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We assessed the outcomes of pomalidomide and dexamethasone treatment in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) patients with ≥1 prior line of therapy. We analyzed the data of all RRMM patients treated with pomalidomide and dexamethasone at nine Czech centers between 2013 and 2018. The source of the data was the Registry of Monoclonal Gammopathies of the Czech Republic. Primary endpoints included response rates based on International Myeloma Working Group criteria and survival measures, including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Secondary endpoints were toxicities and previous treatment patterns, including refractory to lenalidomide, and their impact on final outcomes. The overall response rate was 51.8% and the clinical benefit rate (including patients with minimal response) was 67.1%, with 0.6% of complete responses, 8.5% of very good partial responses, and 42.1% of partial responses (PR). Overall, 16.5% of patients had a minimal response, and 32.3% had stable disease /progression. Median PFS was 8.8 months and the median OS was 14.2 months. In patients who achieved ≥PR, the median PFS and OS were significantly longer compared to non-responders (median PFS (12.1 vs. 4.5 months, p≤0.001 respectively), median OS (22.1 vs. 7.7 months, p≤0.001, respectively). The most frequent adverse events (AEs) were neutropenia (29.9%) and anemia (18.9%), non-hematological AEs included infections (14.6%) and fatigue (7.3%). Our analysis confirmed the effectiveness of pomalidomide and dexamethasone in a real-world setting. This therapy achieved reasonable outcomes comparable to the data from clinical trials even though this was an unbiased cohort of patients.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells are a new treatment modality in various hematological malignancies, including relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). RRMM patients have a poor prognosis, and their treatment options are limited. Currently available data from clinical trials on CAR-T cell therapy have demonstrated efficacy and manageable toxicity in RRMM. The CAR-T cells in RRMM mostly focus on already known cellular targets, such as B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA). CAR-T cells focusing on other targets have been analyzed in various clinical trials as well. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS), specific neurotoxicity, and hematological toxicity are the main adverse events (AE); according to the clinical trials, they are mostly mild with a low incidence of grade 3 or higher toxicities. The autologous CAR-T cell therapy against BCMA (ide-cel and cilta-cel) shows the best efficacy with an overall response rate and a median progression-free survival in RRMM. Both ide-cel and cilta-cel have already been approved by the FDA. Currently, the main controversies in the routine use of CAR-T cells are high treatment costs and unknown long-term efficacy. In this review, we summarize the current overview of CAR-T cell therapies in RRMM in 2021 with various targets for CAR-T cells and their efficacy, safety, and possible limitations. Future prospective clinical trials are needed to clarify the optimal role of CAR-T cells in MM therapy.

Despite the high efficacy of current induction regimens, most multiple myeloma (MM) patients relapse over time. The link between changes in the immune system and the prognosis of the disease is still not entirely clear. Therefore, we analyzed whether the pattern of bone marrow (BM) lymphocytes during routine BM examination after autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) is related to disease prognosis or MRD negative complete remission. From 2009 to 2018, 98 MM patients underwent routine BM testing after the first ASCT. Using multi-parametric flow cytometry, twelve BM lymphocyte subtypes were analyzed. In 60% of patients who achieved a complete response (CR), MRD by flow cytometric analysis (sensitivity threshold 10-6) was evaluated. We found an association of relative proportion of BM lymphocyte subtypes with treatment response, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity. Higher relative proportion of memory B cells was associated with inferior median PFS [HR 1.089 (95% CI: 1.023-1.160), p=0.008] and median OS [HR 1.170 (95% CI: 1.074-1.274), p<0.001]. In non-responding patients (minimal response and worse), higher proportion of memory B cells was found when compared to patients achieving CR [3.8% (range 0.5-35.0) vs. 1.0% (range 0.1-12.5); p=0.001]. No significant association of BM lymphocyte subtypes proportion with MRD negative CR was found. Our results show that changes in BM lymphocyte subsets including memory B cells may have prognostic value in MM patients after ASCT.

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is a known precursor of more serious cancers, such as multiple myeloma (MM), Waldenström macroglobulinemia (MW) and other lymphoproliferative disorders. Using 18F-FDG PET/CT, we aimed to evaluate its benefit in early detection of various accompanying disorders and illnesses in MGUS patients. We prospectively analyzed the diagnostic relevance of 18F-FDG PET/CT in 390 newly diagnosed MGUS patients. On 18F-FDG PET/CT scans, the presence of focal or diffuse areas of detectable increased tracer uptake was recorded in 37 (9.5%) MGUS patients. The most frequent pathology was lymphadenopathy (3.8%), followed by thyroid diseases (2.1%), rheumatic diseases (1.8%), and other solid malignancies (1.5%). These results have major implications for confirmed associations of MGUS with numerous malignant and non-malignant disorders. We believe that 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in newly diagnosed MGUS patients may be useful in early detection of other serious pathologies, not only in predicting progression of MGUS to active MM, and should be strongly recommended if available.

The combination of lenalidomide and dexamethasone is the current gold standard for treatment of relapsed multiple myeloma. This study analyzes the efficiency of repeated lenalidomide treatment in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. A total of 41 patients were prospectively evaluated at the University Hospital Brno. Lenalidomide was administered at standard dosing and in combination with corticosteroids and/or chemotherapy. The maximum cumulative dose of lenalidomide was limited to 4,200 mg because of Czech health insurance rules. Before the second lenalidomide treatment, all patients were refractory to the last treatment; previously, 95% of patients had bortezomib treatment, 48% had autologous transplantation and the median number of prior therapy lines was three. A partial 14.2% or better response was achieved with the second lenalidomide treatment. The median progression-free survival was 4.8 months, and median overall survival was 11.9 months. Unfortunately, predicting risk factors in lenalidomide retreatment proved unsuccessful. Although our treatment results were significantly affected by limited Czech health care system coverage for lenalidomide, we established that its repeated treatment is an effective therapeutic alternative for heavily pretreated patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is an asymptomatic, potentially malignant condition. It has been established that annually approximately 1-2% of MGUS cases transforms into one of the malignant forms of monoclonal gammopathies. Progression risk factors include the quantity and type of M-protein, and namely the ratio of free light immunoglobulin chains (FLC). These factors, enable purposeful stratification of MGUS individuals. Some authors consider suppression of polyclonal immunoglobulin levels to be another progression factor. The aim of the study was to compare polyclonal immunoglobulin (PIg) levels with uninvolved heavy/light chain pair (HLC) levels in order to verify the degree of immunoparesis depending on MGUS risk category (0-3). The analyzed set consisted of 159 serum samples from MGUS patients (102 IgG, 57 IgA), who were stratified into 4 risk groups (0 - low, 1 - low-intermediate, 2 - high-intermediate and 3 - high risk of transformation). The results of analysis showed that with increasing degree of MGUS increases risk of immune paresis defined by decreasing levels of polyclonal immunoglobulins, ie. IgA and IgM in the case of IgG MGUS, respectively, IgG and IgM in case of IgA MGUS. Significant differences were also found when analyzing the levels of uninvolved HLC pairs IgG kappa (resp. IgG lambda) in IgG lambda (IgG kappa) dominant secretion. In the case of MGUS with IgA isotype, the results were similar. Discovery of the connection between the degree of immunosuppression and the level of MGUS risk contributes to our understanding of the relationship between biology, development and potential malignant transformation of MGUS. It is apparent that uninvolved HLC pair assay enables more reliable identification of at-risk MGUS patients than a simple quantitative assay for polyclonal immunoglobulins alone.

Unlabelled: In a phase II clinical study, pretreated multiple myeloma patients with relapsing or stable disease received autologous anticancer vaccine containing dendritic cells loaded with Id-protein. Patients received a total of 6 vaccine doses intradermally in monthly intervals. No clinical responses were observed. During the follow-up with a median of 33.1 months (range: 11-43 months), the disease remained stable in 7/11 (64%) of patients. Immune responses measured by ELISpot were noted in 3/11 (27%) and DTH skin test for Id-protein was positive in 8/11 (73%) of patients; out of those, 1/11 (9%) and 5/11 (46%), respectively, had preexisting immune response to Id-protein before the vaccination began. Outcomes were compared to those of a control group of 13 patients. A trend to lower cumulative incidence of progression in the vaccinated group was observed at 12 months from the first vaccination (p= 0.099). More patients from the control group compared to vaccinated patients required active anticancer therapy [4/11 (36%) vs. 8/13 (62%)]. Vaccines based on dendritic cells loaded with Id-protein are safe and induce specific immune response in multiple myeloma patients. Our results suggest that the vaccination could stabilize the disease in approximately two-thirds of patients., Keywords: dendritic cells, immunotherapy, anticancer vaccines, Id-protein, multiple myeloma.