The Mutational Landscape of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Predicts Responses and Outcomes in Elderly Patients from the PETHEMA-FLUGAZA Phase 3 Clinical Trial

Mutational profiling using a custom 43-gene next-generation sequencing panel revealed that patients with mutated DNMT3A or EZH2, or an increase in TET2 VAF and lower TP53 VAF showed a higher overall response. NRAS and TP53 variants were associated with shorter overall survival (OS), whereas only mutated BCOR was associated with a shorter relapse-free survival (RFS). Subgroup analyses of OS according to biological and genomic characteristics showed that patients with low-intermediate cytogenetic risk and mutated NRAS benefited from azacytidine therapy and patients with mutated TP53 showed a better RFS in the azacytidine arm. In conclusion, differential mutational profiling might anticipate the outcomes of first-line treatment choices (AZA or FLUGA) in older patients with AML. We sought to predict treatment responses and outcomes in older patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) from our FLUGAZA phase III clinical trial (PETHEMA group) based on mutational status, comparing azacytidine (AZA) with fludarabine plus low-dose cytarabine (FLUGA). Mutational profiling using a custom 43-gene next-generation sequencing panel revealed differences in profiles between older and younger patients, and several prognostic markers that were useful in young patients were ineffective in older patients. We examined the associations between variables and overall responses at the end of the third cycle. Patients with mutated DNMT3A or EZH2 were shown to benefit from azacytidine in the treatment-adjusted subgroup analysis. An analysis of the associations with tumor burden using variant allele frequency (VAF) quantification showed that a higher overall response was associated with an increase in TET2 VAF (odds ratio (OR), 1.014; p = 0.030) and lower TP53 VAF (OR, 0.981; p = 0.003). In the treatment-adjusted multivariate survival analyses, only the NRAS (hazard ratio (HR), 1.9, p = 0.005) and TP53 (HR, 2.6, p = 9.8 × 10 −7) variants were associated with shorter overall survival (OS), whereas only mutated BCOR (HR, 3.6, p = 0.0003) was associated with a shorter relapse-free survival (RFS). Subgroup analyses of OS according to biological and genomic characteristics showed that patients with low-intermediate cytogenetic risk (HR, 1.51, p = 0.045) and mutated NRAS (HR, 3.66, p = 0.047) benefited from azacytidine therapy. In the subgroup analyses, patients with mutated TP53 (HR, 4.71, p = 0.009) showed a better RFS in the azacytidine arm. In conclusion, differential mutational profiling might anticipate the outcomes of first-line treatment choices (AZA or FLUGA) in older patients with AML. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT0231913

Safety and efficacy of tafasitamab ± lenalidomide added to first-line R‑CHOP for DLBCL: Phase 1b First-MIND study.

Anti-CD19 immunotherapy tafasitamab in combination with lenalidomide is used in patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant. Open-label, phase 1b, First-MIND study assessed safety and preliminary efficacy of tafasitamab + R-CHOP ± lenalidomide as first-line therapy in patients with DLBCL. Adults with newly-diagnosed, untreated DLBCL (ECOG PS 0-2, IPI 2-5), were randomly assigned to R-CHOP+tafasitamab (Arm T) or R-CHOP+tafasitamab+lenalidomide (Arm T/L) for six cycles. Primary endpoint was safety; secondary endpoints included overall response rate (ORR) and complete response (CR) rate at end of treatment (EoT). From Dec2019-Aug2020, 83 patients were screened, 66 treated (n=33 per arm). All patients had ≥1 treatment-emergent adverse event, mostly grade 1/2. Grade ≥3 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia occurred in 57.6% and 12.1% of patients (Arm T), and 84.8% and 36.4% (Arm T/L). Non-hematologic toxicities occurred at similar rates between arms. Mean relative dose intensity of R-CHOP was 89% or higher in both arms. ORR at EoT was 75.8% (CR 72.7%) in Arm T and 81.8% (CR 66.7%) in Arm T/L; best ORR across visits was 90.0% and 93.9%. Eighteen-month duration of response and duration of CR rates were 72.7% and 74.5% (Arm T), and 78.7% and 86.5% (Arm T/L); 24-month progression-free survival and overall survival rates were 72.7% and 90.3% (Arm T), and 76.8% and 93.8% (Arm T/L). Manageable safety and promising signals of efficacy were observed in both arms. Potential benefit of adding tafasitamab+lenalidomide to R-CHOP is being investigated in phase 3 frontMIND (NCT04824092)

Treatment patterns and outcomes of 2310 patients with secondary acute myeloid leukemia : a PETHEMA registry study

This study was supported in part by the Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Cooperative Research Thematic Network (RTICC) grant RD12/0036/014 (ISCIII and ERDF)

Characteristics and Outcomes of Adult Patients in the PETHEMA Registry with Relapsed or Refractory FLT3-ITD Mutation-Positive Acute Myeloid Leukemia

This retrospective study investigated outcomes of 404 patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3)-internal tandem duplication (ITD) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) enrolled in the PETHEMA registry, pre-approval of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Most patients (63%) had received first-line intensive therapy with 3 + 7. Subsequently, patients received salvage with intensive therapy (n = 261), non-intensive therapy (n = 63) or supportive care only (n = 80). Active salvage therapy (i.e., intensive or non-intensive therapy) resulted in a complete remission (CR) or CR without hematological recovery (CRi) rate of 42%. More patients achieved a CR/CRi with intensive (48%) compared with non-intensive (19%) salvage therapy (p < 0.001). In the overall population, median overall survival (OS) was 5.5 months; 1-and 5-year OS rates were 25% and 7%. OS was significantly (p <0.001) prolonged with intensive or non-intensive salvage therapy compared with supportive therapy, and in those achieving CR/CRi versus no responders. Of 280 evaluable patients, 61 (22%) had an allogeneic stem-cell transplant after they had achieved CR/CRi. In conclusion, in this large cohort study, salvage treatment approaches for patients with FLT3-ITD mutated R/R AML were heterogeneous. Median OS was poor with both non-intensive and intensive salvage therapy, with best long-term outcomes obtained in patients who achieved CR/CRi and subsequently underwent allogeneic stem-cell transplant