Blood Cancer Journal最新文献

Abstract

Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy is effective for relapsed/refractory B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (r/r B-ALL) but is not universally available. We developed a novel humanized CD19-directed CAR-T (HCAR19) approved for Phase 1/1b/2 trials. Patients aged 3–25 years were enrolled with r/r B-ALL and ineligible for allogeneic stem cell transplant. Lymphodepletion utilized standard-dose fludarabine and cyclophosphamide. A 3 + 3 design testing 3 dose-ranges was used to determine Phase-2 Dose (P2D): Dose-A, 1 × 10⁶ HCAR19 cells/kg, Dose-B, 3–5 × 10⁶/kg, and Dose-C, 10–15 × 10⁶/kg. Primary endpoint was overall response rate (ORR) at day-30 on bone-marrow flow-cytometry. From May-2021 to September-2023 12 patients [median age-14 (range: 5–24) years] were enrolled with median bone marrow blasts 19.5% at screening. Cytokine release syndrome occurred in 10 (83%) patients, predominantly Grades 1–2, and Grade-2 immune-cell associated neurotoxicity (ICANS) in 1. All patients had Grade-3 cytopenia. ORR was 91.7% (11/12), complete response (CR) in 8 (66.7%) and partial response in 3 (25%). Seven of 8 CRs were at Dose-levels B and C, all of which were sustained till 12 months follow-up. Patients who received dose levels below 3 × 10⁶/kg, or did not achieve CR, had early loss of response or rapid progression. HCAR19 demonstrated safety, manageable toxicity, and durable remissions. and P2D was determined as 5–10 × 10⁶ HCAR19-cells/kg.

Clinical trial registration

The study is registered in the Clinical Trials Registry- India (CTRI/2021/05/033348 and CTRI/2023/03/050689).

The main objective of this multi-institutional study is to understand the effect of primary intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) replacement on clinical outcomes in recipients of BCMA-directed bispecific antibody (bsAb), where infection remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality. This is a retrospective study of patients treated with either standard of care teclistamab or BCMA-directed investigational bsAb between Nov 2017 and Dec 2023. Primary IVIG prophylaxis was defined as starting IVIG prior to first documented infection. All analyses were adjusted for immortal-time bias inherent in this grouping. A total of 225 patients were included in this analysis. Primary IVIG prophylaxis was defined as starting IVIG prior to first documented infection. The median follow-up of patients treated with and without primary IVIG prophylaxis was, 9 and 11 months, respectively. The cumulative incidence of all grade infections at 12 months with and without primary IVIG prophylaxis were 56% (95%CI 40%,78%) and 60% (95% CI 48%, 76%); p = 0.72, respectively. The 12-month cumulative incidence of ≥ grade 3 infections was 35% (95% CI 21%, 57%) with primary IVIG prophylaxis and 45% (95% CI 34%, 60%) without; p = 0.37. The median infection free survival (IFS) for all-grade infections was 7.7 (95% CI 3.3, 14) months with primary IVIG prophylaxis and 3 (95% CI 2.6, 4.5) months without (p = 0.021). The median ≥ grade 3 IFS was 14 (95% CI 8.8, NR) and 7.5 (95% CI 6.1, 14) months, with and without primary IVIG respectively; p = 0.022. Patients on primary IVIG prophylaxis had a superior progression-free-survival (PFS) [median PFS 15 vs 8 months; p = 0.026] and overall-survival (OS) [median OS 16 vs 44 months; p = 0.007]. On multivariate analysis, primary IVIG prophylaxis was independently associated with improved OS (HR = 0.37; p = 0.021), while the presence of extra-medullary (HR = 2.71; p = <0.001) and high-risk disease (HR = 1.88; p = 0.031) conferred poor outcomes. In recipients of BCMA-directed bsAb, IVIG supplementation was associated with an improved clinical outcome, including favorable IFS and OS.

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) has been the prime consolidative strategy to increase the depth and duration of response in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM), albeit with short- and long-term toxicities. Minimal residual disease (MRD) is an important early response endpoint correlating with clinically meaningful outcomes and may be used to isolate the effect of ASCT. We report the impact of ASCT on MRD burden and generate a benchmark for evaluation of novel treatments as consolidation. We collected MRD by next generation sequencing (NGS; clonoSEQ®) post induction and post-ASCT in consecutive patients (N = 330, quadruplet, N = 279; triplet, N = 51). For patients receiving quadruplets, MRD < 10⁻⁵ post-induction was 29% (MRD < 10⁻⁶ 15%) increasing to 59% post-ASCT (MRD < 10⁻⁶ 45%). Among patients with MRD > 10⁻⁵ post-induction, ASCT lowered the MRD burden>1 log₁₀ for 69% patients. The use of quadruplet induction (vs. triplet) did not reduce the effect of ASCT on MRD burden. Reduction in MRD burden with ASCT was most pronounced in patients with high-risk chromosome abnormalities.

This dataset provides granular data to delineate the impact of ASCT on MRD as legacy consolidative strategy in NDMM and provides an important benchmark for evaluation of efficacy of TCRT as experimental consolidative strategy.

We investigated the prevalence of rare inherited pathogenic variants (PV) in 19 cancer predisposition genes regularly included on multi-gene panel testing based on NCCN guidelines and their association with the risk of lymphoid malignancies (LM) overall and by common lymphoma subtypes and multiple myeloma. The study population included newly diagnosed LM cases (N = 6990) and unrelated controls (N = 42,632), excluding individuals with a history of hematologic malignancy. Whole exome sequencing was performed on DNA from whole blood. PV were defined as loss-of-function (i.e., nonsense, frameshift, consensus splice sites) or identified as “pathogenic” or “likely pathogenic” in the ClinVar database. A total of 1816 (3.7%) individuals had a PV across the 19 genes, higher in cases (4.7%) than controls (3.5%). In controls, CHEK2 (1.0%), ATM (0.4%), BRCA2 (0.4%), and BRCA1 (0.3%) had the highest prevalence. ATM (odds ratio [OR] = 1.86, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.36–2.49), CHEK2 (OR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.42–2.13) and TP53 (OR = 9.07, 95% CI: 4.51–18.87) were associated with increased risk of LM overall and were further validated in the UK Biobank. We observed heterogeneity in associations by LM subtype. These results demonstrate that several commonly tested cancer predisposition genes are associated with an increased risk of LM.

Hypomethylating agent (HMA) plus venetoclax (VEN) regimens are standard of care in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ineligible for intensive chemotherapy. While the VEN label recommends continuous 28-day cycles, shortened VEN durations may induce similar response rates and improve tolerability. It is unknown how a VEN exposure reduced to 7 days during cycles compares to standard HMA + VEN. We retrospectively compared newly diagnosed AML patients treated with azacitidine (AZA) x 7 days plus VEN x 7 days (“7 + 7” regimen) from the first cycle (n = 82) vs patients treated with standard dose HMA + VEN (std-HMA/VEN) (n = 166). Composite complete remission rate was similar between cohorts (72% vs 72%; p = 0.95) and a median number of cycles to best response was 2 with “7 + 7” vs 1 with std-HMA/VEN (p = 0.03). Concerning toxicity, platelet transfusion rates during cycle 1 as well as early mortality at 8-weeks (6% vs 16%; p = 0.03) were lower in “7 + 7” cohort. Finally, the median OS was 11.2 months (2-year 28%) with “7 + 7” vs 10.3 months (2-year 34%) with “std-HMA/VEN” (p = 0.75). In summary, acknowledging limitations of a retrospective comparison, a shortened course of VEN used for 7 days every 28 days resulted in similar response rates and survival when compared to standard VEN exposure.