ALBERT

Description: Background:Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a hematologic malignancy characterized by the proliferation of clonal, mutated plasma cells, which ultimately leads to multi-organ damage and in most cases death. Despite improved treatments, clinical heterogeneity remains, with some patients succumbing to disease within 1-2 years. Certain cytogenetic and FISH abnormalities at diagnosis confer a higher likelihood of poor outcomes (Mikhael et al., 2013). Still, the utility of repeated cytogenetic assessment over the course of disease is unknown. Methods: We performed a retrospective review to identify MM patients with cytogenetics (CG) performed at diagnosis who had two or more bone marrow (BM) examinations performed during follow up over a five year period at UW Carbone Cancer Center. We reviewed the pathology and CG results from each BM sample. CG data was categorized into risk groups using the mSMART stratification criteria: High risk - deletion 17p13, t(14;16), t(14;20); intermediate risk - t(4;14), hypodiploid, deletion 13, gain of 1q21; standard risk - hyperdiploidy and all other abnormalities, and normal CG. CG progression over disease course was categorized based on stability or change in CG risk group. We measured survival from date of diagnosis to death or last follow up. Results: 130 patients with CG at diagnosis were identified over the five year period of the study. These patients had 365 follow-up bone marrow (BM) aspirates, 341 with repeat CG study. Initial cytogenetics were as follows: 90 (69%) of 130 patients had normal CG at diagnosis, 13 (10%) standard risk CG, 16 (13%) intermediate risk CG, and 11 (8%) high risk CG. Serial CG studies showed both development of new CG abnormalities in patients with previously normal studies, and clonal evolution with CG abnormal patients acquiring additional abnormalities on repeat testing. 24 (27%) of 90 patients with normal CG at diagnosis developed abnormal CG during disease course: 12 had intermediate risk CG and 9 high risk CG, the latter all due to p53 deletion. Clonal evolution and drift among initially CG abnormal patients were also common. Of the 34 patients with abnormal CG results on diagnosis and subsequent bone marrow samples, clonal evolution was identified in 19 patients (56%) and 4 (12%) patients developed new CG abnormalities unrelated to the prior clone, while 11 (32%) showed stable CG. Despite this high rate of change, only two patients with abnormal CG at diagnosis moved from a lower to a higher cytogenetic risk group. When we correlated CG at diagnosis with survival, we found that patients with high risk CG at diagnosis appeared to have shorter median overall survival at 3.8 yrs (range 1-12 yrs) compared with 7.4 yrs (range 2-12 yrs) for intermediate risk, 8.5 yrs (range 2-9 yrs) for standard risk, and 8.2 yrs (range 1-12 yrs) for normal CG. Comparison among all four groups was not statistically significant however, possibly due to the small proportion of high risk CG patients. When we examined the effect of acquiring CG abnormalities, we found that development of abnormal CG in patients with normal CG at diagnosis was associated with shorter median OS (4.0 yrs) compared to either persistent normal CG (11.3 yrs) or any CG abnormality at diagnosis (7.4 yrs), overall comparison p = 0.0048. Conclusion: Our longitudinal study of 130 unselected patients with MM revealed a cohort who showed cytogenetic progression. In patients with normal CG at diagnosis, the presence of cytogenetic abnormalities in follow-up BM specimens was associated with inferior overall survival. This finding indicates that serial testing may facilitate the detection of a higher risk patient cohort. Further analysis is underway to identify clinical parameters that underlie a higher risk of clonal evolution or development of new cytogenetic abnormalities. The results of our study will help elucidate the optimal prognostic utility of cytogenetic analysis in patient care. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: Background The inflammatory and immune response in tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in cancer progression. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported as a prognostic factor in solid and lymphoid malignancies. We explored the association of NLR with response to chemotherapy and overall survival (OS) in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (RR-AML). Methods A single-center retrospective study was conducted, including 63 adult RR-AML patients who underwent salvage therapy at the University of Wisconsin from 2009 to 2018. Demographic, clinical and pathologic factors were ascertained at the time of RR-AML diagnosis. Refractory AML was defined as failure to achieve remission and

Description: Introduction: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the only curative therapy for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Patients with high-risk disease have a markedly increased risk of relapse and death following transplant (Armand et al, Blood, 2014). Those who remain disease-free are at risk of severe morbidity from graft-versus- host-disease (GvHD). These issues highlight the importance of improved allo-HSCT platforms designed to reduce relapse rate without increasing risk of GvHD. Decitabine has minimal non-hematologic toxicity and proven efficacy in myeloid diseases (Blum et al, PNAS, 2010). Use of post-transplant cyclophosphamide has demonstrated improved rates of GvHD following allo-HSCT using haplo-identical donors (Bashey et al, JCO, 2013). No studies have reported on outcomes in patients undergoing decitabine immediately prior to transplantation followed by post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy). We hypothesized that the combination of decitabine induction prior to transplant and PTCy would be safe and result in improved disease control with low rates of GVHD, translating into improved survival in a high-risk transplant cohort. Methods In this single-arm, single institution trial, eligible patients received 10 days of IV decitabine at 20mg/m2 no sooner than 24 days and no later than 17 days prior to conditioning. Myeloablative conditioning included fludarabine (50mg/m2 day-5-2), busulfan (IV 3.2mg/kg/day -5-2), and 4 Gy total body irradiation on day -1. Patients above age 65 received a 25% busulfan dose reduction. Patients received a fully or partially matched related bone marrow graft on day 0. GvHD prophylaxis included 50mg/kg of IV cyclophosphamide on day +3-4. Patients with fully matched donors received only PTCy while those with partially matched donors also received mycophenolate mofetil through day +35 and tacrolimus through day +180. Results We enrolled 20 patients, fifteen patients with AML and 5 with MDS. The cohort had a median age of 64 (29-73) and was predominantly male (14/20, 70%). Eight (40%) patients scored as high risk by the HSCT comorbidity index. Eighteen patients (90%) had a high or very high-risk score by the refined disease risk index. All patients received decitabine and 18/20 (90%) underwent transplantation; 2 patients did not receive a transplant due to infectious complications. The majority of patients received a haplo-identical graft (13/18, 72%), and the remaining 5 received a matched related graft. Outcomes are reported in table 2 and figure 1. There were no engraftment failures. Five patients, 3 MDS and 2 AML, are long-term survivors with median follow-up over 3 years. One patient developed donor derived MDS and required a second transplant. Most transplanted patients (13/18, 72%) survived to day 100 with a median post-transplant survival of 138 days. There were 15 deaths on study with the majority due to underlying disease. Six patients (6/20, 30%) died of infectious complications or did not receive a transplant due to infection. Incidence of grade 3-4 acute GvHD was low among those surviving at least 40 days from transplant (3/17, 17%). There were also low rates of chronic GvHD among the 12 patients alive without ongoing GvHD at day 100 (2/12, 17%). Conclusions Decitabine induction followed by myeloablative conditioning in this high-risk population resulted in a high treatment related mortality of 40%. Still, outcomes fell into an expected range for high-risk myeloid disease in an elderly and comorbid population. Based on expected outcomes for high-risk patients from the literature (Armand et al, Blood, 2014), decitabine did not markedly improve overall survival outcomes, recognizing that no direct comparisons are available in our limited study population. Decitabine may increase the risk of peri-transplant infections by contributing to a cumulative immunologic insult combined with disease-related immunosuppression and transplant-related toxicity, highlighting the importance of strict vigilance for infections within this setting. Diligent monitoring may improve infectious outcomes as shown in the second half of the cohort; only two out of the latter 10 patients on protocol died of treatment related complications. There were no cases of engraftment failure. Rates of acute and chronic GvHD using a PTCy platform were low and support other studies reporting this benefit. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: Background: Novel agent induction and AHCT remains the preferred initial therapeutic strategy for transplant-eligible MM patients. Current prognostic tools in MM focus solely on disease-specific factors at diagnosis to determine patient prognosis-International Staging System (ISS) and revised-ISS (R-ISS). A major limitation to both, the ISS and R-ISS, is that they are not specific for HCT-eligible patients and do not take into account other patient factors that may enter into a decision to pursue AHCT. The data used to generate these staging systems were from broad populations with varying upfront treatment strategies and included patients who were ineligible for intensive therapy. Additionally, there is considerable interest in identifying the population that relapses early despite modern induction/AHCT approaches who are candidates for novel approaches for maintenance/consolidation. To address these problems, we used data from the Center for Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) registry to identify disease-, patient-, and transplantation-specific variables that are associated with progression-free survival (PFS) in patients undergoing upfront AHCT (within 12 months of diagnosis). Methods: We used the outcomes of 2528 MM patients undergoing upfront AHCT from 2008-2017 reported to the CIBMTR. Patients were divided into training and validation sets with a 50% random split. High risk cytogenetics was defined as the presence of one or more of the following: t(4;14), t (14;16), t (14;20), del 13q, del 17p, 1q gain, or 1p deletion. We used a Cox multivariable model to identify factors prognostic of progression free survival (PFS) in a training subset. The regression coefficients of the final model was transformed into a risk score with an appropriate transformation. A weighted score using these factors was assigned to the training cohort (n = 917) and validation cohort (n=897) using subset that had all values that entered the final model. Kaplan-Meier estimates of the individual scores were used to classify patients into risk groups for both cohorts. Results: Baseline characteristics of these patients are shown in Table 1. No cytogenetic abnormality, VRD induction, pre-AHCT bone marrow plasma cells (BMPCs)

Description: Background Induction therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a cytarabine-anthracycline regimen (7+3) is well-established; however, there is no standard salvage therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory AML (RR-AML). There is a paucity of data regarding outcomes with salvage regimens in RR-AML that include cladribine, cytarabine, and filgrastim with mitoxantrone (CLAG-M) or without mitoxantrone (CLAG), and mitoxantrone, etoposide, and cytarabine (MEC). We compared outcomes of patients receiving CLAG-M, CLAG or MEC as salvage therapy for RR-AML. Methods A multi-center retrospective study was conducted, including 146 adult RR-AML patients who underwent salvage therapy at the University of Wisconsin and Medical College of Wisconsin from 2009 to 2018. Demographic, clinical and pathologic factors were ascertained at the time of RR-AML diagnosis. The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) response criteria were used. Refractory AML was defined as failure to achieve remission after one or more courses of induction chemotherapy. Minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative was defined by the absence of leukemic cells by morphology and flow cytometry (

Description: Background: The CD38-targeting antibody daratumumab, when combined with a proteasome inhibitor or with an immunomodulatory agent (IMiD) increases depth and duration of response in multiple myeloma (MM). Depth of remission post initial therapy as assessed by MRD predicts long term outcome in NDMM. We hypothesized that the combination of daratumumab, carfilzomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone (Dara-KRd) would be safe and highly active in patients with NDMM. In addition, we assessed the feasibility of using MRD by next generation sequencing (clonoSEQ® method, sensitivity 10-6) to inform the use and duration of post-transplant Dara-KRd consolidation. Methods: Eligible patients (pts) had NDMM requiring treatment, creatinine clearance 〉40 ml/min, adequate liver and cardiac function, ECOG performance status 0-2 with no age limit. Treatment cycles consisted of daratumumab 16 mg/kg IV days 1,8,15,22 (with typical reduction in frequency with subsequent cycles), carfilzomib 56 mg/m2 IV days 1,8,15, lenalidomide 25 mg PO days 1-21 and dexamethasone 40 mg PO/IV days 1,8,15,22 repeated every 28 days. Patients received 4 cycles of Dara-KRd as induction, autologous transplantation, and received 0, 4 or 8 cycles of Dara-KRd consolidation, according to MRD status at each phase of therapy. MRD was evaluated by clonoSEQ® (NGS-MRD; Adaptive Biotechnologies, Seattle, WA) at end of induction, post-transplant, and during each 4-cycle block of Dara-KRd consolidation. Primary endpoint was achievement of MRD negative remission (

Description: Introduction: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is incurable with standard therapy. With first-line chemotherapy, some patients (pts) may achieve durable remissions of many months/years. Lenalidomide (LEN) has improved progression-free survival (PFS) when given as maintenance (MNT) therapy after front-line chemotherapy (CALGB10404, CLLM1). The combination of LEN + rituximab (LR) has activity in relapsed CLL, hypothesizing benefit as MNT therapy after first-line chemotherapy. Methods: Adult pts ≥18 years with previously untreated CLL received induction bendamustine (B) 90 mg/m2 IV days 1 & 2 and rituximab (R) IV day 1 (375 mg/m2 cycle 1, then 500 mg/m2 cycles 2-6) for 6 treatment cycles (as few as 4 cycles allowed). MNT therapy with LR was initiated within 12 weeks after cycle 6, day 1 of BR. Criteria to start LR MNT included: neutrophils ≥1000/microliter (uL), platelets ≥75 K/uL, and creatinine clearance ≥40 mL/min. LEN was administered in 28-day cycles for 24 cycles, initially 5-10 mg daily continuous dosing, later modified to 5-10 mg on days 1-21 of each 28-day cycle in 6/2018 due to neutropenia and second malignancy risk. LEN was reduced to 5 mg every other day for toxicities at 5 mg/day. R 375 mg/m2 IV was given every odd cycle (total of 12 doses). Patients discontinuing LEN for any reason were allowed to continue R MNT per protocol. The primary endpoint is PFS with LR MNT therapy, calculated from the first day of MNT therapy until progressive disease (PD), death, or start of a new therapy. Secondary endpoints are response rate and overall survival. Results: Thirty-four pts have enrolled beginning 11/2013, with follow-up through 6/2019. Median age is 64 years, with 8 pts ≥70 years; 8 women and 26 men. CLL FISH panel is available on all pts: 14 with 13q (as sole abnormality), 9 with 11q deletion, 6 with trisomy 12, 4 with normal FISH panel and 1 with 17p deletion. Heavy chain mutation analysis is available on 11 pts: 8 unmutated, 2 mutated, 1 indeterminate. Thirty-one pts completed 4 (n=2) or 6 cycles of induction BR; 3 pts are receiving induction BR. Twenty-four pts have received MNT LR; 7 did not receive LR for reasons of PD during induction (n=2), infection (n=1), pt preference (n=2), renal insufficiency (n=1), and new carcinoma (n=1). MNT LR was completed in 7 pts; 9 pts are still receiving LR. Fourteen subjects have discontinued protocol therapy, 3 during induction due to PD (n=2) and infection (n=1), and 8 during MNT. Toxicities that led to discontinuation of LR were recurrent infections in 7 pts, including 2 events of PJP pneumonia; 4 pts had recurrent neutropenia with infections; 1 pt had neutropenia without infections. Response is assessable in 31 patients using the International Working Group Consensus Criteria. Best responses to treatment were: partial response 65% (22/34), complete response (CR)/unconfirmed CR 24% (8/34). The median number of MNT cycles received is 16. The dose intensity of LEN across total cycles received (n=278): 5 mg every other day (52.5%), 5 mg/day (43.9%), and 10 mg/day (3.6%). The most common reason for dose reduction or dose holding was neutropenia. Most common Gr 3/4 toxicities (reported as events Gr3/Gr4) during MNT therapy were: neutropenia (20/20), leukopenia (19/4), febrile neutropenia (3/1), and infections (11/-). The majority of Gr3 infections were pneumonia/respiratory (n=5). One event of disseminated herpes zoster occurred. Second malignancies during MNT included: basal cell CA (n=1), squamous cell carcinoma (n=5), and colon cancer (n=1). No unexpected second malignancies were observed in pts receiving LR. Two-year PFS (defined from day 1 of MNT therapy) is 90% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.78-1), and the median follow-up for 24 patient who started maintenance therapy is 1.79 years (95% CI 1.53-2.7). There have been no deaths. Conclusion: The combination of LR is effective in sustaining remissions after a BR induction in previously untreated CLL, but with frequent neutropenia and infections even at low doses of LEN. Most patients discontinuing MNT did so due to neutropenia and/or infections. A shorter planned interval of MNT LR (i.e., 6-12 months) may confer similar benefit to extended dosing that is more tolerable. Pts at high risk for short remissions after front-line chemotherapy (e.g., unmutated heavy chain status, 11q deletion and/or failure to achieve minimal residual disease after induction) may be the populations for which LR MNT therapy is most appropriate. Disclosures Chang: Genentech: Research Funding; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding. OffLabel Disclosure: Lenalidomide administered as maintenance therapy for first treatment of CLL/SLL.

Description: Patients who develop therapy-related myelodysplastic syndromes (t-MDSs) or acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) following prior chemotherapy or an autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), have a poor prognosis. An earlier analysis of allogeneic HCT (n=868, 1990-2004) showed 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) were 22% and 21% (reference). Furthermore, older age, graft source other than a HLA-matched sibling or HLA well matched unrelated donor (URD), t-AML not in remission or advanced t-MDS, and poor risk cytogenetics were associated with worse outcomes. Modern supportive care and conditioning regimens including reduced intensity (RIC) regimens may have improved outcomes. Therefore we analyzed 1531 HCT for t-AML (n = 772) or t-MDS (n = 759) performed from 2000 to 2014. The median age at transplant was 52 (18-77) for t-AML and 59 (18-74) for t-MDS. Eleven percent of patient with t-AML and 24% of patient with t-MDS had a prior autologous transplant. A myeloablative regimen was used for conditioning in 61% of patients with t-AML and 49% of patients with t-MDS (Table 1). For t-AML, the 5-year non-relapse mortality (NRM) and relapse rates (RR) were 33% (95% confidence interval [CI], 30-36) and 43% (40-47), respectively. For t-MDS, the 5 year TRM and RR were 32% (29-36) and 46% (43-50), respectively. Five year DFS and OS were 24% (21-27) and 25% (22-28), respectively, for patients with t-AML. Five year DFS and OS were 21% (18-24) and 27% (23-31), respectively, for patients with t-MDS. In multivariate analysis, t-AML OS and DFS was worse for: previous autologous transplant, relapsed disease at HCT, intermediate or adverse cytogenetics, partially matched and cord blood grafts, and RIC. For t-MDS: age greater than 60, previous autologous transplant, very high IPSS score, and use of HLA-partially matched unrelated grafts. A significant minority of patients with t-AML and t-MDS can achieve long-term remission with allogeneic HCT, yet risks of both NRM and relapse are still excessive. Relapse is the major cause of treatment failure. Disclosures Metheny: Takeda: Speakers Bureau; Incyte: Speakers Bureau. Weisdorf:Incyte: Research Funding; Fate Therapeutics: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy. Kebriaei:Jazz: Consultancy; Amgen: Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria; Kite: Honoraria.

Description: Introduction: Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are often treated with intensive induction chemotherapy to achieve complete remission (CR). Early response to standard anthracycline plus cytarabine induction (7+3) is assessed by a day 14 nadir bone marrow biopsy. The nadir marrow has limitations, though, including sampling issues and ambiguity as to whether blasts are leukemia cells vs. regenerating marrow. In prior studies, the predictive value for remission of the nadir marrow is only 67-84%. A more accurate predictor of residual disease (RD) would give clinicians an opportunity to modify therapy earlier. Positron emission tomography (PET/CT) with 3'-deoxy-3'-[18F]fluorothymidine (FLT) is a molecular imaging modality that can assess cellular proliferation in the bone marrow compartment. A prior single-institution pilot study showed a significant difference in the marrow FLT uptake between patients with AML who achieved CR and those who had RD after count recovery. Methods: EAI141 was an ECOG-ACRIN-led, prospective, multi-center study designed to assess FLT PET/CT as a predictor of CR after AML induction. The primary objective was to evaluate the predictive value of post-treatment FLT PET/CT imaging for detecting RD, with the secondary objectives of evaluating the predictive value for detecting CR and estimating the sensitivity and specificity. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of 〉 7 g/mL in total bone marrow compartment was chosen prospectively based on data from a pilot study as a marker for presence of leukemia cells at nadir. The predictive values, sensitivity, and specificity of the FLT PET/CT and the nadir bone marrow biopsy were calculated. Eligible subjects were 18 years or older with previously untreated AML who were to receive induction with 7+3. Subjects underwent a nadir marrow biopsy and an FLT PET/CT scan 10-17 days after starting induction, and prior to any re-induction if disease was noted on the nadir marrow. A recovery marrow was performed 28-35 days after initial treatment or re-induction to assess CR or RD. Subjects could undergo an optional pre-treatment scan. Relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were additional clinical outcomes. Results: 87 subjects from 9 centers were enrolled between 2016-2018, and 61 were considered evaluable. Reasons for being not evaluable included study ineligibility (n=3), no post-treatment scan (n=13), and no remission marrow (n=10). Median age was 58 years (range 21-73); 56% were men and 44% were women. CR was achieved in 56% (34/61). Treatment was a single induction course in 79% (48/61) and re-induction in 21% (13/61). Predictive value based on FLT PET/CT was 60% (9/15, 95% CI 32%-84%) for RD and 61% (28/46, 95% CI 45%-75%) for CR. Of patients who achieved CR, 28/34 had SUVmax ≤ 7 g/mL (sensitivity of 82%) and 9/27 of those who did not had high SUVmax 〉 7 g/mL (specificity 33%). Predictive value of an aplastic marrow was 59% (26/44) for CR and 56% (9/16) for RD. Of patients who achieved CR, 26/33 had marrow hypoplasia (sensitivity 79%) and 9/27 with RD had disease in the nadir marrow (specificity 33%). Significant heterogeneity of bone marrow compartment post treatment (SUVhetero ranging from 0.24 to 1.07) was observed in FLT-PET/CT scans. Heterogeneity of bone marrow compartment decreased about 50% from pre-treatment to post-treatment FLT PET/CT. OS for all participants, stratified by post-treatment FLT PET/CT response and nadir marrow results, are summarized in the Figure. Conclusions: Although this study did not show significant advantage of FLT PET/CT compared to nadir marrow to predict RD or CR on the average, it did show signal heterogeneity in the study population that may be relevant to disease biology not appreciated by a single sampling site for the nadir or remission marrow. For example, in patients with false negative nadir biopsy, in approximately 20% of patients assessment with FLT PET/CT was correct, likely reflecting bone marrow heterogeneity and limitation of a single point sampling. Similarly, in almost 60% of patients with false positive nadir biopsy, FLT PET/CT assessment was correct. Figure 1 Disclosures Jeraj: AIQ Solutions: Current equity holder in private company. Kostakoglu:F. Hoffmann-La Roche: Consultancy. Strickland:KiTE: Consultancy; Kura: Consultancy; Astellas: Consultancy; Jazz: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Sunesis: Research Funding; ArcherDx: Consultancy; AbbVie: Consultancy. Uy:Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy; Agios: Consultancy; Genentech: Consultancy; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Astellas Pharma: Honoraria. Perlman:GE Healthcare: Research Funding; AIQ: Research Funding.