Citations

Abstract Introduction: Idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel, bb2121) is the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy approved for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody. bb21217 is a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) directed CAR T cell therapy which uses the same CAR molecule as ide-cel, with the addition of a PI3K inhibitor (bb007) during ex vivo culture to enrich the drug product (DP) for memory-like T cells and decrease the proportion of highly differentiated or senescent T cells. We hypothesize that DPs enriched for memory like CAR T cells will persist and function longer than non-enriched DPs and this increased persistence will positively influence duration of response (DOR). We previously demonstrated patients with sustained response are more likely to have drug product enriched for naïve gene signatures and depleted of effector gene signatures compared to patients without a sustained response. Methods: CRB-402 (NCT03274219) is a multi-center phase 1 trial of bb21217 in RRMM patients who received ≥3 prior lines of antimyeloma therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, or are double-refractory to both classes. In expansion, patients were required to have prior exposure to an anti-CD38 antibody and were required to be refractory to their last line of therapy. Patients underwent lymphodepletion with fludarabine (30 mg/m 2) and cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m 2) daily for 3 days, then received a single infusion of bb21217 at 150, 300 or 450 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells. The primary outcome measure is incidence of adverse events (AEs), including dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs). Additional outcome measures include overall response rate and DOR by IMWG Uniform Response Criteria. Exploratory analyses include correlation of outcome with the molecular characteristics of materials collected temporally through the treatment course, including PBMCs at apheresis, CAR+ T cells from drug product and CAR+ T cells collected from patients around the time of peak expansion. Results: Asof Feb 16, 2021, 72 patients received bb21217, 12 at 150, 14 at 300 and 46 at 450 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells; median follow up for all patients is 9.0 (<1-36) months (M). Patients had a median of 6 (3-17) prior lines of therapy with 49/72 (68%) triple refractory. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) developed in 54/72 (75%) patients and was predominately G1/2 (51 pts), with 1 G3 event and 2 deaths (previously reported). Median time to first onset of CRS was 2 days (1-20); tocilizumab (38 pts) + corticosteroids (12 pts) was used to manage CRS. Eleven (15%) patients developed neurotoxicity [8 G1/G2, 2 G3, 1 G4] with median time to first onset of 7 (2-24) days. Response was assessed per investigator for 72 patients treated with bb21217 (Table). CAR+ T cells remained detectable in 30/37 (81%) patients and 9/15 (60%) patients at 6 and 12 M respectively, post bb21217 infusion. Of the 15 patients evaluable for MRD with ≥CR, 14 (93%) were MRD negative at 10 -5 by NGS. Analysis of peripheral blood samples collected 15 days post bb21217 infusion demonstrated patients with higher than the median number of CD8+ CAR+ T cells expressing CD27 and CD28 had significantly longer DOR (p=0.0024), compared to patients with lower than the median values. This suggests less differentiated, more proliferative CAR+ T cells at peak expansion are associated with prolonged disease response (median DOR in high vs low: 27.2M (95% CI; 16.8, NE) vs 9.4M (95% CI; 5.1, NE). Conclusions: Adverse events are consistent with known toxicities of CAR T cell therapies. Efficacy results are encouraging with a median DOR estimate of 17M, CR rate continues to mature. Patients with higher levels of proliferative, less differentiated memory like CAR+ T cells at peak expansion are more likely to experience prolonged DOR, continuing to support the hypothesis that the memory like T cell phenotype associated with bb21217 results in prolonged DOR. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Raje: Caribou: Other; Janssen: Other; bluebird bio: Other; Amgen: Other; Celgene: Other; BMS: Other. Shah: Poseida: Research Funding; Precision Biosciences: Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy; Sutro Biopharma: Research Funding; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Janssen: Research Funding; Oncopeptides: Consultancy; Kite: Consultancy; Nektar: Research Funding; Indapta Therapeutics: Consultancy; GSK: Consultancy; CSL Behring: Consultancy; CareDx: Consultancy; BMS/Celgene: Research Funding; Bluebird Bio: Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy; Teneobio: Research Funding. Kaufman: BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; Tecnofarma SAS, AbbVie: Honoraria; Incyte, celgene: Consultancy; Janssen: Honoraria; Incyte, TG Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Heidelberg Pharma: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Fortis Therapeutics: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Roche/Genetech, Tecnopharma: Consultancy, Honoraria; Sutro, Takeda: Research Funding; Genentech, AbbVie, Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding. Siegel: Celularity: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GlaxoSmithKline: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Honoraria; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Amgen Inc.: Honoraria; Karyopharm: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Munshi: Janssen: Consultancy; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Legend: Consultancy; Adaptive Biotechnology: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Abbvie: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Oncopep: Consultancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Other: scientific founder, Patents & Royalties; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy. Rosenblatt: Parexel: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Imaging Endpoints: Consultancy; Attivare: Consultancy; Wolters Kluwer Health Inc: Consultancy, Patents & Royalties. Lin: Sorrento: Consultancy; Takeda: Research Funding; Juno: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Merck: Research Funding; Vineti: Consultancy; Legend: Consultancy; Bluebird Bio: Consultancy, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy; Gamida Cell: Consultancy; Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding. Jakubowiak: BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gracell: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Sanofi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Timm: bluebird bio: Current Employment. Yeri: bluebird bio: Current Employment. Martin: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Campbell: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company. Finney: bluebird bio: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Truppel-Hartmann: bluebird bio: Current Employment. Petrocca: blue bird bio: Ended employment in the past 24 months. Berdeja: Abbvie, Acetylon, Amgen: Research Funding; Celularity, CRISPR Therapeutics: Research Funding; Bluebird bio, BMS, Celgene, CRISPR Therapeutics, Janssen, Kite Pharma, Legend Biotech, SecuraBio, Takeda: Consultancy; EMD Sorono, Genentech: Research Funding; GSK, Ichnos Sciences, Incyte: Research Funding; Lilly, Novartis: Research Funding; Poseida, Sanofi, Teva: Research Funding.

Salicylic acid (SA) has observationally been shown to decrease colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid, that rapidly deacetylates to SA) is an effective primary and secondary chemopreventive agent. Through a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, we aimed to address whether levels of SA affected CRC risk, stratifying by aspirin use. A two-sample MR analysis was performed using GWAS summary statistics of SA (INTERVAL and EPIC-Norfolk, N = 14,149) and CRC (CCFR, CORECT, GECCO and UK Biobank, 55,168 cases and 65,160 controls). The DACHS study (4410 cases and 3441 controls) was used for replication and stratification of aspirin-use. SNPs proxying SA were selected via three methods: (1) functional SNPs that influence the activity of aspirin-metabolising enzymes; (2) pathway SNPs present in enzymes’ coding regions; and (3) genome-wide significant SNPs. We found no association between functional SNPs and SA levels. The pathway and genome-wide SNPs showed no association between SA and CRC risk (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.84–1.27 and OR: 1.08, 95% CI: 0.86–1.34, respectively). Results remained unchanged upon aspirin use stratification. We found little evidence to suggest that an SD increase in genetically predicted SA protects against CRC risk in the general population and upon stratification by aspirin use.

Background Fetal posterior cerebral artery (FPCA) occlusion is a rare but potentially disabling cause of stroke. While endovascular treatment is established for acute large vessel occlusion stroke, FPCA occlusions were excluded from acute ischemic stroke trials. We aim to report the feasibility, safety, and outcome of mechanical thrombectomy in acute FPCA occlusions. Methods We performed a multicenter retrospective review of consecutive patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy of acute FPCA occlusion. Primary FPCA occlusion was defined as an occlusion that was identified on the pre‐procedure computed tomography angiography or baseline angiogram whereas a secondary FPCA occlusion was defined as an occlusion that occurred secondary to embolization to a new territory after recanalization of a different large vessel occlusion. Demographics, clinical presentation, imaging findings, endovascular treatment, and outcome were reviewed. Results There were 25 patients with acute FPCA occlusion who underwent mechanical thrombectomy, distributed across 14 centers. Median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale on presentation was 16. There were 76% (19/25) of patients who presented with primary FPCA occlusion and 24% (6/25) of patients who had a secondary FPCA occlusion. The configuration of the FPCA was full in 64% patients and partial or “fetal‐type” in 36% of patients. FPCA occlusion was missed on initial computed tomography angiography in 21% of patients with primary FPCA occlusion (4/19). The site of occlusion was posterior communicating artery in 52%, P2 segment in 40% and P3 in 8% of patients. Thrombolysis in cerebral infarction 2b/3 reperfusion was achieved in 96% of FPCA patients. There were no intraprocedural complications. At 90 days, 48% (12/25) were functionally independent as defined by modified Rankin scale≤2. Conclusions Endovascular treatment of acute FPCA occlusion is safe and technically feasible. A high index of suspicion is important to detect occlusion of the FPCA in patients presenting with anterior circulation stroke syndrome and patent anterior circulation. Novelty and significance This is the first multicenter study showing that thrombectomy of FPCA occlusion is feasible and safe.

Histiocytic neoplasms are rare hematologic disorders accounting for less than 1% of cancers of the soft tissue and lymph nodes. Clinical presentation and prognosis of these disorders can be highly variable, leading to challenges for diagnosis and optimal management of these patients. Treatment often consists of systemic therapy, and recent studies support use of targeted therapies for patients with these disorders. Observation (“watch and wait”) may be sufficient for select patients with mild disease. These NCCN Guidelines for Histiocytic Neoplasms include recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of adults with the most common histiocytic disorders: Langerhans cell histiocytosis, Erdheim-Chester disease, and Rosai-Dorfman disease.

Abstract Background: Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) activates oncogenic signaling pathways and induces inflammation to promote colorectal carcinogenesis. Methods: We characterized F. nucleatum and its subspecies in colorectal tumors and examined associations with tumor characteristics and colorectal cancer–specific survival. We conducted deep sequencing of nusA, nusG, and bacterial 16s rRNA genes in tumors from 1,994 patients with colorectal cancer and assessed associations between F. nucleatum presence and clinical characteristics, colorectal cancer–specific mortality, and somatic mutations. Results: F. nucleatum, which was present in 10.3% of tumors, was detected in a higher proportion of right-sided and advanced-stage tumors, particularly subspecies animalis. Presence of F. nucleatum was associated with higher colorectal cancer–specific mortality (HR, 1.97; P = 0.0004). This association was restricted to nonhypermutated, microsatellite-stable tumors (HR, 2.13; P = 0.0002) and those who received chemotherapy [HR, 1.92; confidence interval (CI), 1.07–3.45; P = 0.029). Only F. nucleatum subspecies animalis, the main subspecies detected (65.8%), was associated with colorectal cancer–specific mortality (HR, 2.16; P = 0.0016), subspecies vincentii and nucleatum were not (HR, 1.07; P = 0.86). Additional adjustment for tumor stage suggests that the effect of F. nucleatum on mortality is partly driven by a stage shift. Presence of F. nucleatum was associated with microsatellite instable tumors, tumors with POLE exonuclease domain mutations, and ERBB3 mutations, and suggestively associated with TP53 mutations. Conclusions: F. nucleatum, and particularly subspecies animalis, was associated with a higher colorectal cancer–specific mortality and specific somatic mutated genes. Impact: Our findings identify the F. nucleatum subspecies animalis as negatively impacting colorectal cancer mortality, which may occur through a stage shift and its effect on chemoresistance.

Abstract ECT2 is an activator of RHO GTPases that is essential for cytokinesis. In addition, ECT2 was identified as an oncoprotein when expressed ectopically in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts. However, oncogenic activation of ECT2 resulted from N-terminal truncation, and such truncated ECT2 proteins have not been found in patients with cancer. In this study, we observed elevated expression of full-length ECT2 protein in preneoplastic colon adenomas, driven by increased ECT2 mRNA abundance and associated with APC tumor-suppressor loss. Elevated ECT2 levels were detected in the cytoplasm and nucleus of colorectal cancer tissue, suggesting cytoplasmic mislocalization as one mechanism of early oncogenic ECT2 activation. Importantly, elevated nuclear ECT2 correlated with poorly differentiated tumors, and a low cytoplasmic:nuclear ratio of ECT2 protein correlated with poor patient survival, suggesting that nuclear and cytoplasmic ECT2 play distinct roles in colorectal cancer. Depletion of ECT2 reduced anchorage-independent cancer cell growth and invasion independent of its function in cytokinesis, and loss of Ect2 extended survival in a KrasG12D Apc-null colon cancer mouse model. Expression of ECT2 variants with impaired nuclear localization or guanine nucleotide exchange catalytic activity failed to restore cancer cell growth or invasion, indicating that active, nuclear ECT2 is required to support tumor progression. Nuclear ECT2 promoted ribosomal DNA transcription and ribosome biogenesis in colorectal cancer. These results support a driver role for both cytoplasmic and nuclear ECT2 overexpression in colorectal cancer and emphasize the critical role of precise subcellular localization in dictating ECT2 function in neoplastic cells. Significance: ECT2 overexpression and mislocalization support its role as a driver in colon cancer that is independent from its function in normal cell cytokinesis.

AimAngioedema is a nonpitting edema that can lead to death secondary to airway obstruction. Previously, a staging system based on localization of the angioedema was proposed for risk stratification of likelihood of need for admission or airway intervention. This study aims to evaluate a staging system based on angioedema localization as a method of predicting need for admission or airway intervention.MethodsThis was a retrospective chart review of angioedema cases that presented to an academic emergency department (ED) from August 1, 2006, to January 31, 2018. Data were collected on location of swelling, treatment setting, and medical and procedural interventions. Cases were categorized by modified Ishoo criteria, defined as follows: 1, lips, face, periorbital, extremities, total body/diffuse swelling; 2, soft palate, posterior pharynx; 3, tongue; 4, larynx. Predictive probability of disposition by stage was then compared.ResultsA total of 320 patients were included in this study (median age, 44 years; 54.4% female). Stage 4 was more likely to require intensive care unit care without (probability 17%) and with (67%) airway intervention compared with stage 1 without (2.5%) and with (0.1%) airway intervention. Conversely, stage 1 was more likely to be treated in ED and discharged (85%) compared with stage 4 (0%). Stage 4 was also more likely to require airway intervention (67%) compared with other stages (1, 0.1%; 2, 8.6%; 3, 16%).ConclusionHigher‐stage patients were more likely to require higher levels of care and airway intervention. Thus, the staging system appears to be a valid method of predicting risk among ED angioedema patients.

AbstractObjectivesMany guidelines for septic olecranon bursitis recommend aspiration of the bursa prior to initiation of antimicrobial therapy despite the absence of robust clinical data to support this practice and known risk of aspiration complications. Our objective was to describe outcomes associated with empiric antibiotic therapy without bursal aspiration among emergency department (ED) patients with suspected septic olecranon bursitis.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of patients presenting to an academic ED from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2018, with olecranon bursitis. The health record was reviewed to assess patient characteristics and outcomes within 6 months of the ED visit. Olecranon bursitis was considered “suspected septic” if the patient was treated with antibiotics. The primary outcome of interest was complicated versus uncomplicated bursitis resolution. Uncomplicated resolution was defined as bursitis resolution without subsequent bursal aspiration, surgery, or hospitalization.ResultsDuring the study period, 264 ED patients were evaluated for 266 cases of olecranon bursitis. The median age was 57 years and 85% were men. Four (1.5%) patients had bursal aspiration during their ED visit, 39 (14.7%) were admitted to the hospital, 76 (28.6%) were dismissed without antibiotic therapy, and 147 (55.3%) were dismissed with empiric antibiotic therapy for suspected septic olecranon bursitis. Among these 147 patients, 134 had follow‐up available including 118 (88.1%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 81.1%–92.8%) with an uncomplicated resolution, eight (6.0%, 95% CI = 2.8%–11.8%) who underwent subsequent bursal aspiration, and nine (6.7%, 95% CI = 3.3%–12.7%) who were subsequently admitted for inpatient antibiotics.ConclusionsEighty‐eight percent of ED patients with suspected septic olecranon bursitis treated with empiric antibiotics without aspiration had resolution without need for subsequent bursal aspiration, hospitalization, or surgery. Our findings suggest that empiric antibiotics without bursal aspiration may be a reasonable initial approach to ED management of select patients with suspected septic olecranon bursitis.