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*Authors contributed equally. Introduction. Two chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies have been FDA approved for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) and ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel). Prior work from our consortium identified racial and ethnic differences in safety and response to ide-cel among patients treated in the standard of care (SOC) setting; despite these differences, survival was similar across race and ethnicity. Here, we extend this work to investigate racial and ethnic differences in safety, efficacy, and outcomes in a larger cohort of patients treated with SOC ide-cel with longer follow-up and patients treated with SOC cilta-cel. Methods. Data for RRMM patients who underwent leukapheresis by 12/31/2022 and were treated with SOC ide-cel or cilta-cel were pooled across 19 institutions in the U.S. Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy Consortium. We compared Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic (any race) patients, excluding other racial and ethnic groups due to small sample sizes that precluded sub-group investigations. Separately for each CAR T-cell therapy, racial and ethnic differences in baseline patient characteristics, safety, and treatment responses were examined using chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and log-rank tests were used to examine progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) by race and ethnicity. Results. Among 332 RRMM patients treated with ide-cel, Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients comprised 17% and 10% of the cohort, respectively. Hispanic patients were younger at infusion compared to Non-Hispanic Black and Non-Hispanic White patients (55.5 vs. 63 vs. 66 years, p<0.001). Non-Hispanic Black patients had a higher disease burden (≥ 50% bone marrow plasma cell percentage) compared to Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic patients (35% vs. 20% vs. 19%, p=0.05), while a higher proportion of Non-Hispanic White patients had high-risk cytogenetics compared to Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients (37% vs. 23% vs. 10%, p=0.003). Non-Hispanic Black patients were more likely to develop severe (≥ grade 3) cytopenia at day 30 (p<0.001) and day 90 (p=0.01) post-infusion, and these differences were particularly driven by higher rates of severe neutropenia among Non-Hispanic Black patients at these time points. Non-Hispanic White patients were more likely to achieve a best response of partial response (PR) or better (82%) compared to Non-Hispanic Black (75%) and Hispanic patients (63%, p=0.02). No other racial and ethnic differences in baseline patient characteristics (including cytopenias), safety, PFS, and OS were observed (p>0.05). Among 222 RRMM patients treated with cilta-cel, Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients comprised 12% and 9% of the cohort, respectively. At baseline, Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients were more likely to have anemia (p=0.01), and Non-Hispanic Black patients were more likely to have thrombocytopenia (p=0.02) and neutropenia (p=0.06) compared to Non-Hispanic White patients. No other differences in baseline patient characteristics were observed by race and ethnicity. While not statistically significant, a higher rate of severe (≥ grade 3) cytopenia at day 90 post-infusion was observed among Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients compared to Non-Hispanic White patients (33% vs. 44% vs. 21%, p=0.07), similar to the ide-cel cohort. This finding was primarily driven by higher rates of severe neutropenia among Non-Hispanic Black patients and higher rates of anemia among Hispanic patients. No other racial and ethnic differences in safety, responses to cilta-cel, PFS, or OS were not observed in the cilta-cel cohort (p>0.05). Conclusion. In a large cohort of RRMM patients treated with SOC ide-cel or cilta-cel, we observed a higher rate of cytopenias post-infusion and inferior ide-cel responses among racial and ethnic minority patients compared to Non-Hispanic White patients. Despite these differences, survival was similar across race and ethnicity, suggesting that both available CAR T-cell therapies for RRMM patients can be utilized across all populations. Future studies that include larger patient cohorts of racially and ethnically diverse patients should be conducted to confirm these findings and additionally evaluate long-term outcomes.

Background: The FDA package inserts for all approved chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies state that patients should universally refrain from driving for 8 weeks following infusion. However, there are no clear data to support this recommendation, particularly in multiple myeloma (MM) which all CAR-T therapies use 4-1BB as opposed to CD28 costimulatory domains. Specifically, no seizures were reported in the KarMMa, KarMMa-3, CARTITUDE-1, or CARTITUDE-4 trials. Because patients typically return to their referring oncologists after Day (D) +28 following CAR-T infusion, an additional month of driving restrictions can create confusion for referring oncologists, impose significant burdens for patients and caregivers, and potentially even affect the choice of MM therapy for patients living in remote areas. Methods: We conducted a two-part study within the US MM Immunotherapy Consortium. Firstly, we analyzed data from commercial idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) and ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) recipients (leukapheresis cutoff December 31, 2023) to identify the prevalence of CRS, ICANS, or death between Weeks 5-8 (D+29 to D+56) following CAR-T (Day 0). Patients with index hospital stays lasting over 4 weeks and patients with <8 weeks of post-CAR-T follow-up were excluded. Secondly, we surveyed Consortium members about the prevalence of impaired driving risk (defined as “anything that could impair a patient's ability to drive safely, e.g. seizures, altered mental status, blindness, etc.”) and used 1-5 Likert scales to gauge the perceived importance of driving restrictions (assuming no FDA guidance existed) during Weeks 0-4 vs 5-8. This anonymous IRB-exempted survey was distributed via email to 63 CAR-T-prescribing physicians within the Consortium. Results: Of 553 analyzed patients, 41% (n=224) had received cilta-cel and 59% (n=329) ide-cel. The median age was 64 (IQR 58-70), 42% (n=231) were female, 78% White (n=434), 13% (n=72) Black, and 9% (n=51) Hispanic. ECOG PS at infusion was ≥2 in 11% (n=63) of patients, and 5% (n=28) had had previous CNS co-morbidities such as prior strokes. One patient (0.2%) developed Grade 2 CRS during Weeks 5-8 (onset D+47, resolution one day later); no patients had de novo ICANS after D+28. There were 16 cases of non-ICANS neurotoxicity (including 2 cases of Parkinsonism) diagnosed a median of 24 days after CAR-T (range: 17-147 days), of which 3 cases (all non-Parkinsonian) were first diagnosed during Weeks 5-8. There were 10 deaths (2%) during Weeks 5-8, one due to infection and the remainder from progressive MM. The survey was completed by 45 oncologists (71% response rate), 41 of whom had managed both >5 ide-cel and >5 cilta-cel recipients. Regarding impaired driving during Weeks 0-4, 20% of physicians felt this was never a risk, 36% a risk for 1-2% of patients, 29% a risk for 3-10% of patients, and 16% a risk for >10% of patients. The distribution was significantly different (p < 0.01) for Weeks 5-8: 49% never a risk, 36% a risk for 1-2% of patients, 16% a risk for 3-10% of patients, while no respondents felt this remained a risk for >10% of patients. For Weeks 0-4, 73% agreed that patients should be advised not to drive while 9% disagreed. In contrast, for Weeks 5-8, 14% of physicians agreed with driving restrictions while 78% disagreed (p < 0.01 compared to Weeks 0-4). Discussion: Our two-part study demonstrates that driving restrictions following Week 4 after CAR-T therapy in MM may not be required. The incidence of de novo CRS or any-type neurotoxicity being diagnosed during Weeks 5-8 was <1%, and - if such toxicities developed - patients and physicians could be expected to set appropriate restrictions at that juncture. While 73% of CAR-T-prescribing oncologists agreed that patients should refrain from driving during Weeks 0-4, 78% disagreed with this recommendation during Weeks 5-8. These findings complement other real-world studies (Wesson, Dima, et al, TCT 2024; Ahmed et al, Blood Advances 2024) reporting the rarity of CRS and ICANS after the first month in both MM and lymphoma. Our study is limited by a lack of patient-reported data, which was done intentionally to avoid asking patients about activities undertaken against medical advice. Nevertheless, we believe that narrowing universal driving restrictions to Weeks 0-4 following CAR-T therapy would constitute an evidence-based modification to the package inserts for ide-cel and cilta-cel.

Introduction: Brexucabtagene autoleucel (brexu cel) is a CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy approved for the treatment of adults with relapsed/refractory (R/R) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Some patients (pts) proceed with a consolidative allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) after breux cel. We do not know which pts can safely avoid a consolidative HCT and its associated morbidity. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study utilizing the Real-World Outcomes Collaborative of CAR-T in Adult ALL (ROCCA) dataset. ROCCA is a registry of brexu cel pts in 32 centers in North America. We defined complete remission (CR) as < 5% blasts in the bone marrow and no central nervous system (CNS) or extramedullary (EM) disease on or around D28 after brexu cel. We defined measurable residual disease negative (MRD-) CR as CR and no abnormal blasts in the bone marrow by multiparameter flow cytometry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, ClonoSeq next generation sequencing (NGS), or other sequencing modalities with lower sensitivity. ClonoSeq NGS has a sensitivity of 10-6, while the other modalities have a sensitivity of at least 10-4. We defined progression free survival (PFS) as the time from CAR-T infusion to relapse or death, censored at the date of last follow-up. Statistical analyses were performed in R. Univariable Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to determine the association of pre-specified variables with PFS. Variables known to be associated with CAR T outcomes in ALL were entered into a multivariable model. HCT was incorporated as a time-varying covariate. Results: During the study period, 281 pts were infused with brexu cel. We focused our analysis on 172 (61%) pts with confirmed MRD- CR on D28, as that is the group with clinical equipoise regarding maintenance strategy. 38 (22%) of those pts received a consolidative HCT, 30 (17%) received another form of maintenance therapy (primarily tyrosine kinase inhibitors for Philadelphia (Ph)-chromosome positive ALL), and 104 (60%) pts received no maintenance therapy. Pts who underwent consolidative HCT were younger (median age 35 years) than those who received no maintenance (42y) (p = 0.023) and were less likely to have a history of prior HCT (13% vs. 47%, p < 0.001). No differences were observed with respect to sex, TP53 mutation status, prior inotuzumab (ino) or blinatumomab (blina) exposure, disease burden prior to CAR, or development of any cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or any neurotoxicity with brexu cel. We performed univariable Cox proportional hazard regression analyses among pts in MRD- CR on D28, excluding those who received other maintenance therapy besides HCT; the median follow up was 8.1 months. In univariable analyses, D28 MRD negativity by ClonoSeq NGS (versus MRD negativity by other, less sensitive methods), development of CRS, and pre-CAR BM blasts < 5% were associated with improved PFS; prior ino exposure was negatively associated with PFS (p < 0.05). Age, sex, Ph status, TP53 status, and neurotoxicity development were not associated with PFS. In a multivariable model incorporating ALL type, prior HCT, prior ino/blina, and pre-CAR blast burden, as well as consolidative HCT as a time-varying covariate, only MRD negativity by ClonoSeq NGS with at least 10-6 sensitivity retained statistical significance (PFS hazard ratio 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.15-0.77, p = 0.005). Pts who were MRD- by ClonoSeq NGS on D28 and received no maintenance had favorable 6m PFS of 76% (95% CI: 59-98%) and OS of 100% with a median follow up of 6.3 months in this subgroup. Among those in MRD- CR by NGS, HCT as a time-varying covariate was not associated with improved PFS (HR 0.6, p = 0.6). Conclusions: In a large real-world cohort of adults with R/R B-ALL infused with brexu cel, we identified practice variation regarding the use of consolidative HCT. Among brexu cel recipients who entered an MRD- CR, we identified ClonoSeq NGS MRD negativity as a novel predictive factor of favorable oncologic outcomes, even without a consolidative HCT. Similar results have been obtained in pediatric ALL patietns ftreated with 41BB-based tisagenleucleucel (Pulsipher et al., Blood Cancer Discovery 2022). Longer follow-up is needed to validate the safety of omitting consolidative HCT in such pts, but these results encourage the potential for definitive therapy with brexu cel when D28 ClonoSeq NGS MRD is negative.

Introduction: Brexucabtagene Autoleucel (brexu-cel) is the first CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CD19.CAR) T-cell therapy approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in adult (≥18 yo) patients (pts) based on results from the ZUMA-3 trial. However, data on the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cells in older pts (≥60 yo) remains limited, with only 8 pts >65 yo enrolled in the ZUMA-3 trial. We evaluated the treatment characteristics and outcomes with use of brexu-cel amongst patients ≥60 yo in the Real-World Outcomes Collaborative for CAR-T in ALL (ROCCA) consortium database. Methodology: ROCCA is a consortium of over 30 U.S.-based institutions with a database of adult pts with B-ALL who received brexu-cel as standard of care therapy. We identified pts ≥60 yo and further stratified them into two cohorts: 60-69 yo and ≥70 yo. Outcomes of interest included OS, PFS, ORR, and toxicities (CRS and ICANS). Both OS and PFS were calculated from the day of brexu-cel infusion. Response assessment occurred on day +28, and MRD evaluation was per institutional practices. CRS and ICANS were graded according to the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy criteria. Results: Of 280 brexu-cel recipients in the ROCCA database, 73 (26%) were ≥60 yo, of which 58 (79%) were between 60-69 yo and 15 (21%) were ≥70 yo. Among pts ≥60 yo, the median age at infusion was 65 (range 60-81). Pts were heavily pretreated with a median of 3 prior lines of therapy (range 2-9). Prior therapies included: allogeneic HSCT (38%), inotuzumab ozogamicin (41%), and blinatumomab (62%). Forty pts (55%) had Ph-negative B-ALL, 24 (33%) had Ph+ B-ALL and 9 (12%) had Ph-like B-ALL. When grouped by HCT-CI equal to 0, 1-2 or ≥3, a higher proportion of pts ≥60 yo had HCT-CI ≥3 (19% vs. 7% in <60 yo; p=0.004). Pre-apheresis, 33 pts (45%) had active disease (>5% marrow blasts or extramedullary disease), 34 (47%) were in CR (of whom 14 were MRD-negative) and 6 had unknown disease status. Following brexu-cel, 43 (59%) achieved MRD-negative CR, 20 (27%) had MRD + or CR with unknown MRD status, 6 (8%) had refractory disease and 5 had no disease evaluation available. The ORR was similar between pts 60-69 and ≥70 yo (MRD-negative CR rate: 58% vs 61%, r/r to brexu-cel: 9% vs 6%) and was comparable to pts <60 yo (MRD-negative CR 66%; r/r disease of 9%). The rate of all grade ICANS was higher in pts ≥70 (77%) than in pts 60-69 (47%) or pts <60 (49%), with grade 1-2 ICANS occurring at a significantly higher rate in pts ≥70 (44% vs. 20% in 60-69 and 20% in <60, p=0.049). Grade 3-4 ICANS were similar between the groups: 33%, 27% and 29% in the ≥70, 60-69, and <60 groups, respectively. Conversely, rates of CRS were similar across age groups (80-84%). There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of grade 3-4 CRS which was 17% in pts ≥70, 4% in pts 60-69, and 11% in pts <60 yo. With a median follow-up of 332 days (range 8-936 days) from infusion, pts ≥60 yo had a median PFS of 395 days compared to 547 days in pts <60 yo. Median PFS was lower in the ³70 yo (231 days) compared to 677 in the 60-69 yo cohort. No statistically significant difference was found between the <60 and ≥60groups in 6- and 12-month PFS rates (6 months PFS: 66% vs 64%, p=0.77 and 12 months PFS: 57% vs 57%, p=1.00). When pts ≥60 yo were stratified by age, pts ≥70 yo had similar 6-month PFS compared to other age groups but significantly lower 12-month PFS (38%; vs. 64% in pts 60-69and 57% in pts <60, p=0.001). Median OS was not reached in any of the age groups, and there was no statistically significant difference in 6-month OS (72% in ≥ 70 vs. 82% in the 60-69 vs. 82% in <60, p=0.14) or 12-months OS (61% in ≥ 70 vs. 69% in 60-69 vs. 73% in <60, p=0.18). Conclusion: This is the largest study to date of older B-ALL pts receiving CAR-T cells. We observed that older pts, particularly those aged 60-69, have similar outcomes to younger pts. However, pts ≥70 yo had lower median and 12-month PFS when compared to younger patients. Additionally, pts ≥70 yo had higher rates of grades 1-2 ICANS. An important limitation of this analysis is the potential selection bias among clinicians when selecting older patients for this treatment. Longer follow-up, including inclusion of additional pts ≥70 yo is needed to confirm these results, and further studies are needed to identify the optimal approach for use of CAR T-cell therapy in patients in this age group.

Background: Teclistamab (Tec), a first-in-class BCMA bispecific T-cell antibody, received regulatory approval for the treatment of RRMM based on the MajesTEC-1 study [Moreau et al, NEJM, 2022] which demonstrated an overall response rate (ORR) of 63% and median progression free survival (PFS) of 11.3 months. However, less than 15% (N=24) of patients (pts) enrolled in MajestTEC-1 were ≥75 years, an age cohort that is often underrepresented in clinical trials and comprises approximately one third of MM pts at diagnosis [SEER 22 2017-2021]. In this multicenter retrospective study, we report the real-world safety and efficacy of a large cohort of elderly (≥75 years) RRMM pts treated with Tec. Methods: Pts with RRMM who received standard-of-care Tec across 13 U.S. academic institutions were included in the study. The follow-up data cutoff was 30 April 2024. Pts were divided by age into two groups: age <75 years (<75 group) and age ≥75 years (≥75 group). High-risk cytogenetic abnormalities (HRCA) were defined as the presence of del(17p), t(4;14), t(14;16) and/or gain or amplification of 1q21. Disease response and progression was evaluated using IMWG criteria. Time-to-event analyses were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) assessment was based on the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy consensus grading. Results: Among 385 pts, 83 (22%) were in the ≥75 group (median age 78, range 75-92) and 302 (78%) in the <75 group (median age 65, range 31-74). Compared to pts in the <75 group, those in the ≥75 group were more often white (78% vs. 63%, p=0.009). Both the ≥75 and <75 age groups had a median of 6 prior lines of therapy, a similar proportion with ECOG ≥2 at start of Tec (29% vs. 24%, respectively; p=0.37), and a high proportion of pts with triple-class-refractory disease (77% vs. 85%, p=0.06) and pts who would have been ineligible MajesTEC-1 (73% vs. 80%, p=0.20). In contrast, pts in the ≥75 group had a lower incidence of adverse MM risk factors compared to the <75 group, including HRCA (44.6% vs. 57.9%, p=0.03), ultra high-risk (≥2 HRCA) MM (12% vs. 24%, p=0.02), extramedullary disease (22% vs. 40%, p=0.02), hemoglobin <8 g/dL (10% vs. 21%, p=0.02) or albumin <3 g/dL (6% vs. 19%, p=0.04) at the time of starting Tec. Moreover, a lower proportion of pts in the ≥75 group had prior autologous stem cell transplantation (43% vs. 72%, p<0.0001) or prior BCMA-directed therapy (33% vs. 55%, p=0.0003). The median time from diagnosis to start of Tec was longer for pts in the ≥75 group (7.21 years vs. 5.81 years, p=0.02). There was no significant difference in rates of any-grade CRS (52% vs. 59%, p=0.27), CRS grade 2-4 (10% vs. 11%, p=0.74) or any-grade ICANS (19% vs. 13%, p=0.12) between the ≥75 and <75 age groups, respectively. Four pts in the entire cohort developed CRS grade 3-4, one of whom was in the ≥75 group. Ten pts developed grade 3 ICANS (none grade 4), three of whom were in the ≥75 group. There was no significant difference between the ≥75 group and <75 group in ORR (62% vs. 53%, p=0.17) and ≥very good partial response (VGPR) rate (53% vs. 44%, p=0.14). After a median follow-up period of 9.9 months (95% CI 9.6-10.6 months), the median PFS in the ≥75 group was 10.7 months (95% CI 6.6-NR) vs. 5.2 months (95% CI 6.6-NR) in the <75 group (p=0.005). At the time of data cut-off, the median overall survival (OS) for pts in the ≥75 group had not been reached (95% CI NR - NR) compared to 16.1 months (95% CI 14.0 - NR) in the <75 group (p=0.048). In multivariable analysis for the entire cohort, age ≥75 was not significantly associated with either PFS (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.54-1.39; p=0.55) or OS (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.30-1.19; p=0.15). Conclusions: This analysis of a large cohort of RRMM pts treated with Tec in the real-world setting demonstrates comparable efficacy and safety outcomes in elderly (aged ≥75 years) pts to those reported in the overall study population of MajesTEC-1. The adverse baseline disease characteristics and inferior efficacy in pts <75 years age compared to ≥75 years likely reflect patient selection and prescribing patterns in the early era of access to commercial BCMA bispecific therapy with Tec. In multivariable analysis there was no significant impact of age ≥75 on survival outcomes. OP, DD & LF: co-first authors. KKP, HCL & AGC: co-senior authors

Introduction. Ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) and idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel), two anti-B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) CAR T therapies, have demonstrated remarkable responses and improved survival among patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) in the clinical trials and standard of care (SOC) setting. Here, we compare safety, efficacy, and survival for patients treated with SOC ide-cel and cilta-cel. Methods. Data were from a retrospective chart review of RRMM patients leukapheresed by 12/31/2022 with the intent to receive SOC ide- or cilta-cel at 19 institutions in the US Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy Consortium. An inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) approach was used to compare outcomes by therapy type (cilta- vs. ide-cel), balancing on age, sex, race and ethnicity, performance status, extramedullary disease, high-risk cytogenetics, prior BCMA therapy, bone marrow plasma cells, penta-refractory status, lymphodepleting chemotherapy, baseline ferritin, low cell dose, and bridging therapy response. Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association of treatment type with safety, efficacy, and survival accordingly, while adjusting for IPTW weights. We employed propensity score matching utilizing the same covariates to identify the association of treatment type with progression-free survival (PFS) within relevant patient sub-groups. Results. A total of 641 patients were leukapheresed by 12/31/2022 with ide-cel (n=386) and cilta-cel (n=255). 586 patients were infused (n=350 for ide-cel; n=236 for cilta-cel) with a median follow-up of 13.0 and 12.6 months, respectively. After IPTW, patient characteristics were well-balanced. Patients treated with cilta-cel were more likely to have grade ≥ 3 cytokine release syndrome (CRS) (OR=5.52, 95% CI=1.76-17.30, p=0.004), infections (OR=2.07, 95% CI=1.44-2.97, p<0.001), and delayed neurotoxicity (NT) (OR=20.97, 95% CI=4.75-92.42, p<0.001) compared to patients treated with ide-cel. In the cilta-cel cohort, 24 patients (10%) experienced delayed NT compared to 2 patients (1%) in the ide-cel cohort. Although not statistically significant, patients treated with cilta-cel were more likely to have any second primary malignancies (SPMs) (OR=1.87, 95% CI=0.94-3.71, p=0.08) and any SPMs excluding non-melanoma skin cancers (OR=1.78, 95% CI=0.78-4.10, p=0.2) but no association was observed for odds of hematologic SPMs (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.26-3.61). No association was observed for therapy type with any or severe immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, any CRS, severe cytopenias, and non-relapse mortality. Compared to ide-cel, cilta-cel was associated with better treatment responses of ≥ complete response (OR=2.38, 95% CI=1.61-3.51, p<0.001) and ≥ partial response (OR=1.74, 95% CI=0.99-3.05, p=0.06). Patients treated with cilta-cel had a longer PFS and overall survival (OS) than ide-cel (HR=0.47, 95% CI=0.35-0.62, p<0.001 and HR=0.63, 95% CI=0.42-0.93, p=0.02, respectively), and these findings were similar in the intention to treat cohort (PFS: HR=0.44, 95% CI=0.34-0.55, p<0.001; OS: HR=0.55, 95% CI=0.41-0.73, p<0.001, respectively). We observed consistent findings when repeating the analyses restricting the ide-cel cohort to patients infused during the same time-period as FDA approval for cilta-cel (≥ March 2022), restricting to patients with data on all covariates, and restricting to sites that contributed data for both products. In a propensity matched population, (n=380; n=190 for cilta-cel and n=190 for ide-cel), patients treated with cilta-cel had superior PFS compared to those treated with ide-cel in most subgroups with respect to age and disease characteristics including extramedullary disease, high-risk cytogenetics, and elevated baseline ferritin (p<0.05). Conclusion. Our results suggest superior efficacy of cilta-cel with a higher incidence of certain toxicities compared to ide-cel in the SOC setting. This study provides valuable information for patient counseling and guiding the selection of CAR T-cell therapy for specific patient populations. Further validation through similar large-scale real-world experiences or prospective studies is needed to confirm our results and enhance applicability in the clinical setting. *DH, LP, & DD are co-first authors * YL, KP, & SS are co-last authors

Background: Tec is a BCMA-directed bispecific antibody (BsAb) approved for RRMM after ≥4 prior lines of therapy (LOT) based on the MajesTEC-1 trial. However, patients who had previously received a BCMA-DT were excluded from MajesTEC-1. Herein, we evaluated outcomes of RRMM patients with prior exposure to BCMA-DT treated with standard-of-care Tec. Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective cohort study. We compared variables between different groups using Chi-squared and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and assessed progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) using Kaplan Meier and Cox proportional hazards model. We used the maximally selected rank statistics method to determine the optimal cut-off point for continuous variables to find the most significant difference in PFS among different groups. Results: A total of 385 patients were included in this study. 193 patients had received a prior BCMA-DT, of whom 77%, 22%, and 1% had received 1, 2, and 3 prior anti-BCMA agents, respectively. In patients who had received a prior BCMA-DT, 35% were aged ≥70 years, 24% had ECOG performance status (PS) ≥2, 61% had high-risk FISH, 32% had extramedullary disease (EMD) at Tec initiation, and 42% were penta-refractory. Compared to the cohort without prior BCMA-DT (n=192), patients who were treated with prior BCMA-DT were more likely to have high risk FISH (61% vs 49%, p=0.02), and higher median number of prior LOT (7 vs 5, p <0.001). The specific types of prior BCMA-DTs with the respective overall response rate (ORR) to the most recent prior BCMA-DT were: antibody drug conjugate only (ADC, n=47, ORR 43%), chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy only (CAR T, n=99, ORR 86%), BsAb only (n=6, ORR 100%), ADC + CAR T (n=36, ORR 56%), and other ADC/CAR T/BsAb combinations (n=5, ORR 60%). Median follow up was 9.9 (95% CI:9.5-10.6) months. Patients with prior receipt of BCMA-DT had a lower ORR (51.4% vs 61.5%; p=0.012) and ≥very good partial response rate (39.4% vs 52.6%, p=0.009), but similar ≥complete response rate (22.3% vs 24%; p=0.78) to Tec compared to those without prior BCMA-DT. Moreover, patients with prior BCMA-DT had worse median PFS compared to patients without prior BCMA-DT (prior BCMA-DT: 4.6 months, 95% CI: 2.7-7.5; without prior BCMA-DT: 8.2 months, 95% CI: 5.7-12.2; p=0.017). On multivariable analysis incorporating prior BCMA-DT, age, cytogenetics, EMD, and ECOG PS, receipt of prior BCMA-DT was not independently associated with PFS (HR 1.25, 95% CI 0.95-1.64, p=0.1). The estimated 1-year OS rate was 58.9% (95% CI: 51.64-67.2) for the prior BCMA-DT group vs 65.1% (95% CI: 58.1-73.1) for the group without prior BCMA-DT, p=0.16. For the prior BCMA-DT cohort, response rates to Tec were numerically higher in patients who received CAR T (ORR 51.2%) followed by ADC (ORR 45.5%), and bispecific (ORR 30%) as their most recent prior BCMA-DT (p=0.39). No significant difference in PFS was noted when stratifying patients by number of prior BCMA-DTs, types of all prior BCMA-DTs received, type of most recent prior BCMA-DT, or depth of response to most recent BCMA-DT. Patients who responded to Tec had a numerically longer median time from most recent BCMA-DT exposure to Tec initiation compared to non-responders: 10.5 vs 7.5 months, p=0.48. We found that the optimal cut-off for time from last BCMA-DT exposure to Tec initiation was 8.7 months. Patients with > 8.7 months between last exposure to prior BCMA-DT and Tec initiation had a superior median PFS with Tec (8.1 months, 95% CI: 4.6-11.7) compared to patients with < 8.7 months from last exposure to prior BCMA-DT (2.5 months, 95% CI: 1.1-5.7), p=0.001. The toxicity profile for patients with prior BCMA-DT was similar to those who had not received a prior BCMA-DT. Grade ≥2 CRS occurred in 8.7% vs 13% (p=0.18), and grade ≥2 ICANS in 7.7% vs 6.7%, (p=0.85) of patients with and without prior BCMA-DT, respectively. Patients in the prior BCMA-DT cohort were more likely to have grade 3 thrombocytopenia in the first 30 days after Tec initiation (10.7% vs 6.6%; p=0.08). Conclusion: This is the largest study to date of any BCMA-directed BsAb among BCMA-exposed patients. Receipt of prior BCMA-DT was associated with a trend toward worse PFS, although not statistically significant, and lower likelihood of attaining an overall response. Waiting >9 months between sequencing BCMA therapies may be associated with improved PFS. D.D., M.A.V.M., J.A.D: co first authors; F.A., C.F., L.S.: co senior authors

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.

Introduction: Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM)remains incurable with current therapies. Treatment options for patients beyond initial therapy are limited, underscoring the need for new agents with novel mechanisms of action. Iopofosine I 131 is a novel radiopharmaceutical composed of a lipid raft-targeting phospholipid ether covalently bound to 131I, a beta-emitting radioisotope. Herein, we report the results of the CLOVER-WaM study [NCT02952508] in patients with previously treated WM. Methods: Eligible WM patients had received >2 prior therapies and had symptomatic disease requiring therapy according to consensus recommendations for WM. Treatment consisted of 2 cycles of iopofosine I 131 administered at 15 mCi/m2 on days 1 and 15 of each 57-day cycle. Dose reduction to 10 mCi/m2 was allowed in the second cycle in patients with incomplete hematologic recovery or if the expected total dose exceeded 132 mCi. Supportive care with growth factors and transfusions was permitted per treating physician discretion. The primary endpoint was major response rate (MRR, defined as partial response or better) as determined by the modified VIth International Workshop on Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Response Criteria. Secondary endpoints included overall response rate (ORR), treatment-free survival (TFS), duration of response (DOR), and clinical benefit rate (CBR, defined as stable disease or better). Efficacy endpoints were assessed in the modified intent-to-treat (mITT) population, defined as all patients who received ≥60 mCi total administered dose of iopofosine I 131. MRR was analyzed with a 95% 2-sided confidence interval (CI) using the Clopper-Pearson interval method. In this population, MRR >20% was considered statistically significant. Time-dependent efficacy endpoints were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Safety was evaluated using CTCAE v4.03 in patients who received >1 dose of iopofosine I 131. The data cut-off for this analysis was May 31, 2024. Results: In 65 patients enrolled (safety population), the median age was 70 (range, 50-88) years; 48 (73.8%) were male, and 17 (26.2%) were female. Sixty-one (93.8%) were White, 1 (1.5%) was Black/African American, and 3 (4.6%) were other or unknown. Fifty-five patients met mITT criteria and were evaluable for efficacy. The median number of prior therapies was 4 (range, 2-15). Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi) exposure was noted in 39 (71%) patients, of whom 31 (56%) were BTKi-refractory. Sixteen (29%) patients had MYD88-wild type, and 5 (9%) had CXCR4-mutated disease. The MRR was 56.4% (95% CI, 42.3-69.7). ORR was 80%; among MYD88-wild type patients, ORR was 81%, and among post-BTKi patients, ORR was 72%. CBR was 98%. The median DOR and TFS were not reached at a median follow-up of 8.8 months, with an estimated 72% of responding patients remaining progression-free at 18 months. In the safety population, any-grade adverse events, regardless of causality, were reported in 57 (87%) patients. Grade 3 or higher treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) occurring in >10% of patients included thrombocytopenia (80%), neutropenia (69.2%), anemia (44.6%), lymphopenia (13.8%), infections (12.3%), and febrile neutropenia (10.8%). Adverse event-related death occurred in 1 patient due to bacterial sepsis. Conclusion: Iopofosine I 131 demonstrated durable efficacy in previously treated WM patients, with no current standard of care therapy. The treatment was well-tolerated with a manageable toxicity profile across broad biologic and clinical subgroups, irrespective of risk stratification. Based on the results of this trial, iopofosine I 131 shows promise as a novel treatment for WM patients.

Case: This is a case of a 6-year-old patient diagnosed with Gorham-Stout disease (GSD), a rare lymphangiogenic skeletal disorder, localized to the left femur. Initial nonoperative treatment with pharmaceuticals and bracing was unsuccessful. We describe a definitive operative treatment with radical femoral resection and a modified rotationplasty technique through a tibiopelvic rotational hip arthroplasty. At 2-year follow-up, the patient was able to walk with a prosthetic device. Conclusion: The use of this modified rotationplasty technique is an effective treatment option for patients with femoral GSD to improve function and quality of life.