A randomized phase II trial comparing chemoimmunotherapy with or without bevacizumab in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Comparative safety of different first-line treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

The first-line treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) has recently undergone major changes, and targeted therapies have ushered in a new era of CLL/SLL treatment. Scientists in different countries have successively analyzed the efficacy of various drugs, but safety studies are relatively insufficient. Therefore, this systematic evaluation and retrospective meta-analysis was conducted to compare the differences in adverse effects and their incidence among first-line treatment regimens for CLL/SLL. We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases, with a cutoff date of December 2023. Frequency-based network meta-analysis was performed using STATA 16.0, and the risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool (RoB2.0). Thirty-seven randomized controlled trials involving 15,557 patients were included, and the results showed that, compared with other regimens, zanubrutinib had a lower probability of causing adverse hematologic effects and a lower probability of causing severe anemia (SUCRAs: 79. 6%), all-grade anemia (SUCRAs: 87.2%), severe thrombocytopenia (SUCRAs: 97.0%), all-grade thrombocytopenia (SUCRAs: 90.6%), severe neutropenia (SUCRAs: 91.8%) and all-grade neutropenia (SUCRAs: 86.6%) than the other regimens. The higher rates of adverse reactions seen with each of the other first-line regimens were not concentrated in any single regimen. The second-generation BTK inhibitors may have a lower probability of causing hematologic adverse reactions. However, its adverse effects in other systems are still noteworthy. The cardiovascular toxicity of venetoclax combination regimens should not be overlooked.

Tumor Cell Survival Factors and Angiogenesis in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: How Hot Is the Link?

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by the accumulation of neoplastic CD5+/CD19+ B lymphocytes in the blood. These cells migrate to and proliferate in the bone marrow and lymphoid tissues. Despite the development of new therapies for CLL, drug resistance and disease relapse still occur; novel treatment approaches are therefore still needed. Inhibition of the angiogenesis involved in the progression of CLL might be a relevant therapeutic strategy. The literature data indicate that vascular endothelial growth factor, angiopoietin-2, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 are pro-angiogenic factors in CLL. A number of other CLL factors might have pro-angiogenic activity: fibroblast growth factor-2, certain chemokines (such as CXCL-12 and CXCL-2), tumor necrosis factor-α, insulin-like growth factor-1, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, and progranulin. All these molecules contribute to the survival, proliferation, and migration of CLL cells. Here, we review the literature on these factors' respective expression profiles and roles in CLL. We also summarize the main results of preclinical and clinical trials of novel agents targeting most of these molecules in a CLL setting. Through the eradication of leukemic cells and the inhibition of angiogenesis, these therapeutic approaches might alter the course of CLL.

Inflammation mediated angiogenesis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic inflammation has been identified in leukemias as an essential regulator of angiogenesis. B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells secrete high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1α). The aim was to assess the role of inflammation in activation of angiogenic factors: endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), HIF1α and VEGF via proliferation related signaling pathways and VEGF autocrine control. We isolated mononuclear cells (MNC) and CD19+ cells from peripheral blood of 60 patients with CLL. MNC were treated with pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 (IL-6) and VEGF, in combination with inhibitors of JAK1/2 (Ruxolitinib), mTOR (Rapamycin), NF-κB (JSH23), SMAD (LDN-193189) and PI3K/AKT (Ly294002) signaling pathways, to evaluate eNOS, VEGF and HIF1α expression by immunoblotting, immunocytochemistry and RT-qPCR. Also, we investigated IL-6 dependent neovascularization in human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1) in co-culture with MNC of CLL. The angiogenic factors eNOS, VEGF and HIF1α had significantly higher frequencies in MNC of CLL in comparison to healthy controls (p < 0.001) and CD19+ cells of CLL. IL-6 increased the quantity of HIF1α (p < 0.05) and VEGF positive cells in the presence of JSH23 (p < 0.01). VEGF increased HIF1α (p < 0.05), and decreased eNOS gene expression (p < 0.01) in MNC of CLL. VEGF significantly (p < 0.001) increased the number of HIF1α positive MNC of CLL, prevented by inhibitors of JAK1/2, PI3K and mTOR signaling pathways. VEGF stimulation of SMAD (p < 0.05) and STAT5 (p < 0.01) signaling has been prevented by inhibitors of JAK1/2, mTOR, PI3K and SMAD signaling, individually (p < 0.01) or mutually (p < 0.001). Also, we showed that MNC of CLL and IL-6 individually stimulate neovascularization in co-culture with HMEC-1, without a cumulative effect. We demonstrated elevated angiogenic factors in CLL, while VEGF and IL-6 independently stimulated HIF1α. VEGF stimulation of HIF1α was mostly mTOR dependent, while IL-6 stimulation was NF-κB dependent.

Artificial Intelligence Enhances Diagnostic Flow Cytometry Workflow in the Detection of Minimal Residual Disease of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Flow cytometric (FC) immunophenotyping is critical but time-consuming in diagnosing minimal residual disease (MRD). We evaluated whether human-in-the-loop artificial intelligence (AI) could improve the efficiency of clinical laboratories in detecting MRD in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We developed deep neural networks (DNN) that were trained on a 10-color CLL MRD panel from treated CLL patients, including DNN trained on the full cohort of 202 patients (F-DNN) and DNN trained on 138 patients with low-event cases (MRD < 1000 events) (L-DNN). A hybrid DNN approach was utilized, with F-DNN and L-DNN applied sequentially to cases. “Ground truth” classification of CLL MRD was confirmed by expert analysis. The hybrid DNN approach demonstrated an overall accuracy of 97.1% (95% CI: 84.7−99.9%) in an independent cohort of 34 unknown samples. When CLL cells were reported as a percentage of total white blood cells, there was excellent correlation between the DNN and expert analysis [r > 0.999; Passing−Bablok slope = 0.997 (95% CI: 0.988−0.999) and intercept = 0.001 (95% CI: 0.000−0.001)]. Gating time was dramatically reduced to 12 s/case by DNN from 15 min/case by the manual process. The proposed DNN demonstrated high accuracy in CLL MRD detection and significantly improved workflow efficiency. Additional clinical validation is needed before it can be fully integrated into the existing clinical laboratory practice.

Risk of hypertension with anti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 105 phase II/III randomized controlled trials

We performed a meta-analysis to fully investigate the hypertension of anti-VEGF mAbs in cancer patients. Databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) treated with anti-VEGF mAbs till January 2021. The relevant RCTs in cancer patients treated with anti-VEGF mAbs were retrieved and the systematic evaluation was conducted. One hundred and five RCTs and 65358 patients were included. Our study suggests that anti-VEGF mAbs significantly increased the risks of all-grade (RR, 3.22; 95%CI, 2.83-3.65; p < 0.00001; I²=71%) and high-grade (RR, 6.15; 95%CI, 5.58-6.78; p < 0.00001; I²=48%) hypertension in cancer patients. Those risks may be dependent on drug type. Icrucumab did not association with an increased risk of hypertension. The RR of hypertension did not vary significantly according to the type of cancer, line of therapy, and treatment duration. The available data suggested that the use of anti-VEGF mAbs were associated with a significantly increased risk of hypertension.

Risk of bleeding associated with antiangiogenic monoclonal antibodies bevacizumab and ramucirumab: a meta-analysis of 85 randomized controlled trials

Aim

Bevacizumab and ramucirumab are antiangiogenic monoclonal antibodies, which target vascular endothelial growth factor-A and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, respectively, used in various cancers. Bleeding events have been described with these two agents. We conducted an up-to-date meta-analysis to determine the relative risk (RR) associated with the use of antiangiogenic monoclonal antibodies, bevacizumab and ramucirumab.

Methods

This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was performed after searching PubMed, American Society for Clinical Oncology Abstracts, European Society for Medical Oncology Abstracts, and the proceedings of major conferences for relevant clinical trials. RR and 95% CIs were calculated by random-effects or fixed-effects models for all-grade and high-grade bleeding events related to the angiogenesis inhibitors.

Results

Eighty-five randomized controlled trials were selected for the meta-analysis, covering 46,630 patients. The results showed that antiangiogenic monoclonal antibodies significantly increased the risk of all-grade (RR: 2.38, 95% CI: 2.09–2.71, p<0.00001) and high-grade (RR: 1.71, 95% CI: 1.48–1.97, p<0.00001) bleeding compared with control arms. In the subgroup analysis, bevacizumab significantly increased the risk of all-grade (RR: 2.73, 95% CI: 2.24–3.33, p<0.00001) and high-grade bleeding (RR: 1.98, 95% CI: 1.68–2.34, p<0.00001), but ramucirumab only increased the risk of all-grade bleeding (RR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.76–2.13, p<0.00001) and no difference was observed for the risk of high-grade bleeding (RR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.78–1.39, p=0.79) compared with the control group. For lung cancer patients, bevacizumab significantly increased the risk of all-grade (RR: 4.72, 95% CI: 1.99–11.19, p=0.0004) and high-grade pulmonary hemorrhage (RR: 3.97, 95% CI: 1.70–9.29, p=0.001), but no significant differences in the risk of all-grade (RR: 1.09, 95% CI: 0.76–1.57, p=0.64) and high-grade (RR: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.35–4.21, p=0.75) pulmonary hemorrhage were observed for ramucirumab. The increased risk of all-grade and high-grade bleeding was also observed in colorectal cancer or non-colorectal tumors and low-dose or high-dose angiogenesis inhibitors.

Conclusion

Antiangiogenic monoclonal antibodies are associated with a significant increase in the risk of all-grade and high-grade bleeding. Ramucirumab may be different from bevacizumab in terms of the risk of high-grade bleeding and the risk of all-grade and high-grade pulmonary hemorrhage in lung cancer patients.

Cumulative experience and long term follow-up of pentostatin-based chemoimmunotherapy trials for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

BACKGROUND

7 regimens of pentostatin based chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) for progressive previously untreated CLL primarily with long term follow-up to update both efficacy and toxicity.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Prognostic markers including assessment of IGVH and FISH status were done on all. Response rates and 95% binomial confidence intervals were calculated for each regimen and in the combined cohort. Overall survival and treatment-free survival were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier methods.

RESULTS

The initial CIT trial was pentostatin (2 mgs/m2), cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m2) and rituximab (PCR) but subsequent P based CIT trials with modifications in subsequent trials. The cohort (n = 288) included 52% with unmutated IGVH status and del17p (4.5%) and del11q (14.9%). Toxicity profiles were primarily hematologic and no patient has developed MDS or AML after a median follow-up of 6.4 years. The overall response rate across all trials was found to be over 90% with a 41% complete response rate. We validated that the CLL IPI model segregates progressive CLL patients into 4 risk groups associated with OS and TFS.

CONCLUSIONS

The high overall and complete response levels in favorable genetic risk CLL along with favorable toxicity profiles provide rationale for consideration of a PC based strategy for previously untreated progressive CLL.

Monoclonal Antibody Therapies for Hematological Malignancies: Not Just Lineage-Specific Targets

Today, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are a widespread and necessary tool for biomedical science. In the hematological cancer field, since rituximab became the first mAb approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, a number of effective mAbs targeting lineage-specific antigens (LSAs) have been successfully developed. Non-LSAs (NLSAs) are molecules that are not restricted to specific leukocyte subsets or tissues but play relevant pathogenic roles in blood cancers including the development, proliferation, survival, and refractoriness to therapy of tumor cells. In consequence, efforts to target NLSAs have resulted in a plethora of mAbs-marketed or in development-to achieve different goals like neutralizing oncogenic pathways, blocking tumor-related chemotactic pathways, mobilizing malignant cells from tumor microenvironment to peripheral blood, modulating immune-checkpoints, or delivering cytotoxic drugs into tumor cells. Here, we extensively review several novel mAbs directed against NLSAs undergoing clinical evaluation for treating hematological malignancies. The review focuses on the structure of these antibodies, proposed mechanisms of action, efficacy and safety profile in clinical studies, and their potential applications in the treatment of hematological malignancies.