Citations

The treatment landscape of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) has significantly evolved in recent years. Targeted therapy with Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors and BCL-2 inhibitors has emerged as an effective chemotherapy-free option for patients with previously untreated or relapsed/refractory CLL/SLL. Undetectable minimal residual disease after the end of treatment is emerging as an important predictor of progression-free and overall survival for patients treated with fixed-duration BCL-2 inhibitor-based treatment. These NCCN Guidelines Insights discuss the updates to the NCCN Guidelines for CLL/SLL specific to the use of chemotherapy-free treatment options for patients with treatment-naïve and relapsed/refractory disease.

Objective To determine the harms of ezetimibe in people who need lipid-lowering treatment. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Randomised controlled trials and cohort studies. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Studies comparing ezetimibe with placebo, standard care, or other lipid-lowering agents in people who need lipid-lowering treatment with a follow-up duration of at least six months (or 24 weeks). The relative effects for potential harms of ezetimibe were pooled by use of random effect pairwise meta-analyses for randomised controlled trials and the evidence from observational studies was narratively summarised. The certainty of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. Results 48 randomised controlled trials with 28 444 participants (median follow-up 34 weeks, range 24-312 weeks) and four observational studies with 1667 participants (median follow-up 282 weeks, range 72-400 weeks) were included. The meta-analyses of randomised trials showed moderate to high certainty that ezetimibe was not associated with cancer (relative risk 1.01; 95% confidence interval 0.92 to 1.11), fractures (0.90; 0.74 to 1.10), discontinuation due to any adverse event (0.87; 0.74 to 1.03), gastrointestinal adverse events leading to discontinuation (1.34; 0.58 to 3.08), myalgia or muscular pain leading to discontinuation (0.82; 0.51 to 1.33), neurocognitive events (1.48; 0.58 to 3.81), or new-onset diabetes (0.88; 0.61 to 1.28). The narrative analysis of observational studies provided consistent findings. No credible subgroup effects were identified for the harm outcomes, including shorter versus longer follow-up duration of trials. Conclusions Ezetimibe results in little to no difference in adverse events or other undesirable effects compared with placebo, usual care or other lipid-lowering agents. Review registration PROSPERO CRD42020187437.

Abstract IgM MGUS and Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia (WM) represent a disease spectrum with highly dissimilar therapeutic management ranging from observation to chemoimmunotherapy. The current classification relies solely on clinical features and does not explain the heterogeneity that exists within each of these conditions. To shed light on the biology that may account for the clinical differences, we used bone marrow (BM) CD19+/CD138+ sorted cells and matched BM plasma from 32 patients (pts) (7 IgM MGUS, 25 WM) and 5 healthy controls to perform the first comprehensive multiomics approach including whole exome sequencing, RNA seq, proteomics and metabolomics. Applying principal component analysis to gene expression profiling, most of WM pts clustered together, while a small subset of them grouped separately with MGUS pts, suggesting a biologic dichotomy within WM. The healthy controls formed a distinct group from most WM and MGUS. We then applied a non-negative matrix factorization consensus clustering to the gene expression data and identified three robust clusters. Cluster 1 (C1) included only WM pts, cluster 2 (C2) included both WM and MGUS pts, and cluster 3 (C3) included all controls as well as a small number of WM and MGUS pts. When mutations commonly identified in WM were analyzed, there was no difference among the three groups (excluding controls) in mutation burden of MYD88 L265P and CXCR4. Interestingly, aberrant expression of TNFAIP3 seemed a distinct feature of C1 as deletion of 6q (which encodes for TNFAIP3) and TNFAIP3 mutations were each significantly enriched in C1 (47%) compared to C2 (0%) and C3 (20%; p=0.04). Individual clusters associated with specific transcriptional signature and clinical features. While C1 displayed enrichment of cell growth, downregulation of inflammatory pathways (eg IL6 and IL8 signaling) and aggressive behavior, C2 showed increased inflammatory signaling and cell survival with indolent behavior. C3 had an intermediate feature with combined proliferative and inflammatory signatures. In accordance with the transcriptomic data, the hallmark of C1 was upregulation of proliferation-associated proteins (eg AKT, MAPK) and downregulation of inflammatory proteins (eg IL4, IL10) while the opposite was observed in C2. Once more, C3 confirmed intermediate features with combined upregulation of proliferation and inflammatory proteins. The metabolism was rewired towards fatty acid catabolism in C1, glycolysis in C2 and anabolism in C3. Accordingly, C1 showed undetectable concentration of 3-hydroxybutyric acid as opposed to C2 which had increased levels of malic and lactic acids, as end products of fatty acid oxidation and glycolysis respectively. Those metabolites had intermediate levels in C3. In conclusion, we identified three molecular clusters with distinct clinical, proteomic and metabolomic features, suggesting a potential biologic classification that may have therapeutic implications. Citation Format: Patrizia Mondello, Jonas Paludo, Joseph Novak, Kerstin Wenzl, Shahrzad Jalali, Jordan Krull, Esteban Braggio, Surendra Dasari, Michelle Manske, Jithma Abeykoon, Asher Chanan-Khan, Robert Kyle, Morie Gertz, Zhi Zhang Yang, Anne Novak, Stephen Ansell. Molecular clusters and functional drivers of IgM monoclonal gammopathies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 3487.

e19526 Background: Zanubrutinib is an oral, highly selective, next-generation Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Efficacy of zanubrutinib was compared with bendamustine + rituximab (BR) in adult patients with treatment-naïve (TN) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the phase 3 SEQUOIA trial (NCT03336333). However, efficacy of zanubrutinib compared with other frontline CLL treatments remains unknown. The goal of this network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was to estimate the relative efficacy of zanubrutinib compared with standard frontline treatments for CLL. Methods: A total of 4 relevant RCTs were identified by a targeted literature review conducted throughout January 2022, CLL11 (NCT01010061), ALLIANCE (NCT01886872), MABLE (NCT01056510), and SEQUOIA. A feasibility assessment was performed to ensure that RCTs included within each population strata did not differ with respect to effect modifiers including presence of mutation, age, del11, and del17 status. A network was constructed for the composed 4 RCTs to compare the efficacy of zanubrutinib with bendamustine + rituximab, chlorambucil + obinutuzumab, chlorambucil + rituximab, and ibrutinib in patients with previously untreated CLL. Bayesian NMA models were conducted to simultaneously synthesize hazard ratio (HR) and 95% credible intervals (CI) for investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS). A constant hazard ratio was assumed in the NMA analysis. Statistical analyses were performed using codes suggested by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Results: The efficacy results of the NMA indicated a statistically significant improvement in PFS for zanubrutinib over bendamustine + rituximab (HR=0.42; [95% CI=0.27, 0.65]), chlorambucil + obinutuzumab (0.45 [0.23, 0.86]), and chlorambucil + rituximab (0.22 [0.12, 0.41]). Zanubrutinib achieved comparable PFS to ibrutinib (1.07 [0.59, 1.94]). Conclusions: This is the first NMA to compare the efficacy of zanubrutinib with all commonly utilized first-line treatment for TN CLL. Results from this indirect treatment comparison suggested that the PFS for zanubrutinib may be statistically significantly better than immunochemotherapy. Findings from this study require validation with further large scale RCTs with longer follow up time.[Table: see text]

e19514 Background: Zanubrutinib, a next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi), demonstrated superior overall response rate and a trend toward improved progression-free survival (PFS) as compared to ibrutinib in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the phase 3 ALPINE trial (NCT03734016) based on interim analysis. However, its comparative efficacy with other treatments is not known. The goal of this study was to estimate the relative efficacy of zanubrutinib compared with standard treatments for R/R CLL through a network meta-analysis (NMA). Methods: The efficacy of zanubrutinib from ALPINE (study of zanubrutinib and ibrutinib in patients with R/R CLL was compared to ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, bendamustine and rituximab (BR), and venetoclax + rituximab (V+R) using data from 4 RCTs. Relevant RCTs were identified using a systematic literature review. A network was constructed that composed RCTs (ALPINE, ELEVATE-RR [NCT02477696], ASCEND [NCT02970318], and MURANO [NCT02005471]). Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) models were used to simultaneously synthesize hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% credible intervals (CrIs) for investigator-assessed PFS and overall survival (OS) to estimate the relative efficacy of zanubrutinib versus comparators of interest. An assumption of constant hazard ratio was applied in the NMA analysis. Analyses were performed using well-established codes published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Decision Support Unit and were implemented with OpenBUGS (version 3.2.3). Results: The NMA suggested a significant improvement in PFS for zanubrutinib over acalabrutinib (HR=0.52, 95% CrI [0.30, 0.90]), ibrutinib (0.47, [0.29, 0.76]), and BR (0.13, [0.06, 0.26]). Zanubrutinib had a numerically better PFS than V+R (0.69, [0.32, 1.46]) while not reaching statistical significance. For OS, NMA results showed a trend favoring zanubrutinib over acalabrutinib (0.75, [0.35, 1.59]), ibrutinib (0.62, [0.31, 1.22]), and BR (0.52, [0.21, 1.24]). The difference was not statistically significant with wide CrIs, suggesting a high uncertainty as inherent limitation of the analysis. Conclusions: This NMA reports the first summary of comparative PFS of available treatments for R/R CLL. Indirect treatment comparisons suggest PFS on zanubrutinib may be superior to other BTKis and immunochemotherapies in R/R CLL patients.[Table: see text]

e18729 Background: While the incidence of AF in CLL has been increasing, the implications of AF in real-world CLL patients remain understudied. This study aimed to assess the impact of AF on clinical and economic outcomes in CLL patients. Methods: This retrospective observational study used the US IBM MarketScan® commercial claims/Medicare supplement database (2017-2020) to identify newly diagnosed CLL patients (≥18 years) and incidence of AF after index date, defined as the first CLL diagnosis date. Patients were followed for ≥3-months pre-index, and from index to last follow-up or death. In addition to patient characteristics, clinical outcomes (incidence of heart failure [HF], bleeding and stroke) and economic outcomes (costs and healthcare resource utilization [HRU]) were compared between CLL patients with AF (CLL+AF) and CLL patients without AF (CLL-AF). HRU was evaluated by inpatient, outpatient, ER, and pharmacy visits. Multivariable regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between AF and clinical outcomes. Results: Among a total of 16,800 newly diagnosed CLL patients included in the study, 20% developed AF. CLL+AF were significantly older than CLL-AF (median: 77 vs 62 years; P < .001). Compared to CLL-AF, CLL+AF also had significantly more comorbidities at baseline, as shown by higher Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) (median: 1.0 vs 3.0; P < .001) and more patients with previous AF history (0.3% vs 8.4%; P < .001). Further assessing clinical outcomes in CLL+AF vs CLL-AF, significantly higher incidence of HF (26.3% vs 3.0%; P < .001), bleeding (12.2% vs 4.8%; P < .001) and stroke (6.6% vs 1.2%; P < .001) were observed. For HRU, CLL+AF were reported to have significantly higher rates of ER visits (29.4% vs 12.9%; P < .001) and hospitalizations (42.2% vs 14.5%; P < .001) than CLL-AF. In CLL+AF, the average total AF-related costs were $13,520.21 within 30 days after AF diagnosis, and $22,304.82 within 60 days after AF diagnosis. Controlling for demographics and comorbidities, multivariable regressions reported statistically significant associations between AF and HF, as well as AF and stroke (Table). Conclusions: This real-world study reported significantly higher incidence of HF, bleeding and stroke incurred by CLL patients who developed AF compared with those who did not. The presence of HF, bleeding and stroke further increased HRU and costs. These findings highlight the importance of better disease management and treatment selection to prevent AF in CLL patients.[Table: see text]

4594 Background: Cisplatin based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by definitive therapy improves survival in patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). However, the clinical benefit of NAC might vary with the choice of definitive therapy. Therefore, we assessed the absolute benefit of NAC followed by radical cystectomy or radical radiotherapy separately using the totality of evidence. Methods: MEDLINE and EMBASE were systematically searched to identify randomized trials assessing cisplatin based neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by either radical cystectomy or definitive radiotherapy in patients with MIBC. Outcomes of interest included overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Treatment effects were expressed as hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Incidence rate ratios were calculated to estimate time to event outcomes for trials not reporting HR. A random-effects DerSimonian-Laird meta-analysis was conducted. Absolute effects were then obtained using baseline risks from the control arm of RCTs. Results: Of 4887 studies identified, 13 trials with 2529 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Most trials included patients with T2-4 and N0 patients and only 3 trials included patients with node positive disease. Total of 180 (47%) DFS events were observed with NAC+RC compared to 213 (56%) events in RC alone (HR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.59-0.89) and 346 (58%) OS events were observed with NAC+ RC compared to 385 (52%) events in RC alone (HR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.69-0.92). Total of 186 (70%) DFS events were observed with NAC + radiotherapy compared to 205 (71%) events in radiotherapy alone (HR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.74-1.12) and 263 (58%) OS events were observed with NAC+ radiotherapy compared to 294 (61%) events in radiotherapy alone (HR:0.93; 95% CI: 0.79-1.08). Conclusions: The choice of definitive therapy after cisplatin-based NAC impacts survival in patients with MIBC. RC after NAC improved DFS (114 fewer events per 1000 events) and OS (76 fewer per 1000 events) whereas radiotherapy after NAC showed no survival benefit. [Table: see text]

Abstract BACKGROUND: Central Nervous System- Non-Germinomatous Germ Cell Tumors (CNS-NGGCT) are rare but curable tumors. Due to their rarity, treatment failures remain a poorly characterized disease with unfavorable outcomes. In this study, we sought to characterize the treatment failures in a large cohort of prospectively treated patients. METHODS: European and North American clinical trials for patients with CNS-NGGCT (SIOP-GCT96, SFOP-TGM TC 90/92, COG-ACNS0122 and COG-ACNS1123) were pooled for analysis. Additionally, patients included and treated in the UK and France national registries under strict protocol-guidelines were included as an independent, non-overlapping cohort. RESULTS: A total of 118 patients experienced a treatment failure. Twenty-four patients had progressive disease during therapy and additional eleven patients were diagnosed with growing teratoma syndrome (GTS). Patients with GTS are significantly younger and present with local failures and negative tumor markers. Eighty-three individuals experienced disease relapses after treatment ended. Patients’ metastatic relapses presented significantly earlier than local relapses and were associated with tumor marker elevation (OR: 4.39; p=0.026). In our analysis, focal or whole ventricular (WVI) radiation therapy was not associated with an increased risk of metastatic relapses. CONCLUSIONS: Herein, we present the largest pooled dataset of prospectively treated patients with relapsed CNS-NGGCT. Our study identified younger age and negative tumor markers to be characteristic of GTS. Additionally, we elucidated that metastatic relapses occur earlier than local relapses, are associated with elevated tumor markers, and are not associated with the field of radiation therapy. These findings are of utmost importance for the planning of future clinical trials and the implementation of surveillance strategies in these patients.