The standard to ensure utmost cancer treatment is a prerequisite in national cancer plans for comprehensive cancer centers (CCCs) and ensured through multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs). Despite ...these being compulsory for CCCs, various analyses on MTBs have been performed, since MTBs are resource-intensive. Outcome measures in these prior analyses had been survival (OS), MTB-adherence and -satisfaction, inclusion of patients into clinical trials and better cancer care.
A publication from Freytag et al. performed an analysis in multiple tumor entities and assessed the effect of number of MTBs. By matched-pair analysis, they compared response and OS of patients, whose cases were discussed in MTBs vs. those that were not. The analysis included 454 patients and 66 different tumor types. Only patients with > 3 MTBs showed a significantly better OS than patients with no MTB meeting. Response to treatment, relapse free survival and time to progression were not found to be better, nor was there any difference for a specific tumor entity with vs. without MTB discussions. An in-depth discussion of these results, with respect to the literature (PubMed search: "MTBs AND cancer") and within the author group, including statisticians specialized in data analysis of cancer patients and questions addressed in MTBs, was performed to interpret these findings. We conclude that the results by Freytag et al. are deceiving due to an "immortal time bias" that requires more careful data interpretation.
The result of Freytag et al. of a seemingly positive impact of higher number of MTBs needs to be interpreted cautiously: their presumed better OS in patients with > 3 MTB discussions is misleading, due to an immortal time bias. Here patients need to survive long enough to be discussed more often. Therefore, these results should not lead to the conclusion that more MTBs will "automatically" increase cancer patients' OS, rather than that the insightful discussion, at best in MTBs and with statisticians, will generate meaningful advice, that is important for cancer patients.
Treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) is more complex today due to the availability of novel therapeutic options, mostly applied as combination regimens. immunotherapy options have ...especially increased substantially, likewise the understanding that patient-, disease- and treatment-related factors should be considered at all stages of the disease. RRMM is based on definitions of the international myeloma working group (IMWG) and includes biochemical progression, such as paraprotein increase, or symptomatic relapse with CRAB criteria (hypercalcemia, renal impairment, anemia, bone lesions). When choosing RRMM-treatment, the biochemical markers for progression and severity of the disease, dynamic of disease relapse, type and number of prior therapy lines, including toxicity and underlying health status, need to be considered, and shared decision making should be pursued. Objectively characterizing health status via geriatric assessment (GA) at each multiple myeloma (MM) treatment decision point has been shown to be a better estimate than via age and comorbidities alone. The well-established national comprehensive cancer network, IMWG, European myeloma network and other national treatment algorithms consider these issues. Ideally, GA-based clinical trials should be supported in the future to choose wisely and efficaciously from available intervention and treatment options in often-older MM adults in order to further improve morbidity and mortality.
Purpose
Outcomes of multiple myeloma (MM) patients who are refractory to daratumumab are dismal and no standard of treatment exists for this patients’ population. Here, we investigate the role of ...pomalidomide combinations in daratumumab-refractory MM patients.
Methods
We performed a retrospective analysis of myeloma patients treated at four referral centers (three in Germany and one in Italy). Review chart identified 30 patients with relapsed and refractory myeloma, who progressed during treatment with daratumumab and were treated with pomalidomide-based combinations in the subsequent lines of therapy.
Results
Responses improved from 37% with daratumumab to 53% with pomalidomide. Of seven patients with extramedullary MM (EMM), four achieved a clinical stabilization with pomalidomide, including one patient with a long-lasting complete response. Median progression-free survival and overall survival were 6 and 12 months, respectively. Pomalidomide combinations were well tolerated, no patient discontinued treatment due to adverse events.
Conclusion
These data show that pomalidomide-based combinations can be an effective and safe salvage regimen for daratumumab-refractory patients, including those with EMM.
Introduction: Over the last decade MM diagnosis and therapy have greatly improved; notably due to an increasing number of “novel agents” (NA; e.g. PIs, IMiDs, mAbs, HDAC-, PD1/PD-L1-inhibitors). ...Anti-MM-therapy has gained complexity; orientation towards “state of the art” chemotherapy (CTx) protocols and international guidelines, as well as their continuous evaluation is highly important. According to the international literature, analyses of CTx management and particularly the use of novel substances have mainly been performed in the context of clinical trials (CT), therefore in a selected minority of patients (pts). In order to determine, whether guideline recommendations on MM therapy are thoroughly implemented in- and outside CT settings, we performed a real-world data analysis on clinical MM practice patterns. Substance use was analyzed in view of treatment lines and evaluated for “MM-pathway conformity”.
Methods: We performed a detailed analysis of 287 myeloma pts treated at our University Medical Center, part of the DSMM study group in 2014/15. The pt cohort was defined using the hospital pharmacy and tumor documentation (TBD) databases. TBD analysis enabled the detailed acquisition of pt characteristics, such as age at initial diagnosis (ID), gender, Durie and Salmon (D&S) and International Staging System stage (ISS). Status of transplantation (Tx), comorbidity (via Revised Myeloma Comorbidity Index R-MCI), CT data, treatment line/cycle and the year of CTx application were collected using electronic medical records, TBD and CTx management tools. Basic data on therapy composition was collected for the years 2005 to 2017, separating two treatment periods for 1st, 2nd and 3rd-line therapy of 2005-2012 and 2013-2017. This cut-off was carefully chosen to discriminate best between NA- and non-NA-based regimens, and between first generation PI- (bortezomib (BOR) and IMiD-use (thalidomide (THAL), lenalidomide (LEN)) and second generation NA.
Results: Pt characteristics were representative for tertiary centers with a median age of 63 years (27-89), 54% were 60-79 and 14% >80 years old. The male:female gender ratio was 58%:42% and ISS predominantly advanced (II/III:62%). Pts showed substantial comorbidities and were classified as fit, intermediate-fit and frail according to R-MCI in 33%, 56% and 11%, respectively. Of interest, 33% of pts could be enrolled in CTs and 88% received 1st line treatment at our center. 275 pts received 1st-line, 149 pts 2nd-line and 97 pts 3rd-line treatment (Fig.1). As expected, numbers of pts decreased with subsequent lines of treatment, albeit the median time to 2nd line therapy due to progression amounted to 2 years. As depicted in Fig.1, 1st line conventional CTx (cCTx) alone was rare and substantially declined over time from 12% 2005-2012 to 1% in 2013-2017. 200 pts (73%) were treated with BOR in 1st line, 63 of 106 reinduced pts received BOR in 2nd or 3rd line. IMiD 2nd and 3rd line treatment was also common within different regimens and the combination of 2 NA of both PI+IMiD increased over time (BOR+THAL, BOR+LEN). The use of second generation NA in 2nd and 3rd line treatment notably increased in 2013 to 2017 in line with their approval. Our analysis revealed that 44% of second generation NA protocols were administered outside CT settings, mainly due to tight inclusion and wide CT exclusion criteria. Maintenance was performed in 57% of pts, predominantly with LEN (60%) and within DSMM CT protocols.
Conclusion: Our analyses demonstrate that NA combinations are used predominantly today, whereas the use of cCTx alone is substantially declining. While BOR plays an important role in induction, LEN was subsequently used for maintenance and in outpatient-regimens. BOR-reinduction as a validated treatment option is also reflecting the substantial amount of BOR-based protocols worldwide. A significant percentage of second generation NA are administered outside CT settings, representing the fast and effective implementation of guideline recommendations into the real-world clinical practice at our and other MM centers. Currently, we are assessing the percentage of pts discussed in our weekly MM tumorboard, the evidence level of therapeutic interventions, PFS and OS. Results will be shown at the meeting, including the comparison of our data with others in a detailed review of the literature.
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Engelhardt:German Cancer Aid (#11424): Other: Educational Grant; Janssen Cilag GmbH: Other: Educational Grant; Celgene GmbH: Other: Educational Grant; Amgen GmbH: Other: Educational Grant.
Summary
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have achieved huge clinical success. However, many still have limited response rates, and are prohibitively costly. There is a need for effective and ...affordable ICIs, as well as local manufacturing capacity to improve accessibility, especially to low‐to‐middle income countries (LMICs). Here, we have successfully expressed three key ICIs (anti‐PD‐1 Nivolumab, anti‐NKG2A Monalizumab, and anti‐LAG‐3 Relatimab) transiently in Nicotiana benthamiana and Nicotiana tabacum plants. The ICIs were expressed with a combination of different Fc regions and glycosylation profiles. They were characterized in terms of protein accumulation levels, target cell binding, binding to human neonatal Fc receptors (hFcRn), human complement component C1q (hC1q) and various Fcγ receptors, as well as protein recovery during purification at 100 mg‐ and kg‐scale. It was found that all ICIs bound to the expected target cells. Furthermore, the recovery during purification, as well as Fcγ receptor binding, can be altered depending on the Fc region used and the glycosylation profiles. This opens the possibility of using these two parameters to fine‐tune the ICIs for desired effector functions. A scenario‐based production cost model was also generated based on two production scenarios in hypothetical high‐ and low‐income countries. We have shown that the product accumulation and recovery of plant production platforms were as competitive as mammalian cell‐based platforms. This highlights the potential of plants to deliver ICIs that are more affordable and accessible to a widespread market, including LMICs.
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