Overall survival with brentuximab vedotin in stage III or IV Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma

BACKGROUND: Five-year follow-up in a trial involving patients with previously untreated stage III or IV classic Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma showed long-term progression-free survival benefits with first-line therapy with brentuximab vedotin, a CD30-directed antibody-drug conjugate, plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (A+AVD), as compared with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD). A planned interim analysis indicated a potential benefit with regard to overall survival; data from a median of 6 years of follow-up are now available. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients in a 1:1 ratio to receive up to six cycles of A+AVD or ABVD. The primary end point, modified progression-free survival, has been reported previously. The key secondary end point was overall survival in the intention-to-treat population. Safety was also assessed. RESULTS: A total of 664 patients were assigned to receive A+AVD and 670 to receive ABVD. At a median follow-up of 73.0 months, 39 patients in the A+AVD group and 64 in the ABVD group had died (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.40 to 0.88; P = 0.009). The 6-year overall survival estimates were 93.9% (95% CI, 91.6 to 95.5) in the A+AVD group and 89.4% (95% CI, 86.6 to 91.7) in the ABVD group. Progression-free survival was longer with A+AVD than with ABVD (hazard ratio for disease progression or death, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.86). Fewer patients in the A+AVD group than in the ABVD group received subsequent therapy, including transplantation, and fewer second cancers were reported with A+AVD (in 23 vs. 32 patients). Primary prophylaxis with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor was recommended after an increased incidence of febrile neutropenia was observed with A+AVD. More patients had peripheral neuropathy with A+AVD than with ABVD, but most patients in the two groups had resolution or amelioration of the event by the last follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who received A+AVD for the treatment of stage III or IV Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma had a survival advantage over those who received ABVD. (Funded by Takeda Development Center Americas and Seagen; ECHELON-1 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01712490; EudraCT number, 2011-005450-60.)

The B7 Homologues and their Receptors in Hematologic Malignancies

The B7 homologues and their receptors regulate both peripheral tolerance and adaptive immunity. This field is rapidly evolving as new ligands and receptors are being identified. Much of the work supporting their role in the regulation of host anti‐tumor immunity has been derived from experimental models and clinical trials in solid malignancies. However, a growing body of evidence demonstrates that the B7‐H family has important immunologic and non‐immunologic functions in a variety of hematologic malignancies. Herein, we will review recent evidence that supports the therapeutic targeting of the B7 homologues in hematologic malignancies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91338/1/ejh1766.pd

Interleukin-15 Affects Patient Survival through Natural Killer Cell Recovery after Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas

Natural killer cells at day 15 (NK-15), after autologous peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (APHSCT), is a prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The potential role of the immunologic (homeostatic) environment affecting NK-15 recovery and survival post-APHSCT has not been fully studied. Therefore, we evaluate prospectively the cytokine profile in 50 NHL patients treated with APHSCT. Patients with an interleukin-15 (IL-15) ≥ 76.5 pg/mL at day 15 post-APHSCT experienced superior OS and PFS compared with those who did not; median OS; not reached versus 19.2 months, P < .002; and median PFS; not reached versus 6.8 months, P < .002, respectively. IL-15 was found to correlate with (rs = 0.7, P < .0001) NK-15. Multivariate analysis showed only NK-15 as a prognostic factor for survival, suggesting that the survival benefit observed by IL-15 is most likely mediated by enhanced NK cell recovery post-APHSCT

Safety and activity of varlilumab, a novel and first-in-class agonist anti-CD27 antibody, for hematologic malignancies.

CD27, a costimulatory molecule on T cells, induces intracellular signals mediating cellular activation, proliferation, effector function, and cell survival on binding to its ligand, CD70. Varlilumab, a novel, first-in-class, agonist immunoglobulin G1 anti-CD27 antibody, mediates antitumor immunity and direct killing of CD27+ tumor cells in animal models. This first-in-human, dose-escalation, and expansion study evaluated varlilumab in patients with hematologic malignancies. Primary objectives were to assess safety and the maximum tolerated and optimal biologic doses of varlilumab. Secondary objectives were to evaluate pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, immunogenicity, and antitumor activity. In a 3 + 3 dose-escalation design, 30 patients with B-cell (n = 25) or T-cell (n = 5) malignancies received varlilumab (0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, or 10 mg/kg IV) as a single dose with a 28-day observation period, followed by weekly dosing (4 doses per cycle, up to 5 cycles, depending on tumor response). In an expansion cohort, 4 additional patients with Hodgkin lymphoma received varlilumab at 0.3 mg/kg every 3 weeks (4 doses per cycle, up to 5 cycles). No dose-limiting toxicities were observed. Treatment-related adverse events, generally grade 1 to 2, included fatigue, decreased appetite, anemia, diarrhea, and headache. Exposure was linear and dose-proportional across dose groups and resulted in increases in proinflammatory cytokines and soluble CD27. One patient with stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma experienced a complete response and remained in remission at \u3e33 months with no further anticancer therapy. These data support further investigation of varlilumab for hematologic malignancies, particularly in combination approaches targeting nonredundant immune regulating pathways. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01460134

A phase II study of dacetuzumab (SGN-40) in patients with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and correlative analyses of patient-specific factors

BACKGROUND: Patients with DLBCL who are ineligible for or have relapsed after aggressive salvage chemotherapy have a poor prognosis. CD40 is expressed on multiple B-cell neoplasms including DLBCL and is a potential target for immunotherapy. Dacetuzumab (SGN-40), a non-blocking, partial agonist, humanized IgG1, anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody, has previously demonstrated anti-lymphoma activity in a phase I study. METHODS: A phase II study was undertaken to evaluate the rate and duration of objective responses and safety of single-agent dacetuzumab in relapsed DLBCL. Forty-six adult patients with relapsed/refractory DLBCL received up to 12 cycles of intravenous dacetuzumab using intrapatient dose-escalation to a target dose of 8 mg/kg/week in an initial 5-week cycle, followed by 4-week cycles of 8 mg/kg/week. Study endpoints included rate and duration of objective responses, safety, survival, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, and exploratory correlative studies. RESULTS: Overall response rate was 9% and disease control rate (complete remission + partial remission + stable disease) was 37%. Common non-hematologic adverse events (AEs) included fatigue, headache, chills, fever, and nausea. The most frequent Grade 3–4 non-hematologic AE was deep venous thrombosis (3 patients). Grade 3–4 lymphopenia (41%), neutropenia (13%), or thrombocytopenia (19%) occurred without associated infection or bleeding. Reversible ocular events, including conjunctivitis and ocular hyperemia, occurred in 8 patients (17%). Patient-specific factors, including Fc-gamma-RIIIa polymorphism, did not appear to correlate with antitumor activity. CONCLUSIONS: Single-agent dacetuzumab has modest activity and manageable toxicity in unselected patients with relapsed DLBCL. Combination regimens and robust methods of patient selection may be necessary for further development. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00435916

474 Phase 1 study of SEA-TGT, a human, nonfucosylated anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody with enhanced immune-effector function, in patients with advanced malignancies (SGNTGT-001, trial in progress)

BackgroundT-cell immunoreceptor with immunoglobulin and immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory domains (TIGIT), and costimulatory receptor CD226 competitively bind 2 ligands, CD155 and CD112, which are expressed by tumor cells and antigen-presenting cells in the tumor microenvironment.1 2 Dual TIGIT/programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) blockade increased tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell expansion and function in vitro and promoted potent antitumor response in vivo.3 4 TIGIT/PD-1 dual blockade using a TIGIT monoclonal antibody (mAb) with intact Fc produced clinical responses in advanced cancer.5 SEA-TGT is an investigational, human, nonfucosylated mAb directed against TIGIT. SEA-TGT binds to TIGIT, blocking inhibitory checkpoint signals directed at T cells. SEA-TGT enhances binding to activating FcγRIIIa and decreases binding to inhibitory FcγRIIb; this depletes immunosuppressive regulatory T cells and amplifies naive and memory T cells, potentially augmenting PD-1 inhibition effects. Preclinically, at suboptimal doses, SEA-TGT plus anti-PD-1 mAbs had superior antitumor activity than either agent alone.6MethodsSafety and antitumor activity of SEA TGT in ~377 adults (≥18 years) will be evaluated in this phase 1, multicenter, open-label, dose-escalation/expansion study. Part A will assess the safety/tolerability of SEA TGT to determine maximum tolerated and recommended doses. Part B will assess the safety and antitumor activity of the recommended dose in disease-specific expansion cohorts. Part C will assess SEA-TGT plus sasanlimab in dose-expansion cohorts after an initial safety run-in. Patients with histologically/cytologically confirmed relapsed/refractory/progressive metastatic solid tumors including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), gastric/gastroesophageal junction carcinoma, cutaneous melanoma, bladder, cervical, ovarian or triple-negative breast cancer, or selected lymphomas will be eligible for Parts A and B. Part C will enroll patients with histologically confirmed advanced NSCLC (high [tumor proportion score (TPS) ≥50%] and low [TPS=1–49%] PD ligand 1 [PD-L1] expression), cutaneous melanoma, and HNSCC without previous anti–PD-1/PD-L1 therapy exposure. SEA TGT will be administered on Day 1 of 21-day cycles.Laboratory abnormalities, adverse events, dose-limiting toxicities, and dose-level safety and activity are primary endpoints. Secondary endpoints are objective response (OR) and complete response (CR) rates, duration of OR/CR, progression-free survival, overall survival, pharmacokinetics (PK), and antidrug antibodies. Exploratory analysis will include pharmacodynamics (PD), PK/PD relationships, biomarkers, and resistance to SEA-TGT. This trial is recruiting in Europe and North America.Trial RegistrationNCT04254107ReferencesBlake SJ, Dougall WC, Miles JJ, et al. Molecular pathways: Targeting CD96 and TIGIT for cancer immunotherapy. Clin Cancer Res 2016;22(21):5183–5188.Chauvin JM, Zarour HM. TIGIT in cancer immunotherapy. J ImmunoTher Cancer 2020;8:e000957.Johnston RJ, Comps-Agrar L, Hackney J, et al. The immunoreceptor TIGIT regulates antitumor and antiviral CD8+ T cell effector function. Cancer Cell 2014;26(6):923–937.Chauvin JM, Pagliano O, Fourcade J, et al. TIGIT and PD-1 impair tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in melanoma patients. J Clin Invest 2015;125(5):2046–2058.Rodriguez-Abreu D, Johnson ML, Hussein MA, et al. Primary analysis of a randomized, double-blind, phase 2 study of the anti-TIGIT antibody tiragolumab (tira) plus atezolizumab (atezo) versus placebo plus atezo as first-line (1L) treatment in patients with PD-L1-selected NSCLC (CITYSCAPE). J Clin Oncol 2020;38(15 suppl):9503.Smith A, Zeng W, Lucas S, et al. Poster 1583. SEA-TGT is an empowered anti-TIGIT antibody that displays superior combinatorial activity with several therapeutic agents. Presented at: American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting; April 9–14, 2021; Virtual Meeting.Ethics ApprovalInstitutional review boards or independent ethics committees of participating sites approved the trial, which will be conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and International Conference on Harmonisation Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice. All patients will provide written informed consent

Brentuximab vedotin plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine in patients with advanced-stage, classical Hodgkin lymphoma: a prespecified subgroup analysis of high-risk patients from the ECHELON-1 study

Approximately one‐third of patients diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma presenting with Stage IV disease do not survive past 5 years. We present updated efficacy and safety analyses in high‐risk patient subgroups, defined by Stage IV disease or International Prognostic Score (IPS) of 4-7, enrolled in the ECHELON‐1 study that compared brentuximab vedotin plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (A + AVD) versus doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) as first‐line therapy after a median follow‐up of 37.1 months. Among patients treated with A + AVD (n = 664) or ABVD (n = 670), 64% had Stage IV disease and 26% had an IPS of 4-7. Patients with Stage IV disease treated with A + AVD showed consistent improvements in PFS at 3 years as assessed by investigator (hazard ratio [HR], 0.723; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.537-0.973; p = 0.032). Similar improvements were seen in the subgroup of patients with IPS of 4-7 (HR, 0.588; 95% CI, 0.386-0.894; p = 0.012). The most common adverse events (AEs) in A + AVD‐treated versus ABVD‐treated patients with Stage IV disease were peripheral neuropathy (67% vs. 40%) and neutropenia (71% vs. 55%); in patients with IPS of 4-7, the most common AEs were peripheral neuropathy (69% vs. 45%), neutropenia (66% vs. 55%), and febrile neutropenia (23% vs. 9%), respectively. Patients in high‐risk subgroups did not experience greater AE incidence or severity than patients in the total population. This updated analysis of ECHELON‐1 shows a favorable benefit‐risk balance in high‐risk patients

A phase 1b study of AFM13 in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma

In relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (R/R HL), immunotherapies such as the anti-programmed death-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab have demonstrated efficacy as monotherapy and are playing an increasingly prominent role in treatment. The CD30/CD16A-bispecific antibody AFM13 is an innate immune cell engager, a first-in-class, tetravalent antibody, designed to create a bridge between CD30 on HL cells and the CD16A receptor on natural killer cells and macrophages, to induce tumor cell killing. Early studies of AFM13 have demonstrated signs of efficacy as monotherapy for patients with R/RHL and the combination of AFM13 with pembrolizumab represents a rational new treatment modality. Here, we describe a phase 1b, dose-escalation study to assess the safety and preliminary efficacy of AFM13 in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with R/R HL. The primary objective was estimating the maximum tolerated dose; the secondary objectives were to assess safety, tolerability, antitumor efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics. In this heavily pretreated patient population, treatment with the combination of AFM13 and pembrolizumab was generally well tolerated, with similar safety profiles compared to the known profiles of each agent alone. The combination of AFM13 with pembrolizumab demonstrated an objective response rate of 88% at the highest treatment dose, with an 83% overall response rate for the overall population. Pharmacokinetic assessment of AFM13 in the combination setting revealed a half-life of up to 20.6 hours. This proof-of-concept study holds promise as a novel immunotherapy combination worthy of further investigation