Citations

Abstract Little is known about risk factors for central nervous system (CNS) relapse in mature T-cell and natural killer cell neoplasms (MTNKNs). We aimed to describe the clinical epidemiology of CNS relapse in patients with MTNKN and developed the CNS relapse In T-cell lymphoma Index (CITI) to predict patients at the highest risk of CNS relapse. We reviewed data from 135 patients with MTNKN and CNS relapse from 19 North American institutions. After exclusion of leukemic and most cutaneous forms of MTNKNs, patients were pooled with non-CNS relapse control patients from a single institution to create a CNS relapse–enriched training set. Using a complete case analysis (n = 182), including 91 with CNS relapse, we applied a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator Cox regression model to select weighted clinicopathologic variables for the CITI score, which we validated in an external cohort from the Swedish Lymphoma Registry (n = 566). CNS relapse was most frequently observed in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (25%). Median time to CNS relapse and median overall survival after CNS relapse were 8.0 and 4.7 months, respectively. We calculated unique CITI risk scores for individual training set patients and stratified them into risk terciles. Validation set patients with low-risk (n = 158) and high-risk (n = 188) CITI scores had a 10-year cumulative risk of CNS relapse of 2.2% and 13.4%, respectively (hazard ratio, 5.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.50-18.26; P = .018). We developed an open-access web-based CITI calculator (https://redcap.link/citicalc) to provide an easy tool for clinical practice. The CITI score is a validated model to predict patients with MTNKN at the highest risk of developing CNS relapse.

Multiple Myeloma (MM) progresses from monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and/or smoldering MM (SMM). Despite similar primary genetic events as MM, MGUS and SMM PCs are non- or low-proliferative. Since oncogene activation and DNA damage drive senescence growth arrest to promote immune clearance of potentially malignant cells, we hypothesized that MGUS and SMM pre-malignant PCs exhibit senescence features. To test this, we performed gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of a published human PC gene array dataset (GSE5900) comparing normal, MGUS, and SMM PCs for custom senescence phenotyping gene sets (Senescence Up, SenUp; Senescent Cell Anti-Apoptosis Pathways, SCAPs; Senescence Growth Arrest, SenGA; Inflammatory Senescence Associated Secretory Phenotype, iSASP; Interferon SASP, IFN-SASP) versus biological aging gene sets (SenMayo; CellAge). MGUS and SMM PCs exhibited significant enrichment (NES>1.5, q<0.05) for senescence gene sets SenUp, SenGA, and SCAPs compared to normal PCs, with no enrichment for aging gene sets. MGUS PCs were also enriched for iSASP (NES=1.4, q=0.11), whereas SMM PCs were enriched for IFN-SASP (NES=2.3, q<0.05), characteristic of late-senescence. Thus, both MGUS and SMM PCs show enrichment of senescence gene sets compared to normal PCs with differential SASP profiles. Next, we evaluated MGUS, SMM, and MM patient PCs isolated by magnetic sorting for histological senescence features. PCs were immunostained for LMNB1 and HMGB1, and fluorescent in situ hybridized for α-satellite. Cellular senescence was defined as loss of ≥50% nuclear membrane LMNB1, loss of HMGB1, and ≥2 senescence-associated distensions of satellite (SADS) per nuclei. PCs from MGUS patients (N=12) exhibited increased percentage of senescent PCs (26.9±4.1%, Mean±SEM, p<0.0001) compared to SMM (11.0±1.9%, N=19, p<0.0001) and MM (11.6±1.5%, N=11, p<0.001). A subset analysis of SMM patients for which disease stability was known (≥2 years, N=6-8) showed no differences. These results demonstrate that the percentage of senescent PCs is increased in MGUS but not SMM PCs compared to proliferative disease. To assess PC senescence in the native bone marrow microenvironment (BMME), we evaluated trephine bone biopsies from MGUS and SMM patients that progressed or not to MM ≤10 years, as well as newly diagnosed MM. Biopsies were immunostained for CD138, LMNB1, and HMGB1. Whole biopsy images were analyzed using the artificial intelligence-based software HALO. Cells were classified as senescent if they were double negative and non-senescent if they were double positive for LMNB1 and HMGB1. The percentage of non-senescent PCs increased with progression to MM and positively correlated with total PC burden (R=0.52, p<0.0001), reflective of proliferative disease. Senescent PCs correlated with total senescent BMME (R=0.87, p<0.0001), consistent with a role for senescent cells to drive paracrine senescence. We performed proximity analysis to evaluate the cellular composition within 25um of senescent and non-senescent PCs. As expected, non-senescent PCs exhibited a significantly greater percentage of proximate non-senescent BMME in all groups (p<0.0001). In contrast, senescent PCs in stable MGUS (N=16) and SMM (N=14) were equally surrounded by senescent and non-senescent BMME. In progressing MGUS (N=21) and SMM (N=20), as well as MM (N=18), senescent PCs exhibited significantly reduced senescent BMME in their proximate environment (p<0.05). This suggests that senescent PCs in progressive disease, in contrast to stable disease, fail to drive local paracrine senescence responses. These data demonstrate that PCs from stable MGUS and SMM patients exhibit senescence features, with isolated PCs from stable MGUS showing increased senescence gene expression and histologic features. While stable SMM also exhibits senescence gene expression, they lose morphological features of senescence and show a preferential IFN SASP. Within the bone compartment, senescent PCs in stable MGUS and SMM exhibit the expected proximity to senescent BMME. In contrast, progressing MGUS and SMM, as well as NDMM, show a loss of proximate senescent BMME. Given the role of senescence to drive inflammation to clear potentially tumorigenic cells, these data support that failure to drive paracrine senescence may be key to the immune escape of pre-malignant cells in MGUS and SMM.

Abstract Introduction: Recent results from two independent patient series have shown that chromosomal rearrangements of DUSP22 (DUSP22r+) and TP63 (TP63r+) can predict outcome in ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALK-ALCL) and peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) with morphologic features resembling ALK-ALCL (Parilla-Castellar E, Blood 2014; Pedersen MB, Blood 2017). While DUSP22r+ is predictive for excellent survival similar to that of ALK+ALCL after CHOP/CHOP-like therapy, the rarely occurring TP63r+ is associated with an aggressive clinical behavior and poor outcome. The largest subgroup, i.e. patients with neither ALK nor DUSP22 nor TP63 rearrangements (triple negative), show a 5 year (yr) overall survival (OS) intermediate between that of ALK-/DUSP22r+ and ALK-/TP63r+ patients. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of upfront high-dose therapy with autologous stem cell transplant (HDT/ASCT) on outcome in adult ALCL and PTCL-NOS patients according to their ALK, DUSP22 and TP63 status. The survival results from the two published series were pooled with those of a Nordic Lymphoma Group trial, the NLG-T-01 (d'Amore et al, JCO 2012), where patients were treated with 1st line CHOEP/CHOP followed, in chemosensitive cases, by upfront HDT/ASCT. Methods: Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed on sections of previously constructed tissue microarrays using break-apart probes for the DUSP22-IRF4 and TP63 loci and a dual-fusion probe for TBL1XR1/TP63 fusion [inv(3)(q26q28)]. Evaluation of DUSP22 and TP63 rearrangements was performed in a blinded fashion without knowledge of PTCL subtype, clinical course, or outcome. Three independent patient cohorts were included: (i) one from Mayo Clinic consisting of 31 DUSP22r-, ALK-ALCL and PTCL-NOS (triple negative: 25; TP63r+: 6); (ii) one from Denmark consisting of 93 DUSP22r-, ALK-ALCL and PTCL-NOS (triple negative: 90; TP63r+: 3); and one from the NLG-T-01 trial consisting of 46 ALK-ALCL and PTCL-NOS (triple negative: 37; TP63r+: 1; DUSP22r+: 8), leading to a total study population of 170 patients. ALK+ ALCL was not included in the analysis, since no patients with this histology entered the NLG-T-01 trial. Association of genetic subtype with OS was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional models for hazard rate ratios (HR). Significant differences were defined as P <0.05. Results: The eight DUSP22r+ patients (7 ALK-ALCL and 1 PTCL-NOS) from NLG-T-01 had a 5-yr OS of 83%, (95%CI 27-97), similar to that reported for DUSP22r+ in the Mayo and Danish cohorts (90% and 80%, respectively). No lymphoma-related events were observed in this subset. The only event was a septic death due to HDT-induced cytopenias in a patient who was in complete remission (CR). Among the 162 patients with DUSP22r-, ALK-ALCL and PTCL-NOS, those consolidated with HDT/ASCT (n=47) had a significantly better outcome (5-yr OS: 45%) than those treated with induction chemotherapy alone (5-yr OS: 30%) (n=115) (P=0.01). The patients in the HDT/ASCT group were younger (P<0.001) and had more advanced stage disease (P=0.002). The improvement in OS persisted when the analysis was limited to transplant eligible patients and adjusted for age and stage (HR 0.52 95%CI 29-91, P=0.023) or International Prognostic Index (IPI) groups (HR 0.49, 95%CI 20-82, P=0.006). Of the 10 TP63r+ patients found within the pooled cohort, 6 were transplant eligible. Of these, 5 were not transplanted (intention-to-treat) while one was (Nordic trial). The latter patient achieved a still ongoing long-term CR, while all others died of lymphoma progression. Conclusion: In ALK-ALCL and PTCL-NOS patients from the NLG-T-01 trial, DUSP22r+ was associated with a very good outcome, similar to that seen in DUSP22r+ patients who had not undergone upfront autologous transplant. This observation supports the impression that upfront HDT/ASCT may not be of benefit in these patients. TP63r+ predicted poor outcome in non-transplanted patients. The impact of HDT/ASCT in the TP63r+ setting could not be adequately evaluated, since only one patient from the NLG-T-01 trial cohort was found to be TP63r+. Notably, this patient was the only survivor of the TP63r+ subset. For DUSP22r-, ALK-ALCL and PTCL-NOS patients taken as one group, those who received upfront HDT/ASCT had a superior survival compared to their age- and IPI-matched non-transplanted counterparts. Disclosures Ellin: ROCHE: Consultancy, Research Funding; CTI: Consultancy. Mannisto: Roche: Honoraria, Other: Travel expence; Takeda: Honoraria, Other: Travel expence; Amgen: Other: Travel expence; Novartis: Other: Travel expence; Celgene: Other: Travel expence; Gilead: Other: Travel expence; Pfizer: Honoraria; SOBI: Honoraria. Cerhan: Janssen: Other: Scientific Advisory Board (REMICADELYM4001); Janssen: Other: Multiple Myeloma Registry Steering . Toldbod: Takeda Pharma: Honoraria.

Abstract Bone marrow adipocytes (BMAd) have recently been implicated in accelerating bone metastatic cancers, such as acute myelogenous leukemia and breast cancer. Importantly, bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) expands with aging and obesity, two key risk factors in multiple myeloma disease prevalence, suggesting that BMAds may influence and be influenced by myeloma cells in the marrow. Here, we provide evidence that reciprocal interactions and cross-regulation of myeloma cells and BMAds play a role in multiple myeloma pathogenesis and treatment response. Bone marrow biopsies from patients with multiple myeloma revealed significant loss of BMAT with myeloma cell infiltration of the marrow, whereas BMAT was restored after treatment for multiple myeloma. Myeloma cells reduced BMAT in different preclinical murine models of multiple myeloma and in vitro using myeloma cell-adipocyte cocultures. In addition, multiple myeloma cells altered adipocyte gene expression and cytokine secretory profiles, which were also associated with bioenergetic changes and induction of a senescent-like phenotype. In vivo, senescence markers were also increased in the bone marrow of tumor-burdened mice. BMAds, in turn, provided resistance to dexamethasone-induced cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis, illuminating a new possible driver of myeloma cell evolution in a drug-resistant clone. Our findings reveal that bidirectional interactions between BMAds and myeloma cells have significant implications for the pathogenesis and treatment of multiple myeloma. Targeting senescence in the BMAd or other bone marrow cells may represent a novel therapeutic approach for treatment of multiple myeloma. Significance: This study changes the foundational understanding of how cancer cells hijack the bone marrow microenvironment and demonstrates that tumor cells induce senescence and metabolic changes in adipocytes, potentially driving new therapeutic directions.

Abstract Background: Peripheral T-Cell lymphomas (PTCLs) constitute approximately 10% of lymphoid malignancies and consist of several distinct entities based on pathologic and clinical characteristics. With the exception of a few subtypes (e.g., ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and some primary cutaneous or leukemic forms of PTCL), a majority of PTCLs are aggressive as characterized by poor treatment response, rapid disease progression and poor overall survival. We have shown that landmark timepoints of event-free survival after diagnosis can stratify subsequent overall survival (OS) in diffuse large B-cell and follicular lymphoma. Here we evaluate this approach in newly diagnosed aggressive PTCLs treated with anthracyline-based or related chemotherapy. Methods. Newly diagnosed PTCL patients were prospectively enrolled in the University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic Lymphoma SPORE Molecular Epidemiology Resource (MER) from 2002-2012. Clinical data were abstracted from medical records using a standard protocol. For this analysis, we included patients receiving anthracycline-based or other multiagent chemotherapy for the following PTCL subtypes: ALK-negative ALCL (N=24); angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL, N=34); PTCL, not otherwise specified (NOS; N=60); enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL, N=8); extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTL, N=11); and hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL, N=1). Patients were prospectively followed, and event-free survival (EFS) was defined as time from diagnosis to progression, re-treatment, or death due to any cause. Landmark EFS timepoints were assessed at 12 (EFS12) and 24 (EFS24) months after the date of diagnosis. Subsequent OS was defined as time from a specific endpoint (diagnosis, event or EFS landmark). Replication was performed in a population-based cohort of T-cell lymphomas diagnosed from 2000-2009 from the Swedish Lymphoma Registry. Results. 138 eligible patients were enrolled in the MER from 2002-2012, the median age at diagnosis was 58 years (range, 19-88), 66% were male, 73% had Stage III-IV disease, and 33% had IPI 0-1. At a median follow-up of 47 months (range 11-120), 87 patients (63%) had an event and 70 patients (51%) had died. From diagnosis, only 60 patients were event-free at 12 months (EFS12 45%). Patients who failed to achieve EFS12 had a poor subsequent OS from event (median OS = 6.8 months, 95% CI: 5.3-14.0, figure 1). In contrast, patients who achieved EFS12 had a favorable subsequent OS (median unreached, figure 2). Of the 427 eligible patients in the Swedish registry, the median age at diagnosis was 66 years (range, 18-88), 63% were male, 68% had Stage III-IV disease, and 25% had IPI 0-1. PTCL subtypes were: ALK-negative ALCL (N=89); AITL (N=80); PTCL, NOS (N=183); EATL (N=44); ENKTL (N=24); and HSTCL (N=7). At a median follow-up of 86 months (range 40-158), 333 patients (79%) had an event and 316 patients (74%) had died. From diagnosis, 183 patients were event-free at 12 months (EFS12 44%). Similar to the MER cohort, Swedish patients failing EFS12 had poor subsequent survival (median OS = 3.7 months, 95% CI: 2.9-5.3, figure 1). Swedish patients achieving EFS12 had a favorable subsequent OS (median OS = 89 months, figure 2). Similar results were obtained when conducting landmark analysis at 24 months after diagnosis (EFS24). Conclusion. Relapse and re-treatment events within the first 12 months of diagnosis are associated with very poor OS in PTCL treated with anthracyclines or related chemotherapy, while patients achieving EFS12 have encouraging subsequent OS. Stratifying patients into prognostically distinct subsets using EFS12 may help focus biologic and biomarker studies. EFS12 has potential as an early endpoint for studies of newly diagnosed PTCL. Further investigation of determinants related to post-EFS12 survival is needed. Disclosures Maurer: Kite Pharma: Research Funding. Cerhan:Kite Pharma: Research Funding. Ansell:Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Celldex: Research Funding. Link:Genentech: Consultancy, Research Funding; Kite Pharma: Research Funding. Thompson:Kite Pharma: Research Funding. Relander:Respiratorius: Patents & Royalties: valproate for DLBCL.

Abstract Background: Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) comprise a group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) of mature T-cell origin with generally aggressive clinical behavior. Most systemic PTCLs are treated with anthracycline-based combination chemotherapy; however, outcomes remain relatively poor for most subtypes except ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). We have used landmark analyses based on event-free survival (EFS) to identify clinically useful endpoints in B-cell NHLs, with EFS at 24 (EFS24) months identified to stratify overall survival (OS) in aggressive B-cell NHL. Here we examined the ability of EFS24 to predict subsequent OS in a large, multinational PTCL cohort. Methods: A cohort of newly diagnosed PTCL patients treated with curative intent combination chemotherapy regimens was assembled from the University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic SPORE Molecular Epidemiology Resource (MER), Swedish Lymphoma Registry (SWE), and British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA). Subtypes included ALK-negative ALCL, angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), PTCL, not otherwise specified (NOS), enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL), extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTL), and hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL). Patients were followed based on local institution guidelines, and EFS was defined as time from the date of pathologic diagnosis to progression, re-treatment, or death due to any cause. EFS24 was defined as being alive and event-free 24 months from diagnosis. Subsequent OS was defined as time from achieving EFS24 (24 months from diagnosis) or time from progression in patients failing to achieve EFS24 (progression within 24 months of diagnosis). OS was compared to the age-, sex-, and country-matched general population using United States, Sweden, and British Columbia rate tables via standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and expected survival. Results: 775 patients diagnosed from 2000-2012 were included in the combined analysis with diagnosis by the WHO classification at the respective institutions (MER=138, SWE=422, BCCA=215). Median age at diagnosis was 64 years (range 18-89) and 63% were male. Patient characteristics are summarized in the table. 736 (95%) received anthracyline-based therapy at diagnosis. At a median follow-up of 77 months (range 1-185), 516 patients (67%) had died. The percentage of patients achieving EFS24 was similar across the 3 cohorts (MER=39%, SWE=35%, BCCA= 36%, combined=36%). Median survival after progression within the first 24 months was only 4.9 months (95% CI: 3.8-5.9), with a 5-year OS of 11% and SMR of 46.4 (95% CI: 41.8-51.3). In contrast, median survival after achieving EFS24 was not reached, with a 5-year OS of 78% (95% CI: 73%-84%). This was inferior to the expected survival of 92% in the age-, sex-, and country matched population (SMR=3.16; 95% CI: 2.48-3.98). In EFS24 subgroup analyses, more favorable outcomes were observed in younger patients (age <=60 years, N=137, 5-year survival of 91% vs. 98% expected) and in patients receiving autologous stem cell transplant in first remission (N=72, 5-year survival of 88% vs. 96% expected). Patients achieving EFS24 who were not transplanted in first remission (N=189) had a 5-year survival of 74% vs. 90% expected. Conclusions: Assessment of EFS24 stratifies subsequent outcome in PTCL. Patients with early relapse from PTCL have extremely poor outcomes. However, over one-third of patients with PTCL remain in remission two years from diagnosis after initial chemotherapy and have encouraging OS rates, although survival remains significantly worse than the matched general population. Subset analysis suggests that younger patients and patients who receive autologous stem-cell transplant in first CR have 5-year survival rates that approach 90%, though still below the expected survival of the background population. The marked differences in OS after failing or achieving EFS24 in PTCL patients suggest that this endpoint may be useful for patient counseling, as a clinical trial endpoint, and as an endpoint to assess novel biomarkers for risk stratification. Table Table. Figure 1. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 2. Disclosures Maurer: Celgene: Research Funding; Kite Pharma: Research Funding. Jerkeman:Mundipharma: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding; Gilead: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding. Connors:Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Millennium Takeda: Research Funding; NanoString Technologies: Research Funding; F Hoffmann-La Roche: Research Funding; Bristol Myers Squib: Research Funding. Ansell:BMS, Seattle Genetics, Merck, Celldex and Affimed: Research Funding.