Dr. Klempner on the Results of the DisTinGuish Trial in Advanced Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma

Sam Klempner, MD, member of the faculty, Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the results of the ongoing phase 2a DisTinGuish trial (NCT04363801) in advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA).

The initial efficacy results of the DisTinGuish trial, which were presented during the 2022 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, demonstrated encouraging clinical activity with the first-line combination of DKN-01 plus tislelizumab and CAPOX in patients with advanced GEA. The overall response rate (ORR) was 68% in the modified intention-to-treat (mITT) population, 90% in the DKK1-high population, and 56% in the DKK1-low population. Notably, these responses appeared durable. The median progression-free survival, which was a key secondary end point, was 10.7 months in the mITT population, 11.9 months in the DKK1-high population, and 10.7 months in the DKK1-low population.

The trial also evaluated DKN-01 plus tislelizumab without chemotherapy as second-line treatment for patients with advanced GEA, Klempner says. Initial results showed an ORR of 25% in the mITT population.

The overall survival data were immature at the time of the presentation, but the trial is ongoing and additional data are anticipated, Klempner concludes.