Kilavuz, Nurgul

AbstractBackgroundStudies suggest that immune checkpoint inhibitors may represent a promising strategy for boosting immune responses and improving the antitumor activity of standard therapies in patients with relapsed/refractory hematologic malignancies.AimsPhase 1/2 FUSION NHL 001 was designed to determine the safety and efficacy of durvalumab, an anti‐programmed death ligand 1 (PD‐L1) antibody, combined with standard‐of‐care therapies for lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).Methods and ResultsThe primary endpoints were to determine the recommended phase 2 dose of the drugs used in combination with durvalumab (durvalumab was administered at the previously recommended dose of 1500 mg every 4 weeks) and to assess safety and tolerability. Patients were enrolled into one of four arms: durvalumab monotherapy (Arm D) or durvalumab in combination with lenalidomide ± rituximab (Arm A), ibrutinib (Arm B), or rituximab ± bendamustine (Arm C). A total of 106 patients with relapsed/refractory lymphoma were enrolled. All but two patients experienced at least one treatment‐emergent adverse event (TEAE); those not experiencing a TEAE were in Arm C (diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma [DLBCL]) and Arm D (DLBCL during the durvalumab monotherapy treatment period). No new safety signals were identified, and TEAEs were consistent with the respective safety profiles for each study treatment. Across the study, patients with follicular lymphoma (FL; n = 23) had an overall response rate (ORR) of 59%; ORR among DLBCL patients (n = 37) was 18%. Exploratory biomarker analysis showed that response to durvalumab monotherapy or combination therapy was associated with higher interferon‐γ signature scores in patients with FL (p = .02).ConclusionDurvalumab as monotherapy or in combination is tolerable but requires close monitoring. The high rate of TEAEs during this study may reflect on the difficulty in combining durvalumab with full doses of other agents. Durvalumab alone or in combination appeared to add limited benefit to therapy.

TPS7574 Background: The PD-1/PD-L1 pathway is an important immune checkpoint used by tumor cells to evade immune cell detection and inhibit antitumor responses. PD-1/PD-L1 expression in multiple hematologic malignancies may provide an effective target for enhancing anticancer immune response. Durvalumab (MEDI4736) is a high-affinity human IgG1 monoclonal Ab that selectively blocks PD-L1 binding to PD-1 and CD80, and has shown preliminary evidence of antitumor activity across multiple tumor types. Study objectives are to evaluate durvalumab monotherapy and combinations to determine dose and safety, as well as identify histologies and combinations that show the best complementary antitumor signals for future study. Methods: This is a phase I/II open-label, global, multicenter study of durvalumab as a monotherapy and in combination in relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphoma or CLL (MEDI4736-NHL-001; EUDRA CT 2015-003516-21; NCT02733042). Patients must have histologically-confirmed FL, MCL, splenic or nodal MZL, T-cell/histiocyte rich BCL, PMBCL, ALK+ large BCL, transformed large BCL, Richter’s transformation, DLBCL (NOS), CLL/SLL, or classical HL during the dose-finding part. Inclusion criteria are ECOG PS 0-2, and ≥1 prior antilymphoma therapy. Up to 253 patients may enroll in 4 treatment arms, which include fixed-dose durvalumab 1500 mg Q4W monotherapy or combinations with lenalidomide/rituximab, ibrutinib, or bendamustine/rituximab. The study has 3 parts: dose finding, dose confirmation, and dose expansion. The monotherapy arm does not have a dose finding or expansion part; upon progression, patients may receive combination therapy or involved-field radiation to a single nodal site (evaluating for systemic abscopal antitumor effect). Primary endpoints are safety, identification of recommended phase II dose (phase I, 3+3 design), and overall response rate (ORR; phase II); secondary endpoints include DOR, PFS, and PK/PD. ORR is measured by 2014 IWG criteria for lymphoma or modified 2008 iwCLL criteria for CLL; safety is assessed per NCI CTCAE v4.03 criteria. Recruitment is ongoing, with a target enrollment of 253 patients across 60-80 centers globally. Clinical trial information: NCT02733042.