Phase Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients Research Articles

Prognostic impact of Additional Chromosomal Abnormalities in Egyptian Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients

BACKGROUND: Emergence of additional chromosomal abnormalities (ACAs) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is associated with disease progression to advanced phases and reflects the genetic instability of CML.
 AIM: Is to evaluate the frequency of ACAs in chronic phase (CP) and advanced disease (AP) CML patients and study their impact on patient’s outcome, overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS).
 RESULTS: The studied group (n = 73) included 31 males (43%) and 42 females (57%). Median age of patients at diagnosis was 37 years (17–76). Median TLC was 208×109/L (2.1–784.2), median Hb was 9.4 g/dL (5.7–13), and median platelets count was 290.5×109/L (13–1271). We identified 32 patients (44%) with ACAs. ACAs emergence was significantly associated with advanced phases of CML (13/21, 62%) compared to CP (19/52, 36%) (p = 0.048). ACAs were associated with lower median OS and EFS in CP compared to AP (38 vs. 120 ms) and (58.3 vs. 77 ms) (p = 0.026 and p = 0.065, respectively). Early molecular responders (6/17, 35%) at 3 months, and 6 months (10/26, 38%) developed ACAs less than nonoptimal responders. Disease phase, hepatomegaly and bone marrow eosinophilia were significant predictors of OS (p < 0.001, p = 0.02, p = 0.04, respectively).
 CONCLUSION: Early identification of ACAs in Ph+ metaphases at diagnosis and during therapy predicts CML outcome. ACAs emergence occurred at a higher frequency and at a younger age in our CML patients and are related to inferior EFS and OS.

Role of Epigenetics in Modifying Clinical Outcome in CP-CML Patients Treated With Imatinib

Role of Epigenetics in Modifying Clinical Outcome in CP-CML Patients Treated With Imatinib

Bosutinib for pretreated patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia: primary results of the phase 4 BYOND study

Bosutinib is approved for newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic phase (CP) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and for Ph+ CP, accelerated (AP), or blast (BP) phase CML after prior treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In the ongoing phase 4 BYOND study (NCT02228382), 163 CML patients resistant/intolerant to prior TKIs (n = 156 Ph+ CP CML, n = 4 Ph+ AP CML, n = 3 Ph-negative/BCR-ABL1+ CML) received bosutinib 500 mg once daily (starting dose). As of ≥1 year after last enrolled patient (median treatment duration 23.7 months), 56.4% of Ph+ CP CML patients remained on bosutinib. Primary endpoint of cumulative confirmed major cytogenetic response (MCyR) rate by 1 year was 75.8% in Ph+ CP CML patients after one or two prior TKIs and 62.2% after three prior TKIs. Cumulative complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) and major molecular response (MMR) rates by 1 year were 80.6% and 70.5%, respectively, in Ph+ CP CML patients overall. No patient progressed to AP/BP on treatment. Across all patients, the most common treatment-emergent adverse events were diarrhea (87.7%), nausea (39.9%), and vomiting (32.5%). The majority of patients had confirmed MCyR by 1 year and MMR by 1 year, further supporting bosutinib use for Ph+ CP CML patients resistant/intolerant to prior TKIs.

Switch from branded to generic imatinib: impact on molecular responses and safety in chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients.

Since July 2017, different generic imatinib formulations have been introduced in Italy for the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). We analyzed 168 chronic phase CML patients treated with branded imatinib for a median of 12 years (range 1-16) at a single institution who switched to a single generic formulation in order to assess the safety and impact on molecular response. The Sokal risk was low/intermediate/high in 63%, 33%, and 4% of patients, respectively. The median duration of generic imatinib treatment was 19 months (range 4-22). Twenty-seven percent of patients were in MMR and 73% were in deep molecular responses (MR4-4.5) at the time of the switch. After 12 months of treatment with generic imatinib, 140 patients were evaluable for response: 23.6% and 76.4% were respectively in MMR and in deep molecular response. When the degree of response was compared with the best molecular response observed with branded imatinib, it was found that 84% of patients maintained the response previously achieved, 6% improved it, and 10% of patients had a molecular fluctuation from the previous deep molecular response to MMR. Only 1 patient lost the MMR and no patient switched to another TKI for inefficacy. In terms of safety, 20% of patients reported new or worsening side effects, but only 2 patients returned to branded imatinib for toxicity. Our data show that the switch to generic imatinib in patients who have been previously treated with branded imatinib appears to maintain efficacy, although a proportion of patients experience new or worsening side effects.

Myeloid diseases—Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML)—report from ASH 2019 on new developments

The recent American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, held in Orlando, Florida, in December 2019 was an exciting meeting for researchers and clinicians working in the field of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), as well as for patients suffering from the disease. Interesting updates were presented on new kinase inhibitors (TKI) demonstrating great potential with low toxicities in heavily pretreated patients. Moreover, the 10-year follow-up data of the ENESTnd Study, comparing 2nd generation (2ndG) TKI nilotinib with imatinib showed a continuous benefit of the 2ndG TKI in achieving deeper molecular responses and less progressions to accelerated phase (AP) and blast crisis (BC), but no benefit in progression-free (PFS) or overall survival (OS). Encouraging data were also presented on the treatment of CML BC by combining conventional chemotherapy (FLAG-IDA) with TKI therapy (Ponatinib). Furthermore, great efforts have been undertaken to be able to predict the likelihood of successful TKI cessation in deep molecular remission for individual CML patients in first chronic phase (CP).

Erythropoietin treatment in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with frontline imatinib who developed late anemia.

Role of erythropoietin (EPO) in the treatment of late anemia in patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is still undefined. Fifty CML patients treated at 14 institutions with frontline imatinib for at least 12months and in stable complete cytogenetic response who developed a late chronic anemia treated with EPO were retrospectively evaluated. Median time from imatinib start to EPO treatment was 42.2months [interquartile range (IQR) 20.8-91.9]. Median Hb value at EPO starting time was 9.9g/dL (IQR 8.9-10.3): Eleven patients (22.0%) were transfusion dependent. Alpha-EPO (40000 UI weekly) was employed in 37 patients, beta-EPO (30000 UI weekly) in 9 patients, zeta-EPO (40000 UI weekly) in 2 patients, and darbepoetin (150mcg/weekly) in the remaining 2 patients. On the whole, 41 patients (82.0%) achieved an erythroid response, defined as a stable (>3months) improvement >1.5g/dL of Hb level, and 9 patients (18.0%) indeed resulted resistant. Among responding patients, 10 relapsed after a median time from EPO start of 20.7months (IQR 10.8-63.7). No EPO-related toxicity was observed. Results of EPO treatment for late chronic anemia during long-lasting imatinib therapy are encouraging, with a high rate of response.

Induction and maintenance for chronic myeloid leukemia-chronic phase: A novel treatment strategy.

e19526 Background: Imatinib remains the standard of care for CML-CP in many countries because of its affordability and safety with long term use. Given that upfront Nilotinib has higher rates of major molecular response and early deep responses predict long term responses, we hypothesized that upfront Nilotinib as induction followed by Imatinib maintenance may help to capitalize on the efficacy of Nilotinib without sacrificing the safety and efficacy of Imatinib. Methods: CML CP patients were divided into 3 groups at the time of diagnosis. Group 1 received Imatinib 400mg OD upfront, Group 2 and 3 received Nilotinib 300 mg BD for 1st 3 and 6 months respectively then switched over to Imatinib 400 OD. Quantitative real time PCR for BCR-ABL (RQ PCR for BCR-ABL) was done at 3, 6,12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months to assess response. 3 early molecular responses were defined for analysis. EMR 1 was defined as Bcr-abl RQPCR < 10% at 3 months, EMR 2 as < 1% at 6 months and EMR 3 as < 0.1% at 6 months. Results: Patients on Nilotinib induction had deeper responses than patients on Imatinib at 3 and 6 months. However, subsequent molecular responses were similar in all 3 groups. The rates of Early Molecular responses were significantly better in the Nilotinib group compared to the Imatinib group. Significantly lesser patients in Group 1 had EMR 1 compared to Groups 2 and 3 [80.49% vs 100% vs 95.56%, p value 0.001]. Results were similar for EMR 2 and 3 [EMR 2: 34.15% vs 42.11% vs 60%, p value 0.017, EMR 3: 25.71% vs 25.53% vs 44.44%, p value Group 1 vs Group 3: 0.030]. TKI failure/progression rates were significantly better amongst patients who achieved EMR vs those who did not achieve EMR for EMR 2 and 3 but not EMR 1. For EMR 2, 42.68% who did not achieve EMR eventually had TKI failure compared to 18.03% of those who achieved EMR (p value 0.002). Similarly, 32.95% who failed to achieve EMR 3 progressed vs 11.9% of those who achieved EMR 3 (p value 0.011). 3 patients in group 1 and 1 patient in group 2 developed T315I mutation while none did in Group 3. Conclusions: The early advantage achieved with Nilotinib Induction was not sustained after switching to Imatinib maintenance. Nevertheless, target responses were still achieved and similar failure rates were present in all 3 groups. Patients who attained an EMR < 1 % at 3 months or < 0.1% at 6 months tend to have higher EFS and lower rates of TKI failure/progression irrespective of the treatment arm.

Mutation Analysis of ABL1 Gene and its Relation to the Achievement of Major Molecular Response in Indonesian Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients

Background: Imatinib mesylate is the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) therapy. Imatinib is an effective drug. However, previous studies have shown that about 20-30% of patients eventually would develop resistance to imatinib. Approximately 40% of imatinib resistance is associated with BCRABL kinase domain mutation. One of the most common and serious variations account for imatinib response is T315I of ABL1 gene. Objective: The study aimed to examine the association of T315I mutation with the ABL1 gene and its relation to major molecular response (MMR) achievement in CML patients. This study also examined other mutations adjacent to T315I, i.e., F311I, F317L, and different possible variations in the ABL1 gene. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on Indonesian CML patients in chronic phase. We analyzed 120 blood samples from patients in chronic phase who have received imatinib mesylate (IM) for ≥12 months. Results: There were no T315I, F311I, and F317L mutations found in this study. However, we found another variation, which was 36 substitutions from A to G at position 163816 of ABL1 gene (according to NG_012034.1). Conclusions: We found no T315I, F311I, and F317L mutations in this study. Our findings suggest that there might be other factors that influenced the MMR achievement in our study patients. However, there were 36 substitutions from A to G at position 163.816 (according to NG_012034.1) that needed further examination to explore the significance of this mutation in clinical practice.

How many chronic myeloid leukemia patients who started a frontline second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor have to switch to a second-line treatment? A retrospective analysis from the monitoring registries of the italian medicines agency (AIFA).

ABSTRACTThe frequency of patients who switch to a second‐line therapy from a frontline second‐generation (2gen) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) such as dasatinib and nilotinib, is still substantially unknown. We retrospectively investigated a large series of chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CP‐CML) patients initially treated with 2gen TKIs monitored through the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA Agenzia Italiana del farmaco) registries. Overall, 2420 patients were analyzed over a period of 6 years. One hundred and fifty‐seven patients (16.3%) treated with dasatinib and 164 treated with nilotinib (11.3%) have switched to another drug, with an overall frequency of 13.2%. In the dasatinib cohort, 39.4% of patients changed treatment for failure and 36.3% for intolerance as compared to 45.7% and 27.4% respectively in the nilotinib cohort. Overall, the median time to switch due to resistance was 293 days, whereas it was 317 days in case of intolerance. Resistance was observed mainly in younger male patients with high‐risk features, while intolerance was not related to any baseline parameter. After resistance/intolerance to nilotinib, the majority of patients switched to dasatinib (53.8%) whereas in case of frontline dasatinib to ponatinib (43.2%). To the best of our knowledge these data provide the first report on the frequency of discontinuation of frontline 2gen TKIs and on the main causes and pattern of choice to a second‐line therapy in the real‐life setting.

Metabolomic Analysis of Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and Cardiovascular Adverse Events after Treatment with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors.

Background: Cardiovascular adverse events (CV-AEs) are considered critical complications in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients treated with second- and third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). The aim of our study was to assess the correlation between metabolic profiles and CV-AEs in CML patients treated with TKIs. Methods: We investigated 39 adult CML patients in chronic-phase (mean age 49 years, range 24–70 years), with no comorbidities evidenced at baseline, who were consecutively identified with CML and treated with imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib, and ponatinib. All patients performed Gas-Chromatography-Mass-Spectrometry-based metabolomic analysis and were divided into two groups (with and without CV-AEs). Results: Ten CV-AEs were documented. Seven CV-AEs were rated as 3 according to the Common Toxicity Criteria, and one patient died of a dissecting aneurysm of the aorta. The patients’ samples were clearly separated into two groups after analysis and the main discriminant metabolites were tyrosine, lysine, glutamic acid, ornithine, 2-piperdinecarboxylic acid, citric acid, proline, phenylalanine, threonine, mannitol, leucine, serine, creatine, alanine, and 4-hydroxyproline, which were more abundant in the CV-AE group. Conversely, myristic acid, oxalic acid, arabitol, 4-deoxy rithronic acid, ribose, and elaidic acid were less represented in the CV-AE group. Conclusions: CML patients with CV-AEs show a different metabolic profile, suggesting probable mechanisms of endothelial damage.

Treatment outcomes of chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia with resistance and/or intolerance to a 1st-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor in Japan: the results of the New TARGET study 2nd-line.

We herein report the results of the New TARGET study 2nd-line, which collected data on patients with chronic-phase (CP) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who received a 2nd-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) because of resistance and/or to a 1st-line TKI. A total of 98 patients were enrolled intolerance between April 2010 and March 2013, and 82 patients were analyzed. The median age was 54years (range 22-88years). Seventy-six patients (93%) received imatinib as the 1st-line TKI. Forty-five (55%) and 37 (45%) patients began nilotinib and dasatinib treatments at entry, respectively. First-line TKI treatment achieved complete hematological response in 79 patients (96%) and complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) in 49 patients (60%), respectively. Nine patients (11%) had BCR-ABL1 kinase domain point mutations at enrollment. The estimated 3-year progression-free-survival rate after enrollment was 98.7% (95% CI 91.1-99.8%). Overall, the probabilities of achieving CCyR and a major molecular response were 89.3% (95% CI 81.4-94.8%) and 87.2% (95% CI 78.1-93.8%), respectively. There were no new safety issues. This study demonstrated that CML-CP patients in Japan who are resistant and/or intolerant to a 1st-line TKI can achieve an extremely good outcome by 2nd-line TKI treatment.

A Single Center Study of Prescribing and Treatment Outcomes of Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Background: The present study investigated the patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in chronic phase (CP-CML) who had been on the first- line Imatinib Mesylate (IM) therapy for a period of 84 months. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in 295 newly-diagnosed CP-CML patients(age >18 years) who were admitted to the Hematology,Oncologyand Stem Cell Transplantation Research Center,Shariati Hospital, Tehran during 1 January, 2009 to 30 December, 2016. Response to treatment was evaluated by molecular response assessment. Rates of IM dose adjustment, switching to another drug therapy, progression to Accelerate Phase (AP) and Blastic Crisis (BC) and long-term outcomes included Overall Survival (OS) and Progression Free Survival (PFS) were assesed. Results: Patients' average age was 41.7 years, and 52.9% were male. 44.4% of patients at the month 18 achieved Major Molecular Response (MMR). Progression to AP/BC occurred in 26 patients during 84 months, and the estimated rate of OS and PFS were 71.83 and 74.48, respectively. Among the patients who did not achieve MMR at month 18 , 61 patients were treated with IM ( 400 mg /day), and then after month 18, 24(39.3%) of whom achieved MMR. Dose adjustments occurred in 60 patients (20.33%). IM dose increase was observed in 53 patients who did not achive optimal response to imatinib or loss of optimal response. IM dose decrease was observed in 7 patients. 25 (8.47%) patients were switched to a different Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKI). Most of TKI changes(n=21) happened in patients who did not achieve optimal response to IM and TKI changes owing to adverse events of IM were observed in 4 patients.. Among the patients undergoing change in treatment, 24(43.75%) patients achieved MMR. Conclusion: Our data showed the high effectiveness of the change in the treatment of IM-resistant condition. Moreover, our finding suggests that imatinib be effective in Iranian patients after a long period of time compared to the referenced studies.

Clinical efficacy and safety of imatinib treatment in children and adolescents with chronic myeloid leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is relatively rare in childhood and few studies have reported the clinical use of imatinib (IM) in pediatric CML. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of IM in children and adolescents with CML.We investigated 21 patients under 18 years of age with newly diagnosed CML and treated with IM in Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University between May 2014 and February 2018. The disease was staged according to the European LeukemiaNet criteria and the IM dose was determined based on the disease stage. Cumulative responses and survival probabilities were estimated according to the Kaplan–Meier method.The estimated complete hematologic response rate of chronic phase-chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) was 89.5% at 3 months. The complete cytogenetic response rates increased with time, reaching 47.4%, 73.7%, and 80.3% at 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. The cumulative major molecular response rates were 42.1% and 76.3% at 12 and 24 months, respectively. With a median follow-up time of 33.8 months (range, 3.2–61.7 months), the estimated 2-year overall survival (OS) rate for CML was 95.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 70.7%–99.3%). None of the CML-CP patients progressed to the accelerated phase or had a blast crisis. The 2-year OS and progression-free survival rates for the CML-CP cohort were both 100%, while the estimated 2-year event-free survival rate was 68% (95% CI, 42.1%–84.2%). None of the patients in this group had treatment-related deaths or IM discontinuation due to drug toxicities, and only 1 patient had a grade III–IV nonhematologic adverse event. Overall, anemia was the most common adverse effect and 42.9% of patients had a decrease in bone mineral density.IM was effective and the adverse effects were well-tolerated throughout the follow-up period in Chinese CML patients under 18 years of age.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitorsand interferon-α increase tunneling nanotube (TNT) formation and cell adhesion in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cell lines.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a stem cell disease of the bone marrow where mechanisms of inter-leukemic communication and cell-to-cell interactions are proposed to be important for optimal therapy response. Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are novel intercellular communication structures transporting different cargos with potential implications in therapy resistance. Here, we have investigated TNTs in CML cells and following treatment with the highly effective CML therapeutics tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and interferon-α (IFNα). CML cells from chronic phase CML patients as well as the blast crisis phase cell lines, Kcl-22 and K562, formed few or no TNTs. Treatment with imatinib increased TNT formation in both Kcl-22 and K562 cells, while nilotinib or IFNα increased TNTs in Kcl-22 cells only where the TNT increase was associated with adherence to fibronectin-coated surfaces, altered morphology, and reduced movement involving β1integrin. Ex vivo treated cells from chronic phase CML patients showed limited changes in TNT formation similarly to bone marrow cells from healthy individuals. Interestingly, in vivo nilotinib treatment in a Kcl-22 subcutaneous mouse model resulted in morphological changes and TNT-like structures in the tumor-derived Kcl-22 cells. Our results demonstrate that CML cells express low levels of TNTs, but CML therapeutics increase TNT formation in designated cell models indicating TNT functionality in bone marrow derived malignancies and their microenvironment.

Impact of anemia on the outcomes of chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia in TKI era

ABSTRACT Objectives: It is common of chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) patients coexisting anemia at diagnosis, but the role of anemia on the prognosis is not clear. This study aims to explore impact of anemia on outcomes of CML-CP patients in TKI era. Methods: In the retrospective study, 258 newly diagnosed CML patients treated with TKIs were enrolled. Patients with moderate anemia (Hb ≤ 90 g/L) and non-moderate anemia (Hb > 90 g/L) were compared. Results: The incidence of moderate anemia at the time of CML diagnosis was 34.8%. Compared with patients with non-moderate anemia, patients with moderate anemia had higher proportion of intermediate-high Sokal risks and more aggressive characteristics such as higher WBC counts, higher percent of myeloblasts and basophils. However, there were no statistical differences in terms of optimal response rates, 5-year PFS and OS between the two groups. Conclusion: Moderate anemia is a common concomitant symptom in CML-CP patients and is associated with high-risk CML, but its occurrence does not affect the survival of CML-CP patients in TKI era.

BCR-ABL1 transcript decline ratio combined BCR-ABL1IS as a precise predictor for imatinib response and outcome in the patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Purpose: The early BCR-ABL1 reduction had the prognostic impact of the chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) patients. This study was to find a more precise early prognosis index at 3 months in the patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP, especially for the patients with BCR-ABL1IS >10%.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 79 newly diagnosed CML-CP patients from October 2013 to April 2017. All patients took imatinib regularly and continuously and monitored BCR-ABL1 transcript level at baseline and 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months after starting imatinib treatment.Results: Among the 44(55.7%) patients with BCR/ABL1IS ≤10% at 3 months after imatinib treatment, 12(27.3%) cases did not achieve major molecular response (MMR) at 12 months, and 7(14.9%) patients with the halving time BCR-ABL1 transcript ≤40 days failed to achieve MMR at 12 months. However, approximately twenty-six percent of the patients with BCR-ABL1IS >10% still obtained MMR. Moreover, the patients with BCR-ABL1IS ≤10% and halving time ≤40 days had a significantly better MMR than that of the patients with the BCR-ABL1IS ≤10% and halving time >40 days (88.6% versus 11.1%, P <0.001). However, the patients with the BCR-ABL1IS >10% and halving time >40 days rarely achieved MMR at 12 months.Conclusion: These data indicated that the halving time of BCR-ABL1 transcript was also an important prognostic factor as that of the BCR-ABL1IS. Combined observations of these two prognosis indexes are more accurate predictor for the long-term molecular response, especially for the CML-CP patients with BCR-ABL1IS >10%, and which is helpful for TKI switching as early as possible to improve patients' survival and reduce drug costs.

The potential gastrointestinal side effects of excipients in imatinib preparations

Aim: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a BCR-ABL positive myeloproliferative disorder characterized by clonal proliferation of the hematopoietic stem cells. Imatinib mesylate represents the most important agent associated with improved survival in CML that has been introduced for clinical use in 2000s. The original imatinib preparation Glivec ® was subsequently followed by the introduction of biosimilar products containing a variety of excipients. Gastrointestinal side effects represent the major limitation for therapeutic use of imatinib. This study was planned to examine whether excipients in the original and biosimilar imatinib products had any role in the emergence of GIS side effects. Materials and methods: Excipients in imatinib preparations used for the treatment of chronic phase (CP) CML patients followed up and treated at the hematology department of Mersin University between 2000 and 2019 were analyzed with respect to their potential GIS side effects. Results: Totally 42 CML patients included in the study. The median age was 53.2, and female:male ratio was 20:22. They had similar demographic characteristics as compared to previously reported CML populations. No patients had GIS side effect requiring drug discontinuation or switch to another agent. While bovine gelatin and polyvinyl alcohol had no significant effects on GIS side effects, those that contained titanium were found to be associated with a significant increase in the risk of GIS side effects (52%, contained titanium vs 0/2, contained no titanium). These side effects are less frequently in products that have lowest number of excipient types. Conclusion: GIS side effects can be triggered by various excipients in imatinib preparations.

Longer Hydroxyurea Administration Prior to Imatinib Mesylate is Risk Factor for Unsuccessful Major Molecular Response in Chronic-Phase Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: Possibility of P-Glycoprotein Role.

Objective:This study aimed to identify the association between duration of HU administration prior to IM treatment and MMR achievement in chronic-phase CML while evaluating the role of MDA, HIF-1α and P-gp. Methods:The study was conducted at Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National General Hospital and Dharmais Cancer Hospital, Jakarta using retrospective cohort design to analyse the association between the duration of HU before IM and its MMR achievement and cross-sectional design to analyse the association between MDA, HIF-1α and P-gp expressions with MMR achievement. Main subjects were chronic-phase CML patients treated by HU prior to IM for ≥ 12 months and HU only. The subjects were divided into four main groups: (1) chronic-phase CML patients treated with HU ≤ 6 months + IM ≥ 12 months and (2) HU > 6 months + IM ≥ 12 months (3) HU only (≤ 6 months), (4) HU only ( >6 months). Subjects were obtained from January 2015 to May 2016. Data were gathered through history taking, physical examination, medical record evaluation, and blood sample analysis. Bivariate analysis was conducted using chi square, independent T-test, and Mann-Whitney according to the variables. Results:Administration of HU for more than 6 months prior to IM was associated with unsuccessful MMR achievement (RR 1.60; 95%CI 1.29-2.00). MDA level, HIF-1α, P-glycoprotein expression were not associated with MMR achievement but the mean MDA level (0.63±0.31 vs 0.75±0.41 p=0.461) and median P-glycoprotein expressions {16,92 (0,04 – 43,86) vs. 5,15 (0,02–39,64); p=0.311} were found to be higher in patients receiving HU for > 6 months group than in HU ≤ 6 months group consecutively. Conclusion:Administration of HU for more than 6 months prior to IM was associated with unsuccessful MMR achievement in chronic-phase CML. The study suggested that P-glycoprotein overexpression as the predictor for unsuccessful MMR achievement.

Progressive Down Regulation of JAK-STAT, Cell Cycle, and ABC Transporter Genes in CD34+/Lin- Cells of Chronic-Phase Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CP-CML) Patients at Diagnosis Vs. 12 Months of Nilotinib Treatment Vs. Healthy Subjects

In the PhilosoPhi34 study (EudraCT: 2012-005062-34) on 87 CP-CML patients, we analyzed the gene expression profiling (GEP) of bone marrow (BM) CD34+/lin- cells of 79 patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CP-CML) patients at diagnosis and after 12 months of nilotinib treatment (Pungolino et al. AM J Hematol. 2018). FISH analyses identified CD34+/lin- Ph+ cells in all 79 CML-CP patients at diagnosis. 78/79 patients achieved at least a complete cytogenetic response after 12 months of nilotinib whereas 1/79 patients relapsed at 12 months. No Ph+ nuclei were detected in 78/79 patients at 12 months. We have demonstrated that genes involved in the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, the cell cycle, and the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters were significantly over expressed in patients at diagnosis compared to 12 months of nilotinib treatment (Trojani et al, PLoS One. 2019). In this preliminary study, we isolated BM CD34+/lin- cells from 9 healthy donors (CTRLs). We investigated the gene expression profiling of 79 CP-CML patients at diagnosis vs. the same patients after 12 months of nilotinib treatment (12 months) vs. 9 CTRLs using Affymetrix HTA 2.0. Data was preprocessed and normalized using RMA and ComBat. Selection of differentially expressed genes (DEg) was performed at diagnosis vs. 12 months of nilotinib vs. CTRLs, using Statistical Analysis for Microarrays (SAM) on 3 groups and a Benjamini Hochberg false discovey rate threshold of 5%, followed, for significance comparisons, by a pair-wise SAM test. We focused on 34 genes of the cell cycle and mitosis, 6 genes belonging to the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, and the ABC transporter gene ABCD3 which were significantly under expressed at diagnosis vs. 12 months of nilotinib vs. CRTLs (Tab.1). In the cell cycle, we found that ORC2, ORC4, ORC5, MCM6, and HDAC2 (G1 phase) were progressively significantly down regulated at diagnosis vs. 12 months vs. CTRLs. We noticed HDAC2 which showed the high fold changes of 2.89 and 4.29 in the comparison between 12 months vs. CTRLs and between diagnosis vs. CTRLs, respectively. This gene plays a crucial role in CML, as HDAC inhibitors treatment represent an effective strategy to target leukemic stem cells in CP-CML patients receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors. CCNA2, CDK7, CDC6, DBF4 (S phase), WEE1, PRKDC, ATM, MDM2, CCNB1 (G2 phase), and TTK, MAD2L1, BUB1, BUB3, ANAPC4, CDC27, SMC3, YWHAE, and YWHAZ (M phase) were progressively down regulated at diagnosis vs. 12 months vs. CTRLs. Among them, SMC3, YWHAE and YWHAZ showed the following high fold changes in the comparison between 12 months vs. CTRLs and between diagnosis vs. CTRLs: 2.31 and 3.15, 2.59 and 3.94, 2.75 and 4.15, respectively. Notably, the proto-oncogene MDM2 which promotes the development of tumors by targeting p53, was progressively up regulated in CTRLs vs. 12 months vs. diagnosis. In the mitosis, we detected that 10 genes playing a crucial role in mitotic chromosome organization, were progressively under expressed at diagnosis vs. 12 months vs. CTRLs (Tab.1). Notably, CLAPS2, ZW10 and ANLN (hematopoietic cell differentiation) regulate the exit from mitosis. NDC80, SMC4, ZNF207, and NEK2 take part in the mitotic sister chromatid segregation whereas CENPE and SMC2 are mitotic cell cycle check points. In the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, SOS1, PIK3CA, IL7, JAK2, STAM, and PTPN11 were progressively up regulated in CTRLs vs. 12 months vs. diagnosis (Tab.1). ABCD3, encoding a protein which pumped drugs out of the cells, was progressively under expressed at diagnosis vs. 12 months vs. CRTLs as shown in Tab.1. In conclusion, we found progressive gene expression changes in BM CD34+/lin- cells of 79 CP-CML patients at diagnosis vs. 12 months of nilotinib vs. the normal cell counterparts of 9 CTRLs in the cell cycle, JAK-STAT, and the ABC transporter ABCD3. FISH analyses demonstrated that the BM CD34+/lin- cells of 78/79 patients after 12 months of nilotinib were Ph-negative. Despite, our GEP results suggested that BM CD34+/lin- cells after 12 months of nilotinib treatment and the normal cell counterparts differed mostly in the expression of genes regulating the cell cycle and the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Disclosures Rossi: Daiichi-Sankyo: Consultancy; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Sanofi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Jazz: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Astellas: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Honoraria; Mundipharma: Honoraria; BMS: Honoraria; Sandoz: Honoraria. Elena:Novartis: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy. Iurlo:Pfizer: Other: Speaker Honoraria; Incyte: Other: Speaker Honoraria; Novartis: Other: Speaker Honoraria.

Ponatinib Treatment in CML and Ph+ ALL Patients: Real-Life Data from the Czech Registries

Patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) frequently receive imatinib. Although initial response rates are high, imatinib fails in up to 40% of patients because of disease resistance, frequently because of BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations, or side effects. Patients who discontinue imatinib may have a response to second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Ponatinib (PON) is a potent oral TKI active against unmutated and mutated BCR-ABL kinase. PON is indicated also in Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) patients. Clinical activity of PON was confirmed in the phase II PACE trial, however lack of real world data is evident. The aim of this non-interventional study was to analyze data on PON treatment and its efficacy in the Czech patients with CML / Ph+ ALL. The study was designed as a one-off retrospective data collection from 3 national registry databases INFINITY, CAMELIA and DATOOL ALL in the period 2014-2018. In total, the study comprised 27 patients treated with PON at 7 centers; 16 (59.3%) patients were treated for chronic phase (CP) CML, 4 (14.8%) patients for accelerated- or blast-phase (AP/BP) CML and 7 (25.9%) patients for Ph+ ALL. The 16 CP CML patients (68.8% males) had median age at the start of PON treatment 59.7 years (range 28.6-81.4), were heavily pretreated (75% with ≥ 3 TKIs) with median time from diagnosis to start of PON treatment 4.8 (0.2-16.8) years; 37.5% of them had mutations (18.8% with T315l), 75.0% had comorbidities. The 11 AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL patients (54.5% males) were younger with median age 56.6 (31.2-74.7) years, were less pretreated (36.4% with ≥ 3 TKIs) with a shorter time from diagnosis to start of PON treatment 2.0 (0.4-22.0) years; almost twice as many (72.7%) of them had mutations (54.5% with T315l), 63.6% had comorbidities. The most common reason for switching to ponatinib was hematologic resistance (37.5% of CP CML and 54.5% of AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL patients). The other most frequent indications were cytogenetic resistance, non-hematologic and hematologic intolerance (18.8%, 12.5% and 12.5% of CP CML patients and 9.1%, 9.1% and 0% of AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL patients, respectively). Interestingly, starting dose of PON was 45 mg/day as recommended in the product SmPC only in of about half of the patients (43.8% of CP CML and 54.5% of AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL patients). Median treatment duration was 16.1 (0.8-49.9) months in CP CML patients and only 2.9 (0.2-36.1) months in AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL patients. Early (in the first 3 months) and late termination of the treatment occurred in 12.5% and 31.3% of CP CML and 54.5% and 27.3% of AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL patients, respectively. Disease progression was the major reason for treatment termination (50%). In terms of safety, only 1 patient discontinued therapy due to congestive heart failure, and 1 due to vascular adverse event although more than half of the patients had cardiovascular comorbidities and history of cardiovascular disease. PON efficacy was evaluated in 14 CP CML patients and 5 AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL who were treated beyond 3 months (Figure 1). More than half of CP CML patients achieved MMR (57.1%) and 40% of AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL achieved undetectable disease. Estimated percentage of CHR, CCyR and MMR in CP CML patients after one year of treatment was 85.7%, 50% and 50%, respectively. Nevertheless, 5 (35.7%), 2 (14.3%) and 1 (7.1%) patients had CHR, CCyR and MMR at start of PON treatment, respectively. In AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL patients, estimated percentage of CR and CMR after one year was 100% and 40%, respectively. However, 2 patients (20%) had CR at the start of PON treatment. Despite limited number of patients, our analysis confirmed PON efficacy in real-life setting with a significant proportion of heavily pre-treated patients achieving durable molecular responses in both CP and AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL groups. Our data are comparable to the PACE trial results. This study partially fills the gap in RWE data and significantly contributes to the evaluation of real-life clinical practice in rare disease area. Figure 1. Cumulative incidence of responses on ponatinib treatment in A) CP CML (N=14) and B) AP/BP CML / Ph+ ALL (N=5) patients that continued ponatinib treatment beyond 3 months. Figure 1 Disclosures Žáčková: Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Angelini: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy. Kellnerová:Angelini Pharma: Employment.