A randomized trial suggests that patients with negative PET-CT findings after two cycles of ABVD may have the bleomycin dropped from the regimen for the final four cycles. The omission of bleomycin ...reduced pulmonary toxic effects without reducing overall survival.
The treatment of advanced-stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma with chemotherapy has produced high survival rates. A series of randomized trials has confirmed that doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD), first described more than 40 years ago,
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yields cure rates of 70 to 80%, similar to the rates observed with more complex multidrug regimens.
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The possible exception is escalated therapy with bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (BEACOPP), with higher-than-standard doses of etoposide, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide.
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This escalated regimen has been shown to yield higher progression-free survival rates than ABVD among previously untreated patients.
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Trials in which ABVD and . . .
Pretreatment of B-cell lymphoma patients with immunostimulatory gene therapy using armed oncolytic viruses may prime tumor lesions for subsequent chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, ...thereby enhancing CAR T-cell functionality and possibly increasing response rates in patients. LOAd703 (delolimogene mupadenorepvec) is an oncolytic adenovirus (serotype 5/35) that encodes for the transgenes CD40L and 4-1BBL, which activate both antigen-presenting cells and T cells. Many adenoviruses failed to demonstrate efficacy in B-cell malignancies, but LOAd703 infect cells via CD46, which enables B cell infection. Herein, we investigated the therapeutic potential of LOAd703 in human B-cell lymphoma models, alone or in combination with CAR T-cell therapy. LOAd703 could infect and replicate in B-cell lymphoma cell lines (BC-3, Karpas422, Daudi, DG-75, U-698) and induced an overall enhanced immunogenic profile with upregulation of co-stimulatory molecules CD80, CD86, CD70, MHC molecules, death receptor Fas and adhesion molecule ICAM-1. Further, CAR T-cell functionality was boosted by stimulation with lymphoma cells infected with LOAd703. This was demonstrated by an augmented release of IFN-γ and granzyme B, increased expression of the degranulation marker CD107a, fewer PD-1 + TIM-3+ CAR T cells in vitro and enhanced lymphoma cell killing both in in vitro and in vivo xenograft models. In addition, LOAd703-infected lymphoma cells upregulated the secretion of several chemokines (CXCL10, CCL17, CCL22, CCL3, CCL4) essential for immune cell homing, leading to enhanced CAR T-cell migration. In conclusion, immunostimulatory LOAd703 therapy is an intriguing approach to induce anti-lymphoma immune responses and to improve CAR T-cell therapy in B-cell lymphoma.
Background Malignancies in the urinary tract and the kidney graft are quite common after kidney transplantation. In some selected cases tumours develop from donor-derived tissue. Objectives We ...hypothesised that there is a clinical value to investigate donor/recipient origin in urologic malignancies in renal transplant recipients. Methods In this retrospective study, including patients transplanted between the years 1969 and 2014 at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, 11 patients with malignancies in urinary tract and 4 patients with malignancies in kidney transplants were investigated. Donor/recipient origin of tumour tissue was analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes or by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH analysis) of sex chromosomes. HLA genotype and sex chromosomes of the tumour were compared to the known HLA genotype and sex chromosomes of recipient and donor. Results Three of ten cancers in the urinary tract and three of four cancers in the kidney transplants were donor-derived. Conclusions We suggest that urologic malignancies in renal transplant recipients can be investigated for transplant origin. In addition to conventional therapy the allograft immune response against these tumours can be valuable to treat donor-derived cancers.
We performed a national population-based study of all patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in Sweden in 2007-2014 to assess treatment intent and risk of relapsed/refractory ...disease, including central nervous system (CNS) relapse, in the presence of competing risks. Overall, 84% of patients started treatment with curative intent (anthracycline-based) (n = 3550, median age 69 years), whereas 14% did not (n = 594, median age 84 years) (for 2% the intent was uncertain). Patients treated with curative intent had a 5-year OS of 65.3% (95% CI: 63.7-66.9). The median OS among non-curatively treated patients was 2.9 months. The 5-year cumulative incidence of relapsed/refractory disease in curative patients was 23.1% (95% CI: 21.7-24.6, n = 847). The 2-year cumulative incidence of CNS relapse was 3.0% (95% CI: 2.5-3.6, n = 118) overall, and 8.0% (95% CI: 6.0-10.6, n = 48) among patients with high CNS-IPI (4-6), when considering other relapse locations and death as competing events. The incidence of relapsed/refractory DLBCL overall and in the CNS was lower than in previous reports, still one in seven patients was not considered fit enough to start standard immunochemotherapy at diagnosis. These results are important for quantification of groups of DLBCL patients with poor prognosis requiring completely different types of interventions.
We studied the expression of programed death 1 (PD-1) receptor and its ligands (PD-L1/-L2) by immunohistochemistry and its association with clinicopathological features in 81 posttransplant ...lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs) following solid organ transplantation. Overall, 67% (54/81) of the PTLDs were positive in any of the three immunostainings. PD-1 was detected on tumor-infiltrating cells in 41% (33/81) of the PTLDs. PD-L1 was expressed on ≥5% of the tumor cells in 50% (40/80) and PD-L2 in 32% (23/72) of the PTLDs. All Burkitt lymphomas were PD-L1 negative. Expression of PD-L1 tended to be associated with non-germinal center-type of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (63% vs. 33% in GC-type, p = .14) and latent membrane protein-1+ PTLD (76% vs. 44% in LPM1-, p = .09). Heart recipients had more frequent PTLDs with PD-1+ microenvironment (p = .01). The frequent expression of PD-1 or -L1/-L2 in PTLD warrants further clinical evaluation of the efficacy and safety of PD-(L)1 inhibitors for refractory PTLD.
The aim was to investigate male and female cancer survivors' perception of fertility-related information and use of fertility preservation (FP) in connection with cancer treatment during reproductive ...age.
The study sample consisted of cancer survivors diagnosed from 2003 to 2007 identified in population-based registers in Sweden. Inclusion criteria included survivors who were age 18 to 45 years at diagnosis and had lymphoma, acute leukemia, testicular cancer, ovarian cancer, or female breast cancer treated with chemotherapy. Of 810 eligible participants, 484 survivors (60% response rate) completed a postal questionnaire.
The majority of male participants reported having received information about treatment impact on fertility (80%) and FP (68%), and more than half of the men banked frozen sperm (54%). Among women, less than half (48%) reported that they received information about treatment impact on fertility, and 14% reported that they received information about FP. Only seven women (2%) underwent FP. Predictors for receiving information about treatment impact on fertility were a pretreatment desire to have children (odds ratio OR, 3.5), male sex (OR, 3.2), and being ≤ 35 years of age at diagnosis (OR, 2.0). Predictors for receiving information about FP included male sex (OR, 14.4), age ≤ 35 at diagnosis (OR, 5.1), and having no children at diagnosis (OR, 2.5).
Our results show marked sex differences regarding the receipt of fertility-related information and use of FP. There is an urgent need to develop fertility-related information adapted to female patients with cancer to improve their opportunities to participate in informed decisions regarding their treatment and future reproductive ability.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is one of the most common and aggressive types of B-cell lymphoma. Deregulation of proto-oncogene expression after a translocation, most notably to the ...immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus (IGH), is one of the hallmarks of DLBCL. Using whole-genome sequencing analysis, we have identified the PD-L1/PD-L2 locus as a recurrent translocation partner for IGH in DLBCL. PIM1 and TP63 were also identified as novel translocation partners for PD-L1/PD-L2. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was furthermore used to rapidly screen an expanded DLBCL cohort. Collectively, a subset of samples was found to be affected by gains (12%), amplifications (3%), and translocations (4%) of the PD-L1/PD-L2 locus. RNA sequencing data coupled with immunohistochemistry revealed that these cytogenetic alterations correlated with increased expression of PD-L1 but not of PD-L2. Moreover, cytogenetic alterations affecting the PD-L1/PD-L2 locus were more frequently observed in the non–germinal center B cell–like (non-GCB) subtype of DLBCL. These findings demonstrate the genetic basis of PD-L1 overexpression in DLBCL and suggest that treatments targeting the PD-1–PD-L1/PD-L2 axis might benefit DLBCL patients, especially those belonging to the more aggressive non-GCB subtype.
•Translocations between PD-L1 and the IGH locus represent a genetic mechanism of PD-L1 overexpression in DLBCL.•Genetic alterations in the PD-L1/PDL-2 locus are mainly associated with the non-GCB subtype of DLBCL.
Next-generation sequencing studies on diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) have revealed novel targets of genetic aberrations but also high intercohort heterogeneity. Previous studies have ...suggested that the prevalence of disease subgroups and cytogenetic profiles differ between Western and Asian patients. To characterize the coding genome of Chinese DLBCL, we performed whole-exome sequencing of DNA derived from 31 tumors and respective peripheral blood samples. The mutation prevalence of B2M, CD70, DTX1, LYN, TMSB4X, and UBE2A was investigated in an additional 105 tumor samples. We discovered 11 novel targets of recurrent mutations in DLBCL that included functionally relevant genes such as LYN and TMSB4X. Additional genes were found mutated at high frequency (≥10%) in the Chinese cohort including DTX1, which was the most prevalent mutation target in the Notch pathway. We furthermore demonstrated that mutations in DTX1 impair its function as a negative regulator of Notch. Novel and previous unappreciated targets of somatic mutations in DLBCL identified in this study support the existence of additional/alternative tumorigenic pathways in these tumors. The observed differences with previous reports might be explained by the genetic heterogeneity of DLBCL, the germline genetic makeup of Chinese individuals, and/or exposure to distinct etiological agents.
•Sequencing of Chinese DLBCL reveals novel mutation targets and highlights additional/alternative tumorigenic pathways in these tumors.•DTX1 is frequently mutated in Chinese DLBCL and deleterious mutations in this gene contribute to the activation of the Notch pathway.
High expression of programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) by leukocytes in primary classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is associated with inferior outcome. However, it is unclear how ...expression varies during disease progression, and in the event of relapse. Our aim was to study PD-1 and PD-L1 in consecutive biopsies from untreated and treated cHL patients. We screened pathology registries from 3500 cHL patients. Eleven patients had a diagnostic cHL biopsy and a previous benign lymph node biopsy reclassified as cHL when reviewed and designated as the untreated. Thirty patients had a primary and a relapse biopsy, designated as the treated. Biopsies were immunostained to detect PD-1+ and PD-L1+ leukocytes, and PD-L1+ tumor cells. In the untreated, none of the markers were statistically significantly different when biopsies 1 and 2 were compared. In the treated, 19, 22, and 18 of 30 cases had increased proportions of PD-1+ leukocytes, PD-L1+ leukocytes and PD-L1+ tumor cells, respectively, and were all statistically significantly increased when primary and relapse biopsies were compared. PD-1 and PD-L1 most likely increase due to primary treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which could have implications regarding treatment with PD-1 inhibitors.
Recent transcriptomic-based analysis of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has highlighted the clinical relevance of LN fibroblast and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) signatures within the ...tumor microenvironment (TME). However, the immunomodulatory role of fibroblasts in lymphoma remains unclear. Here, by studying human and mouse DLBCL-LNs, we identified the presence of an aberrantly remodeled fibroblastic reticular cell (FRC) network expressing elevated fibroblast-activated protein (FAP). RNA-Seq analyses revealed that exposure to DLBCL reprogrammed key immunoregulatory pathways in FRCs, including a switch from homeostatic to inflammatory chemokine expression and elevated antigen-presentation molecules. Functional assays showed that DLBCL-activated FRCs (DLBCL-FRCs) hindered optimal TIL and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell migration. Moreover, DLBCL-FRCs inhibited CD8+ TIL cytotoxicity in an antigen-specific manner. Notably, the interrogation of patient LNs with imaging mass cytometry identified distinct environments differing in their CD8+ TIL-FRC composition and spatial organization that associated with survival outcomes. We further demonstrated the potential to target inhibitory FRCs to rejuvenate interacting TILs. Cotreating organotypic cultures with FAP-targeted immunostimulatory drugs and a bispecific antibody (glofitamab) augmented antilymphoma TIL cytotoxicity. Our study reveals an immunosuppressive role of FRCs in DLBCL, with implications for immune evasion, disease pathogenesis, and optimizing immunotherapy for patients.
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