3. EPIDEMIOLOGY/BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE

SEMINAR REPORT

  1. Title of Seminar: The Frontiers of Biostatistics in Cancer Clinical Research
  2. Period: from September 23, 2004 to September 24, 2004, 2 days
  3. Site: Seattle (the United States of America.)
  4. Japanese Organizer: Satoshi TERAMUKAI (Assistant Professor, Division of Clinical Trial Design and Management, Kyoto University Hospital, Translational Research Center)
  5. US Organizer: John CREWLEY(Director, Statistical Center, Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)
  6. List of Japanese-side Participants:

    Yasuo Ohashi
    Professor of Biostatistics/Epidemiology and Preventive Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences and Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo

    Hideki Origasa
    Professor of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University

    Seiichiro Yamamoto
    Researcher, Statistics and Cancer Control Division, Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center Research Institute

    Naoki Ishizuka
    Head of Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Department of Community Health and Medicine, International Medical Center of Japan

    Hiroshi Nagai
    Chief Researcher, Department of Clinical Study Management, Translational Research Informatics Center, Foundation for Biomedical Research and Information

    Hideyo Oda
    Chief Researcher, Department of Clinical Study Management, Translational Research Informatics Center, Foundation for Biomedical Research and Information

    Takeharu Yamanaka
    Chief Researcher, Department of Clinical Study Management, Translational Research Informatics Center, Foundation for Biomedical Research and Information

    Takashi Daimon
    Researcher, Department of Clinical Study Management, Translational Research Informatics Center, Foundation for Biomedical Research and Information

    Masanori Fukushima
    Professor of Clinical Trial Design and Management, Translational Research Center, Kyoto University Hospital

    Shigeyuki Matsui
    Associate Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine and Public Health, Kyoto University

  7. List of US-side Participants

    Michael LeBlanc
    SWOG & Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Senior Statistician

    Donna Pauler- Ankerst
    SWOG & FHCRC, Senior Statistician

    Ping-Yu Liu
    SWOG & FHCRC, Senior Statistician

    Catherine Tangen
    SWOG & FHCRC, Senior Statistician

    Jacqueline Benedetti
    SWOG & FHCRC, Coordinating Statistician

    Kenneth Kopecky
    SWOG & FHCRC, Senior Statistician

    William Barlow
    CRAB, Senior Biostatistician

    Barry Storer
    FHCRC Division of Public Health Sciences, Associate member

    Johanna Hardin
    Pomona College

    John Shaughnessy
    University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

    Charles Coltman Jr.
    and twenty others
    SWOG & Cancer Therapy and Research Center, Chairman

  8. List of Other Country Participants: None
  9. Agenda and Topics
    Thursday, September 23
    8:30am   INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
    John Crowley, PhD, Masanori Fukushima, MD, Charles A Coltman Jr, MD
        GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING ANALYSIS
    9:00am   Gene Expression Profiling
    John Shaughnessy, PhD
    9:30am   Statistical Issues in the Analysis of GEP Data
    William Barlow, PhD
    10:00am   Break
    10:30am   Predicting Patient Survival from Gene Expression Data
    Shigeyuki Matsui, PhD
    11:00am   Application of Microarray Analysis Methods to Epidemiological Data
    Seiichiro Yamamoto, PhD
    11:30am   Using Robust Measures to Describe Distributions and Similarities of Microarray Data
    Johanna Hardin, PhD
    12:00pm   Lunch on your own
      CLINICAL TRIALS — PHASE I
    1:00pm   An Overview of Phase I Designs
    Barry Storer, PhD
    1:30pm   An Application of the Continual Reassessment Method to a Study of Interferon in Patients with Adult Leukemia
    Naoki Ishizuka, PhD
      CLINICAL TRIALS — PHASE II
    2:00pm   Phase II Study Designs in the Southwest Oncology Group
    Catherine Tangen, DrPH
    2:30pm   Phase II Selection Designs
    Ping-Yu Liu, PhD
    3:00pm   Break
      CLINICAL TRIALS — PHASE III
    3:30pm   A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Non-Platinum Triplet for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
    Hideki Origasa, PhD
    4:00pm   Analysis of QOL Data in Cancer Clinical Trials
    Yasuo Ohashi, PhD
    4:30pm   Japan/US Common Arm Trials
    John Crowley, PhD
    Friday, September 24
        PROGNOSTIC FACTORS AND BIOMARKERS
    9:00am Tumor Down-Staging as an Endpoint for Evaluating Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Invasive Bladder Cancer
    Satoshi Teramukai, PhD
    9:30am Prediction of Skin Adverse Events due to Radiation Therapy in Breast Cancer Patients using SNPs
    Eisei Oda, PhD
    10:00am Extreme Regression
    Michael LeBlanc, PhD
    10:30am Break
    11:00am Bagging Trees with Application to Analysis of Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donor Data
    Takashi Daimon, PhD
    11:30am Longitudinal Analysis of Biomarker Data
    Donna Pauler, PhD
    12:00pm Closing Remarks
    John Crowley, PhD, Masanori Fukushima, MD
  10. Scientific Achievements

    Session 1: Gene Expression Profiling Analysis
    A recent and important theme is to develop an analytical procedure of studies designed to determine disease type, predict prognosis and predict responses to treatments by utilizing genetic information of cancer patients. Although many biostatisticians have developed analytical procedures, there is no established one as yet. In this session, multiple myeloma and bladder cancer cases were used to provide examples of data analysis. These examples raised a common awareness among statisticians from the U.S. and Japan about the development of analytical procedure, including associated problems. In addition, Dr. Matsui obtained a certain degree of approval for his analytical procedure of genetic screening.

    Session 2: Clinical Trials
    Participants from the U.S. presented an overview of phase I and II clinical trials. From Japan, Dr. Ishizuka introduced the latest design of phase I trial using leukemia cases, and Dr. Ohashi referred to many analytical cases of QOL (Quality of Life) data in clinical trials. These analytical approaches seemed to provide seminar participants with much valuable information. In addition, Dr. Origasa from Japan and Dr. Crowley from the U.S. each gave a presentation on the Common Arm Trial of lung cancer conducted in SWOG and Japan (JMTO). The results, particularly those relating to adverse effects, were compared. It became clear that variation exists in the frequency of a range of adverse events between Japan and the U.S. The necessity for further studies including those focusing on genetics was commonly recognized among the participants in order to investigate reasons for these differences.

    Session 3: Prognostic Factors and Biomarkers
    Based on the clinical trial conducted by SWOG, Teramukai made a statement about the evaluation procedure of the preoperative chemotherapy for bladder cancer and future goals, and suggested the possibility of international studies in Japan and the U.S. for some tasks, such as development of new cancer treatments. Dr. Oda proposed his own approach to analyzing the correlation between the incidence of adverse events induced by radiotherapy and SNPs, and it was highly evaluated. Dr. Daimon proposed a computer intensive analytical method for exploring the risk groups for adverse drug effects. Dr. LeBlanc and Dr. Pauler from the U.S. introduced the latest original analytical methods. Based on the relevance of their work, it seems sufficiently feasible to develop new approaches in collaboration with them in the future.

    As a whole, this seminar was a great success as the participants were able to engage in active and meaningful discussions. The seminar was extremely significant for the ongoing development of clinical research/trials in cancer and biostatistics in Japan.

  11. Other Seminar Activities

    September 22, 2004 18:00~ Reception Dinner (Number of participants from Japan:10/U.S:15)
    September 23, 2004 18:00~ Dinner (Number of participants from Japan:11/U.S:15)
    September 24, 2004 12:00~ Study Tour to Cancer Research and Biostatistics (CRAB) (Number of participants from Japan: 6)
    September 24, 2004 16:30~ Dinner Event (Number of participants from Japan:10/U.S:10)

  12. Comments and Opinions: Nothing in particular