Patients with proneural glioblastoma may derive overall survival benefit from the addition of bevacizumab to first-line radiotherapy and temozolomide: Retrospective analysis of the AVAglio trial

Abstract

Purpose The AVAglio (Avastin in Glioblastoma) and RTOG-0825 randomized, placebo-controlled phase II trials in newly diagnosed glioblastoma reported prolonged progression-free survival (PFS), but not overall survival (OS), with the addition of bevacizumab to radiotherapy plus temozolomide. To establish whether certain patient subgroups derived an OS benefit from the addition of bevacizumab to first-line standard-of-care therapy, AVAglio patients were retrospectively evaluated for molecular subtype, and bevacizumab efficacy was assessed for each patient subgroup. Patients and Methods A total of 349 pretreatment specimens (bevacizumab arm, n = 171; placebo arm, n = 178) from AVAglio patients (total, N = 921) were available for biomarker analysis. Samples were profiled for gene expression and isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation status and classified into previously identified molecular subtypes. PFS and OS were assessed within each subtype Results A multivariable analysis accounting for prognostic covariates revealed that bevacizumab conferred a significant OS advantage versus placebo for patients with proneural IDH1 wild-type tumors (17.1 v 12.8 months, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.73; P = .002). This analysis also revealed an interaction between the proneural subtype biomarker and treatment arm (P = .023). The group of patients with mesenchymal and proneural tumors derived a PFS benefit from bevacizumab compared with placebo; however, this translated to an OS benefit in the proneural subset only. Conclusion Retrospective analysis of AVAglio data suggests that patients with IDH1 wild-type proneura glioblastoma may derive an OS benefit from first-line bevacizumab treatment. The predictive value of the proneural subtype observed in AVAglio should be validated in an independent data set.