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Introduction : Daratumumab (Dara) is an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody that is approved for use in patients with newly diagnosed and relapsed multiple myeloma (MM). We hypothesized that early therapeutic intervention with Dara in patients with high-risk MGUS (HR-MGUS) or low-risk SMM (LR-SMM) would lead to eradication of the tumor clone by achieving deep responses, resulting in prevention of progression to MM. We present results of our phase II, single arm study of Dara in HR-MGUS and LR-SMM. Methods : Patients enrolled on this study met eligibility for either HR-MGUS or LR-SMM. HR-MGUS is defined as 1.65, M protein ≥ 1.5g/dL or non-IgG M protein. LR-SMM is defined by one of the following 3 criteria: M protein ≥3g/dL, ≥10% bone marrow plasma cells, SFLC ratio 8. Dara (16mg/kg) was administered intravenously on a weekly schedule for cycles 1-2, every other week cycles 3-6, and monthly during cycles 7-20. The primary objective of this study was to determine the proportion of patients who achieve very good partial response (VGPR) or greater after 20 cycles of Dara. Secondary objectives included duration of response, safety, and rates of minimal residual disease (MRD)-negativity in VGPR or greater patients. Correlative studies included assessing changes in immune microenvironment, evaluating clonal heterogeneity using deep sequencing, and determining association of genomic aberrations correlating with either response to therapy or progression of disease. Results : At the time of data cutoff, a total of 42 patients were enrolled on this study from 2018 to 2020 with participation of 5 sites. The median age for all patients at enrolment was 60 years (range 38 to 76), with 22 males (52.4%) and 20 females (47.6%). Majority of patients enrolled were classified as LR-SMM (n = 37, 88.1%) and the remaining 5 patients had HR-MGUS (11.9%). 41 patients have started treatment and are included in toxicity assessment, and 40 patients have at least completed 16 cycles (range 6-20). Grade 3 toxicities were rare and only experienced in 5/41 patients including diarrhea (n =1/41; 2%), flu like symptoms (n = 1/41; 2%), headache (n=1/41; 2%), and hypertension (n=2/41; 5%). Most common toxicities of any grade included fatigue (n = 24/41, 51%), cough (n = 19/41, 46%), nasal congestion (n = 18/41, 44%), headache (n = 14/41, 34%), hypertension (n = 11/41, 27%), nausea (n = 13/41, 32%), and leukopenia (n = 13/41, 32%). No patients have discontinued therapy due to toxicity. Minimal response or better was observed in 82.9% of patients (34/41) and PR or better was observed in 51.2% of patients (21/41). This included overall CR (n = 4, 9.8%), VGPR (n = 1, 2.4%), PR (n = 16, 39.0%), MR (n = 13, 31.7%), and SD (n = 7, 17.1%). In the 40 patients who completed at least 16 cycles, response rates were as follows: MR or better 85% (34/40), PR or better 52.5% (21/40) and VGPR or better 12.5% (5/40). Median time to VGPR was 7 months. Median overall survival and progression-free survival have not been reached and no patients have progressed to overt multiple myeloma while on study. Conclusion : Dara is very well tolerated among patients with HR-MGUS and LR-SMM with minimal toxicities. Responses are seen in majority of patients. Early therapeutic intervention in this precursor patient population appears promising but longer follow up is required to define the role of single agent Dara in preventing progression to MM, therefore avoiding more toxic interventions in this low-risk patient population. Disclosures Nadeem: Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Yee: GSK: Consultancy; Oncopeptides: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Adaptive: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy. Zonder: Caelum Biosciences: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; Intellia: Consultancy; Alnylam: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Regeneron: Consultancy. Rosenblatt: Attivare Therapeutics: Consultancy; Imaging Endpoints: Consultancy; Parexel: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Wolters Kluwer Health: Consultancy, Patents & Royalties. Mo: AbbVIE: Consultancy; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Eli Lilly: Consultancy; Epizyme: Consultancy; GSK: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Honoraria; Karyopharm: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Sanofi: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Sperling: Adaptive: Consultancy. Richardson: Karyopharm: Consultancy, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Consultancy; AbbVie: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene/BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy; GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy; Protocol Intelligence: Consultancy; Secura Bio: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; Oncopeptides: Consultancy, Research Funding; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Research Funding. Ghobrial: AbbVie, Adaptive, Aptitude Health, BMS, Cellectar, Curio Science, Genetch, Janssen, Janssen Central American and Caribbean, Karyopharm, Medscape, Oncopeptides, Sanofi, Takeda, The Binding Site, GNS, GSK: Consultancy.

Background: Early therapeutic intervention in high-risk SMM (HR-SMM) has demonstrated benefit based on previous studies that included treatment with lenalidomide or lenalidomide and dexamethasone (Mateos et al. N Engl J Med 2013; Lonial et al. J Clin Oncol 2020). Combination therapy with triplets has shown higher rates of deep response and improved outcomes in patients with multiple myeloma, including the combination of ixazomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (Moreau et al. N Eng J Med 2016). We present our results of phase II study of ixazomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone in HR-SMM. Methods: Patients enrolled on the study met eligibility for high-risk SMM based on the defined criteria proposed by Rajkumar et al. (Blood 2014). The treatment plan was designed to be administered on an outpatient basis where patients receive 9 cycles of induction therapy of ixazomib (4mg) at days 1, 8, and 15, in combination with lenalidomide (25mg) at days 1-21 and dexamethasone at days 1, 8, 15, and 22. The induction phase was followed by ixazomib (4mg) and lenalidomide (15mg) maintenance for another 15 cycles. A treatment cycle was defined as 28 consecutive days for a total of 24 months period. Bone marrow samples of all patients were obtained before starting therapy for baseline assessment for minimal residual disease (MRD) testing, whole-exome sequencing (WES), and RNA sequencing of plasma and bone marrow microenvironment cells. Moreover, blood samples were obtained at screening and before each cycle for isolating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Results: Sixty-one patients have been enrolled in this study from February 2017 to 2020. The median age of the patients at enrollment was 64 years (range, 40 to 84), with 33 males (54.1%). The analysis was conducted on patients who have completed at least 2 cycles of therapy (n=55). Thus far, 42 (69%) patients have completed the planned 24 cycles of therapy. High-risk cytogenetics (defined as the presence of t(4;14), 17p deletion, and 1q gain) were found in 14 patients out of the 33 evaluable (42.4%) Interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) results. The median number of cycles completed was 24 cycles (range: 2-24). According to the new IMWG risk stratification model (20-2-20), baseline markers showed that 32 patients (58%) were high risk, 18 (33%) were intermediate risk, and 5 (9%) were low risk. The most common grades 3 or greater toxicities were neutropenia (20%), hypophosphatemia (13%), leukopenia (11%), rash (9%), lymphocytopenia (5%), and thrombocytopenia (5%). Stem cells were collected from all eligible patients by the end of the induction phase. No patients discontinued treatment due to toxicity. At the time of data cut off, the overall response rate (partial response or better) in participants who completed at least 2 cycles of treatment was 90.9% (50 of 55), with 12 complete responses (CR, 21.8%), 10 very good partial responses (VGPR, 18.2%), 28 partial responses (50.9%), and 4 minimal responses (MR, 7.3%). ORR in patients who completed the induction phase (≥9 cycles) was 92.3% (n= 48 of 52), with 22 (40%) deep remissions including 12 (23.1%) and 10 (19.2%) having achieved a CR and VGPR, respectively. All patients who had a CR have also achieved a stringent CR. No patients developed progression to overt or active MM while on study therapy. After completion of study therapy, 4 patients progressed to active MM during follow up, 3 additional patients developed biochemical progression and started a new course of therapy but did not meet CRAB criteria and 7 patients confirmed biochemical PD and remain off therapy. Conclusions: The combination of ixazomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone is an effective all oral well-tolerated intervention in high-risk smoldering myeloma that demonstrated an ORR of >90% and deep remission in >40% of patients. While no patients progressed to overt MM while on therapy, some developed progression after completion of planned study therapy, indicating the possible need for higher intensification of therapy or maintenance therapy beyond 2 years in this high-risk group of patients. Longer follow-up for disease outcome is ongoing. Disclosures Nadeem: BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Mo: Sanofi: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Honoraria; GSK: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Epizyme: Consultancy; Eli Lilly: Consultancy; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; AbbVIE: Consultancy. Sperling: Adaptive: Consultancy. Richardson: AstraZeneca: Consultancy; Secura Bio: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; AbbVie: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Research Funding; Protocol Intelligence: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Oncopeptides: Consultancy, Research Funding; GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy; Celgene/BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Research Funding. Ghobrial: AbbVie, Adaptive, Aptitude Health, BMS, Cellectar, Curio Science, Genetch, Janssen, Janssen Central American and Caribbean, Karyopharm, Medscape, Oncopeptides, Sanofi, Takeda, The Binding Site, GNS, GSK: Consultancy.

Background: Early therapeutic intervention with lenalidomide and dexamethasone in patients with high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma (HR-SMM) has shown to be effective by delaying time to progression to overt myeloma (Lonial J Clin Oncol 2020 Apr 10;38(11):1126-1137). Triplet and quadruplet combination therapies utilizing a proteasome inhibitor, immunomodulatory agent and a CD38 monoclonal antibody are used extensively in patients with multiple myeloma due to far greater efficacy compared to lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone. These combinations have been studied in HR-SMM, demonstrating encouraging activity, including ixazomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone and elotuzumab, lenalidomide and dexamethasone. There are also current ongoing studies with curative intent utilizing more potent therapy in HR-SMM, including carfilzomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone with autologous stem cell transplantation (Mateos EHA 2019, abstract S871) and daratumumab, carfilzomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone (NCT03289299). Daratumumab, bortezomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone (D-RVD) combination is highly effective and well-tolerated in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma at achieving high response rates as well as minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity based on results from the phase II GRIFFIN trial (Voorhees Blood 2020 Aug 20;136(8):936-945). Thus, we propose to examine the activity and safety of D-RVD in patients with HR-SMM. Study Design and Methods: This is a phase II single center, single-arm, open label study evaluating the combination of D-RVD in HR-SMM. Primary objective of this study is to determine the proportion of HR-SMM patients who are MRD negative at 2 years after receiving D-RVD. Secondary objectives include MRD negativity rate at 6 months, 12 months, 24 months and 36 months, progression-free survival, response rates and safety. Exploratory objectives include assessment of mass spectrometry quantification of M protein, examination of molecular evolution of tumor cells and to determine role of immune cells in progression of SMM. Patients must meet criteria for HR-SMM based on bone marrow clonal plasma cells ≥10% and any one or more of the following: Serum M protein ≥3.0 gm/dL, immunoparesis with reduction of two uninvolved immunoglobulin isotypes, serum involved/uninvolved free light chain ratio ≥8 (but less than 100), progressive increase in M protein level (evolving type of SMM), bone marrow clonal plasma cells 50-60%, abnormal plasma cell immunophenotype (≥95% of bone marrow plasma cells are clonal) and reduction of one or more uninvolved immunoglobulin isotypes, high risk FISH defined as any one or several of the following: t(4;14), t(14;16), t(14;20), del 17p or 1q gain, MRI with diffuse abnormalities or 1 focal lesion (≥5mm), PET-CT with one focal lesion (≥5mm) with increased uptake without underlying osteolytic bone destruction. Patients that meet high risk definition by the new Mayo/IMWG 2018 "20-2-20" criteria are also eligible if they have 2 out of the following 3 criteria: Bone marrow plasmacytosis ≥20% , ≥2g/dl M protein, ≥20 involved: uninvolved serum free light chain ratio. Treatment duration with D-RVD is for 2 years (24 cycles). Daratumumab is administered at a dose of 1800mg subcutaneously (SQ) weekly for cycles 1-2, biweekly for cycles 3-6 and monthly until completion of cycle 24. Bortezomib is given at a dose of 1.3mg/m2 SQ on days 1, 8, 15 for cycles 1-6 and then biweekly until completion of cycle 24. Lenalidomide is administered on days 1-21 at a dose of 25mg for cycles 1-6 and 15mg for cycles 7-24. Dexamethasone is administered weekly at 20mg cycles 1-6 and biweekly during cycles 7-24. All eligible patients will undergo stem cell collection after cycle 6 of therapy. A single-stage design will be employed with 30 eligible patients entered. If 12 or more of the 30 eligible patients are MRD negative at 2 years (observed rate of >=40%), we will conclude that this treatment warrants further study. The probability of concluding that the treatment is effective if the true rate is 25% is 0.051 and is 0.90 if the true rate is 50%. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Nadeem: Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Mo: Karyopharm: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Honoraria; GSK: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Epizyme: Consultancy; Sanofi: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Eli Lilly: Consultancy. Sperling: Adaptive: Consultancy. Richardson: Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy; Celgene/BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy; Secura Bio: Consultancy; Protocol Intelligence: Consultancy; GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; AbbVie: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Research Funding; Oncopeptides: Consultancy, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Consultancy; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Research Funding. Ghobrial: AbbVie, Adaptive, Aptitude Health, BMS, Cellectar, Curio Science, Genetch, Janssen, Janssen Central American and Caribbean, Karyopharm, Medscape, Oncopeptides, Sanofi, Takeda, The Binding Site, GNS, GSK: Consultancy.

Regulatory T (Treg) cells contribute to the anti-inflammatory response during atherogenesis. Here we show that during atherogenesis Treg cells lose Foxp3 expression and their immunosuppressive function, leading to the conversion of a fraction of these cells into T follicular helper (Tfh) cells. We show that Tfh cells are pro-atherogenic and that their depletion reduces atherosclerosis. Mechanistically, the conversion of Treg cells to Tfh cells correlates with reduced expression of IL-2Rα and pSTAT5 levels and increased expression of IL-6Rα. In vitro, incubation of naive T cells with oxLDL prevents their differentiation into Treg cells. Furthermore, injection of lipid-free Apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) into ApoE−/− mice reduces intracellular cholesterol levels in Treg cells and prevents their conversion into Tfh cells. Together our results suggest that ApoAI, the main protein in high-density lipoprotein particles, modulates the cellular fate of Treg cells and thus influences the immune response during atherosclerosis., Regulatory T (Treg) cells contribute to the anti-inflammatory response during atherogenesis. Here Gaddis et al. show that Apolipoprotein AI prevents the conversion of Treg cells into pro-atherogenic T follicular helper cells, and thus regulates the immune response during atherogenesis.