Aiming for transformations in power: lessons from intersectoral CBPR with public housing tenants (Québec, Canada).

Intersectoral collaborations are recommended as effective strategies to reduce health inequalities. People most affected by health inequalities, as are people living in poverty, remain generally absent from such intersectoral collaborations. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects can be leveraged to better understand how to involve people with lived experience to support both individual and community empowerment. In this paper, we offer a critical reflection on a CBPR project conducted in public housing in Québec, Canada, that aimed to develop intersectoral collaboration between tenants and senior executives from four sectors (housing, health, city and community organizations). This single qualitative case study design consisted of fieldwork documents, observations and semi-structured interviews. Using the Emancipatory Power Framework (EPF) and the Limiting Power Framework (LPF), we describe examples of types of power and resistance shown by the tenants, the intersectoral partners and the research team. The discussion presents lessons learned through the study, including the importance for research teams to reflect on their own power, especially when aiming to reduce health inequalities. The paper concludes by describing the limitations of the analyses conducted through the EPF-LPF frameworks and suggestions to increase the transformative power of future studies.

The EMMY longitudinal, cohort study: real-world data to describe multiple myeloma management and outcomes as more therapeutic options emerge.

The therapeutic management of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) is complex. Despite substantial advances, MM remains incurable, and management involves cycles of treatment response, disease relapse, and further therapy. Currently, evidence to support the therapeutic decision is limited. Thus, the EMMY longitudinal, real-world study was designed to annually assess therapeutic management of MM in France to provide evidence to support physicians. During an annual prespecified 3-month recruitment period, eligible patients will be identified from their medical records. Adults aged ≥18 years diagnosed with symptomatic MM and requiring systemic treatment will be eligible. The primary objective, the evolution of MM therapeutic management, will be described, as well as the impact on the following outcomes: time-to-next treatment (TTNT), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). The study plans to recruit 5000 patients over 6 years: 700 to 900 patients annually. EMMY is a unique opportunity to collect real-world data to describe the evolving MM therapeutic landscape and record outcomes in France. These data will provide annual snapshots of various aspects of MM management. This knowledge will provide physicians with real-life, evidence-based data for therapeutic decision-making and ultimately improve treatment for MM patients.

Bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone with or without daratumumab and followed by daratumumab maintenance or observation in transplant-eligible newly diagnosed multiple myeloma: long-term follow-up of the CASSIOPEIA randomised controlled phase 3 trial.

BACKGROUND: CASSIOPEIA part 1 demonstrated superior depth of response and prolonged progression-free survival with daratumumab in combination with bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (D-VTd) versus bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (VTd) alone as an induction and consolidation regimen in transplant-eligible patients newly diagnosed with myeloma. In CASSIOPEIA part 2, daratumumab maintenance significantly improved progression-free survival and increased minimal residual disease (MRD)-negativity rates versus observation. Here, we report long-term study outcomes of CASSIOPEIA. METHODS: CASSIOPEIA was a two-part, open-label, phase 3 trial of patients done at 111 European academic and community-based centres. Eligible patients were aged 18-65 years with transplant-eligible newly diagnosed myeloma and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-2. In part 1, patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to pre-transplant induction and post-transplant consolidation with D-VTd or VTd. Patients who completed consolidation and had a partial response or better were re-randomised (1:1) to intravenous daratumumab maintenance (16 mg/kg every 8 weeks) or observation for 2 years or less. An interactive web-based system was used for both randomisations, and randomisation was balanced using permuted blocks of four. Stratification factors for the first randomisation (induction and consolidation phase) were site affiliation, International Staging System disease stage, and cytogenetic risk status. Stratification factors for the second randomisation (maintenance phase) were induction treatment and depth of response in the induction and consolidation phase. The primary endpoint for the induction and consolidation phase was the proportion of patients who achieved a stringent complete response after consolidation; results for this endpoint remain unchanged from those reported previously. The primary endpoint for the maintenance phase was progression-free survival from second randomisation. Efficacy evaluations in the induction and consolidation phase were done on the intention-to-treat population, which included all patients who underwent first randomisation, and efficacy analyses in the maintenance phase were done in the maintenance-specific intention-to-treat population, which included all patients who were randomly assigned at the second randomisation. This analysis represents the final data cutoff at the end of the study. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02541383. FINDINGS: Between Sept 22, 2015 and Aug 1, 2017, 1085 patients were randomly assigned to D-VTd (n=543) or VTd (n=542); between May 30, 2016 and June 18, 2018, 886 were re-randomised to daratumumab maintenance (n=442) or observation (n=444). At the clinical cutoff date, Sept 1, 2023, median follow-up was 80·1 months (IQR 75·7-85·6) from first randomisation and 70·6 months (66·4-76·1) from second randomisation. Progression-free survival from second randomisation was significantly longer in the daratumumab maintenance group than the observation-alone group (median not reached [95% CI 79·9-not estimable (NE)] vs 45·8 months [41·8-49·6]; HR 0·49 [95% CI 0·40-0·59]; p<0·0001); benefit was observed with D-VTd with daratumumab maintenance versus D-VTd with observation (median not reached [74·6-NE] vs 72·1 months [52·8-NE]; 0·76 [0·58-1·00]; p=0·048) and VTd with daratumumab maintenance versus VTd with observation (median not reached [66·9-NE] vs 32·7 months [27·2-38·7]; 0·34 [0·26-0·44]; p<0·0001). INTERPRETATION: The long-term follow-up results of CASSIOPEIA show that including daratumumab in both the induction and consolidation phase and the maintenance phase led to superior progression-free survival outcomes. Our results confirm D-VTd induction and consolidation as a standard of care, and support the option of subsequent daratumumab monotherapy maintenance, for transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. FUNDING: Intergroupe Francophone du Myélome, Dutch-Belgian Cooperative Trial Group for Hematology Oncology, and Janssen Research & Development.

Isatuximab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in real-world: The retrospective IMAGE study.

BACKGROUND: IMAGE is a retrospective cohort study of patients enrolled in early access programs (EAPs) in France with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) receiving isatuximab with pomalidomide and dexamethasone (Isa-Pd). METHODS: Patients aged ≥18 years with RRMM who received ≥1 dose of Isa under the EAPs between July 29, 2019 and August 30, 2020 were included. Effectiveness endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and response rates. Verbatim terms for adverse events (AEs) were coded using the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities and not graded for severity. RESULTS: A total of 294 and 299 patients were included in the effectiveness and safety populations, respectively. IMAGE included patients who received one prior line of treatment (10.2%) and were daratumumab-refractory (19.1%). At median follow-up of 14.2 months, median PFS in the effectiveness population was 12.4 months (95% CI 9.0-15.0). Overall response and very good partial response rates were 46.3% and 27.9%, respectively. Subgroup analyses reflected similar results. In the safety population, 26.4% of patients reported at least one AE; the most common any-grade AE was neutropenia (9.4%). CONCLUSION: IMAGE demonstrated Isa-Pd had meaningful effectiveness in median PFS and depth of response and no new safety signals in a real-world context, consistent with clinical trial results.

RAS/RAF landscape in monoclonal plasma cell conditions.

ABSTRACT: Multiple myeloma is characterized by a huge heterogeneity at the molecular level. The RAS/RAF pathway is the most frequently mutated, in ∼50% of the patients. However, these mutations are frequently subclonal, suggesting a secondary event. Because these genes are part of our routine next-generation sequencing panel, we analyzed >10 000 patients with different plasma cell disorders to describe the RAS/RAF landscape. In this large cohort of patients, almost 61% of the patients presented a RAS/RAF mutation at diagnosis or relapse, but much lower frequencies occurred in presymptomatic cases. Of note, the mutations were different from that observed in solid tumors (higher proportions of Q61 mutations). In 29 patients with 2 different mutations, we were able to perform single-cell sequencing, showing that in most cases, mutations occurred in different subclones, suggesting an ongoing mutational process. These findings suggest that the RAS/RAF pathway is not an attractive target, both on therapeutic and residual disease assessment points of view.

Factors associated with lamotrigine concentration/dose ratio in individuals with bipolar disorders.

Monitoring of lamotrigine levels is recommended in epilepsy. However, in bipolar disorders (BD), no study has described the therapeutic range in daily practice and factors being associated to it. We used retrospective data of individuals with BD, treated with lamotrigine, and included in the FondaMental Advanced Centers of Expertise for Bipolar Disorders cohort. We extracted clinical and biological data and explored associations between these variables and lamotrigine concentration/dose (C/D) ratio. The database included 675 individuals who received lamotrigine at inclusion, whose main characteristics were female sex (68.3%) and BD type 2 (52.1%). Data about lamotrigine C/D ratio were available for 205 individuals. Lamotrigine C/D ratio was significantly associated with: Body Mass Index (BMI) (r=-0.159), estimated GFR (glomerular filtration rate) (r=-0.228), total bilirubin (r = 0.241) and at a trend level, antidepressant co-prescription (U = 3169). The model obtained was: lamotrigine C/D ratio = 1.736 - 0.013*BMI + 0.095*total bilirubin (UI/L) - 0.007*eGFR (ml/min) + 0.210*AST/ALT - 0.004*GGT (UI/L) + 0.014*age (year) + 0.303*currently smoking (yes or no) - 0.588*antidepressant co-prescription (yes or no) - 0.357*gender (F = 1.899, p = 0.057, adjusted R2 = 0.11) Information about plasma lamotrigine C/D ratio were available for only 205 out of the 675 individuals in the database and has been obtained from different laboratories. The representativeness of the included sample may be questionable. This is the first study providing information on a large sample of individuals with BD regarding factors associated with lamotrigine C/D ratio. This study allows to propose a model of lamotrigine C/D ratio that would deserve further replication.