Hematologic Oncology

Jordan Gauthier, MD, MSc, senior clinical research fellow, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses a study comparing efficacy and toxicity of CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells alone or in combination with ibrutinib in patients with relapsed and/or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) during the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

The CD3 and CD20 bispecific antibody mosunetuzumab demonstrated promising complete remission rates with tolerable toxicity for patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell indolent and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The triplet regimen of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus umbralisib and ublituximab reached a 90% response rate in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Initial findings from the Beat AML study showed that rapid genetic testing in patients with AML was feasible and helpful, and that a precision medicine approach is possible for these patients, who must be treated urgently given the disease’s rapid progression.

Single-agent ibrutinib continued to demonstrate strong results after 7 years of follow-up in both the frontline and heavily pretreated, relapsed/refractory setting for patients with CLL and SLL.

Checkpoint inhibition showed promise for augmenting or extending response to chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy in some patients with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Daratumumab added to bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone induced at least a very good partial response in all patients and a stringent complete response or CR in 63% of patients at the end of consolidation therapy in the run-in phase of an open-label study of transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Farhad Ravandi, MBBS, professor of medicine, department of leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a phase I first-in-human study of AMG 330, an anti-CD33 bispecific T-Cell engager (BiTE) antibody construct, in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) during the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

Tycel J. Phillips, MD, assistant professor, University of Michigan Cancer Center, discusses safety and efficacy findings for acalabrutinib plus bendamustine and rituximab in patients with treatment-naive or relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) during the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

Treatment with luspatercept significantly reduced the need for frequent red blood cell transfusions in nearly 53% of patients with anemia associated with low- to intermediate-risk myelodysplastic syndrome.

Treating younger patients with low-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with 2 fewer frontline cycles of R-CHOP greatly reduced toxicity without sacrificing efficacy, according to findings from the FLYER trial.

Tisagenlecleucel continued to demonstrate durable objective response rates with a median of 19 months of follow-up for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, according to updated findings from the phase II JULIET study.

Treatment with the CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel demonstrated sustained rates of relapse-free survival and overall survival at 24 and 18 months for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Ibrutinib as monotherapy and combined with rituximab significantly improved progression-free survival compared with bendamustine plus rituximab as frontline therapy for older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Robert J. Kreitman, MD, discusses key attributes of moxetumomab pasudotox and its potential impact in hairy cell leukemia.