS) mutations in CRC has changed the focus of therapy for metastatic disease to one based on the molecular characteristics of the tumor. This review will give a brief background on panitumumab and its current uses in CRC.
• Scott, A., Leong, S., & Messersmith, W. (2013). A moving target: challenges in treating BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer. Colorectal Cancer, 2(3), 197-204.
• Scott, A., Amaria, R., & Lewis, K. (2011). Adjuvant peg-interferon alfa-2b therapy in stage III melanoma. Expert Review in Dermatology, 6(6), 567-75.

Presentations

• Scott, A. (2024, January/ Winter).

  “Current Landscape for advanced CCA: Frontline space”

  . GI ASCO. San Francisco, CA: ASCO.
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  GI ASCO annual meeting 
• Scott, A. (2022, September/Summ). Preliminary evidence of clinical activity from Phae 1 and 1b trials of the CLK/DYRK inhibitor cirtuvivint (CIRT) in subjects with advanced solid tumors. ESMO Congress. Paris, France: ESMO.
• Scott, A. (2020, June/Spring). A phase 2 multicenter study to evaluate the efficacy of tilsotolimod in combination with nivolumad and ipilumumab for treatment of microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer (ILLUMINATE-206). AACR Virtual Meeting. Vitrual: American Association of Cancer Research.
• Scott, A. (2019, January). Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Updates on Biomarkers and Management. Grand Rounds Lecture Division of Hematology/Oncology.

Poster Presentations

• Scott, A. (2020, October/FALL). A Phase 1, Open-label, multicenter study to assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of mRNA-4157 alone in subjects with resected solid tumors and in combination with Pembrolizumab in subjects with unresectable tumors.. Society of Immunotherapy Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy SymposiumACI.
• Scott, A. (2020, January/Spring). A Phase II trial using cabozantinib treatment in refractory colorectal cancer. ASCO GI MeetingAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology.
• Scott, A. (2020, January/Spring). NRG-G1005 (COBRA): Phase II/III study of circulating tumor DNA as a predictive biomarker in adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II colon cancer. ASCO GIAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology.
• McBride, A., Malangone, S., Recio Boiles, A. R., Scott, A., Babiker, H., & Elquza, E. (2018, January/Spring). An analysis of the efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in gastrointestinal cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (GI-CAVTE).. GI ASCO. San Francisco, CA: ASCO.
• Recio Boiles, A., Babiker, H., Mahadevan, D., Elquza, E., Acharya, U. H., Zahid, U., Recio Boiles, A., Riaz, I. B., Howe, C. L., Zahid, U., Scott, A., Elquza, E., Acharya, U. H., Riaz, I. B., Scott, A., Saboda, K., Howe, C. L., Elliott, C. M., Saboda, K., , Elliott, C. M., et al. (2018, January/ Spring). Analyzing the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA): A systematic review and meta-analysis. GI ASCO. San Francisco, CA: ASCO.
• Saboda, K., Recio Boiles, A. R., Liu, A. J., Scott, A., Liau, J., Babiker, H., Mahadevan, D., & Elquza, E. (2018, January/ Spring). Correlative analysis of circulating tumor (ct) DNA and tumor mutational analysis (TMA) in patients with advanced pancreatobilliary malignancies (PBM). GI ASCO. San Francisco, CA: ASCO.