Mammalian-target of rapamycin inhibition with temsirolimus in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients is associated with considerable toxicity: results of the temsirolimus pilot trial by the German MDS Study Group (D-MDS).

The mammalian-target of rapamycin (also termed mechanistic target of rapamycin, mTOR) pathway integrates various pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic stimuli and is involved in regulatory T-cell (TREG) development. As these processes contribute to the pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), we hypothesized that mTOR modulation with temsirolimus (TEM) might show activity in MDS. This prospective multicentre trial enrolled lower and higher risk MDS patients, provided that they were transfusion-dependent/neutropenic or relapsed/refractory to 5-azacitidine, respectively. All patients received TEM at a weekly dose of 25 mg. Of the 9 lower- and 11 higher-risk patients included, only 4 (20%) reached the response assessment after 4 months of treatment and showed stable disease without haematological improvement. The remaining patients discontinued TEM prematurely due to adverse events. Median overall survival (OS) was not reached in the lower-risk group and 296 days in the higher-risk group. We observed a significant decline of bone marrow (BM) vascularisation (P = 0·006) but were unable to demonstrate a significant impact of TEM on the balance between TREG and pro-inflammatory T-helper-cell subsets within the peripheral blood or BM. We conclude that mTOR-modulation with TEM at a dose of 25 mg per week is accompanied by considerable toxicity and has no beneficial effects in elderly MDS patients.

Addition of sorafenib versus placebo to standard therapy in patients aged 60 years or younger with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (SORAML): a multicentre, phase 2, randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Preclinical data and results from non-randomised trials suggest that the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib might be an effective drug for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia. We investigated the efficacy and tolerability of sorafenib versus placebo in addition to standard chemotherapy in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia aged 60 years or younger. METHODS: This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial was done at 25 sites in Germany. We enrolled patients aged 18-60 years with newly diagnosed, previously untreated acute myeloid leukaemia who had a WHO clinical performance score 0-2, adequate renal and liver function, no cardiac comorbidities, and no recent trauma or operation. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive two cycles of induction therapy with daunorubicin (60 mg/m(2) on days 3-5) plus cytarabine (100 mg/m(2) on days 1-7), followed by three cycles of high-dose cytarabine consolidation therapy (3 g/m(2) twice daily on days 1, 3, and 5) plus either sorafenib (400 mg twice daily) or placebo on days 10-19 of induction cycles 1 and 2, from day 8 of each consolidation, and as maintenance for 12 months. Allogeneic stem-cell transplantation was scheduled for all intermediate-risk patients with a sibling donor and for all high-risk patients with a matched donor in first remission. Computer-generated randomisation was done in blocks. The primary endpoint was event-free survival, with an event defined as either primary treatment failure or relapse or death, assessed in all randomised patients who received at least one dose of study treatment. We report the final analysis. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00893373, and the EU Clinical Trials Register (2008-004968-40). FINDINGS: Between March 27, 2009, and Nov 28, 2011, 276 patients were enrolled and randomised, of whom nine did not receive study medication. 267 patients were included in the primary analysis (placebo, n=133; sorafenib, n=134). With a median follow-up of 36 months (IQR 35·5-38·1), median event-free survival was 9 months (95% CI 4-15) in the placebo group versus 21 months (9-32) in the sorafenib group, corresponding to a 3-year event-free survival of 22% (95% CI 13-32) in the placebo group versus 40% (29-51) in the sorafenib group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·64, 95% CI; 0·45-0·91; p=0·013). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events in both groups were fever (71 [53%] in the placebo group vs 73 [54%] in the sorafenib group), infections (55 [41%] vs 46 [34%]), pneumonia (21 [16%] vs 20 [14%]), and pain (13 [10%] vs 15 [11%]). Grade 3 or worse adverse events that were significantly more common in the sorafenib group than the placebo group were fever (relative risk [RR] 1·54, 95% CI 1·04-2·28), diarrhoea (RR 7·89, 2·94-25·2), bleeding (RR 3·75, 1·5-10·0), cardiac events (RR 3·46, 1·15-11·8), hand-foot-skin reaction (only in sorafenib group), and rash (RR 4·06, 1·25-15·7). INTERPRETATION: In patients with acute myeloid leukaemia aged 60 years or younger, the addition of sorafenib to standard chemotherapy has antileukaemic efficacy but also increased toxicity. Our findings suggest that kinase inhibitors could be a useful addition to curative treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia. Overall survival after long-term follow-up and strategies to reduce toxicity are needed to determine the future role of sorafenib in treatment of this disease. FUNDING: Bayer HealthCare.

Using naltrexone to validate a human laboratory test system to screen new medications for alcoholism (TESMA)- a randomized clinical trial.

This registered clinical trial sought to validate a laboratory test system devised to screen medications for alcoholism treatment (TESMA) under different contingencies of alcohol reinforcement. Forty-six nondependent, but at least medium-risk drinkers were given the opportunity to earn intravenous infusions of ethanol, or saline, as rewards for work in a progressive-ratio paradigm. Work demand pattern and alcohol exposure dynamics were devised to achieve a gradual shift from low-demand work for alcohol (WFA) permitting quickly increasing breath alcohol concentrations (BrAC) to high-demand WFA, which could only decelerate an inevitable decrease of the previously earned BrAC. Thereby, the reward contingency changed, modeling different drinking motivations. The experiment was repeated after at least 7 days of randomized, double-blinded treatment with naltrexone, escalated to 50 mg/d, or placebo. Subjects treated with naltrexone reduced their cumulative WFA (cWFA) slightly more than participants receiving placebo. This difference was not statistically significant in the preplanned analysis of the entire 150 min of self-administration, i.e., our primary endpoint (p = 0.471, Cohen's d = 0.215). Naltrexone serum levels correlated with change in cWFA (r = -0.53; p = 0.014). Separate exploratory analyses revealed that naltrexone significantly reduced WFA during the first, but not the second half of the experiment (Cohen's d = 0.643 and 0.14, respectively). Phase-dependent associations of WFA with changes in subjective stimulation, wellbeing and desire for alcohol suggested that the predominant reinforcement of WFA was positive during the first phase only, and might have been negative during the second. We conclude that the TESMA is a safe and practical method. It bears the potential to quickly and efficiently screen new drugs for their efficacy to attenuate positively reinforced alcohol consumption. It possibly also provides a condition of negative reinforcement, and for the first time provides experimental evidence suggesting that naltrexone's effect might depend on reward contingency.

Sorafenib or placebo in patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia: long-term follow-up of the randomized controlled SORAML trial.

Early results of the randomized placebo-controlled SORAML trial showed that, in patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), sorafenib led to a significant improvement in event-free (EFS) and relapse-free survival (RFS). In order to describe second-line treatments and their implications on overall survival (OS), we performed a study after a median follow-up time of 78 months. Newly diagnosed fit AML patients aged ≤60 years received sorafenib (n = 134) or placebo (n = 133) in addition to standard chemotherapy and as maintenance treatment. The 5-year EFS was 41 versus 27% (HR 0.68; p = 0.011) and 5-year RFS was 53 versus 36% (HR 0.64; p = 0.035). Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo SCT) was performed in 88% of the relapsed patients. Four years after salvage allo SCT, the cumulative incidence of relapse was 54 versus 35%, and OS was 32 versus 50%. The 5-year OS from randomization in all study patients was 61 versus 53% (HR 0.82; p = 0.282). In conclusion, the addition of sorafenib to chemotherapy led to a significant prolongation of EFS and RFS. Although the OS benefit did not reach statistical significance, these results confirm the antileukaemic activity of sorafenib.