Abstract Outcome of patients with high risk MDS and CMML who failed treatment with azacitidine remains poor with a median survival of 6 months, without established therapy available except allogeneic ...hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The objective of our study was to evaluate efficacy of decitabine after azacitidine failure in a relatively large patient cohort based on conflicting results with 0–28% response rates (RR) in this setting in small patient series. Thirty-six consecutive high risk MDS and CMML patients who received decitabine after azacitidine failure were retrospectively reviewed. Response was based on IWG 2006 criteria for MDS and CMML with WBC <13 G/l and also included for proliferative CMML the evolution of WBC, splenomegaly (SMG) and extramedullary disease (EMD). Patients received a median number of 3 (range 1–27) cycles of decitabine and 12 patients received at least 6 cycles. Seven (19.4%) patients were responders including 3 marrow CR (mCR), 2 stable disease (SD) with HI-E, 1 SD with HI-N and HI-P and 1 SD with HI-N. In a CMML patient with SD, specific skin lesions resolved with decitabine. Responses were generally short lived (2–5 months) except 1 responder currently ongoing with +11 months follow up. Two non-responders had prolonged SD (without HI) of 21 and 27 months duration respectively. Median OS from onset of decitabine was 7.3 months, without significant difference between responders and non-responders. Treatment with decitabine after azacitidine failure yielded modest ORR (19.4%) with short response duration and poor OS. Thus, use of decitabine in such patients who failed or progressed after azacitidine cannot be recommended, underscoring the need for novel strategies in this setting.
Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal inhibitors (BETi) such as OTX015 are active in Acute Myeloid Leukaemias (AML). Their activity on Leukemic Stem Cells (LSCs) is less documented. We interrogated the ...anti-LSC activity of OTX015 in a niche-like long-term culture in 26 primary AML samples and validated our findings in vivo. OTX015 impaired LSCs in AMLs harbouring Core Binding Factor or KMT2A gene fusions, NPM1 or chromatin/spliceosome genes mutations, but not in those with aneuploidy/TP53 mutations. In four patients, we dissected the transcriptomic footprint of Bet inhibition on LSCs versus blasts. Our results can instruct future clinical trials of BETi in AML.
In this study, we aimed to refine prognostication of older with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after intensive chemotherapy. Five hundred and nine patients aged 60 years or older (median age, 68 years) ...were prospectively enrolled in the intensive Acute Leukemia French Association (ALFA)-1200 trial between 2012 and 2016, and 471 patient samples were submitted to multigene analysis. Mutations in any of 8 genes frequently altered in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including ASXL1, SRSF2, STAG2, BCOR, U2AF1, EZH2, SF3B1, and ZRSR2, defined a secondary AML (sAML)-like disease, as reported. Of the samples analyzed, 48% included sAML-like gene mutations. These mutations were associated with a shorter event-free survival, both overall (hazard ratio, 1.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.19-1.79; P < .001) and within the European LeukemiaNet (ELN)-2017 intermediate-risk subgroup (hazard ratio, 1.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-2.28; P = .044), which excludes ASXL1-mutated cases by definition. We therefore included patients with intermediate-risk AML carrying sAML-like mutations in a single high-risk patients group together with adverse-risk patients with AML, whereas other intermediate-risk patients were included in a standard-risk group together with favorable-risk patients (high-risk/standard-risk patient ratio, 1.00). Using this 2-class risk assessment, we observed that transplantation prolonged overall survival from remission in patients with high-risk AML only, not in patients with standard-risk AML. Routine analysis of sAML-like gene mutations may thus improve the definition of high-risk older patients with AML, and better identify the half of older patients who clearly derive survival benefit from allogeneic transplantation in first remission. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01966497.
•Secondary AML-like gene mutations other than ASXL1 also identify a substantial subset of patients with intermediate-risk AML and a worse outcome.•In one-third of AML of the ELN 2017 intermediate-risk group, sAML-like mutations other than ASXL1 can be detected.
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Context. The prognostic value of gene mutations in older AML patients (pts) treated intensively remains unclear. Only one study has explored the role of mutation patterns determined by NGS in older ...AML pts prospectively treated with various chemotherapies in years 2000-2010 (Eisfeld Leukemia 2018).
Methods. Pts older than 60y enrolled in the ALFA-1200 trial (NCT01966497) between 09/2012 and 06/2016 were sequenced with a 37-gene myeloid panel. Pts received one 7+3 course followed by 2 intermediate-dose cytarabine courses. Pts with non-favorable risk were eligible for allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). Variable selection for multivariate analyses was performed by lasso penalized regression including age, gender and log(WBC) as covariates.
Results. Sequencing was done in 471 (93%) of the 509 enrolled pts. Median age and WBC count were 68y and 5.3x109/L, respectively (resp). CR (including CRp) was achieved in 341 (72%) pts and 90 underwent RIC-SCT in first CR. With a median follow-up of 25.4 months, median OS was 20.7 months.
Pts had a median of 3 mutations (range 1-10). The 17 mostly frequently mutated genes (≥5% of pts, by decreasing frequency: DNMT3A, NPM1, TET2, ASXL1, FLT3, SRSF2, IDH2, RUNX1, NRAS, IDH1, STAG2, BCOR, TP53, PTPN11, U2AF1, EZH2 and KRAS) were retained for prognostic analyses. Genes belonging to a common pathway (eg. NRAS and KRAS) may have divergent prognostic values, preventing biology-informed grouping of mutations.
Cytogenetic risk (derived from ELN 2017, Döhner Blood 2017, not considering gene mutations) was favorable (fav), intermediate (int), adverse (adv) and missing in 3%, 72%, 18% and 7% resp. Because of the few pts with fav cytogenetics in our cohort, pts were further grouped into non-adv and adv cytogenetics. CR rates and median OS were 75.6% vs 56.6% and 24.8 vs 9.5 months in pts with non-adv and adv cytogenetics, resp (both p<0.0001). Because of difference in mutational patterns and gene-gene interactions, the prognostic role of mutations was considered independently in these two non-adv and adv subgroups.
In the 388 pts with non-adv cytogenetics, NPM1 mutations independently predicted improved CR rate (Odds Ratio OR=2.3, p=0.014), while mutations in ASXL1 (OR=0.46, p=0.012), RUNX1 (OR=0.46, p=0.013) and NRAS (OR=0.49, p=0.04) had independent adverse predictive value. In univariate analysis the shorter OS of FLT3-ITD pts was confined to allele ratios≥ 0.5 (FLT3-ITDhigh, p=0.02). In a multivariate analysis accounting for clinical covariates, mutations in NPM1 (Hazard Ratio HR=0.45, p<0.0001) and in SRSF2 (HR=0.64, p=0.03) predicted improved outcome, while FLT3-ITDhigh (HR=2.00, p=0.03), mutations in DNMT3A (HR=1.74, p=0.001), ASXL1 (HR=1.84, p=0.002) and NRAS (HR=1.70, p=0.009), but not RUNX1 or TP53, independently predicted worse OS. Significant interactions (eg. NPM1 - SRSF2, p=0.009, NPM1 - DNMT3A, p=0.03) precluded a simple NPM1-based stratification of pts with non-adv cytogenetics. This led to define a new prognostic hierarchy (Figure). The 49 NPM1mut pts with SRSF2 mutation and/or without adverse co-mutations (FLT3-ITDhighDNMT3A, ASXL1 and NRAS) had a median OS of 49.7 months, defining very low risk. NPM1wt pts without adverse co-mutations (n=114) had a median OS of 30.7 months and were considered at low risk. Among pts with ≥1 adverse co-mutation, NPM1 status had no significant prognostic influence (p=0.18). Regardless of NPM1 status, pts with a single (n=187) or ≥2 (n=38) adverse co-mutations (FLT3-ITDhighDNMT3A, ASXL1 or NRAS) had a median OS of 21.0 and 12.0 months, resp, and were considered at intermediate and high risk, resp.
In the 83 pts with adv cytogenetics, TP53 mutations predicted shorter OS (p=0.004). Among pts with adv cytogenetics, those without TP53 mutation had a median OS of 12.6 months and were thus classified as high risk while the median OS of the 30 pts with adv cytogenetics and TP53 mutations was only 5.4 months, defining very high risk disease. This stratification resulted in improved OS prediction compared to the full molecular ELN 2017 (C-index 0.63 vs 0.58, resp). This stratification also predicted Relapse-Free Survival (RFS, Figure, p<0.0001). Censoring at SCT did not affect these results.
Conclusion. In AML patients older than 60y treated intensively, mutations in 7 genes (NPM1, SRSF2, FLT3, DNMT3A, ASLX1, NRAS and TP53) can refine the prognosis of cytogenetic sub-groups.
Cluzeau:MENARINI: Consultancy; CELGENE: Consultancy; JAZZ PHARMA: Consultancy.
Azacitidine (AZA) prolonged overall survival (OS) in the AZA-AML-001 trial. However, few subjects were randomized to AZA or intensive chemotherapy (IC). The Medical Research Council (MRC) and the ...Leukemia Research Foundation (LRF) developed a score for older AML patients receiving IC or non-intensive regimens, whereas the E-ALMA study validated a score for survival and response in elderly patients receiving AZA in daily practice. Both identified three groups with different risk estimates. This analysis evaluates the efficacy of frontline AZA in older AML patients (N = 710) unfit for IC from different national registries (E-ALMA + series) stratified by the MRC/LRF risk score. Median OS of patients categorized as good, standard and poor-risk groups by the MRC/LRF score was 13.4 (95% CI, 10.8-16), 12.4 (95% CI, 9.9-14.8), and 8.1 months (95% CI, 7-9.1), respectively (p = .0001). In conclusion, this is the largest retrospective cohort of older AML patients treated with AZA.
In this Phase 2 study, we evaluated the efficacy of combination of 5-azacitidine (AZA), valproic acid (VPA), and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ...or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Treatment consisted of six cycles of AZA and VPA for 7 days, followed by ATRA for 21 days. Sixty-five patients were enrolled (median age, 72 years; 55 AML including 13 relapsed/refractory patients, 10 MDS; 30 unfavorable karyotypes). Best responses included 14 CR and 3 PR (26%), 75% of the responders and 36% of the non-responders achieving an erythroid response. Median overall survival (OS) was 12.4 months. Untreated patients had a longer OS than relapsed/refractory patients. In patients who fulfilled the 6 planned cycles, OS did not appear to depend on CR/PR achievement, suggesting that stable disease while on-treatment would be a surrogate for survival with this approach. During therapy, early platelet response and demethylation of the FZD9, ALOX12, HPN, and CALCA genes were associated with clinical response. Finally, there was no evidence for the restoration of an ATRA-induced differentiation during therapy. Epigenetic modulation deserves prospective comparisons to conventional care in patients with high-risk AML, at least in those presenting previously untreated disease and low blast count.
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