Positive detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) by multichannel flow cytometry (MFC) prior to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) ...identifies patients at high risk for relapse, but many pre-HCT MFC-MRD negative patients also relapse, and the predictive power MFC-MRD early post-HCT is poor. To test whether the increased sensitivity of next-generation sequencing (NGS)–MRD better identifies pre- and post-HCT relapse risk, we performed immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) variable, diversity, and joining (VDJ) DNA sequences J NGS-MRD on 56 patients with B-cell ALL enrolled in Children's Oncology Group trial ASCT0431. NGS-MRD predicted relapse and survival more accurately than MFC-MRD (P < .0001), especially in the MRD negative cohort (relapse, 0% vs 16%; P = .02; 2-year overall survival, 96% vs 77%; P = .003). Post-HCT NGS-MRD detection was better at predicting relapse than MFC-MRD (P < .0001), especially early after HCT (day 30 MFC-MRD positive relapse rate, 35%; NGS-MRD positive relapse rate, 67%; P = .004). Any post-HCT NGS positivity resulted in an increase in relapse risk by multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 7.7; P = .05). Absence of detectable IgH-V(D)J NGS-MRD pre-HCT defines good-risk patients potentially eligible for less intense treatment approaches. Post-HCT NGS-MRD is highly predictive of relapse and survival, suggesting a role for this technique in defining patients early who would be eligible for post-HCT interventions. The trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00382109.
•IgH-V(D)J NGS-MRD detection pretransplant identifies a cohort at low risk for relapse, for which treatment modification could be considered.•Positive NGS-MRD was highly predictive of relapse and survival as early as 30 days after HCT.
Multicenter trials in children and young adults using second-generation CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have shown dramatic levels of remission in patients with multiply ...relapsed/refractory disease (80% to ≥90%). Early results in adult trials have also shown significant responses, and strategies aimed at mitigating toxicities associated with the therapy have improved tolerability. Therefore, if available, CAR T-cell therapy deserves consideration for salvage of children and adults with B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) who are multiply relapsed, refractory, or relapsed after a previous allogeneic transplantation. For patients with a first relapse or who have persistent minimal residual disease (MRD) after initial or relapse therapy, treatment with blinatumomab or inotuzumab is reasonable to help patients achieve MRD
remission before definitive therapy with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). A number of studies in younger patients using 4-1BB-based CAR T-cell constructs lentivirally transduced into patient T cells and then optimally expanded have resulted in long-term persistence without further therapy. In 1 study using CD28-based CARs in adults, the benefit of HCT after CAR T-cell therapy was not clear, because a group of patients experienced long-term remissions without HCT. These data suggest that CAR T-cell therapy may be able to substitute for transplantation in many patients, avoiding the risks and long-term consequences of HCT. With this is mind, and with emerging data better defining ways of enhancing CAR T-cell persistence and avoiding relapse through antigen escape, CAR T cells will have a growing role in treatment of both pediatric and adult B-ALLs in the coming years.
Age has long been used as a major factor for assessing suitability for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). The HCT-comorbidity index (HCT-CI) was developed as a measure of health ...status to predict mortality risk after HCT. Whether age, comorbidities, or both should guide decision making for HCT is unknown.
Data from 3,033 consecutive recipients of HLA-matched grafts from five institutions contributed to this analysis. Patients were randomly divided into a training set to develop weights for age intervals and a validation set to assess the performance of prognostic models.
In the training set, patients age 20 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years, 50 to 59 years, and ≥ 60 years had hazard ratios for nonrelapse mortality (NRM) of 1.21 (P = .29), 1.48 (P = .04), 1.75 (P = .004), and 1.84 (P = .005), respectively, compared with those age younger than 20 years. Consequently, age ≥ 40 years was assigned a weight of 1 to be added to the HCT-CI to constitute a composite comorbidity/age index. In the validation set, the composite comorbidity/age score had statistically significantly higher c-statistic estimates for prediction of NRM (0.664 v 0.556; P < .001) and survival (0.682 v 0.560; P < .001) compared with age, respectively. Patients with comorbidity/age scores of 0 to 2 had comparable mortality risks regardless of conditioning regimens. Patients with scores of 3 to 4 and ≥ 5 had statistically significant higher mortality risks after high-dose versus nonmyeloablative regimens.
Age is a poor prognostic factor. The proposed composite measure allows integration of both comorbidities and age into clinical decision making and comparative-effectiveness research of HCT.
IMPORTANCE: Standard chemotherapy for first relapse of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in children, adolescents, and young adults is associated with high rates of severe toxicities, ...subsequent relapse, and death, especially for patients with early relapse (high risk) or late relapse with residual disease after reinduction chemotherapy (intermediate risk). Blinatumomab, a bispecific CD3 to CD19 T cell–engaging antibody construct, is efficacious in relapsed/refractory B-ALL and has a favorable toxicity profile. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether substituting blinatumomab for intensive chemotherapy in consolidation therapy would improve survival in children, adolescents, and young adults with high- and intermediate-risk first relapse of B-ALL. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This trial was a randomized phase 3 clinical trial conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group at 155 hospitals in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand with enrollment from December 2014 to September 2019 and follow-up until September 30, 2020. Eligible patients included those aged 1 to 30 years with B-ALL first relapse, excluding those with Down syndrome, Philadelphia chromosome–positive ALL, prior hematopoietic stem cell transplant, or prior blinatumomab treatment (n = 669). INTERVENTIONS: All patients received a 4-week reinduction chemotherapy course, followed by randomized assignment to receive 2 cycles of blinatumomab (n = 105) or 2 cycles of multiagent chemotherapy (n = 103), each followed by transplant. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES: The primary end point was disease-free survival and the secondary end point was overall survival, both from the time of randomization. The threshold for statistical significance was set at a 1-sided P <.025. RESULTS: Among 208 randomized patients (median age, 9 years; 97 47% females), 118 (57%) completed the randomized therapy. Randomization was terminated at the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee without meeting stopping rules for efficacy or futility; at that point, 80 of 131 planned events occurred. With 2.9 years of median follow-up, 2-year disease-free survival was 54.4% for the blinatumomab group vs 39.0% for the chemotherapy group (hazard ratio for disease progression or mortality, 0.70 95% CI, 0.47-1.03); 1-sided P = .03). Two-year overall survival was 71.3% for the blinatumomab group vs 58.4% for the chemotherapy group (hazard ratio for mortality, 0.62 95% CI, 0.39-0.98; 1-sided P = .02). Rates of notable serious adverse events included infection (15%), febrile neutropenia (5%), sepsis (2%), and mucositis (1%) for the blinatumomab group and infection (65%), febrile neutropenia (58%), sepsis (27%), and mucositis (28%) for the chemotherapy group. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among children, adolescents, and young adults with high- and intermediate-risk first relapse of B-ALL, postreinduction treatment with blinatumomab compared with chemotherapy, followed by transplant, did not result in a statistically significant difference in disease-free survival. However, study interpretation is limited by early termination with possible underpowering for the primary end point. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02101853
Tisagenlecleucel is a CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy approved for treatment of pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and ...adults with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The initial experience with tisagenlecleucel in a real-world setting from a cellular therapy registry is presented here. As of January 2020, 511 patients were enrolled from 73 centers, and 410 patients had follow-up data reported (ALL, n = 255; NHL, n = 155), with a median follow-up of 13.4 and 11.9 months for ALL and NHL, respectively. Among patients with ALL, the initial complete remission (CR) rate was 85.5%. Twelve-month duration of response (DOR), event-free survival, and overall survival (OS) rates were 60.9%, 52.4%, and 77.2%, respectively. Among adults with NHL, the best overall response rate was 61.8%, including an initial CR rate of 39.5%. Six-month DOR, progression-free survival, and OS rates were 55.3%, 38.7%, and 70.7%, respectively. Grade ≥3 cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity were reported in 11.6% and 7.5% of all patients, respectively. Similar outcomes were observed in patients with in-specification and out-of-specification products as a result of viability <80% (range, 61% to 79%). This first report of tisagenlecleucel in the real-world setting demonstrates outcomes with similar efficacy and improved safety compared with those seen in the pivotal trials.
•Represents the largest set of safety and efficacy data for tisagenlecleucel.•Outcomes in the real-world setting are similar to results in the pivotal trials.
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By overcoming chemotherapeutic resistance, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells facilitate deep, complete remissions and offer the potential for long-term cure in a substantial ...fraction of patients with chemotherapy refractory disease. However, that success is tempered with 10% to 30% of patients not achieving remission and over half of patients treated eventually experiencing relapse. With over a decade of experience using CAR T cells in children, adolescents, and young adults (AYA) to treat relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and 5 years since the first US Food and Drug Administration approval, data defining the nuances of patient-specific risk factors are emerging. With the commercial availability of 2 unique CD19 CAR T-cell constructs for B-ALL, in this article, we review the current literature, outline our approach to patients, and discuss how individual factors inform strategies to optimize outcomes in children and AYA receiving CD19 CAR T cells. We include data from both prospective and recent large retrospective studies that offer insight into understanding when the risks of CAR T-cell therapy failure are high and offer perspectives suggesting when consolidative hematopoietic cell transplantation or experimental CAR T-cell and/or alternative immunotherapy should be considered. We also propose areas where prospective trials addressing the optimal use of CAR T-cell therapy are needed.
Myers and colleagues discuss their approach to therapy of relapsed pediatric and adolescent/young adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with respect to predictors of successful chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. Following a single patient through several relapses, the authors discuss clinical trial data and answer remaining questions regarding salvage therapy, bridging therapy, consolidation therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for relapsed/refractory disease.
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