Latest Conference Articles

A significant reduction in the risk of disease progression or death was observed from treatment with the upfront combination of ibrutinib plus obinutuzumab in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma compared with chlorambucil and obinutuzumab. 

Durable responses were achieved with acalabrutinib therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma, with 40% still on treatment for more than 2 years, according to long-term follow-up findings presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

Initial results from a phase I study showed an objective response rate of 83.3% had been achieved in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma who had been treated with the anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy bb21217.

Maria-Victoria Mateos, MD, PhD, discusses the key takeaways from the phase III ALCYONE trial looking at bortezomib, melphalan, and prednisone in combination with daratumumab in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are transplant ineligible.

According to a presentation of findings from the phase II CLARITY study at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting, ibrutinib in combination with venetoclax demonstrated tolerability among patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The combination also induced minimal residual disease negativity in the marrow in 39% of these patients after 12 months.

Among older patients with acute myeloid leukemia who were ineligible for intensive chemotherapy, preliminary findings demonstrated that more than 70% achieved complete responses to venetoclax in combination with hypomethylating agents.

According to findings from the phase III TOURMALINE-MM3, a 39% improvement in progression-free survival was demonstrated with 2-year maintenance therapy with ixazomib compared with placebo for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who had previously achieved a partial response with an induction therapy of a proteasome inhibitor and/or an immunomodulatory agent following autologous stem cell transplant.

Peter M. Voorhees, MD, investigator, department of hematologic oncology & blood disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health, discusses efficacy and updated safety findings of a safety run-in cohort from the phase II Griffin trial, a randomized study of daratumumab, bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (Dara-Vrd) versus Vrd in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma eligible for high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, during the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

It may be possible for hematologists to determine subtypes of acute myeloid leukemia based on genetic analsysis of blood samples in 7 days or less. According to Amy Burd, PhD, this process could play an important role in diagnosing and treating patients.

Pembrolizumab in combination with umbralisib and ublituximab induced responses in 90% of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to data from a phase I/II study presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting. Additionally, a 50% response rate was also demonstrated in patients with Richter’s transformation.

After 7 years of follow-up, single-agent ibrutinib demonstrated continued efficacy in the frontline and heavily pretreated, relapsed/refractory settings for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma.

Lisocabtagene maraleucel induced an 81.3% best overall response rate and 43.8% complete response in high-risk patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who were heavily pretreated and had previously received ibrutinib, according to dose-finding results presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting. 

Zanubrutinib induced an overall response rate of 83.5% in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma, with many responses demonstrating durability, according to the results of&nbsp;a phase II trial.<br /> &nbsp;

According to results from a small clinical study, checkpoint&nbsp;inhibitors in combination with&nbsp;chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy showed promise for improving CAR T-cell persistance in some patients with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

In a study of transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, daratumumab added to bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone induced at least a very good partial response in all patients, including a complete response in 63% of patients, at the end of consolidation therapy.<br /> &nbsp;

Patients with&nbsp;acute lymphoblastic leukemia saw a reduction in the risk for recurrence after receiving a stem cell transplant for the first time following treatment with CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy.

According to a retrospective phase I/II study, over 80% of patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia responded to concurrent treatment with ibrutinib and the CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor CAR T-cell therapy, JCAR014.¹ Findings from this study were presented at&nbsp;the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting.

The need for frequent red blood cell transfusions was reduced with luspatercept&nbsp;in nearly 53% of patients with anemia associated with low- to intermediate-risk&nbsp;myelodysplastic syndrome.

Victor Chow, MD, senior hematology-oncology fellow, University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses a retrospective study assessing outcomes of patients with large B-cell lymphomas and progressive disease following CD19-Specific CAR T-cell therapy during the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

After a median of 19 months of follow-up, durable objective response rates were sustained with tisagenlecleucel in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. These updated findings from the phase II JULIET study were presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.&nbsp;

According to updated data from the phase II ELIANA study,&nbsp;CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel as treatment of&nbsp;pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia sustained rates of&nbsp;relapse-free survival and overall survival at 24 and 18 months.&nbsp;

Progression-free survival was significantly improved with both ibrutinib as monotherapy and in combination with rituximab when&nbsp;compared to bendamustine plus rituximab as a treatment for older patients with newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia. These data were presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

Treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic cancers with the transforming growth factor-&beta; receptor type 1 inhibitor LY3200882 demonstrated a tolerable safety profile and early signs of efficacy, according to the results from a first-in-human, dose-escalation phase I trial presented at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.

Results from a phase II trial of abemaciclib presented at the 2018 CTOS Annual Meeting showed that the majority of patients with dedifferentiated liposarcoma remained progression free at 12 weeks following abemaciclib treatment.

The addition of olaratumab to doxorubicin-based chemotherapy resulted in similar response and stable disease rates between patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma and a good performance status, but provided an improved safety profile that favored the olaratumab cohort, according to results reported at the 2018 CTOS Annual Meeting.

Cabozantinib demonstrated the strongest response observed to date among all the multikinase inhibitors that have shown activity in bone sarcoma, according to results from the CABONE trial that were reported at the 2018 CTOS Annual Meeting.

Avapritinib showed substantial clinical activity in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors with <em>KIT</em> and <em>PDGFRA</em> mutations, according to findings from the phase I NAVIGATOR trial presented at the 2018 CTOS Annual Meeting. To date, patients with GIST who harbor these mutations have typically been resistant to all available therapies.

Half of the patients with inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMFT) demonstrated a response to crizotinib (Xalkori), according to results from the EORTC phase II &quot;CREATE&quot; study 90101 reported at the 2018 CTOS Annual Meeting.

The investigational agent avapritinib demonstrated encouraging response rates in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors and PDGFR&alpha; D842V-driven GIST, according to findings presented during the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society in Rome, Italy.

During the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society, Anette Duensing, MD, assistant professor of pathology at University of Pittsburgh, discusses the need for further investigation into how treatment type impacts perceived cognitive function in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor.