Molecular-Biology-Driven Frontline Treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.

The treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) currently relies on the use of chemo-immunotherapy, Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors, or BCL2 inhibitors alone or combined with an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody. However, the availability of multiple choices for the first-line setting and a lack of direct head-to-head comparisons pose a challenge for treatment selection. To overcome these limitations, we performed a systematic review and a network meta-analysis on published randomized clinical trials performed in the first-line treatment setting of CLL. For each study, we retrieved data on progression-free survival (according to del17/P53 and IGHV status), overall response rate, complete response, and incidence of most frequent grade 3-4 adverse event. We identified nine clinical trials encompassing 11 different treatments, with a total of 5288 CLL patients evaluated. We systematically performed separated network meta-analyses (NMA) to evaluate the efficacy/safety of each regimen in the conditions previously described to obtain the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) score, which was subsequently used to build separated ranking charts. Interestingly, the combination of obinutuzumab with acalabrutinib reached the top of the chart in each sub-analysis performed, with the exception of the del17/P53mut setting, where it was almost on par with the aCD20 mAbs/ibrutinib combination (SUCRA aCD20-ibrutinib and O-acala: 93.5% and 91%, respectively) and of the safety evaluation, where monotherapies (acalabrutinib in particular) gave better results. Finally, considering that NMA and SUCRA work for single endpoints only, we performed a principal component analysis to recapitulate in a cartesian plane the SUCRA profiles of each schedule according to the results obtained in each sub-analysis, confirming again the superiority of aCD20/BTKi or BCL2i combinations in a first-line setting. Overall, here we demonstrated that: (1) a chemotherapy-free regimen, such as the combination of aCD20 with a BTKi or BCL2i, should be the preferred treatment choice despite biological/molecular characteristics (preferred regimen O-acala); (2) there is less and less room for chemotherapy in the first line treatment of CLL.

Measurable therapeutic antibody in serum as potential predictive factor of response to anti-CD38 therapy in non-IgG-k myeloma patients.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematologic malignancy characterized by abnormal plasma cell proliferation in the bone marrow. Recent advancements in anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody therapies, such as daratumumab and isatuximab, have significantly improved MM patient survival. However, the lack of predictive factors of response to these therapies remains a challenge. Notably, anti-CD38 antibodies can interfere with laboratory tests, complicating response assessment. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the association between the appearance of positive IgGk (therapeutic antibody) on immunofixation/immunosubtraction (IF) and clinical parameters in 87 non-IgGk MM patients treated with anti-CD38 therapy. Positive IgGk IF was observed in 42 patients after a median of three treatment courses. Patients with positive IgGk IF had higher rates of complete/very good partial responses (p = 0.03) and improved progression-free survival (median not reached vs. 21.83 months, p < 0.01). High BMI (p = 0.03), higher hemoglobin (p = 0.02), lower CRP (p = 0.04), and lower monoclonal protein levels (p = 0.03) were associated with positive IgGk IF. Our findings suggest that monitoring therapeutic antibody appearance on IF may predict and optimize anti-CD38 therapy in MM. Potential explanations include the impact of patient factors (e.g. BMI) on drug pharmacokinetics, the relationship between antibody levels and immune response, and the influence of tumor biology. Further research is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and clinical utility of this biomarker. Nonetheless, our results highlight the importance of considering therapeutic antibody detection when interpreting laboratory tests and managing MM patients receiving anti-CD38 therapies.