Expanded RAS and BRAF V600 testing as predictive biomarkers for single agent cetuximab in the randomized phase III CO.17 trial.

Abstract

537 Background: KRAS/NRAS ( RAS) testing of exons 2, 3 and 4 is standard prior to anti-EGFR treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer and many consider BRAFV600 ( BRAF) mutations predictive. CO.17 was a randomized phase III trial comparing cetuximab vs best supportive care (BSC) in unselected patients (pts). Re-analysis tested only KRAS exon 2, thus the benefit of cetuximab in RAS/BRAF wild type (WT) pts is unclear. Methods: We retrospectively performed expanded RAS/BRAF testing using a highly sensitive digital PCR method (BEAMing; 1% allele frequency detection limit) on micro-dissected archival tissue from 248 CO.17 pts. Additional pts without available archival tissue, with prior Sanger sequencing or therascreen results were included in analyses if mutations were previously detected (n = 77). Overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS), and response rates (RR) were compared by molecular profile. Results: Of 248 sequenced pts, 139 (56%) were RAS mutant, with 112 (45%) exon 2, 11 (4%) exon 3 and 6 (2%) exon 4 KRAS mutant, and 10 (4%) NRAS mutant pts. Seven (3%) BRAF mutant, and 97 (30%) confirmed RAS/BRAF WT pts were identified. Results are summarized below. A test of interaction indicated RAS status was predictive for PFS (p = 0.0001) and OS (p = 0.037) and BRAF status neared significance as a predictive marker for PFS (p = 0.089) but not OS (p = 0.24). Conclusions: These updated results demonstrate an improved PFS (HR 0.25 vs 0.40 previously) and OS (HR 0.51 vs 0.55 previously) for cetuximab in RAS/BRAF WT pts compared to prior analyses that included only KRAS exon 2 mutation status. We provide an estimate of single agent cetuximab efficacy for future anti-EGFR re-challenge studies and demonstrate further support that BRAF mutations may predict lack of benefit from anti-EGFR therapy. Clinical trial information: NCT00079066. [Table: see text]