Abstract GS4-02: E2112: Randomized phase 3 trial of endocrine therapy plus entinostat/placebo in patients with hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. A trial of the ECOG-ACRIN cancer research group
Authors: Connolly Roisin M , Zhao Fengmin , Miller Kathy D , Lee Min-Jung , Piekarz Richard L , Smith Karen L , Brown-Glaberman Ursa , Winn Jennifer S , Faller Bryan A , Onitilo Adedayo A , Burkard Mark E , Budd George T , Levine Ellis G , Royce Melanie E , Kaufman Peter A , Thomas Alexandra , Trepel Jane B , Wolff Antonio C , Sparano Joseph A 
Published: February 2021

Background: Endocrine therapy resistance in advanced breast cancer remains a significant clinical problem that may be overcome with use of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors such as entinostat. The ENCORE 301 randomized phase II study reported an improvement in progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) with the addition of entinostat to the steroidal aromatase inhibitor (AI) exemestane in patients with advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Protein lysine acetylation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was associated with prolonged PFS in the entinostat arm.

Methods: E2112 is a multicenter randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III study that enrolled men or women with advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer whose disease had progressed on a non-steroidal AI in the adjuvant or metastatic setting (NCT02115282). Study participants were also required to have an ECOG performance status 0-1 with measurable or non-measurable (limited to 20% of the study population) disease. One prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease and prior treatment with fulvestrant and a CDK4/6 inhibitor was permitted but not required. Participants received exemestane 25mg po daily and entinostat (EE)/placebo (EP) 5mg po every week. Primary endpoints were PFS (central review) and OS. One-sided type 1 error 0.025 was split between two hypothesis tests: 0.001 for PFS test and 0.024 for OS. PFS tested in the first 360 pts, 88.5% power to detect 42% reduction in the hazard of PFS failure (median PFS, 4.1 to 7.1 months); OS tested in all 600 pts, 80% power to detect 25% reduction in the hazard of death (median OS, 22 to 29.3 months). Secondary endpoints included safety, objective response rate (ORR), and changes in protein lysine acetylation status in PBMCs (CD3+ T cells, CD14+ monocytes, CD19+ B cells, pan-leukocyte marker CD45+ cells, CD56+ NK cells) between C1D1 and C1D15 (integrated biomarker).

Results: A total of 608 participants were randomized between March 2014 and October 2018 (305 EE, 303 EP), 98% enrolled in USA. Characteristics were well balanced between the arms. Median age was 63 years (range, 29-91), 99% female, 95% postmenopausal, 80% white and 15% black. A majority (84%) had disease resistant to AI in the metastatic setting at study entry, 78% had measurable disease and 60% visceral disease. Prior treatments included chemotherapy (60%), fulvestrant (30%), CDK4/6 inhibitor (35%), everolimus (3%). Median prior lines of chemotherapy was 1 (range, 0-4) and endocrine therapy was 2 (range, 1-7); in adjuvant/metastatic setting. Grade 3/4 adverse events in EE arm included neutrophil count decreased (20%), hypophosphatemia (14%), anemia (8%), white blood cell decreased (6%), fatigue (4%), diarrhea (4%), and platelet count decreased (3%). At final analysis, median PFS was 3.3 months (EE) versus 3.1 months (EP) (HR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.67, 1.13, p=0.30). Median OS was 23.4 months (EE) versus 21.7 months (EP) (HR=0.99, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.21, p=0.94). ORR was 4.6% (EE) and 4.3% (EP). The median fold change in lysine acetylation in PBMCs was approximately 1.5 in EE arm, and 1 in EP arm. Participants on EE had significantly higher increase in lysine acetylation by C1D15 than patients on EP (397 paired samples available for analysis, p&lt;0.001 for all). Additional biomarker analyses will be presented at time of meeting.

Conclusion: The combination of exemestane and entinostat did not improve survival in AI resistant advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Pharmacodynamic analysis confirmed target inhibition in entinostat-treated patients.

Citation Format: Roisin M Connolly, Fengmin Zhao, Kathy D Miller, Min-Jung Lee, Richard L Piekarz, Karen L Smith, Ursa Brown-Glaberman, Jennifer S Winn, Bryan A Faller, Adedayo A Onitilo, Mark E Burkard, George T Budd, Ellis G Levine, Melanie E Royce, Peter A Kaufman, Alexandra Thomas, Jane B Trepel, Antonio C Wolff, Joseph A Sparano. E2112: Randomized phase 3 trial of endocrine therapy plus entinostat/placebo in patients with hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. A trial of the ECOG-ACRIN cancer research group [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr GS4-02.