Abstract P4-12-05: A retrospective study of 27 patients with ER-positive, HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer treated with concomitant palbociclib and radiation therapy
Authors: Beddok Arnaud , Arsene-Henry Alexandre , Porte Baptiste , Cao Kim , Bazire Louis , Scher Nathaniel , Labib Alain , Darmon Ilan , Otz Joëlle , Minsat Mathieu , Mammar Hamid , Bidar François Clément , Fourquet Alain , Cottu Paul , Poortmans Phlip , Kirova Youlia 
Published: March 2020

Background: Palbociclib, a small-molecule inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK4 and CDK6), combined with letrozole increases progression-free survival among patients with previously untreated ER-positive, HER2 negative advanced breast cancer. However, the data on the safety of the concomitant association between Palbociclib and radiation therapy are scarce. The purpose of our study was to retrospectively evaluate the tolerance of the first patients treated with this concomitant combination at Institut Curie.

Materials and methods: Between April 2017 and July 2019, 27 women with ER-positive, HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer received locoregional and/or symptomatic irradiation at a metastatic site concomitantly with Palbociclib at a daily dose of 125 mg, from d1 to d21 every 28 days. Palbociclib was always associated with an endocrine treatment: Letrozole (17 patients /27, with or without an LHRH analogue) or Fulvestrant (10 patients /27). Median age at the time of diagnosis of metastases was 60 years (range, 35-85 years). Thirty-two sites were irradiated: 9 patients received post-operative locoregional radiation therapy, including the chest wall or breast and lymph node areas, and 23 sites of metastases were irradiated: 15 at the spine (3 cervical, 6 thoracic, 4 lumbar, 2 sacral), 2 pelvic lesions, 4 peripheral skeletal lesions, 1 brain lesion and 1 choroidal lesion (two patients received locoregional treatment and irradiation in one metastatic site and two patients were treated in two different metastatic sites). The dose prescribed for locoregional mammary radiotherapy was 50 Gy in 25 fractions and varied for the treatment of metastatic sites: 20 Gy in 5 fractions (n=14), 30 Gy in 10 fractions (n=7) and 8 Gy in 1 fraction (n=1). The brain metastasis was stereotactically treated (1 fraction of 18 Gy). The primary endpoint was toxicity scored according to the common terminology criteria for NCI adverse events, version v4.0.

Results: Median follow-up was 22 months (range, 4 to 54). Mean number of days of Palbociclib during radiation therapy was 8.7 days (range, 1 to 23 days). Most common acute toxicities were radiodermatitis (12/27, including 1 grade 3, 2 grade 2 and 9 grade 1) and neutropenia (13/27, including 1 grade 4, 7 grade 3, 5 grade 2). Palbociclib had to be stopped during the radiation therapy of three patients (3/27): one patient treated locoregionally (bilateral breast and lymph nodes irradiation) developed a grade 3 radiodermatitis and febrile neutropenia, another treated locoregionally developed grade 2 dysphagia (loss of 4 kg in 1 month) and one patient treated for sacral metastases (20 Gy in 4 fractions) developed grade 3 proctitis. Of the 19/27 patients with a follow-up of more than 6 months none developed late toxicities.

Conclusion: Concomitant administration of Palbociclib with radiation therapy was reasonably well tolerated in our series of 27 patients. Caution should be exercised when a large volume is irradiated, and when the dose per fraction is high. It remains unsure whether the interruption-causing side effects of Palbociclib was based on synergistic toxicity with radiation therapy. We suggest that our findings are to be confirmed in prospective registration studies collecting larger number of patients.

Citation Format: Arnaud Beddok, Alexandre Arsene-Henry, Baptiste Porte, Kim Cao, Louis Bazire, Nathaniel Scher, Alain Labib, Ilan Darmon, Joëlle Otz, Mathieu Minsat, Hamid Mammar, François Clément Bidar, Alain Fourquet, Paul Cottu, Phlip Poortmans, Youlia Kirova. A retrospective study of 27 patients with ER-positive, HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer treated with concomitant palbociclib and radiation therapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-12-05.