Stewart, A. Keith

Abstract Abstract 4055 Introduction: Approximately 15% of patients (pts) with multiple myeloma (MM) exhibit a t(4;14) translocation that results in constitutive activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) in the absence of ligand. This translocation has been strongly linked with a poor prognosis and short survival compared with pts without this translocation. Dovitinib (TKI258) is an RTK inhibitor that has demonstrated in vitro inhibitory activity against FGFR (including FGFR3), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), and platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), with IC50values of approximately 10 nM. Tumor growth inhibition was observed in xenograft tumor models of MM treated with dovitinib. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dovitinib in pts with relapsed or refractory MM that is either t(4;14) positive or negative. Patients and Methods: Adult pts who had received at least 2 prior antimyeloma regimens and who had relapsed or were refractory to their last treatment regimen were enrolled in this multicenter, open-label, 2-stage, phase 2 trial. Pts were evaluated for t(4;14) status at the baseline visit and classified according to the result into either a t(4;14)-positive or a t(4;14)-negative group. Dovitinib was administered at a dose of 500 mg/day on a 5-days-on/2-days-off schedule. Response was characterized as per the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) criteria. The primary endpoint was extended overall response rate as defined by the rate of pts with best overall response of complete response, very good partial response, partial response, or minor response. Secondary endpoints included safety, overall response rate, progression-free survival, and pharmacokinetics. After disease progression, pts had the option to continue treatment with the addition of low-dose dexamethasone (40 mg every 7 days) with M-protein levels at the time of progression considered as the new baseline. Results: A total of 43 pts were enrolled in this study; 26 pts were t(4;14) negative, 13 were t(4;14) positive, and 4 pts had unknown/indeterminate t(4;14) status. Median age was 63 years. Most pts (86%; n = 37) had received ≥ 3 prior lines of therapy. No objective responses were observed in either group of pts. Due to the apparent lack of efficacy, the study did not proceed to stage 2. The following observations are based on the preliminary data. In the t(4;14)-negative group, median duration of exposure to the study drug was 4.0 weeks, and 9 of the 26 pts (35%) had stable disease, 13 (50.0%) had progressive disease, and 4 (15%) were not evaluable. Due to slow enrollment and lack of efficacy among the earlier enrolled t(4;14)-positive pts, enrollment for the t(4;14)-positive group was closed prematurely. Among the 13 enrolled t(4;14)-positive pts, median duration of exposure to the study drug was 8.7 weeks. Best responses were stable disease for 8 pts (62%), disease progression for 3 pts (23%), and unknown for 2 pts (15%). Among both groups, the most common adverse events of any grade, regardless of study drug, were nausea (67%), diarrhea (58%), vomiting (51%), fatigue (47%), thrombocytopenia (33%), and anemia (28%). Most of the nonhematologic events were mild. The most common grade 3/4 adverse events were thrombocytopenia (26%) and anemia (23%). The principal reasons for discontinuation of dovitinib monotherapy were disease progression (72%) and adverse events (19%). Six pts continued on the dovitinib plus dexamethasone regimen; 1 pt is ongoing, and 5 pts discontinued due to disease progression (n = 4) and adverse events (n = 1). Conclusion: Dovitinib was found to have no or minimal single-agent activity in relapsed/refractory myeloma irrespective of t(4;14) status. Although the patient numbers are small, the rate of patients with stable disease during study treatment who may have had a clinical benefit was higher in the t(4;14)-positive group, suggesting that this subgroup may be a candidate to explore combination treatment of dovitinib with other agents, such as proteasome inhibitors. Gastrointestinal toxicity, while mostly mild, remains a challenge, and timely monitoring and supportive care during dovitinib treatment may alleviate these symptoms. Dovitinib may be a promising agent for combination therapies to improve prognosis of patients with t(4;14)-positive MM. Disclosures: Scheid: Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria. Reece:Millennium Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Otsuka: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Research Funding; Merck: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Spencer:Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria. Callander:Millennium Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Sonneveld:Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Millennium Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Onyx: Honoraria, Research Funding. Kalimi:Novartis Pharmaceuticals: Employment. Cai:Novartis: Employment. Shi:Novartis: Employment, Equity Ownership. Scott:Novartis: Employment. Stewart:Millennium Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Onyx: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy.

Immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) are profoundly active compounds in the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). However, despite the fact that treatment with IMiDs has dramatically improved survival for patients with MM, the majority of MM patients develop IMiDs resistance over time. We have found that expression of functional cereblon is required for IMiDs′ action. In addition, it has been reported that cells expressing high levels of cereblon are resistant to proteasome inhibitor, implying that patients with high levels of cereblon should be resistant to proteasome inhibitor. If the above conclusions are correct, cereblon could be considered as a biomarker to determine which standard regimens should be used to treat patients with MM. Unfortunately, the conclusions mentioned above have not been clinically confirmed. In order to confirm these conclusions, we have generated three highly specific mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against full-length human cereblon. These mAbs can be used to do western blot, immunoprecipitation and immunohistochemistry staining. In addition, their epitopes have been precisely determined and the peptides covering their epitopes completely blocked the antibody binding to cereblon in western blot analysis or in immunohistochemistry staining of MM patients′ specimens.

Key Points HERC4 is the first identified ubiquitin ligase that mediates c-Maf ubiquitination and degradation. HERC4 suppresses MM cell proliferation and delays MM tumor growth.

Abstract Purpose: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is among the most lethal forms of all malignancies. While significant research has implicated multiple genes in disease pathogenesis, identification of therapeutic leads has been difficult. The majority of currently available therapies provide only marginal benefit. To address this issue, our goal was to assess global somatic events across multiple pancreatic tumors by using next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS). Experimental Design: We performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) on paired tumor and normal samples from 3 pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients. Additionally, we performed whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS) on 2 of these patients’ tumors for which tumor RNA was available. Results: We generated on average 132 billion mappable bases across all patients using WGS, and identified 140 somatic coding events including point mutations, insertion/deletions, and chromosomal copy number variants. Data from WGS and WTS were integrated and analyzed to identify the most heavily affected pancreatic cancer pathways across all patients. The KRAS signaling pathway was identified as the most significant map. Unbiased global pathway analysis was also performed to identify processes that may be impacted. Consistent with the previous analysis, the most significant pathway from this analysis is also KRAS signaling. This integrated analysis specifically identifies heavily affected pathways in pancreatic cancer and pinpoints genes and processes that may be considered as targets for more effective therapies. Conclusions: While sequencing of additional patients is necessary to strengthen selection of key pathways, we demonstrate the utility of using NGS to understand the processes driving pancreatic adenocarcinoma so that standardized treatments for patients may be improved. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5104. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5104