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PURPOSE Newly approved drugs and combinations treating multiple myeloma (MM) have resulted in substantial improvements in patients' survival. To deliver rapid access to newer therapies, an earlier end point to expedite clinical trials is needed. Our objective was to evaluate the minimal residual disease–negative complete response (MRD-CR) as an intermediate end point for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in newly diagnosed (ND) transplant-eligible (NDTE) patients, ND transplant-ineligible (NDTinE) patients, and patients with relapsed/refractory (RR) MM. PATIENTS AND METHODS Individual patient data from 20 randomized multicenter trials were collected. Eleven studies (4,773 patients) with sufficient data were analyzed to evaluate whether 9- or 12-month MRD-CR classified at a 10 –5 threshold could be reasonably likely to predict the clinical benefit of new agents regarding PFS and OS. Global odds ratio (OR) was estimated using the bivariate Plackett Copula model. Supportive evaluation included correlations of the treatment effects on MRD-CR end points and PFS/OS, evaluated by both linear regression ( R 2 weighted least squared ) and Copula ( R 2 Copula ) models. RESULTS The analysis demonstrated that both 9- and 12-month MRD-CR strongly correlated with PFS at patient level in NDTE patients, NDTinE patients, and patients with RRMM. Global ORs ranged from 3.06 to 16.24, all with 95% CIs excluding 1.0. Encouraging trial-level correlations ( R 2 , 0.61-0.70) were observed by pooling three populations and were stronger ( R 2 , 0.67-0.78) in the ND population. Similar results were observed for OS. CONCLUSION Our findings provided the support for use of MRD-CR classified at a 10 –5 threshold at either 9 or 12 months after starting of the treatment, as an intermediate end point to support accelerated approvals, in future trials in NDTE patients, NDTinE patients, and patients with RRMM.

Background: Anti-BCMA CAR T cells are a new standard of care for the treatment of RRMM patients. Hence, it is paramount to identify determinants of response and resistance for individualized approaches. There is emerging data about the importance of depth of response in prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) and of genetic antigen escape in treatment resistance. By contrast, there is limited understanding of how patient' outcomes are shaped by immune fitness prior aphaeresis, and virtually no data about CAR T and endogenous profiles post infusion. Aim: Characterize immune dynamics and investigate its prognostic value in RRMM patients treated with CAR T cells. Methods: Immune profiling was performed using multidimensional and computational flow cytometry in 285 bone marrow aspirates from 120 RRMM patients enrolled in the KarMMa phase 2 trial. In total, 170 immune clusters were identified and systematically quantified in a pileup analysis of samples collected before and at months 1, 3, 6 and 12 after CAR T infusion. Immune scores were developed using cox regression with 10-fold cross-validation. Results: At baseline (n = 63), there were significant associations between the bone marrow immune composition and the number of prior lines of treatment, prior autologous transplant and staging. Namely, there were higher proportions of ICOS, PD1, TIGIT and TIM3 positive cells within the CD4+ and CD8+ T cell compartments from heavily pretreated patients and those with R-ISS 3. A baseline immune score defined by the percentages of GrzmB+HLADR+ cytotoxic NK cells, TIGIT+ Tregs, CD4+CD127+ICOS+ and CD4+CD25+CD127+TIGIT+, CD8+TIGIT+, CD8+GrzmB+HLADR+ and CD8+CD27+CD95+CD45RAloCD197lo T cells was associated with PFS. Patients with low vs high risk immune score at baseline had median PFS of 25 vs 6 months, respectively (p < .001). Interestingly, there were no significant associations between the baseline risk score and treatment or staging, suggesting potential complementarity of immune profiling with other prognostic factors. At month 1 after infusion (n = 55), the presence of >1% vs <1% CAR T cells was associated with longer PFS (medians of 20 vs 8 months, p = .002). In addition to the magnitude of CAR T persistence, it was interesting to observe increased percentages of CD8+ CAR T cells in patients with <5 prior lines of therapy, of CD4+HLADR+ and CD8+TEMRA CAR T cells in patients with R-ISS 1/2, as well as of PD1+TIM3+ CD4+ and CD8+ CAR T cells in patients with R-ISS 3. Moreover, the phenotype of CAR T cells was associated with PFS. Patients with low vs high risk immune score (ie, based on the percentages of CD4+CD57+, CD8+CD27-EM, CD8+PD1+TIM3+ and CD4+CD8+ CAR T cells) had median PFS not reached vs 11 months, respectively (p < .0001). Similarly to the above, there were no significant associations between the CAR T immune risk score and treatment or staging, suggesting potential complementarity of CAR T quantification and phenotyping post-infusion with other patient' characteristics. Next, we investigated endogenous T cell dynamics in 51 RRMM patients with paired samples prior and after CAR T infusion. There were significant differences in the frequencies of 30 immune clusters, including CD27+ naïve and EM CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, ICOS+ and TIGIT+ Tregs, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as of CD25+CD127+ CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, an immune risk score defined at the latest available time point (n = 95) was associated with PFS (p < .0001). Patients with lower levels of GrzmB+ cytotoxic NK cells and of immunoregulatory HLADR- NK cells, as well as of CD4+CD27+CD95+CM, CD4+HLADR+, CD8+PD1+ and CD8+CD27-CD95+EM T cells showed a high risk score and a median PFS of 6 vs 20 months in patients with low risk immune score. Conclusions: This is one of the largest dynamic studies of immune profiling in a clinical trial investigating anti-BCMA CAR T cells in RRMM. Our results uncovered that patient' immune status is shaped by prior treatment and staging, and that the distribution of different NK, Treg, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells prior aphaeresis is associated with PFS. Furthermore, the phenotype of CAR T cells at month 1 after infusion may be as prognostic as its percentage. We also showed how treatment with CAR T cells modulates the bone marrow immune composition and how it may contribute to immune escape vs surveillance. Altogether, this study supports immune profiling for improved understanding of response and resistance to CAR T cells in RRMM.

PURPOSE Older patients with relapsed or refractory AML (RR AML) have dismal prognoses without allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT). SIERRA compared a targeted pretransplant regimen involving the anti-CD45 radioconjugate 131 I-apamistamab with conventional care. METHODS SIERRA (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02665065 ) was a phase III open-label trial. Patients age ≥55 years with active RR AML were randomly assigned 1:1 to either an 131 I-apamistamab–led regimen before alloHCT or conventional care followed by alloHCT if initial complete remission (CR)/CR with incomplete platelet recovery (CRp) occurred. Initial response was assessed 28-56 days after alloHCT in the 131 I-apamistamab group and 28-42 days after salvage chemotherapy initiation; patients without CR/CRp or with AML progression could cross over to receive 131 I-apamistamab followed by alloHCT. The primary end point was durable complete remission (dCR) lasting 180 days after initial CR/CRp. Secondary end points were overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS), assessed hierarchically in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population. RESULTS The ITT population included 153 patients ( 131 I-apamistamab [n = 76]; conventional care [n = 77]). In total, 44/77 conventional care arm patients crossed over and 40/77 (52%) received 131 I-apamistamab and alloHCT, with six patients (13.6%) experiencing a dCR. In the ITT population, the dCR rate was significantly higher with 131 I-apamistamab (17.1% [95% CI, 9.4 to 27.5]) than conventional care (0% [95% CI, 0 to 4.7]; P < .0001). The OS hazard ratio (HR) was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.70 to 1.41; P = .96), and the EFS HR was 0.23 (95% CI, 0.15 to 0.34), with HR <1 favoring 131 I-apamistamab. Grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 59.7% and 59.2% of the 131 I-apamistamab and conventional care groups, respectively. CONCLUSION The 131 I-apamistamab–led regimen was associated with a higher dCR rate than conventional care in older patients with RR AML. 131 I-apamistamab was well tolerated and could address an unmet need in this population.

Summary: While the current approach to precursor hematologic conditions is to “watch and wait,” this may change with the development of therapies that are safe and extend survival or delay the onset of symptomatic disease. The goal of future therapies in precursor hematologic conditions is to improve survival and prevent or delay the development of symptomatic disease while maximizing safety. Clinical trial considerations in this field include identifying an appropriate at-risk population, safety assessments, dose selection, primary and secondary trial endpoints including surrogate endpoints, control arms, and quality-of-life metrics, all of which may enable more precise benefit–risk assessment.

Introduction: BCMA-directed CAR-T and Bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) therapies have shown remarkable overall response rates in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). This has led to the approval of idecabtagene vicleucel, ciltacabtagene autoleucel and teclistamab by the FDA, EMA and other regulatory agencies. We performed a global survey on accessibility, practice patterns, and toxicity management of commercially available CAR-T and BiTE therapies. Methods: An online survey was completed by clinicians attending the International Myeloma Society's Immune Effector Cell Therapies in Multiple Myeloma Workshop, in-person or virtually, made available for 30 days after the meeting held in March 2023, Boston, MA. Results: 87 clinicians from 16 countries completed the survey, most practicing in an academic practice (86%) and in an urban environment (89%). Sixty-four percent of the respondents practice in North America followed by Europe (25.3%) including Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, France, Greece, and Cyprus, and 6.9% from Asia and 3.4% from Australia. Seventy-seven percent reported CAR-T cell therapy was approved in their country with 44.8% treating 1-5 patients and 14.9% treating &gt;5 patients per month; 67% reported BiTE therapy was approved in their country with 14.9% treating &gt;5 patients per month. Of evaluable responses (n = 40), 62% administered CAR-T therapy inpatient and 15% administered CAR-T therapy outpatient ≥ 50% of the time. Length of time between decision to treat with CAR-T therapy to infusion was 6-12 weeks for 42% of responders and &lt;6 weeks for only 20%. Most (75%) reported inpatient administration of BiTE therapy step-up dosing; 17.5% reported outpatient step-up dosing administered ≥ 50% of the time. Use of institutional or practice SOPs for CAR-T and BiTE therapy patient selection was reported by 85% and 58%, respectively, with the factors influencing SOP outlined in Table 1. Of available CAR-T therapies, 53% prefer cilta-cel and 23% reported CAR-T therapy preference depended most on patients' co-morbidities/frailty (89%), timing of next available apheresis (67%), age (56%), CNS disease (44%) and other factors. Maintenance therapy after CAR-T therapy was reportedly used by 25% and 5% of respondents in 1-10% and 11-50% of their patients, respectively, to “maintain level of response achieved” (50%) or “achieve a deeper level of response” (25%). About half (43%) of the respondents reported using an SOP or particular criteria for secondary Hemophagocytic Lympho-Histiocytosis/Macrophage Activation Syndrome/CAR-related-HLH (sHLH/MAS/CarHLH) management that varied between the use of ASTCT Working Group IEC associated HLH-like syndrome Criteria (47%) (Hines 2023), CARTOX HLH Criteria (24%) (Neelapu 2017) and HLH-2004 criteria (6%). Tocilizumab was used as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) prophylaxis only by one responder. Keppra neurologic prophylaxis was used by 47.5% and 15% of responders for CAR-T and BiTE therapy, respectively. Delayed neurotoxicity with CAR-T was reported in 1-5% of patients by 57.5% of responders and 6-10% of patients by 15% of responders; most common manifestations were other movement/neuromuscular disorder (62%), nerve palsy (55%), and Parkinsonism (45%). Infectious prophylaxis was used to protect against HSV (92.5%), PJP (90%), bacterial pathogens (55%), fungal pathogens (60%), and IVIG (77.5%). However, criteria for infectious prophylaxis use varies widely incorporating IgG levels, infectious history, CD4+ count, B-cell aplasia and cytopenias (48.1 - 88.9%). Most respondents (46.3 - 86.5%) reported completing an infectious work-up including CMV, EBV, Hep B/C, and HIV ( Table 2). Conclusions: Trends of CAR-T and BiTE therapy use and patterns of concurrent prophylactic and supportive care in MM vary widely among academic centers across the globe, demonstrating a need for further understanding of toxicity pathogenesis, toxicity management and consistent guidelines. This survey also demonstrates the great unmet need for access beyond urban centers among the international myeloma community. Prospective studies and claims data analysis should be utilized to evaluate the longitudinal cost of care, quality of life, duration of response and management of infectious disease, neurological or related complications of CAR-T and bispecific TCE therapies.

Abstract Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare hematological malignancy with a poor prognosis and considered incurable with conventional chemotherapy. Small observational studies reported allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) offers durable remissions in patients with BPDCN. We report an analysis of patients with BPDCN who received an allo-HCT, using data reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR). We identified 164 patients with BPDCN from 78 centers who underwent allo-HCT between 2007 and 2018. The 5-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), relapse, and nonrelapse mortality (NRM) rates were 51.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 42.5-59.8), 44.4% (95% CI, 36.2-52.8), 32.2% (95% CI, 24.7-40.3), and 23.3% (95% CI, 16.9-30.4), respectively. Disease relapse was the most common cause of death. On multivariate analyses, age of ≥60 years was predictive for inferior OS (hazard ratio [HR], 2.16; 95% CI, 1.35-3.46; P = .001), and higher NRM (HR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.13-4.22; P = .02). Remission status at time of allo-HCT (CR2/primary induction failure/relapse vs CR1) was predictive of inferior OS (HR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.14-3.06; P = .01) and DFS (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.11-2.76; P = .02). Use of myeloablative conditioning with total body irradiation (MAC-TBI) was predictive of improved DFS and reduced relapse risk. Allo-HCT is effective in providing durable remissions and long-term survival in BPDCN. Younger age and allo-HCT in CR1 predicted for improved survival, whereas MAC-TBI predicted for less relapse and improved DFS. Novel strategies incorporating allo-HCT are needed to further improve outcomes.