Merlini, Giampaolo

Background: Liver involvement in light chain amyloidosis (AL) is seen in up to 20% of patients and is typically encountered as part of multi-organ involvement. Liver involvement is associated with a poor prognosis. The goal of this study was to assess the prognostic impact of the hepatic response criteria, which were published in 2005 and were not broadly assessed for their prognostic value. Patients and methods: Ten centers across the USA and Europe participated in this study.AL amyloidosis patients who were diagnosed between 2010 and 2015, had liver involvement with serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) >1.5 upper reference limit (URL), and achieved hematologic response to therapy were included in this study. Hepatic response was assessed at 6, 12, and 24 months from therapy initiation and at best response. Based on a receiver operation characteristic analysis, a 50% reduction in AP was set as the optimal cut point for discrimination of 5-year overall survival (OS) in the 12-months response assessment landmark (area under the curve 0.67). Therefore, hepatic response was defined as a reduction in AP >50% from baseline value in addition to AP normalization, regardless of AP percentage reduction. Hepatic progression was defined as >50% increase in serum AP. OS was assessed from therapy initiation until death or last follow-up and was plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. The log-rank test used to compare survival between groups. For fixed-time point survival analysis, patients who died before the landmark were excluded. Hepatic response at a fixed time points, when missing, was imputed based on available data from adjacent time points (imputation of hepatic response was performed in 15%, 23%, and 22% of evaluable patients at 6-, 12-, and 24-month landmarks, respectively). Multivariate Cox proportional models were set to determine independent prognostic factors for OS using variables with p-value <0.1 in a univariate analysis. P-values <0.05 were considered significant. Results: One hundred and sixteen patients (n=116) are included. The median age was 60 years, and the median serum AP was X2.6 URL. Concomitant kidney involvement was present in 63.8% of patients, while coexisting heart involvement was seen in 56% of patients. Hematologic VGPR or better was achieved in 69% of patients. AP decrease deepened with time, with a median reduction at 6-, 12-, 24-months and best response being 22%, 34%, 53%, and 56%, respectively. Overall, 65% of patients (n=75) achieved hepatic response, of whom 71 patients based on reduction in AP >50% and 4 patients for reaching AP within normal reference but not meeting >50% reduction in AP (40- 46% reduction in AP). The median time to hepatic response was 13.8 months, longer for patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) as their primary therapy compared to non-transplant therapies (24 vs 12.6 months, P=0.1). With a median follow-up of 105 months, 42 patients died (36.2% of the study cohort). The 2-, 5- and 10-year OS rates were 83%, 67%, and 61%, respectively. Achievement of hepatic response as early as 12 months and at best response was associated with a longer survival (Figure). Hepatic response was an independent prognostic factor in a multivariate analysis, after adjusting for other known prognostic factors (age, cardiac stage, hematologic response, and primary therapy). Predictors of hepatic response include higher baseline AP level, lower total bilirubin, hematologic ≥VGPR, and cardiac and renal responses, when applicable. Hepatic progression was borderline associated with inferior OS (5-year OS 47% vs 70% among non-progressors, P=0.08). Conclusions: Hepatic response and progression measured by the change in alkaline phosphatase are prognostic in AL amyloidosis. These criteria are independent of other prognostic markers, and thus may have clinical implications for patients' care.

Abstract Amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is a rare, typically fatal disease characterized by the accumulation of misfolded immunoglobulin light chains (LCs). Birtamimab is an investigational humanized monoclonal antibody designed to neutralize toxic LC aggregates and deplete insoluble organ-deposited amyloid via macrophage-induced phagocytosis. VITAL was a phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial assessing the efficacy and safety of birtamimab + standard of care (SOC) in 260 newly diagnosed, treatment-naive patients with AL amyloidosis. Patients received 24 mg/kg IV birtamimab + SOC or placebo + SOC every 28 days. The primary composite end point was the time to all-cause mortality (ACM) or centrally adjudicated cardiac hospitalization ≥91 days after the first study drug infusion. The trial was terminated early after an interim futility analysis; there was no significant difference in the primary composite end point (hazard ratio [HR], 0.826; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.574-1.189; log-rank P = .303). A post hoc analysis of patients with Mayo stage IV AL amyloidosis, those at the highest risk of early mortality, showed significant improvement in the time to ACM with birtamimab at month 9 (HR, 0.413; 95% CI, 0.191-0.895; log-rank P = .021). At month 9, 74% of patients with Mayo stage IV AL amyloidosis treated with birtamimab and 49% of those given placebo survived. Overall, the rates of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and serious TEAEs were generally similar between treatment arms. A confirmatory phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of birtamimab in patients with Mayo stage IV AL amyloidosis (AFFIRM-AL; NCT04973137) is currently enrolling. The VITAL trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02312206.

AbstractPatient‐reported outcomes in AL amyloidosis have not been well‐studied. We analyzed health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) and AL amyloidosis symptoms data from the phase 3 TOURMALINE‐AL1 trial (NCT01659658) (ixazomib‐dexamethasone, n = 85; physician's choice of chemotherapy [PC], n = 83). HRQOL and symptom burden were measured with the SF‐36v2, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group Neurotoxicity subscale (FACT/GOG‐Ntx), and an amyloidosis symptom questionnaire (ASQ). Score changes during treatment were analyzed descriptively and using repeated‐measures linear mixed models; analyses were not adjusted for multiplicity. Least‐squares (LS) mean changes from baseline were significantly higher (better HRQOL) for ixazomib‐dexamethasone at several cycles for SF‐36v2 Role Physical and Vitality subscales (p < .05); no subscales demonstrated significant differences favoring PC. For FACT/GOG‐Ntx, small but significant differences in LS mean changes favored ixazomib‐dexamethasone over PC at multiple cycles for seven items and both summary scores; significant differences favored PC for one item (trouble hearing) at multiple cycles. ASQ total score trended downward (lower burden) in both arms; significant LS mean differences favored ixazomib‐dexamethasone over PC at some cycles (p < .05). Patients with relapsed/refractory AL amyloidosis treated with ixazomib‐dexamethasone experienced HRQOL and symptoms that were similar to or trended better than patients treated with PC despite longer duration of therapy.

PURPOSE Binary cardiac response assessment using cardiac biomarkers is prognostic in light chain amyloidosis. Previous studies suggested four-level cardiac responses using N-terminal prohormone of brain natiuretic peptide improves prognostic prediction. This study was designed to validate graded cardiac response criteria using N-terminal prohormone of brain natiuretic peptide/brain natiuretic peptide. PATIENTS AND METHODS This retrospective, multicenter study included patients with light chain amyloidosis who achieved at least a hematologic partial response (PR) and were evaluable for cardiac response. Four response criteria were tested on the basis of natriuretic peptide response depth: cardiac complete response (CarCR), cardiac very good partial response (CarVGPR), cardiac PR (CarPR), and cardiac no response (CarNR). Response was classified as best response and at fixed time points (6, 12, and 24 months from therapy initiation). The study primary outcome was overall survival. RESULTS 651 patients were included. Best CarCR, CarVGPR, CarPR, and CarNR were achieved in 16%, 26.4%, 22.9%, and 34.7% of patients, respectively. Patients in cardiac stage II were more likely to achieve CarCR than patients in cardiac stage IIIA and IIIB (22% v 13.5% v 3.2%; P < .001). A deeper cardiac response was associated with a longer survival (5-year overall survival 93%, 79%, 65%, and 33% for CarCR, CarVGPR, CarPR, and CarNR, respectively; P < .001). Fixed time-point analyses and time-varying covariates Cox regression analysis, to minimize survivorship bias, affirmed the independent survival advantage of deeper cardiac responses. Four-level response performed better than two-level response as early as 12 months from therapy initiation. CONCLUSION Graded cardiac response criteria allow better assessment of cardiac improvement compared with the traditional binary response system. The study re-emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis, which increases the likelihood of deep cardiac responses.