ASH Annual Meeting

Anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies continue to demonstrate promise and generate excitement that a new treatment paradigm could be on the horizon for patients with multiple myeloma.

The anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T-cell therapy CTL019 demonstrated a 92% complete response (CR) rate in pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Most patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), having previously failed three or more therapies, responded to the immunotherapy nivolumab in a small phase I trial.

Treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) elicited responses in 66% of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL).

Philippe Armand, MD, PhD, senior physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the utility of PD-1 inhibitors for hematologic malignancies.

Shaji Kumar, MD, professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic, discusses the results of the phase III ASPIRE trial.

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, Head, Division of Hematologic Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses two abstracts being presented at ASH looking at CAR T cell therapies for the treatment of ALL and NHL.

A combination of rituximab (Rituxan) and the PI3K-delta inhibitor idelalisib was associated with a >70% improvement in overall survival (OS) in patients with high-risk relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

At the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), several trials of ibrutinib both alone and in combination with currently used therapies for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were presented.

Results of a phase II trial showed that when treated with a reduced dose of the oral FLT3 receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor quizartinib, nearly half of patients with relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) had complete remissions.

Brentuximab vedotin, an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody, has demonstrated antitumor activity in the setting of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and has generated responses across a broad range of CD30 expression, including low or undetectable CD30 expression. Data from an ongoing phase II study were presented by Nancy Bartlett, MD, at the 55th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

Jennifer E. Amengual, MD, discusses the study she presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. The trial analyzed dual targeting with the HDAC inhibitor ACY-1215 and bortezomib in preclinical models of lymphoma.

An investigator reported at the 55th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) that imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor, has demonstrated significant activity in myelofibrosis, including complete responses.

In patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who are considered inappropriate for fludarabine, the addition of ofatumumab to chlorambucil improves clinical outcomes and is tolerable irrespective of patient age or fitness.

Steven Treon, MD, PhD, reported that ibrutinib rapidly reduced serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels and improved hematocrit levels in patients with relapsed or refractory Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM), and the responses to ibrutinib were durable.

According to preliminary results of a phase I clinical trial, nearly half of patients with relapsed or refractory CLL attained objective responses when treated with IPI-145, an oral inhibitor of PI3K-delta and -gamma.

According to data presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in New Orleans, a first-in-class targeted agent demonstrated activity in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

Shaji K. Kumar, MD, discusses the results of a phase II trial of single agent MLN9708 in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma not refractory to bortezomib.

An orally bioavailable selective inhibitor of the Bcl-2 protein induced remissions in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL and SLL.

A randomized trial showed that patients with CLL and major comorbidities had significantly better outcomes when treated with obinutuzumab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, instead of rituximab.

In patients with transplant-ineligible NDMM, the combination of continuous lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone (continuous Rd) extends PFS and trends toward improving OS compared with the standard combination of MPT.

CRs were seen in a group of high-risk patients following intervention in early or “smoldering” myeloma with a three-drug regimen, suggesting a window of opportunity that may delay or prevent progression to a debilitating disease state.

Jennifer Brown, MD, PhD, discusses final stage 2 results of the CLL11 trial at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting.

Results of a small clinical study showed that in patients with posttransplant relapsed B-cell malignancies, treatment with engineered donor T cells led to substantial tumor regression.

James R. Berenson, MD, discusses a study presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting that looked at arming an anti-CD38, myeloma-targeting antibody with interferon.

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, Head, Division of Hematologic Oncology, Alan N. Houghton Chair, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, highlights two studies that will be presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting.

Photos from the 54th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, held at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, from December 8-11, 2012.

Sundar Jagannath, MD, Director, Multiple Myeloma Program, The Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, discusses the use of pomalidomide in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Expanding the use of brentuximab vedotin to treat patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma and sALCL in earlier settings than currently indicated has resulted in high response rates in phase I studies.

Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, Vice Chair, Medical Informatics, Department of Medicine; Chief, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses CD30 as a target in lymphoma.