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Lung cancer is the most prevalent and deadliest cancer worldwide, mainly due to its advanced stage at diagnosis. Minimally invasive method for early detection of lung cancer is an urgent need to improve patients’ survival. hPG80 (circulating progastrin) has been previously described as a promising multi-tumors blood biomarker (You et al. EbioMedicine, 2020). hPG80 is produced and released from cancer cells and can be detected in the blood at early steps of tumorigenesis. In this study, we assess the diagnostic value and potential clinical utility of hPG80 in patients with non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), including early-stage tumors. Plasma hPG80 levels were measured using the kit DxPG80.Lab (Biodena care, Montpellier, France) from two cohorts: (1) a retrospective cohort of 400 NSCLC patients comprising 100 samples per disease stage (I-IV) collected at diagnosis, before any treatment (Nice Hospital-Integrated Biobank BB-0033-00025); (2) a prospective matching age cohort of 330 healthy subjects. The diagnostic value of hPG80 was assessed by comparing hPG80 baseline concentrations in NSCLC patients with those of healthy subjects. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of hPG80 using the area under the curve (AUC). Overall, hPG80 median concentration in all NSCLC patients was significantly higher than in healthy subjects (6.51 pM vs 1.95 pM, P<0.0001). hPG80 median concentrations were significantly higher in all disease stage subgroups than those in healthy subjects (6.83 pM, 7.15 pM, 6.02 pM and 6.34 pM for stage I to stage IV, respectively) (P<0.0001). ROC curve analysis of the entire NSCLC cohort showed that the AUC value was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.81 to 0.87). Following subgroup analysis by disease stages I-IV, the AUC values were 0.86 (95% CI: 0.83 to 0.90), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.81 to 0.88), 0.82 (95% CI: 0.78 to 0.86) and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.80 to 0.87), respectively. These findings uncover the potency of hPG80 as a novel promising, accurate and non-invasive biomarker to diagnose NSCLC patients, notably at an early stage. Furthermore, its measurement by an ELISA assay may facilitate its routine use for cancer screening/early diagnosis.

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Abstract Background Recurrence and metastases are still frequent outcomes after initial tumour control in women diagnosed with breast cancer. Although therapies are selected based on tumour characteristics measured at baseline, prognostic biomarkers can identify those at risk of poor outcomes. Circulating progastrin or hPG80 was found to be associated with survival outcomes in renal and hepatocellular carcinomas and was a plausible prognostic biomarker for breast cancer. Methods Women with incident breast cancers from Calgary, Alberta, Canada enrolled in the Breast to Bone (B2B) study between 2010 to 2016 and provided blood samples prior to any treatment initiation. Plasma from these baseline samples were analysed for circulating progastrin or hPG80. Participant characteristics as well as tumour ones were evaluated for their association with hPG80 and survival outcomes (time to recurrence, recurrence – free survival, breast cancer specific survival and overall survival) in Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results The 464 participants with measurable hPG80 in this study had an average age of 57.03 years (standard deviation of 11.17 years) and were predominantly diagnosed with Stage I (52.2%) and Stage II (40.1%) disease. A total of 50 recurrences and 50 deaths were recorded as of June 2022. In Cox PH regression models adjusted for chemotherapy, radiation therapy, cancer stage and age at diagnosis, log hPG80 (pmol/L) significantly increased the risks for recurrence (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.330, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = (0.995 – 1.777, p = 0.054)), recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.399, 95% CI = (1.106 – 1.770), p = 0.005) and overall survival (HR = 1.385, 95% CI = (1.046 – 1.834), = 0.023) but not for breast cancer specific survival (HR = 1.015, 95% CI = (0.684 – 1.505), p = 0.942). Conclusions hPG80 levels measured at diagnosis were significantly associated with the risk of recurrence or death from any cause in women with breast cancer. Since the recurrence rates of breast cancer are still relatively high amongst women diagnosed at an early stage, identifying women at high risk of recurrence at their time of diagnosis is important. hPG80 is a promising new prognostic biomarker that could improve the identification of women at higher risk of poor outcomes.

Background: Patients with glioblastomas have a dismal prognosis, and there is no circulating predictive or prognostic biomarker. Circulating progastrin, hPG80, is a tumor-promoting peptide present in the blood of patients with various cancers that has been shown to have prognostic value. We evaluated the prognostic value of plasma hPG80 in patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase-wild type glioblastoma after surgery. Patients and methods: A multicentric retrospective study in glioblastoma patients treated with standard radiochemotherapy was conducted. The hPG80 levels were measured in plasma EDTA samples collected after surgery with an ELISA DxPG80.lab kit (Biodena Care, Montpellier, France), which has a detection threshold of 1.2 pM. The relationship between post-operative hPG80 plasma levels, in combination with other known prognostic factors, and patients' progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was evaluated. Results: Sixty-nine patients were assessable. Plasma samples were collected after tumor biopsy (B), partial resection (PR), and complete resection (CR) for 22, 25, and 22 patients, respectively. At a median concentration of 5.37 pM (interquartile range 0.00-13.90 pM), hPG80 was detected in 48 (70%) patients (hPG80+). CR was associated with significant lower values of hPG80 levels: the median value was 0.7 versus 9.1 pM for PR (P = 0.02) and 8.3 pM for B (P = 0.004). The hPG80 detection rate was also significantly lower: 50% (CR) versus 72% (PR) versus 86% (B) (P = 0.005). The median follow-up was 39 months [22.4 months-not reached]. hPG80 post-operative detection was associated with numerically shorter PFS (6.4 versus 9.4 months, P = 0.13) and OS (14.5 versus 20.9 months, P = 0.11). In multivariate analysis, hPG80 was a prognostic factor for OS (P = 0.034). Conclusions: Circulating hPG80 could serve as a new prognostic biomarker after surgery in patients with glioblastoma treated with radio-chemotherapy.

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis. However, AFP is not useful in establishing a prognosis for patients with a tumor in the early stages. hPG80 (circulating progastrin) is a tumor promoting peptide present in the blood of patients with various cancers, including HCC. In this study, we evaluated the prognostic value of plasma hPG80 in patients with HCC, alone or in combination with AFP. A total of 168 HCC patients were tested prospectively for hPG80 and analyzed retrospectively. The prognostic impact of hPG80 and AFP levels on patient survival was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. hPG80 was detected in 84% of HCC patients. There was no correlation between hPG80 and AFP levels in the training and validation cohorts. Both cohorts showed higher sensitivity of hPG80 compared to AFP, especially at early stages. Patients with high hPG80 (hPG80+) levels (optimal cutoff value 4.5 pM) had significantly lower median overall survival (OS) compared to patients with low hPG80 (hPG80−) levels (12.4 months versus not reached respectively, p < 0.0001). Further stratification by combining hPG80 and AFP levels (cutoff 100 ng/mL) improved prognosis in particular for those patients with low AFP level (hPG80−/AFP+ and hPG80−/AFP−, 13.4 months versus not reached respectively, p < 0.0001 and hPG80+/AFP+ and hPG80+/AFP−, 5.7 versus 26 months respectively, p < 0.0001). This was corroborated when analyses were performed using the BCLC staging especially at early stages. Our findings show that hPG80 could serve as a new prognostic biomarker in HCC. Used in combination with AFP, it improves the stratification of the patients in good and poor prognosis, especially for those patients with negative AFP and early-stage HCC.

472 Background: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis. However, AFP is not useful in establishing a prognosis for patients with a tumor in the early stages. hPG80 (circulating progastrin) is a tumor promoting peptide present in the blood of patients with various cancers including HCC, even at early stages. In this study, we evaluated the prognostic value of plasma hPG80 in patients with HCC at early and intermediate stages. Methods: A total of 79 HCC patients including 44 BCLC from 0 to A and 35 BCLC B managed with local or systemic treatments, (“Liverpool” biobank) were enrolled prospectively and analyzed retrospectively. hPG80 was quantified using DxPG80 Lab kit (ECS-Progastrin) with a limit of detection at 1 pM and AFP was quantified using Cobas E411 in the blood of HCC patients. An optimal cutoff value of hPG80 was identified at 4.5 pM by calculating the minimal p-value based on the log-rank method. For AFP, a cutoff of 100 ng/mL was used as for liver transplantation (Notarpaolo, 2016). The prognostic impact of hPG80 and AFP levels on patient overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. Results: hPG80 was detected in 36 of 44 (81.8%) HCC patients at stages BCLC 0 to A and 29 of 35 (82.9%) at stage BCLC B by contrast to AFP present in only 5 (11.4%) and 9 (25.7%) patients respectively. The median of hPG80 was 5.7 pM (IQR: 1.7-22.4 pM) at stages BCLC 0 to A, 6.0 pM (IQR: 1.5-22.2 pM) at stage BCLC B and significantly different from a non-HCC age-range matched control group cohort (median value: 1.5 pM, IQR 0.6-3.2 pM, p < 0.0001). When combining BCLC 0 to B, the median OS for hPG80+ patients (n = 46) was significantly shorter than that of hPG80- patients (n = 33) (25 months versus undefined, HR: 3.07, 95% CI: 1.46-6.43; p = 0.0064). AFP+ patients were also significantly correlated with poorer OS (17.5 months versus undefined, HR: 3.16, 95% CI: 1.06-9.47; p = 0.0030). Then, we evaluated the prognostic significance of hPG80 in combination with AFP levels. hPG80+ patients with AFP > 100 ng/mL (n = 46) had a worse OS than that of patients with AFP < 100 ng/mL patients (n = 33) (15.8 months versus undefined, HR: 6.38, 95% CI: 1.74-23.41; p = 0.0052). Conclusions: Our findings show that hPG80 could serve as a new prognostic biomarker for HCC patients at early to intermediate stages. These results will need to be confirmed in a prospective study, but it opens the possibility to use hPG80 as a biomarker for HCC patients at early stage at a time they can be treated to be cured.

Current blood-based biomarkers for neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) lack both sensitivity and specificity. Human circulating progastrin (hPG80) is a novel biomarker that can be easily measured in plasma by ELISA. This study is the first to examine hPG80 in NENs. Plasma hPG80 was quantified from 95 stage IV NEN patients, using DxPG80 technology (ECS Progastrin, Switzerland) and compared with hPG80 concentrations in two cohorts of healthy donor controls aged 50–80 (n = 252) and 18–25 (n = 137). Median hPG80 in NENs patients was 5.54 pM compared to 1.5 pM for the 50–80 controls and 0.29 pM the 18–25 cohort (p < 0.0001). Subgroup analysis revealed median hPG80 levels significantly higher than for either control cohort in neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC; n = 25) and neuroendocrine tumors (NET; n = 70) including the small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) sub-cohort (n = 13). Diagnostic accuracy, estimated by AUCs, was high for NENs, as well as both sub-groups (NEC/NET) when compared to the younger and older control groups. Plasma hPG80 in NENs may be a diagnostic blood biomarker for both low- and high-grade NENs; further study is warranted. A prospective multi-center trial is ongoing in NET to evaluate hPG80 as a means of monitoring disease (NCT04750954).

2049 Background: hPG 80 (circulating progastrin) is a protein secreted by many cancer types, playing a role in tumorigenesis by regulating cancer stem cells, angiogenesis, proliferation/differentiation and decreasing apoptosis. hPG 80 is detectable in plasma of cancer patients and previous studies have shown its prognostic role in various cancers. Given the lack of circulating biomarker in glioblastoma, we evaluated the prognostic value of plasma hPG 80 in patients with IDH wild type glioblastoma Methods: This multicentric retrospective study included IDHwt glioblastoma patients treated with standard radio-chemotherapy. The ELISA DxPG80.lab kit (Biodena Care, Lausanne, Switzerland) was used to measure hPG80 levels after surgery with a detection threshold of 1 pM in all plasma EDTA samples according to the manufacturer’s instruction. The prognostic impact of hPG 80 was evaluated on patient’s progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: We included 70 patients (38 males /32 women) with a median age of 64 years (Range 19 - 84). Karnofsky index was > 70% in 52 (91%) of 57 evaluable patients. Tumor biopsy (B), partial resection (PR), complete resection (CR) were performed in 22, 25 and 23 patients respectively. MGMT promotor was methylated in 22 (40%) of the 55 evaluable patients. After surgery, hPG 80 was detected in 48 (69%) patients (hPG80+) with a median concentration of 9.52 pM (IQR 5.21 - 21.20). Complete surgery was associated with undetectable levels of hPG80 (52% (CR) vs 28% (PR) vs 14% (B), p = 0.006) and lower concentration if hPG80+ (CR: 5.8 pM [IQR 1.92 - 11.38] vs PR: 12.84 pM [IQR 8.09 - 37.09]; p = 0.04 vs B: 9.86 pM [IQR 4.66 - 21.63]; p = 0.16). With a median follow-up of 39 months (22.4-NR), 86% of patients had progressed and 70% had died. In univariate analysis, hPG 80 positivity was associated with PFS (5.6m vs 8.5m, p = 0.053) and OS (14.5 vs 22m, p = 0.04) in hPG 80 + vs hPG 80 - patients respectively. hPG 80 + patients with complete surgery had worse median OS than hPG 80 - patients (14.5 vs 22.0 m; p = 0.051 respectively. Cox proportional hazards model did not fit for covariate analysis. Conclusions: Our findings show that hPG 80 could serve as a new circulating prognostic biomarker in IDHwt glioblastoma patients treated with radio-chemotherapy. Further explorations are ongoing in larger cohorts including longitudinal evaluation during the course of the disease.

Precise management of kidney cancer requires the identification of prognostic factors. hPG80 (circulating progastrin) is a tumor promoting peptide present in the blood of patients with various cancers, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In this study, we evaluated the prognostic value of plasma hPG80 in 143 prospectively collected patients with metastatic RCC (mRCC). The prognostic impact of hPG80 levels on overall survival (OS) in mRCC patients after controlling for hPG80 levels in non-cancer age matched controls was determined and compared to the International Metastatic Database Consortium (IMDC) risk model (good, intermediate, poor). ROC curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of hPG80 using the area under the curve (AUC). Our results showed that plasma hPG80 was detected in 94% of mRCC patients. hPG80 levels displayed high predictive accuracy with an AUC of 0.93 and 0.84 when compared to 18–25 year old controls and 50–80 year old controls, respectively. mRCC patients with high hPG80 levels (>4.5 pM) had significantly lower OS compared to patients with low hPG80 levels (<4.5 pM) (12 versus 31.2 months, respectively; p = 0.0031). Adding hPG80 levels (score of 1 for patients having hPG80 levels > 4.5 pM) to the six variables of the IMDC risk model showed a greater and significant difference in OS between the newly defined good-, intermediate- and poor-risk groups (p = 0.0003 compared to p = 0.0076). Finally, when patients with IMDC intermediate-risk group were further divided into two groups based on hPG80 levels within these subgroups, increased OS were observed in patients with low hPG80 levels (<4.5 pM). In conclusion, our data suggest that hPG80 could be used for prognosticating survival in mRCC alone or integrated to the IMDC score (by adding a variable to the IMDC score or by substratifying the IMDC risk groups), be a prognostic biomarker in mRCC patients.

3033 Background: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis since it is expressed in the advanced stages of the disease. Consequently, AFP is not useful in establishing a prognosis for patients with a tumor in the early stages of the disease. hPG 80 (circulating progastrin), a new drug target for cancer treatment which plays a pivotal role in tumorigenesis, is present in the blood of multiple types of cancers at early stages including HCC. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of plasma hPG 80 in patients with HCC, in combination or not with AFP. Methods: A total of 168 HCC patients (BCLC from 0 to D) managed with local or systemic treatments, (“Liverpool” biobank) were enrolled prospectively and analyzed retrospectively. hPG 80 was quantified using DxPG 80 Lab kit (ECS-Progastrin) and AFP was quantified using Cobas E411 in the blood of HCC patients. An optimal cutoff value of hPG 80 was identified at 4.5 pM by calculating the minimal p-value based on the log-rank method. For AFP, a cutoff of 100 ng/mL was used as for liver transplantation (Notarpaolo, 2016). The prognostic impact of hPG 80 and AFP levels on patient survival was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. Results: The median overall survival (OS) of the full cohort is 20.9 months. HCC patients with high hPG 80 levels (hPG 80 +: >4.5 pM, 105/168) had significantly lower median OS compared to patients with low hPG 80 levels (hPG 80 -: <4.5 pM, 63/168) (12.4 months versus undefined respectively, p < 0.0001). Patients with high AFP (AFP+: >100 ng/mL, 69/165) had significantly lower median OS compared to patients with low AFP (AFP: <100 ng/mL 96/165) (7.2 months versus undefined, p < 0.0001). To improve the stratification, the patients were further categorized into four groups: hPG 80 -/AFP- (n = 42), hPG 80 +/AFP- (n = 54), hPG 80 -/AFP+ (n = 21) and hPG 80 +/AFP+ (n = 48). In the AFP- group, hPG 80 + patients exhibited a significantly worse prognosis than those with hPG 80 - (26.3 months versus undefined, p=0.0087). Similarly, in the AFP+ group, patients with hPG 80 + had a significantly worse survival compared to hPG 80 - patients (5.7 months versus 13.4 months, p = 0.0391). Finally, we evaluated the median OS of AFP+ patients according to BCLC staging. Interestingly, in the group BCLC 0 to B, hPG80+ had a significantly worse prognosis than those with hPG 80 - (15.8 months versus 40.25 months, p=0.0317). Conclusions: Our findings show that hPG 80 could serve as a new prognostic biomarker in HCC. Used in combination with AFP, it improves the stratification of the patients in good and worst prognosis, especially for those patients with negative AFP and early-stage HCC.

3029 Background: Progastrin is a tumor-promoting peptide which is detectable in the blood of patients with different cancers. hPG80 (circulating progastrin) is produced by cancer cells. Recently it was reported that hPG80 is detected in the blood of cancer patients, suggesting its potential utility for cancer detection. In this Nigerian study, we assessed the performance of hPG80 in diagnosed cancer patients versus healthy volunteers. Methods: Plasma samples of 50 patients with breast (n = 41) and colorectal (n = 9) cancer, aged from 26 to 70 years, were assayed for hPG80 levels with the DxPG80 kit from ECS-Progastrin. The diagnostic performance (ROC AUC) of hPG80 was assessed compared to 50 healthy volunteers aged from 21 to 38 years. Results: Plasma hPG80 levels were significantly higher in cancer patients compared to controls (median values: 4.59 pM (IQR: 2.02-8.27 pM) vs 1.37 pM (IQR: 0-3.11 pM), p < 0.0001). The median value of hPG80level was 3.96 pM (IQR: 1.61-7.89 pM) for breast cancers and 6.43 pM (IQR: 2.80-15.86 pM) for colorectal cancer patients. ROC AUC for all cancers, breast cancer and colorectal cancer were 0.75, 0.74 and 0.82 respectively. There was no correlation between hPG80 blood levels with age or CA15.3 levels. Conclusions: Plasma hPG80 is a simple and relatively affordable blood test, it shows potential utility as a biomarker for cancer detection, monitoring and treatment assessment. Further prospective studies are needed to explore and confirm its potential.

hPG80 (human circulating progastrin) is produced and released by cancer cells. We recently reported that hPG80 is detected in the blood of patients with cancers from different origins, suggesting its potential utility for cancer detection. To accurately measure hPG80 in the blood of patients, we developed the DxPG80 test, a sandwich Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). This test quantifies hPG80 in EDTA plasma samples. The analytical performances of the DxPG80 test were evaluated using standard procedures and guidelines specific to ELISA technology. We showed high specificity for hPG80 with no cross-reactivity with human glycine-extended gastrin (hG17-Gly), human carboxy-amidated gastrin (hG17-NH2) or the CTFP (C-Terminus Flanking Peptide) and no interference with various endogenous or exogenous compounds. The test is linear between 0 and 50 pM hPG80 (native or recombinant). We demonstrated a trueness of measurement, an accuracy and a variability of hPG80 quantification with the DxPG80 test below the 20% relative errors as recommended in the guidelines. The limit of detection of hPG80 and the limit of quantification were calculated as 1 pM and 3.3 pM respectively. In conclusion, these results show the strong analytical performance of the DxPG80 test to measure hPG80 in blood samples.

e15038 Background: Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are heterogeneous tumors which originate from various organs and are of variable aggressiveness based on grade and morphology. Current biomarkers for NENs lack sensitivity and specificity, especially for high-grade NENs (small and large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas). hPG80, progastrin, is a novel bio-marker which is easily measured in plasma using an ELISA test. Physiologically, hPG80, an 80 amino acid protein, is the precursor of the gastrointestinal hormone gastrin. It is synthetized by gastric antrum G cells, and then processed into gastrin by multiple enzymatic processes. In pathological conditions, the GAST gene, which encodes hPG80, was shown to be over-expressed in human solid tumors from various primary sites. hPG80 is unprocessed and released from the tumor cells and becomes detectable in the blood. This study is the first to explore hPG80 in NENs. Methods: hPG80 was quantified in the plasma from 31 NEN patients using DxPG80 technology (ECS-Progastrin, Switzerland). Additional 69 samples are currently undergoing analysis. Progastrin concentrations in 18-70 YO (n = 557) and 18-25 YO (n = 137) healthy blood donors were compared to 31 stage IV NENs patients. The study was IRB approved. Results: Current data are for 31 patients. Data on total 100 patients will be presented at ASCO 2020. Mean age of study cohort at the time of blood collection was 60.9 years. 21 patients had grade 1 and 2 well differentiated NET. 10 patients had high grade NEN (Small cell, large cell and poorly differentiated NEC). High grade sub cohort also included two well differentiated grade 3 NET patients. Mean hPG80 in NENs was 14.17 pM as compared to 2.04 pM and 0.99 pM in 18-70 and 18-25 YO control groups (p < 0.0001), respectively. Subgroup analysis of NENs revealed mean hPG80 of 24.61 pM in high-grade NENs (n = 10) vs 10.88 pM in G1/2 NETs (n = 21). Conclusions: This first-ever study of plasma hPG80 in NENs suggests hPG80 may be a diagnostic blood-based biomarker in both low and high-grade NENs and further study is warranted. A prospective trial is ongoing in high-grade NEN to evaluate its role in monitoring of disease (NCT03958045) and further studies in low-grade NETs are underway. This research was supported by Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) from the National Cancer Institute (P30 CA177558) and ECS Progastrin.

3037 Background: The successes of recent publications on “multi-tumor” circulating markers highlight the relevance of novel universal diagnostic cancer serum biomarkers. Since the Wnt/ß-catenin/Tcf4 pathway, activated in many tumors, induces the GAST Gene encoding progastrin synthesis, we hypothesized that progastrin, easily measurable in the blood, might be a “multi-tumor” diagnostic biomarker. Methods: Progastrin levels were measured in the blood samples of 1319 patients with 12 different cancer origins, and compared to those of 557 asymptomatic 18-75 years old blood donors. Moreover the longitudinal kinetics of progastrin concentrations were serially assessed during treatments in 168 patients with ovarian cancers enrolled in the randomized CHIVA trial (NCT01583322, GINECO), 191 patients with peritoneal involvement from gastro-intestinal cancers enrolled in BIG-RENAPE trial (NCT03787056), and in 95 HCC patients. The progastrin was measured using an ELISA test developed by ECS Progastrin (Prilly, Switzerland). Results: Compared to healthy blood donors, progastrin was found at higher concentrations in the plasma of cancer patients: median 4.47 vs 0.20 pM, P < 0.0001; diagnostic discriminative power, ROC analysis AUC = 0.86 (95% CI, 0.83-0.89; P < 0.0001). Progastrin levels were found elevated in all cancer groups, regardless of disease stages, and of pathology origins: ROC AUCs ranged from 0.71 to 0.93, all P < 0.0001 (Table). The longitudinal progastrin changes during treatments, suggest relationships to tumor burden, and potential monitoring value. Conclusions: Progastrin is a novel ubiquitous cancer biomarker, easily detectable in the blood using an affordable ELISA test (CancerRead Lab test(R)). It may change the future paradigms about screening (in particular for populations at higher or lower risks of cancer), cancer diagnostic & monitoring. [Table: see text]

Background and Aims: Progastrin is a tumor promoting peptide which is detectable in the blood of patients with different cancers. Progastrin gene is a direct target of the WNT/ß-catenin oncogenic pathway involved in tumorigenesis and possibly tumor progression/ treatment efficacy. Since WNT/ß-catenin oncogenic pathway is dysregulated in advanced prostate cancer we evaluated plasma progastrin in metastatic prostate cancer as a predictive and prognostic biomarker.Methods: Metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) and metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) states were enrolled in a cohort study of blood sample collection and follow-up for outcomes between 9/2009 and 11/2013. Patients were enrolled in mHSPC unique sub-cohorts before initiating androgen deprivation therapy (ADT); during ADT; at the time of failure of ADT and before starting chemotherapy. Plasma progastrin was measured using the ELISA cancerREAD®. Progastrin concentrations in the cancer patients (test set) was assessed against 213 samples from asymptomatic volunteers from the French blood establishment (control set) and prograstin levels were also compared for each of the above four mHSPC and mCRPC cohorts as well as for association with time to failure on AA for the mHSPC cohort and overall survival for both mHSPC and mCRPC subcohorts. We also determined progastrin levels in patients with two serial samples to evaluate if changes were predictive for overall survival.Results: Of the 523 mHSPC+mCRPC patients 96 were in mHSPC state enrolled before starting ADT; 101 mHSPC patients were enrolled while receiving ADT; 143 mHSPC patients were enrolled at the time of ADT failure and 143 were clinically progressive mCRPC. All cohorts were unique and 246/523 patients had two serial samples collected and analyzed across all subcohorts. The median time of follow up of the whole cohort was 8.34 years (IQR: 4.53-12.97) and 371/523 had died at the time of the analysis. Plasma progastrin levels was detected in 87.6% of all the patients (cut-off value 1 pM, range 0 to 311 pM, median value of 4.7 pM) compared to the control set (median value=0.61 pM; IQR 0.00-1.58). The Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis indicated an area under the curve of 0.84 (p<0.0001; 95% CI 0.81 to 0.87). Of these, 106 patients had a decrease and 140 patients an increase of progastrin levels. Patients with a serial increase of progastrin had a worst overall survival compare to the other group (p=0.019).Conclusion: Progastrin is a blood based biomarker elevated in advanced prostate cancer patients serial increases in progastrin levels during treatment are predictive of poor survival. Progastrin assay might be useful for monitoring therapeutic interventions like androgen deprivation therapy effects as well for advanced prostate cancer patients.Citation Format: Manish Kohli, Winston Tan, Lea Payen, Carole Langlois-Jacques, Pierre Liaud, Delphine Maucort-Boulch, Dominique Joubert, Alexandre Prieur. Plasma progastrin level as a predictive and prognostic biomarker in advanced prostate cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2294.

Background: In colorectal cancer, hPG80 (progastrin) is released from tumor cells, promotes cancer stem cells (CSC) self-renewal and is detected in the blood of patients. Because the gene GAST that encodes hPG80 is a target gene of oncogenic pathways that are activated in many tumor types, we hypothesized that hPG80 could be expressed by tumors from various origins other than colorectal cancers, be a drug target and be detectable in the blood of these patients. Methods: hPG80 expression was monitored by fluorescent immunohistochemistry and mRNA expression in tumors from various origins. Cancer cell lines were used in sphere forming assay to analyze CSC self-renewal. Blood samples were obtained from 1546 patients with 11 different cancer origins and from two retrospective kinetic studies in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis or hepatocellular carcinomas. These patients were regularly sampled during treatments and assayed for hPG80. Findings: We showed that hPG80 was present in the 11 tumor types tested. In cell lines originating from these tumor types, hPG80 neutralization decreased significantly CSC self-renewal by 28 to 54%. hPG80 was detected in the blood of patients at significantly higher concentration than in healthy blood donors (median hPG80: 4.88 pM versus 1.05 pM; p < 0.0001) and shown to be correlated to GAST mRNA levels in the matched tumor (i.e., lung cancers, Spearman r = 0.8; p = 0.0023). Furthermore, we showed a strong association between longitudinal hPG80 concentration changes and anti-cancer treatment efficacy in two independent retrospective studies. In the peritoneal carcinomatosis cohort, median hPG80 from inclusion to the post-operative period decreased from 5.36 to 3.00 pM (P < 0.0001, n = 62) and in the hepatocellular carcinoma cohort, median hPG80 from inclusion to remission decreased from 11.54 pM to 1.99 pM (P < 0.0001, n = 63). Interpretation: Because oncogenic hPG80 is expressed in tumor cells from different origins and because circulating hPG80 in the blood is related to the burden activity of the tumor, it is a promising cancer target for therapy and for disease monitoring. (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Background and Aims: Progastrin is a tumor promoting peptide which is detectable in the blood of patients with different cancers (Prieur et al. AACR 2017, Prieur et al. ASCO 2017). Progastrin gene is a direct target of the WNT/ß-catenin oncogenic pathway involved in tumorigenesis of many organs, but it is unknown if it has any prognostic significance in metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC) patients. We evaluated progastrin as a prognosis marker along with known markers of prognosis in mRCCC.Methods: 145 patients with mRCCC were enrolled in this study and blood samples were drawn after consent. Progastrin was measured using the ELISA cancerREAD®. Progastrin concentrations in the 145 mRCCC patients (test set) was assessed against 213 samples from asymptomatic volunteers from the French blood establishment (control set). The prognostic impact of progastrin levels was determined with overall survival (OS) using Cox proportional hazards and also compared to MSKCC based clinical prognosis (good;intermediate; poor). Statistical significance was considered at P≤0.05.Results: The median follow-up of the cohort was 5.45 years (IQR: 1.87-9.95) and at the time of analysis 98/145 patients had died from disease progression. Plasma progastrin was detected in 95% of the patients (cut-off value 1 pM, range 0 to 272 pM, median value of 7.2 pM; IQR 3.20-19.71) compared to the control set (median value=0.61 pM; IQR 0.00-1.58). The Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis indicated an area under the curve of 0.92 (p<0.0001; 95% CI 0.89 to 0.94). At the univariate level, MSKCC scores (good; intermediate; poor categories) in this cohort was associated with OS and was prognostic (p<0.0001). We detected progastrin levels were higher with MSKCC score poor prognostic (p<0.0002) (median 30.39 pM; IQR 9.31-57.20). Elevated progastrin was also independently associated with poor survival (p<0.0001) and a multivariate model of MSKCC taken with progastrin levels remained significantly associated with poor survival (p<0.0001).Conclusion: Elevated progastrin levels in mRCCC is correlated with poor survival and further refines clinically used MSKCC prognostic scores. Progastrin assay is a simple and inexpensive blood test that might define subsets of mRCCC patients with poor survival who need to be identified for aggressive treatments.Citation Format: Manish Kohli, Winston Tan, Lea Payen, Carole Langlois-Jacques, Pierre Liaud, Delphine Maucort-Boulch, Dominique Joubert, Alexandre Prieur. Prognostic impact of progastrin levels in blood compared to MSKCC based clinical prognosis in metastatic renal cell cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2289.

Background and aims: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patient follow-up, even though around 30% of HCC do not express AFP and its capacity to reliably monitor treatment efficacy is questioned. Interestingly, progastrin, a direct target of the oncogenic Wnt/beta-catenin pathway that is commonly activated in HCC, is secreted as such from tumor cells of various origin, from the very first steps of tumorigenesis. Here, we show the first study evaluating the potency of blood progastrin levels to monitor treatment efficacy and compared it with AFP. Methods: Progastrin was quantified in the blood of 87 patients with HCC (focal (n=23), locally advanced (n=49) or metastatic (n=19). AFP was available in 79 patients. The cancerREAD technology (CE marked since 2017) specifically designed to detect progastrin with a high sensitivity and not any maturation products such as gastrin or gastrin glycine extended was used to assay progastrin in the blood. Patients received a systemic (nevaxar, tepotinib, regorafenib, nivolumab, anti FGR, or carbozantinib) and/or a local treatment. Variations in the levels of progastrin and AFP were analyzed in relationship with evolution of the disease: progression, decrease, stable, in remission, without taking into account the different treatment regimens. Results: Progastrin was detected in 80% of the patients (cut-off value 1 pM, range 0 to 75.9 pM, mean value +/- SE 16.29 +/-1.97 pM). Patients in remission had a significantly lower blood progastrin compared to focal (p=0.019), locally advanced (p=0.0001) or metastatic HCC (p=0.015) (Focal 16.96 +/- 4.82 pM; locally advanced 18.57 +/- 2.75 pM; metastatic 17.81 +/- 4.9 pM; in remission 4.89 +/- 1.05 pM). AFP was above 10 ng/ml (a common threshold value) in 59.4% of the samples; levels of progastrin were not statistically correlated with those of AFP. Blood samples for follow-up of treatment were available for 48 patients. Compared to AFP, progastrin was a better biomarker of the evolution of the disease in 35.1% of the patients. Both biomarkers were equivalent in 32.4% and none were good in 10.8%. AFP was better than progastrin only in 21.6%. Conclusion: Thus, and for the first time, we showed that not only progastrin is a better blood biomarker than AFP to detect HCC but also is better for the follow-up of HCC patients, whatever the treatment of the patient. This is the first study that shows the potential of progastrin (alone or in combination with AFP) as a tool for follow-up of cancer treatment efficacy. Citation Format: Alexandre Prieur, Marie Dupuy, Dominique Joubert, Eric Assenat. Progastrin a new biomarker for hepatocellular cancer patient follow-up [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2222.