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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19 is the current standard of care for the treatment of relapsed refractory large B cell lymphoma, demonstrating impressive response rates in the second- and third-line setting. Despite these advances, this treatment strategy can result in significant toxicities, such as cytokine release syndrome or immune effector cell associated neurotoxicity syndrome. While the exact mechanisms of these immune-mediated toxicities are not clearly understood, emerging pre-clinical and clinical studies have revealed the pivotal role of myeloid cells, particularly macrophages, as key contributors to the efficacy of treatments and as crucial mediators of toxicity. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of how macrophages mediate these effects, highlighting specific mechanisms of macrophage biology relevant to CAR T-cell therapy activity and side effects. These findings are resulting in novel treatment strategies that target macrophages, and able to mitigate toxicity while preserving CAR T-cell therapy efficacy.

The beneficial effect of statins on the anti-lymphoma activity of the rituximab-based chemotherapy regimen is controversial. Here, we retrospectively reviewed patients with naïve-treated advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) receiving frontline R-CHOP, and for whom data regarding differential statins use was available at the time of initiation of treatment. We observe that patients treated with statins and R-CHOP experienced a significantly higher CR rate as compared to those who received R-CHOP only. We further show that patients receiving medium or high intensity statins and R-CHOP experienced a significantly higher CR as compared to those treated with R-CHOP. Six-year progression free survival was higher for patients who received medium or higher intensity statins as compared to low or no statins. The potential contribution of cholesterol pathway in doxorubicin sensitivity was supported by in vitro / in vivo studies. Our study suggests that targeting cholesterol-using lovastatin could be a therapeutic strategy to enhance responses to R-CHOP in DLBCL patients.

Many patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) will not respond to platinum-containing salvage chemotherapy. Predicting treatment failure earlier could help clinicians minimize chemotherapy toxicities for non-responders in favor of other treatments. We conducted a pilot study where 2 early PET/CTs were obtained on days 4 (D4) and 21 (D21) of cycle 1 (C1) of salvage therapy for DLBCL. Twenty-five patients were enrolled and have evaluable data. Ten (40%) had an unplanned therapy change after C1 and before end-of-treatment (EOT) evaluation due to treatment failure on early PET/CT as interpreted by the treating physician. Early PET/CT response at D4 or D21 was not associated with EOT response in evaluable patients. Disease specific survival was longer for patients with a persistent response on both D4 and D21 ( p  = 0.042). Early PET/CT may predict salvage chemotherapy failure and could inform future clinical trials investigating early therapy change to non-chemotherapy treatments.

This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of baseline disease distribution for patients with the secondary central nervous system (CNS) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with chemotherapy and radiation (RT). 44 patients with secondary CNS DLBCL were reviewed. Twenty patients had leptomeningeal disease (LMD), and 24 had localized/targetable disease (LTD). Of 8 patients who received stem cell transplantation (SCT) after RT, 6 had LTD with a complete or partial response after RT. Median time to CNS relapse after RT was 10.1 months; 3/24 patients with LTD and 5/15 with LMD had CNS relapse. The median overall survival (OS) was 8 and 20 months for patients with LMD and LTD, respectively ( p  = 0.20). On multivariable analysis, LTD, receipt of SCT, and response after RT were associated with better OS and CNS-disease-free survival. Patients with localized secondary CNS DLBCL may benefit from RT serving as a bridge to SCT.

We addressed the prognostic impact of cell-of-origin (COO), MYC and Bcl-2 overexpression as well as isolated MYC rearrangement among 111 patients with limited stage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with consolidative radiation therapy (RT) after a metabolic complete response to immunochemotherapy. With a median follow-up of 31.1 months (95% CI 27.4 - 34.8), 4 relapses occurred. The 3-year progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and loco-regional relapse free survival (LRFS) for the cohort were 95%, 96%, and 100%, respectively. There were no differences in OS, PFS, or LRFS based on COO or MYC/Bcl-2 dual expression (DE). Similarly, patients with MYC translocations without BCL2 or BCL6 rearrangements did not have worse outcomes. Consolidative RT produced excellent local control, regardless of DLBCL biology, with one late in-field failure.

Venetoclax, a BCL-2 inhibitor, is highly effective for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and dependence on alternative proteins may result in resistance to BCL-2 inhibition. Patients with CLL treated with venetoclax as monotherapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center between 05/2012 and 01/2016 were included and pretreatment bone marrow was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for BCL-W, BCL-XL, BCL2-A1 and MCL-1. Twenty-seven patients were included. BCL-W + and BCL-2A1+ was found in 15% and 7% of the patients, respectively. Both BCL-XL and MCL-1 were negative in all samples. A higher CR and longer PFS rates were observed in patients with BCL-W+ ( p  = .60, p  = .46), BCL-2A1+ ( p  = .60, p  = .29), and either BCL-W + or BCL-2A1+ ( p  = .33, p  = .20), though not statistically significant. Pretreatment IHC expression of BCL-2 alternative proteins does not predict response to venetoclax in CLL, but may be a surrogate for an indolent biology. Sensitive techniques are needed to explore anti-apoptotic pathways.

In 2 randomized phase 3 trials BR resulted in longer progression-free survival (PFS) than frontline R-CHOP in patients with indolent and mantle cell lymphoma. However, in subset analyses of follicular lymphoma (FL), the results were incongruent. We conducted a retrospective matched-pair analysis to compare the outcome of patients with advanced stage FL, receiving frontline BR ( N  = 73) or R-CHOP ( N  = 73), matched by age, gender, stage, and FL International Prognostic Index score. On multivariable analysis, baseline maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max ) >13 was associated with use of R-CHOP ( p  = .001). After a median follow-up of 69 months for the BR arm and 126 months for the R-CHOP arm, 5-year PFS was 80% and 70%, respectively ( p  = .07). After adjusting for SUV max >13, the trend for better PFS in BR was not maintained. Prospective studies are needed to validate the role of pretreatment SUV max as a stratification factor in future randomized therapeutic trials in FL.

Myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with FGFR1 rearrangement are a rare entity. We present a multicenter experience of 17 patients with FISH-confirmed FGFR1 rearrangement. The clinical presentation at diagnosis included myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) in 4 (24%) patients, acute leukemia (AL) in 7 (41%), and concomitant MPN with AL in 6 (35%). The two most frequently observed cytogenetic abnormalities were t(8;13)(p11.2;q12)(partner gene ZMYM2) and t(8;22)(p11.2; q11.2)(BCR). Seventy-eight percent of tested patients had a RUNX1 mutation, of whom all had AL. Overall response rate to frontline therapy was 69%, and 76% of patients subsequently received allogeneic stem cell transplant (ASCT). After a median follow-up of 11 months, median progression-free survival was 15 months and median overall survival was not reached. In conclusion, FGFR1-rearranged hematologic malignancies present with features of MPN and/or AL. FGFR1 and RUNX1 are therapeutic targets for ongoing and future clinical trials.

Fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR), the standard of care for the frontline treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), is associated with a high rate of neutropenia and infectious complications. Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) reduces myelosuppression and can potentiate rituximab activity. We conducted a clinical trial combining GM-CSF with FCR for frontline treatment of 60 patients with CLL. Eighty-six percent completed all six courses and 18% discontinued GM-CSF for toxicity: grade 3-4 neutropenia was observed in 30% of cycles, and severe infections in 16% of cases. The overall response rate was 100%. Both median event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) have not been reached. Longer EFS was associated with favorable cytogenetics. GM-CSF led to a lower frequency of infectious complications than in the historical FCR group, albeit similar EFS and OS.