Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is used to investigate the presence
of somatic mutations. The utility of incorporating routine
sequencing to guide diagnosis and therapeutic decisions remains
...unclear. We report the findings of an observational, multicenter study that
aimed to assess the impact of somatic mutation testing by NGS in a reallife
setting of chronic myeloid malignancies. A total of 177 patients were
enrolled, partitioned into two overlapping groups. In group A (n=94), the
indication was to search for clonal hematopoiesis, in a context of suspected
myelodysplastic syndrome or myeloproliferative neoplasia. In group B
(n=95), the theranostic impact of somatic mutations was studied. A panel
of 34 genes was used on DNA extracted from blood or bone marrow samples.
Within group A, the detection of clonal hematopoiesis supported the
diagnosis of chronic myeloid malignancies for 31 patients while the
absence of clonal hematopoiesis ruled out the suspected diagnosis in 47
patients. Within group B, NGS identified prognostically relevant somatic
mutations in 32 patients, which had a therapeutic impact in 18 cases. By
determining the presence or absence of somatic mutations, the application
of NGS in daily practice was found to be useful for an integrated final
diagnosis in 83% of the patients. Moreover, the search for somatic mutations
had a prognostic impact that led to treatment modification in 19%
of the cases. This study outlines the fact that adequate implementation of
new investigations may have a significant positive medico-economic
impact by enabling appropriate management of patients.
Systemic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (SIADs) associated with myelodysplastic syndromes are often difficult to treat. Corticosteroids are efficient but only usually at high doses. The use of ...biologics needs to be specified.
In a French multicenter retrospective study, we analyzed the efficacy and safety of biologics (tumor necrosis factor-α TNF-α antagonists, tocilizumab, rituximab and anakinra) for SIADs associated with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs). Clinical, biological and overall treatment responses were evaluated. When several lines of treatment were used, data were analyzed before and at the end of each treatment line and were pooled to compare overall response among steroids, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biologics.
We included 29 patients (median age 67years interquartile range 62–76, 83% males) with MDS-related SIADs treated with at least one biologic. The MDSs were predominantly refractory anemia with excess blasts 1 (38%) and refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (21%). The SIADs were mainly arthritis (n=6; 20%), relapsing polychondritis (n=8; 30%) and vasculitis (n=10; 34%). During a 3-year median follow-up (IQR 1.3–4.5), a total of 114 lines of treatments were used for all patients: steroids alone (22%), DMARDs (23%), TNF-α antagonists (14%), anakinra (10%), rituximab (10%), tocilizumab (7%) and azacytidine (9%). Considering all 114 lines, overall response (complete and partial) was shown in 54% cases. Overall response was more frequent with steroids (78%) and rituximab (66%) than DMARDs (45%) and other biologics (33%) (p<0.05). Rituximab had better response in vasculitis and TNF-α antagonists in arthritis. During follow-up, 20 patients (71%) presented at least one severe infection.
This nationwide study demonstrates the efficacy of steroids for SIAD-associated MDSs but a high frequency of steroid dependence. The response to biologics seems low, but rituximab and azacytidine seem promising.
Next generation sequencing (NGS) investigates for somatic mutations. The utility of incorporating routine sequencing to guide diagnosis and therapeutic decisions remains challenging. We report an ...observational multicentric study that aimed to assess the impact of somatic mutations testing by NGS in a real-life setting of chronic myeloid malignancies (CMM). A total of 177 patients were enrolled, partitioned in two overlapping groups. In group A (N=94), the indication was to search for clonal hematopoiesis (CH), in a context of suspected myelodysplastic syndrome or myeloproliferative neoplasia. In group B (N=95), the theranostic impact of somatic mutations was studied. A panel of 34 genes was applied on DNA extracted from blood or bone marrow samples. Within group A, the detection of CH comforted the diagnosis of CMM for 31 patients while absence of CH ruled out the suspected diagnosis in 47 patients. Within group B, NGS identified prognostic somatic mutations in 32 patients, with a therapeutic impact in 18 cases. The use of NGS in daily practice was found here to be useful for an integrated final diagnosis in 83% of the patients through the presence or absence of somatic mutations. Moreover, exploration for somatic mutations had a prognostic impact that led to treatment modification in 19% of the cases. This study outlines the fact that adequate prescription of these new investigations may have a significant positive medico-economic impact by allowing appropriate management of the patients.
Introduction
Next generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed to improve knowledge about the genomic landscape of hematological malignancies. Somatic mutations (SM) are valuable new biomarkers but the ...utility of incorporating routine sequencing to guide diagnosis and therapeutic decisions remains challenging. We report here an observational multicentric study aimed at assessing the impact of SM testing by NGS in a real-life setting on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic myeloid malignancies (CMM).
Patients and Method
All patients who benefited from molecular assessment, between 10/2014 and 03/2019 in our University Hospital were included. All provided informed consent for data collection. All NGS requests were validated during a regional multidisciplinary concertation meeting. A custom targeted panel of 34 genes (145kbp i.e. ASXL1,BCOR, BCORL1, CBL, CSF3R, DNMT3A, ETV6, EZH2, GATA2, IDH1, IDH2, JAK2, KDM6A, KIT, KRAS, MPL, NPM1, NRAS, PIGA, PTEN, PTPN11, RAD21, RUNX1, SETBP1, SF3B1, SMC1A, SMC3, SRSF2, STAG2, TET2, TNFAIP3, TP53, U2AF1, ZRSR2) was applied on DNA extracted from peripheral blood or bone marrow samples. DNA libraries, built with the Haloplex® target enrichment protocol (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA), were paired-end sequenced (150bp reads) with a MiSeq® Instrument (Illumina, San Diego, CA). Data analysis used an in-house pipeline including three variant callings (GATK HaplotypeCaller, VarScan and SAMTools).
In a first group (A), NGS indication was to search for clonal hematopoiesis (CH), defined by the presence of at least one SM, in order to confirm or rule out a diagnosis of Idiopathic Cytopenia of Undetermined Significance (ICUS), Clonal Cytopenia of Undetermined Significance (CCUS), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), mixed myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm (MDS/MPN), aplastic anemia (AA)/hypoplastic myelodysplasia (hMDS) or myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN), based on recommendations of the WHO classification. In a second group (B), the theranostic impact of SM was studied. Prognostic SMs according to Bejar (2011) were used for MDS and MDS/MPN excluding chronic myelomonocytic leukemia that were analyzed with Itzykson score (2013) and/or CPSS-Mol score (Elena 2016). Prognostic SMs according to Vannucchi (2013) were used for myelofibrosis.
Results
The median age of the cohort was 60 years old (range: 10-87) with a median follow up of 1.1 years from molecular assessment to last follow-up. Within group A (94 patients), the most frequent blood count anomalies were cytopenia (68%), thrombocytosis (16%), and monocytosis (13%). The karyotype was normal in 77% and failed in 5% of the cases. Non-specific abnormalities (i.e. loss of chr Y, del 20q), were found in 8% of the cases. Before molecular assessment, the diagnoses proposed were ICUS (n=37), suspicion of MDS/MPN (n=16), AA/hMDS (n=16), or MPN (n=25). CH was detected in 31 patients comforting the diagnosis of CMM for 33% of group A (8 CCUS, 3 MDS, 7 MDS/MPN, 6 medullary hypoplasia, 7 MPN) patients. Considering the patients for whom no CH was detected (n=63), the initial suspected diagnosis of CMM was ruled out in 47 patients (i.e. 50% of group A). For the 16 remaining (i.e. 17% of group A), no firm diagnosis could be retained.
Within group B (95 patients), NGS identified prognosis SM in 33% of the patients, i.e. poor prognosis SM in 24, including 8/40 MDS, 10/29 MDS/MPN and 6/17 myelofibrosis and good prognosis SM(SF3B1) in 7 of them, respectively 6/40 MDS and 1/29 MDS/MPN. Prognostic SMs had a therapeutic impact in 18/95 pts (19%). Indeed 13 patients with poor prognosis SM had a therapeutic change including 12 allogeneic stem-cell transplantation and 1 hypomethylating agent. Conversely, 5 patients with a good prognosis SM or absence of poor prognosis SM had a de-escalation of treatment intensity.
Conclusion
The use of NGS in daily practice had a clinical impact in both diagnostic and therapeutic decisions provided that the prescription is made in a critically explored context and not as a systematic test. In this “real life” cohort, the presence or absence of SM was a useful complement for integrated diagnoses in 83% of the patients, allowing to confirm (33%), or exclude (50%) a suspected condition. Moreover, in this cohort 34% of the patients had a SM with a reported prognostic impact and the treatment was modified in 19% of the cases. Yet, it remains necessary to integrate these results with other diagnostic criteria.
Peterlin:AbbVie Inc: Consultancy; Jazz Pharma: Consultancy; Astellas: Consultancy; Daiichi-Sankyo: Consultancy. Moreau:Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria. Le Gouill:Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel support; Roche-Genentech: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel support. Chevallier:Daiichi Sankyo: Honoraria; Incyte: Consultancy, Honoraria; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria.
Introduction : High total metabolic tumor volume (TMTV) measured on 18F-FDG PET/CT before R-CHOP has been shown to be significantly associated with worse progression-free survival (PFS) and overall ...survival (OS) in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL; Cottereau et al. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22:3801-9) . The REMARC study (NCT01122472) is an international, multicenter, double-blind, randomized phase III trial that assessed lenalidomide (LEN) maintenance therapy versus placebo (PBO) in 650 patients responding to R-CHOP. With a median follow-up of ~40 months, independent review demonstrated that 2 years of LEN maintenance therapy significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS); median was not reached in the LEN arm vs 58.9 months in the PBO arm (HR=0.71 95% CI, 0.54-0.93; p=0.0135; Thieblemont et al. J Clin Oncol. 2017;35:2473-81).
Methods: For these analyses, patients enrolled in the REMARC trial who had baseline PET/CT before R-CHOP (not mandatory per study protocol) with available fused images and end of treatment PET/CT were included. Total metabolic tumor volume (TMTV, defined as the sum of the regions of the local tumors with FDG uptake) was measured on baseline PET/CT with the 41% SUVmax thresholding method using the free semiautomatic software Beth Israel Fiji20 (http://petctviewer.org). The optimal TMTV cut-off to PFS (per FDA censoring rule) and overall survival (OS) was determined by Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) curves and X-tile analyses. Survival was estimated using Kaplan Meier (KM) curves. Multivariable analysis were performed with descending Cox model including TMTV, IPIaa, treatment arm and PET/CT response evaluated by Deauville criteria. Analyses were performed on the evaluable population and separate arms
Results: 228 of 650 REMARC patients had TMTV data available for analysis, including n=108 in the PBO arm and n=120 in the LEN arm. Clinical characteristics were similar to the overall population. The median baseline TMTV was 295 cm3 (Q1-Q3, 99-702). After a median follow-up of 51.6 mo, 4y-PFS was 73% and 4y-OS was 85%. The optimal TMTV cut-off determined by ROC was 300 cm3 for PFS and OS.
Patients with TMTV >300 vs ≤300 cm3 presented with worse ECOG performance status (ECOG ≥2: 19% vs 9%, p=0.034), higher Ann Arbor stage (stage III-IV: 95% vs 86%, p=0.042), more extra-nodal sites (>1: 65% vs 38%, p<0.001), more frequently elevated LDH (76% vs 43%, p<0.001), higher IPI (IPI 3-5: 87% vs 51%, p<0.001), and higher aaIPI (aaIPI 2-3: 76% vs 34%, p<0.001).
In all evaluated patients, a significant impact of TMTV for cut-offs of >300 vs ≤300 cm3 was observed for PFS (HR=2.09; 95% CI, 1.22-3.69) and OS (HR=2.99; 95% CI, 1.44-6.18). Patients with high TMTV >300 cm3 vs low TMTV ≤300 cm3, respectively, had a 4-year PFS of 57% vs 73% and OS of 70% vs 88%. These results were more disparate when a higher TMTV cut-off of >1000 was applied. In multivariate analysis, only TMTV maintained an independent prognostic value.
The prognostic impact of TMTV >300 vs ≤300 cm3 on PFS (HR=2.4; 95% CI, 1.1-5.22) and OS (HR=5.0; 95% CI, 1.4-17.) was maintained in the PBO arm (Figure 1A). In contrast, when the analysis was focused on patients in LEN arm, TMTV >300 vs ≤300 cm3 lost its prognostic impact on PFS and OS. In the LEN arm, 4-year PFS and OS did not differ significantly between patients with high and low TMTV (Figure 1B).
Conclusion: TMTV measured on baseline PET/CT is a strong prognosticator of outcome in DLBCL, even in patients in response after R-CHOP. High TMTV at baseline was significantly associated with worse PFS and OS in patients receiving PBO following a response to R-CHOP in the REMARC study. Interestingly, LEN maintenance reduces the negative impact of high baseline TMTV on survival in patients with DLBCL
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Casasnovas:takeda: Consultancy; merck: Consultancy; MSD: Consultancy; Roche: Consultancy; Gilead Sciences: Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; Gilead Sciences: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; MSD: Honoraria; Roche: Research Funding; Gilead Sciences: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy. Tilly:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Honoraria; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Astra-Zeneca: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Feugier:Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Ribrag:Infinity: Consultancy, Honoraria; Servier: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Other: travel; MSD: Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: travel; epizyme: Consultancy, Honoraria; NanoString Technologies: Consultancy, Honoraria; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria; argenX: Research Funding; pharmamar: Other: travel; Incyte Corporation: Consultancy. Macro:Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Financial support for congress; Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Financial support for congress; Amgen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Financial support for congress; Takeda: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Financial support for congress. Morschhauser:Gilead: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Epizyme: Consultancy; Janssen: Other: Scientific Lectures; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Trotman:Janssen: Other: Unremunerated member of Ad Board, Research Funding; F. Hoffman-La Roche: Other: Travel to meeting, Unremunerated member of Ad Board, Research Funding; Takeda: Other: Unremunerated member of Ad Board; Celgene: Other: Unremunerated member of Ad Board, Research Funding; PCYC: Research Funding; Beigene: Research Funding. Godmer:CELGENE: Other: Invitation to congress. Salles:Servier: Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Morphosys: Honoraria; Servier: Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board, Research Funding; Acerta: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board; Pfizer: Honoraria; Epizyme: Honoraria; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Gilead: Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board; BMS: Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board; Takeda: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria. Coiffier:CELGENE: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; MUNDIPHARMA: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; CELLTRION: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; MORPHOSYS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; NOVARTIS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Meignan:F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd: Honoraria.
Background
There is no standard treatment for R/R MCL that fail first line treatment. Non cross resistant regimens are usually used, which provided sometimes good overall response rate (until 93%) ...but with a minor disease control (PFS<2years). 1 The main objective of these salvage regimens is to bypass disease resistance, to obtain more profound ( deep or durable) response and to ensure, in younger patients, the option of performing autologous or allogenic stem cell transplantation. For older patients prolonging disease free survival is the aim. The new combination RiVBD (Rituximab-Bendamustine-Bortezomib-Dexametasone) has recently shown to be an effective regimen in frontline for eldery patients with a good tolerability profile (NCT 01457144). 2 Many French centers have also used this association for the R/R patients.
Aim
To explore the efficacy of the RiBVD regimen in the salvage therapy setting following failure of one, two or more prior treatments.
Methods
We proposed to all French LYSA partner centers a survey to retrospectively evaluate the efficacy of the RiBVD regimen in R/R MCL patients, regardless of prior treatments used. The RiBVD regimen comprises : Rituximab 375mg/sqm D1, Bendamustine 90mg/sqm D1 and D2, bortezomib 1,3mg/sqm D1, D4, D8, D11 and dexamethasone 40 mg D2. Analysis was performed in June 2016.
Results
From January 2012 to December 2015, 49 patients from 17 French hematological centers were recruited to the study. The median age was 72 years (50-91y) with 14 young (<65y) and 35 older patients (> 65y). Thirty eight cases presented with classic MCL variant and 11 had a blastoid variant. All patients but one were CD20+, CD5+, CD10- and were positive CYCLIN D1 expression and/or the t(11;14)(q13;q32). Eighteen patients presented a t(11;14) (q13;q32).The CYCLIN D1 negative patient had a t(11;14).
Treatment history: Twenty seven patients received RiBVD in second line, 12 in third line and 10 patients after the third lines. Twenty two patients were refractory to their previous line and 27 were in relapse. Before RiBVD 44/49 patients (90%) had received high dose cytarabine, 3 Ibrutinib and 14 patients were intensified (11 at diagnosis, 3 in relapse).
Efficacy: The global overall response rate (ORR) was 75% (37/49, 23 CR and 14 PR). For patients treated in 2nd line, the ORR was 85% (23/27, 16 CR and 7 PR), in 3nd line 58% (7/12, 4 CR and 3 PR), and 70% (7/10) for the others (3 CR and 4 PR). Young patients had an ORR of 64% (9/14, 8 CR, 2 RP) and elderly pts 77% (27/35, 15 CR, 12 PR). For relapsed and refractory pts the ORR was respectively 85% (23/27, 15 CR and 8 PR) and 63% (14/22 with 8 CR and 6 PR). For Classic and blastoid variants the ORR was 81.5% (31/38, 20 CR and 11 PR) and 54% (6/11, 3 CR and 3 PR) respectively. Note that 2/3 pts receiving RiBVD regimen post Ibrutinib failure, reached PR (n=2) and showed stable disease (n=1).
Major toxicities were seen in 31 pts (63%) with grade 3/4 hematological toxicity in 22 pts, grade 3 neurotoxicity in 3 pts, grade 3/4 cardiotoxicity in 3 pts, grade 3/4 infectious complications in 8 pts, grade 4 fatigue in 3 pts and grade 3 digestive-tract or cutaneous toxicity in one pt each.
At the update point, 17 pts had died, 15 for lymphoma progression, 2 for TRM while experiencing a CR (infectious and leukemia). The follow-up of the 32 surviving pts was 14.5 month. The median PFS was 9 months for the 49 pts. The PFS was statistically affected by the pathologic type (classic vs Blastoid, p=0.03), the number of prior treatment (one vs >one, p=0.04) and response to RiBVD (CR vs PR vs no response, p<0.0001 with a median PFS not reached for CR pts, 6 months for PR and 2 months for no response. The age (<65 vs >65) or the state (relapse or refractory) at the time of RiBVD had no impact on PFS.
Conclusion
The RiBVD regimen which shows remarkable efficacy in frontline treatment of elderly MCL pts, shows potential as a salvage therapy for refractory or relapsed MCL following cytarabine based treatment. This is particularly true for the 47% of patients achieving CR for which 2 years PFS was 71% regardless of their age.
1. Cheah CY, Seymour JF, Wang ML. Mantle Cell Lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 2016; 34: 1256-1269.
2. Gressin R, Callanan M, Daguindau N et al. Frontline therapy with the RiBVD regimen elicits high Clinical and Molecular Response Rates and long PFS in elderly patients Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL); Final Results of a Prospective Phase II trial by the LYSA group. Blood 2014.
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No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Rituximab was proven superior to azathioprine for maintenance treatment of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). The high cost of rituximab might, however, limit its ...routine use. This study determined the cost-effectiveness of intravenous rituximab (5 x 500 mg until month 18), versus oral azathioprine (2 mg/kg per day, gradually decreased between month 12 and 22), for maintenance treatment of patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis, microscopic polyangiitis, or renal-limited vasculitis, aged 18-75.
We performed a single-trial based economic evaluation. MAINRITSAN was a 28-month multicentre, prospective, randomised, controlled open-label trial. We estimated the cost of healthcare resources and quality of life using prospectively collected data. Healthcare costs were estimated from the perspective of the French Social Health Insurance's perspective, using 2016 tariffs for reimbursement. Utilities were derived from Short Form 36 scores. We estimated total average cost, incremental cost per incremental relapse averted and per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained. Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess uncertainty over relapses, severe adverse events, discount rate, utility weights, time horizon and the cost of rituximab. Costs drivers were tested using a generalised linear model.
Total average costs were €13,387 (€11,605-€15,646) and €10,217 (€7,567-12,949) in the rituximab and azathioprine groups respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was €12,824 per relapse averted and the incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) €37,782 per QALY gained. Besides the unit cost of rituximab, the major cost drivers were relapses and severe adverse events.
Maintenance treatment by rituximab could be cost-effective for preventing relapses in patients with AAV.
The benefit of radiotherapy (RT) after chemotherapy in limited-stage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) remains controversial. We conducted a randomized trial in patients with nonbulky ...limited-stage DLBCL to evaluate the benefit of RT after rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP). Patients were stratified according to the modified International Prognostic Index, including lactate dehydrogenase, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, age, and disease stage. The patients received 4 or 6 consecutive cycles of R-CHOP delivered once every 2 weeks, followed or not by RT at 40 Gy delivered 4 weeks after the last R-CHOP cycle. All patients were evaluated by fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography scans performed at baseline, after 4 cycles of R-CHOP, and at the end of treatment. The primary objective of the trial was event-free survival (EFS) from randomization. The trial randomly assigned 165 patients in the R-CHOP arm and 169 in the R-CHOP plus RT arm. In an intent-to-treat analysis with a median follow-up of 64 months, 5-year EFS was not statistically significantly different between the 2 arms, with 89% ± 2.9% in the R-CHOP arm vs 92% ± 2.4% in the R-CHOP plus RT arm (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.3-1.2; = .18). Overall survival was also not different at 92% (95% CI, 89.5%-94.5%) for patients assigned to R-CHOP alone and 96% (95% CI, 94.3%-97.7%) for those assigned to R-CHOP plus RT ( = not significant). R-CHOP alone is not inferior to R-CHOP followed by RT in patients with nonbulky limited-stage DLBCL. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00841945.
In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the number of circulating monocytes and neutrophils represents an independent prognostic factor. These cell subsets include monocytic and granulocytic ...myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M- and G-MDSCs) defined by their ability to suppress T-cell responses. MDSCs are a heterogeneous population described in inflammatory and infectious diseases and in numerous tumors including multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and DLBCL. However, their mechanisms of action remain unclear. We broadly assessed the presence and mechanisms of suppression of MDSC subsets in DLBCL. First, a myeloid suppressive signature was identified by gene expression profiling in DLBCL peripheral blood. Accordingly, we identified, in a cohort of 66 DLBCL patients, an increase in circulating G-MDSC (LinnegHLA-DRnegCD33posCD11bpos) and M-MDSC (CD14posHLA-DRlow) counts. Interestingly, only M-MDSC number was correlated with the International Prognostic Index, event-free survival, and number of circulating Tregs. Furthermore, T-cell proliferation was restored after monocyte depletion. Myeloid-dependent T-cell suppression was attributed to a release of interleukin-10 and S100A12 and increased PD-L1 expression. In summary, we identified expanded MDSC subsets in DLBCL, as well as new mechanisms of immunosuppression in DLBCL.