Chidamide Maintenance Therapy Following Induction Therapy in Patients With Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma Who Are Ineligible for Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation: Case Series From China

Retrospective study of chidamide-containing regimens as maintenance therapy among T- and NK-cell lymphoma patients

Objective

This study aimed to explore the efficacy of chidamide-containing regimens as maintenance therapy in patients with T- and natural killer (NK)-cell lymphomas (TNKLs).

Methods

A total of 51 patients with TNKLs who received chidamide-containing regimens after induction therapy were enrolled. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS), while the secondary end point was overall survival (OS) and safety.

Results

The median duration of maintenance was 14 months (range = 1-24 months). Most of the patients were diagnosed with extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL; 24/51, 47.1%), followed by angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL; 14/51, 27.5%). The median PFS and OS were 21 and 29 months, respectively. The 2-year PFS and OS among the overall population were 45.1% and 54.2%, respectively. Patients who experienced complete remission (CR) after induction therapy had favorable survival compared with non-CR patients (partial remission/stable disease, PR/SD). Patients who experienced CR after first-line induction treatment also had favorable survival, but similar significance was not observed in the salvage treatment group. Although 86.3% of the patients had chidamide-related adverse events (AEs), severe hematological AEs (grade ≥3) occurred in only 11 (21.6%) patients, indicating the safe toxicity profile of chidamide.

Conclusion

The prolonged survival indicated that chidamide-containing maintenance therapy is promising and well tolerated in patients with TNKLs.

Comparison of tucidinostat with CHOP-like versus CHOP-like in first-line treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma: a single-center real-world study

Tucidinostat has been approved by the Chinese FDA for relapsed/refractory Peripheral T cell lymphoma (PTCL), but its efficacy in newly diagnosed PTCL has not been confirmed. In this study, we aimed to compare the efficacy of tucidinostat combined with CHOP-like (C + CHT) versus CHOP-like alone (CHT) in newly diagnosed PTCL patients. Of the PTCL patients, 109 were newly diagnosed. Patients in the C + CHT group who achieved objective response received tucidinostat maintenance therapy. A total of 36 pairs (n = 72) were matched at a ratio of 1:1 using propensity scoring. The matching criteria included: whether the Prognostic index for the peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified subtype (PIT) was ≥ 2, the pathological subtype, age > 60 years, and gender (matching tolerance = 0.024). A significantly higher objective response rate (ORR) (P = 0.016), 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) (P = 0.026), and 2-year survival rate (P = 0.017) was observed for the C + CHT group as compared to the CHT group. After propensity score matching (PSM), the C + CHT group as compared to the CHT group displayed significantly longer PFS (P = 0.035) and overall survival (OS) (P = 0.029). For the C + CHT group in the per-protocol set, the effect values showed a significant benefit in terms of both PFS (P = 0.027) and OS (P = 0.019). Common grade 3-4 haematological adverse events (AEs), had comparable incidence in each group; while common non-haematological AEs, including elevated AST and ALT were higher in the C + CHT group than in the CHT group. Our study suggests that the tucidinostat with CHOP-like regimen and sequential tucidinostat maintenance after objective remission provides a promising therapeutic approach for treating newly diagnosed PTCL patients.

Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors for Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) are being recognized as a potentially effective treatment approach for peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs), a heterogeneous group of aggressive malignancies with an unfavorable prognosis. Recent evidence has shown that HDACis are effective in treating PTCL, especially in cases where the disease has relapsed or is resistant to conventional treatments. Several clinical trials have demonstrated that HDACis, such as romidepsin and belinostat, can elicit long-lasting positive outcomes in individuals with PTCLs, either when used alone or in conjunction with conventional chemotherapy. They exert their anti-tumor effects by regulating gene expression through the inhibition of histone deacetylases, which leads to cell cycle arrest, induction of programmed cell death, and,the transformation of cancerous T cells, as demonstrated by gene expression profile studies. Importantly, besides clinical trials, real-world evidence indicated that the utilization of HDACis presents a significant and beneficial treatment choice for PTCLs. However, although HDACis showed potential effectiveness, they could not cure most patients. Therefore, new combinations with conventional drugs as well as new targeted agents are under investigation.

Predicting the efficiency of chidamide in patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma using machine learning algorithm

Background

Chidamide is subtype-selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor that showed promising result in clinical trials to improve prognosis of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) patients. However, in real world settings, contradictory reports existed as to whether chidamide improve overall survival (OS). Therefore, we aimed to develop an interpretable machine learning (Machine learning)-based model to predict the 2-year overall survival of AITL patients based on chidamide usage and baseline features.

Methods

A total of 183 patients with AITL were randomly divided into training set and testing set. We used 5 ML algorithms to build predictive models. Recursive feature elimination (RFE) method was used to filter for the most important features. The ML models were interpreted and the relevance of the selected features was determined using the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) method and the local interpretable model-agnostic explanationalgorithm.

Results

A total of 183 patients with newly diagnosed AITL from 2012 to 2022 from 3 centers in China were enrolled in our study. Seventy-one patients were dead within 2 years after diagnosis. Five ML algorithms were built based on chidamide usage and 16 baseline features to predict 2-year OS. Catboost model presented to be the best predictive model. After RFE screening, 12 variables demonstrated the best performance (AUC = 0.8651). Using chidamide ranked third among all the variables that correlated with 2-year OS.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that the Catboost model with 12 variables could effectively predict the 2-year OS of AITL patients. Combining chidamide in the treatment therapy was positively correlated with longer OS of AITL patients.

Clinical trial: Chidamide plus CHOP improve the survival of newly diagnosed angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma

Background

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is known for its unfavorable survival prognosis. Chidamide has shown efficacy in relapsed/refractory AITL, but its efficacy in newly diagnosed AITL is uncertain.

Objective

This retrospective research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of chidamide when used with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, prednisone, and vincristine (CHOP) in comparison to CHOP by itself for individuals newly diagnosed with AITL, and to examine the impact of transplantation.

Method

This was an analysis that compared outcomes among patients who received chidamide + CHOP on a clinical trial vs. historical controls who received CHOP alone, enrolling a total of sixty-six treatment-naive AITL patients between April 2014 and November 2022. Among them, thirty-three received chidamide in addition to CHOP (chidamide group), while thirty-three received CHOP alone (control group). The clinical characteristics were balanced between the two groups. All patients were scheduled to undergo up to six courses of treatment before transplantation.

Results

The chidamide group had a significantly longer median overall survival (OS) compared to the control group, with a median OS that was not reached, as opposed to 20 months in the control group (p = 0.002). In the control group, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 11 months, while in the chidamide group, it was 22 months (p = 0.080). In the high-risk group (IPI ≥ 3), the chidamide group demonstrated notably superior complete response (CR) and overall response rate (ORR) compared to the control cohort (p = 0.002, p = 0.034). The PFS and OS in the chidamide group were not reached, and there were significant differences compared to the control group (p = 0.007, p = 0.003). The median OS of the transplanted group was longer than the non-transplanted group (p = 0.004). On multivariate analysis, chidamide group reduced the hazards of death in the total cohort.

Conclusion

As the study was non-random and retrospective, Chidamide combined with chemotherapy should be tested in randomized trials given its potential to improve prognosis in treatment-naive AITL patients. Furthermore, autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) has demonstrated enhanced overall survival in individuals with AITL.

Clinical trial registration

https://clinicaltrials.gov/, NCT03268889.

Efficacy of chidamide maintenance therapy versus autologous stem cell transplantation versus observation as a post-remission choice in the survival of adult patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma: Post hoc analysis of a prospective, multicenter, phase 2 study in China

In this prospective, multicenter, Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02987244), patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) who had responded to first-line chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin or epirubicin, vincristine or vindesine, etoposide, and prednisone (Chi-CHOEP) were treated by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) or with chidamide maintenance or observation. A total of 85 patients received one of the following interventions: ASCT (n = 15), chidamide maintenance (n = 44), and observation (n = 26). estimated 3 PFS and OS rates were 85.6%, 80.8%, and 49.4% (P = 0.001). The two-year OS rates were 85.6%, 80.8%, and 69.0% (P = 0.075).The ASCT and chidamide maintenance groups had significantly better progression-free survival (PFS) than the observation group (P = 0.001, and P = 0.01, respectively). The overall survival (OS) differed significantly between the chidamide maintenance group and the observation group ( P = 0.041). The multivariate and propensity score matching analyses for PFS revealed better outcomes in the subjects in the chidamide maintenance than observation groups (P = 0.02). The ASCT and chidamide maintenance groups had significant survival advantages over the observation group. In the post-remission stage of the untreated PTCL patients, single-agent chidamide maintenance demonstrated superior PFS and better OS than observation. Our findings highlight the potential benefit of chidamide in this patient subset, warranting further investigation through larger prospective trials. Clinical trial registration: clinicaltrial.gov, NCT02987244. Registered 8 December 2016, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02987244 .

Improving gastrointestinal quality of life: romidepsin to tucidinostat in a case of angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma

Relapsed/refractory (R/R) peripheral T cell lymphoma (PTCL) has a poor prognosis, with limited treatment options and generally no durable response. However, long-term remission with the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor romidepsin has been reported, especially in angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma (AITL). Recently, tucidinostat, a novel oral HDAC inhibitor that selectively inhibits class I and class IIb HDACs, was approved for R/R PTCL in China and Japan. We present the case of a patient with AITL whose gastrointestinal symptoms and health-related quality of life improved after switching from romidepsin to tucidinostat as maintenance therapy. Romidepsin and tucidinostat appear to have different safety profiles; non-haematological toxicities such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, anorexia and fatigue may be reported less frequently with tucidinostat than with romidepsin. This case suggests that switching to tucidinostat therapy may be a viable option for patients with PTCL suffering from severe gastrointestinal adverse events with romidepsin.

Advances in the pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is an aggressive subtype of peripheral T-cell lymphomas with its cell origin determined to be follicular helper T-cells. AITL is characterized by a prominent tumor microenvironment involving dysregulation of immune cells, signaling pathways, and extracellular matrix. Significant progress has been made in the molecular pathophysiology of AITL, including genetic mutations, immune metabolism, hematopoietic-derived microenvironment, and non-hematopoietic microenvironment cells. Early diagnosis, detection of severe complications, and timely effective treatment are crucial for managing AITL. Treatment typically involves various combination chemotherapies, but the prognosis is often poor, and relapsed and refractory AITL remains challenging, necessitating improved treatment strategies. Therefore, this article provides an overview of the pathogenesis and latest advances in the treatment of AITL, with a focus on potential therapeutic targets, novel treatment strategies, and emerging immunotherapeutic approaches.

A retrospective study of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for peripheral T-cell lymphoma: pre-transplant patients with partial remission benefit from post-transplant maintenance therapy

Background

Whether autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) improves the survival of patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) remains controversial. Some studies have demonstrated that the efficacy of ASCT is superior in patients with complete remission (CR), whereas patients with partial remission (PR) remain vulnerable to relapse after ASCT, resulting in decreased survival rates. Maintenance therapy after chemotherapy may reduce the relapse rate of PTCL and improve survival; however, the role of maintenance therapy after ASCT in PTCL remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to analyze the efficacy of ASCT and post-transplant maintenance therapy in PTCL.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 69 patients with PTCL who underwent ASCT at our center between November 2001 and November 2021. According to the patients' intention, thirty patients received post-transplant maintenance treatment, whereas 39 did not. The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) between the groups were compared using the log-rank test.

Results

At a median follow-up of 36 months, the entire cohort's 3-year OS and PFS were 67.8% and 53.0%, respectively. The 3-year OS and PFS of patients with CR1, CR2, and PR were 85.3% and 65.4%, 80.0% and 60.0%, and 38.4% and 32.0%, respectively (OS: P=0.001; PFS: P=0.003). The relapse rates between the groups with or without maintenance therapy were 26.7% vs. 52.2%, the 3-year OS was 86.0% vs. 54.2% (P=0.004), and the 3-year PFS was 73.3% vs. 37.5% (P=0.004). Further analysis revealed that the efficacy of maintenance therapy was not significant in patients with CR1 and CR2, whereas patients with PR benefited from maintenance therapy. The relapse rate of patients with PR who received or did not receive maintenance therapy was 33.3% vs. 78.7%, 3-year OS was 66.7% vs. 21.9% (P=0.007), and 3-year PFS was 66.7% vs. 12.5% (P=0.004).

Conclusions

Patients with CR in PTCL benefit from ASCT, and post-transplant maintenance therapy reduces the relapse rate and significantly improves OS and PFS in patients with PR.