Ibrutinib improves survival compared with chemotherapy in mantle cell lymphoma with central nervous system relapse.

Central nervous system (CNS) relapse of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare phenomenon with dismal prognosis, where no standard therapy exists. Since the covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib is effective in relapsed/refractory MCL and penetrates the blood-brain barrier (BBB), on behalf of Fondazione Italiana Linfomi and European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network we performed a multicenter retrospective international study to investigate the outcomes of patients treated with ibrutinib or chemoimmunotherapy. In this observational study, we recruited patients with MCL with CNS involvement at relapse who received CNS-directed therapy between 2000 and 2019. The primary objective was to compare the overall survival (OS) of patients treated with ibrutinib or BBB crossing chemotherapy. A propensity score based on a multivariable binary regression model was applied to balance treatment cohorts. Eighty-eight patients were included. The median age at study entry was 65 years (range, 39-87), 76% were males, and the median time from lymphoma diagnosis to CNS relapse was 16 months (range, 1-122). Patients were treated with ibrutinib (n = 29, ibrutinib cohort), BBB crossing chemotherapy (ie, high-dose methotrexate ± cytarabine; n = 29, BBB cohort), or miscellaneous treatments (n = 30, other therapy cohort). Both median OS (16.8 vs 4.4 months; P = .007) and median progression-free survival (PFS) (13.1 vs 3.0 months; P = .009) were superior in the ibrutinib cohort compared with the BBB cohort. Multivariable Cox regression model revealed that ibrutinib therapeutic choice was the strongest independent favorable predictive factor for both OS (hazard ratio [HR], 6.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2-21.3; P < .001) and PFS (HR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.7-12.5; P = .002), followed by CNS progression of disease (POD) >24 months from first MCL diagnosis (HR for death, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.1-5.3; P = .026; HR for death or progression, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1-4.6; P = .023). The addition of intrathecal (IT) chemotherapy to systemic CNS-directed therapy was not associated with superior OS (P = .502) as the morphological variant (classical vs others, P = .118). Ibrutinib was associated with superior survival compared with BBB-penetrating chemotherapy in patients with CNS relapse of MCL and should be considered as a therapeutic option.

T-cell replete fludarabine/cyclophosphamide reduced intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation for lymphoid malignancies.

The relative merits of reduced-intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation (RISCT) for high-risk indolent lymphoid malignancies are emerging, although the preferred conditioning regimen to manage the risks of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is not clearly defined. Here we report the outcome of 73 patients with lymphoid malignancies who received RISCT with a fludarabine/cyclophosphosphamide conditioning regimen and a median follow-up of 3 years. Median age was 54 years. Forty-eight per cent of patients had previously undergone autologous stem cell transplantation with a median of three prior therapies. Non-relapse mortality at 3 years was 19% but only 5% for patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Three-year overall survival and current progression-free survival was 67% and 63% respectively. Grade 2-4 acute GVHD occurred in 14% of patients while 49% had chronic GVHD requiring systemic immunosuppression. The preparatory regimen in this study has the advantage of reduced acute GVHD and low mortality, notably in patients with MM. In addition, this strategy provides long-term disease control in a significant proportion of patients with particular benefit in those with high-risk follicular lymphoma.

Single-agent lenalidomide in relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma: results from a UK phase II study suggest activity and possible gender differences.

We present data from a phase II study investigating a novel treatment strategy for relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Twenty-six patients received lenalidomide 25 mg/d (days 1-21 of a 28-d cycle) for up to 6 cycles followed by low-dose maintenance lenalidomide (15 mg) in responding patients. Eight patients achieved complete or partial response to give an overall response rate of 31% with median response duration of 22·2 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 0·0-53·6] and median progression-free survival (PFS) of 3·9 months (95% CI 0·0-11·1). An additional six patients (23%) achieved stable disease. Eleven patients received maintenance with median PFS of 14·6 months (95% CI 7·3-21·9). Correlative studies showed that peripheral T and Natural Killer (NK) cells increased in responding patients by 40-60% over the first 6 cycles with an initial dip in NK cells suggestive of tumour infiltration. Peripheral regulatory T cells were increased in MCL patients (P = 0·001) and expanded further following lenalidomide. Sequential plasma analysis showed increased IL12 p40 and IL7 alongside decreased MMP9, IL10, and adiponectin. Finally, a significant correlation (P = 0·02) between gender and response suggested that female MCL patients were more sensitive to lenalidomide than males. In summary, we confirm the activity, safety and immunomodulatory properties of lenalidomide in MCL and highlight its potential as a low-dose maintenance agent.

The coming of age of microRNA for B cell lymphomas.

The human genome is made up of only approximately one-third of gene coding sequences. The remainder of non-coding sequences, the majority of the DNA code, are poorly understood, but it is now recognized that short portions are transcribed into RNA sequences with common structures sharing length and shape. They have the ability to regulate the expression of genes by binding and inhibiting the RNA coding for genes. These were named microRNA (miRNA). Over the last decade much has been learnt about miRNAs. They are fewer than 1000 in number for the human genome, but each influences a large number of genes and functional pathways, being important controlling influences in both normal function and disease. In the field of lymphoid malignancies we are entering a new era with greater understanding of the role miRNAs in normal B cell development and their disruption in B cell malignancies. This opens the door for both prognostic and diagnostic markers, as well as potential for novel therapies related to identification of the deranged pathways they control. This review outlines the current state of our knowledge of miRNA for B cell malignancies and while already of some clinical utility, there is still much to learn.

Emerging therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

The presentation, clinical course and prognosis for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is diverse and strategies for therapy reflect this variability. Staging of the disease has assisted in deciding treatment options and more recently the cytogenetic, molecular and surrogate markers of the immunoglobulin heavy chain mutational status, CD38 and ZAP-70, have assisted in further risk stratification. Chemotherapy has been the mainstay of interventional therapy when required and the two most important classes of agents in the treatment of CLL are nucleoside analogues and alkylating agents. Combining these two groups of agents has significantly improved prognosis in this disease. More recently a number of novel agents have been applied to patients with CLL to determine if they represent better therapy. However, allogeneic stem cell transplantation offers perhaps the only realistic chance of a cure in this disease. Clinical trials are still needed to determine the timing and role of this promising treatment modality in the treatment of CLL and, where possible, combined with the emerging awareness of the disease biology, related biological markers and prognostic indicators.

The 13q and 11q B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia-associated regions derive from a common ancestral region in the zebrafish.

Loss of the long arm of chromosomes 11 and 13 is the most consistent cytogenetic abnormalities for patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL). They suggest the presence of as yet unidentified tumour suppressor genes within well-defined minimal-deleted regions (MinDRs). We have identified 38 orthologues of the human genes in MinDRs in zebrafish cDNA and syntenic regions for the human deletions in the zebrafish genome. One region on chromosome 9 in the zebrafish genome is of potential interest. Within chromosome 9, five genes and two microRNAs were identified with shared synteny to the MinDRs in B-CLL (two genes to human chromosome 11, three to human chromosome 13 and two chromosome 13 microRNAs). The critical region on zebrafish chromosome 9 maps to the MinDR for both human chromosomes, suggesting a common ancestry for B-CLL tumour suppressor genes. Target-selected mutagenesis to identify zebrafish mutants with knock-outs of genes in this region will allow analysis of their in vivo potential for lymphoproliferation and may define causative genes for B-CLL within human chromosomes 11q and 13q. Our study provides an explanation for involvement of both 11q and 13q in B-CLL and the potential to develop animal models for this common lymphoproliferative disorder.

Trinucleotide repeat dynamic mutation identifying susceptibility in familial and sporadic chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) has a strong hereditary component, but an understanding of predisposition genes is poor. Anticipation with familial CLL has been reported, although the molecular mechanism is unknown. Expansion of trinucleotide repeat sequences underlies anticipation observed in neurodegenerative disease. A polymerase chain reaction-based assay was used to analyse the stability of ten CCG- and CAG-trinucleotide repeat tracts in 18 CLL families and 140 patients with the sporadic form of the disease. The study suggests that anticipation, if it occurs in CLL, is not linked to CCG- and CAG-repeat expansion, however, variation in repeat length at certain loci (FRA16A) may permit identification of susceptible family members. In addition, polymorphisms with prognostic significance were identified. These were high length (but not expanded) repeats at FRA11B (P = 0.01), ATXN1 (P = 0.032) and ATXN3 (P = 0.022), all associated with poor risk disease.

Identification of a potential role for POU2AF1 and BTG4 in the deletion of 11q23 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Deletions of 11q in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are usually associated with progressive disease and poor prognosis. A novel translocation within the previously identified 11q minimal region has been defined in a patient with CLL. The breakpoint is between genes POU2AF1 and BTG4. POU2AF1 is a B-cell-specific transcriptional coactivator, and BTG4 is a member of the BTG family of negative regulators of the cell cycle, making both of them good candidate genes for the pathogenesis of 11q- CLL. POU2AF1 was observed to be differentially expressed in the cells of patients with CLL compared to its expression in normal B cells in the absence of mutations. This may reflect ongoing stimulation and active accessory signaling in CLL cells. BTG4 could contribute to CLL pathogenesis following inactivation by haploinsufficiency.