Outcome of elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP: results from the UK NCRI R-CHOP14v21 trial with combined analysis of molecular characteristics with the DSHNHL RICOVER-60 trial

BACKGROUND

There is an on-going debate whether 2- or 3-weekly administration of R-CHOP is the preferred first-line treatment for elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The UK NCRI R-CHOP14v21 randomized phase 3 trial did not demonstrate a difference in outcomes between R-CHOP-14 and R-CHOP-21 in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients aged 19-88 years, but data on elderly patients have not been reported in detail so far. Here, we provide a subgroup analysis of patients ≥60 years treated on the R-CHOP14v21 trial with extended follow-up.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Six hundred and four R-CHOP14v21 patients ≥60 years were included in this subgroup analysis, with a median follow-up of 77.7 months. To assess the impact of MYC rearrangements (MYC-R) and double-hit-lymphoma (DHL) on outcome in elderly patients, we performed a joint analysis of cases with available molecular data from the R-CHOP14v21 (N = 217) and RICOVER-60 (N = 204) trials.

RESULTS

Elderly DLBCL patients received high dose intensities with median total doses of ≥98% for all agents. Toxicities were similar in both arms with the exception of more grade ≥3 neutropenia (P < 0.0001) and fewer grade ≥3 thrombocytopenia (P = 0.05) in R-CHOP-21 versus R-CHOP-14. The elderly patient population had a favorable 5-year overall survival (OS) of 69% (95% CI: 65-73). We did not identify any subgroup of patients that showed differential response to either regimen. In multivariable analysis including individual factors of the IPI, gender, bulk, B2M and albumin levels, only age and B2M were of independent prognostic significance for OS. Molecular analyses demonstrated a significant impact of MYC-R (HR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.22-3.16; P = 0.01) and DHL (HR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.18-4.11; P = 0.01) on OS in the combined trial cohorts, independent of other prognostic factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data support equivalence of both R-CHOP application forms in elderly DLBCL patients. Elderly MYC-R and DHL patients have inferior prognosis and should be considered for alternative treatment approaches.

TRIAL NUMBERS

ISCRTN 16017947 (R-CHOP14v21); NCT00052936 (RICOVER-60).

Patient characteristics and outcomes of carotid endarterectomy and carotid artery stenting: analysis of the German mandatory national quality assurance registry - 2003 to 2014

AIM

In Germany, every surgical or endovascular procedure on the extracranial carotid artery is documented in a mandatory quality assurance registry. The purpose of this study is to describe the patient characteristics, the indications for treatment, and the short-term outcomes as well as to analyse the corresponding trends from 2003 to 2014.

METHODS

Data on demographics, peri-procedural measures, and outcomes were extracted from the annual quality reports published by the Federal Agency for Quality Assurance and the Institute for Applied Quality Improvement and Research in Health Care. Data were available from 2003 to 2014 for carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and from 2012 to 2014 for carotid artery stenting (CAS). The primary outcome event of this study is any stroke or death until discharge from hospital. Temporal trends of categorical variables were statistically analysed using the Cochran-Armitage test for trend.

RESULTS

Between 2003 and 2014, 309,405 CEAs and 18,047 CAS procedures were documented in the database; 68.1% of all patients were male. The mean age of patients treated with CEA increased from 68.9 years in 2003 to 70.9 years in 2014. The proportion of patients with ASA stages III to V increased from 65% to 71% in CEA, whereas it decreased from 44% to 41% in CAS patients. 53.1% of all CEAs were performed for asymptomatic patients (group A), 34.4% for symptomatic patients treated electively (group B), and 11.2% a in a collective group including other indications for CEA or CAS (such as recurrent stenosis, carotid aneurysms, emergency treatment due to stroke-in-evolution). The corresponding data for CAS are 49.3%, 26.1% and 26.3% respectively. In group B, the interval between the neurological index event and CEA decreased from 28 to 8 days (P<0.001). In patients treated with CAS, this interval was 9 days in 2012 (no further data available). On average, 67.1% and 48.2% of surgically treated patients as well as 77.8% and 69.8% of CAS patients were neurologically assessed before and after the procedure, respectively. From 2003 to 2014, CEA procedures were performed more frequently in locoregional anesthesia (10.1% to 29.1%, P<0.001). The same trend was observed for the application of the eversion technique (37.0% to 41.6%, P<0.001), the neurophysiological monitoring (49.8% to 61.8%, P<0.001), and the intra-procedural assessment of the treated artery (44.5% to 69.7%, P<0.001). In contrast, shunting was used less frequently (48.1% to 43.0%, P<0.001). Averagely 95.7% of all endovascular procedures were performed using stent-angioplasty. In 54.2% a protection device was used. Nitinol and bare metal stents were used in 74.1% and 21.4% of cases, respectively. The in-hospital rate of any stroke or death decreased from 2.0% to 1.1% in asymptomatic patients treated with CEA without a contralateral stenosis ≥75% or occlusion, P<0.001). In patients treated with CAS this rate did not increase (1.7% to 1.8%, p=0.909). The corresponding rates in CEA and CAS patients with severe contralateral stenosis or occlusion varied between 1.9%-3.1% and 2.2%-2.6%, respectively. In symptomatic patients (group B) with a stenosis of 50 percent or more, the rate of any stroke or death decreased significantly after CEA from 4.2% to 2.4% (P<0.001) and remained stable after CAS (3.9% to 3.5%, P=0.577).

CONCLUSION

This report on 327,452 carotid procedures analysed one of the largest quality registries on CEA and CAS worldwide. Data indicate that treated patients became older and sicker, whereas in contrast, the in-hospital rates of stroke or death are decreasing over time.

Stroke risk in the early period after carotid related symptoms: a systematic review

Current guidelines recommend performing carotid endarterectomy in patients with symptomatic carotid disease as soon as possible after the neurological index event. However, early stroke risk has not been well documented for this patient group. We therefore conducted a systematic analysis of the current literature on the recurrent risk of ischemic events in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis. Systematic review was performed by searching the MEDLINE® database from 1950 until June 8, 2015 (key words: cerebral ischemia, transient ischemic attack, amaurosis fugax, stroke, symptomatic carotid stenosis, recurrent risk, outcome, prognosis, follow-up, cohort and natural history). All studies reporting stroke risks in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis after neurologic index events within a period of 7 days were included. Cumulative stroke risks with 95% confidence intervals after a neurologic index event were recalculated at 2-3, 7, 14 and 30 days and a meta-analysis including an analysis of heterogeneity were performed using the statistical package R and Excel for Mac 2003. Ten studies with a total number of 2634 patients were included. Results of an overall stroke risk were as follows: 2.0-17.2% at 2-3 days, 0-22.1% at 7 days, 0-29.6% at 14 days and 0-11.1% at 30 days in patients with a symptomatic extracranial carotid stenosis. The pooled stroke risk in the six studies with active follow-up was 6.0% (95% CI 2.4-14.4) at 2-3 days, 10.9% (6.1-18.7) at 7 days and 17.6% (9.7-29.9) at 14 days. Pooled stroke risk in the three studies with uncensored populations was even higher with 6.4% (1.5-23.8%) at 2-3 days, 19.5% (12.7-28.7) at 7 days and 26.1% (20.6-32.5%) at 14 days. Significant heterogeneity (P<0.001) could be explained by the different inclusion criteria and the study's design. Retrospective studies with passive follow-up had the lowest stroke risk whereas prospective studies with active follow-up and without bias through early intervention by carotid endarterectomy or carotid stenting had the highest stroke risk. The risk of recurrence of cerebrovascular events in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis within the first days after a neurologic index event is as high as 6.4% (1.5-23.8), 19.5% (12.7-28.7) and 26.1% (20.6-32.5) after 2-3, 7 and 14 days respectively. Patients with a symptomatic carotid stenosis are therefore at a very high risk of a definitive stroke. Recommendations by current guidelines to perform carotid endarterectomy as soon as possible after the neurologic index event are therefore justified.

Antileukemic activity of the HSP70 inhibitor pifithrin-μ in acute leukemia

Heat shock protein (HSP) 70 is aberrantly expressed in different malignancies and has emerged as a promising new target for anticancer therapy. Here, we analyzed the in vitro antileukemic effects of pifithrin-μ (PFT-μ), an inhibitor of inducible HSP70, in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cell lines, as well as in primary AML blasts. PFT-μ significantly inhibited cell viability at low micromolar concentrations in all cell lines tested, with IC50 values ranging from 2.5 to 12.7 μ, and was highly active in primary AML blasts with a median IC50 of 8.9 μ (range 5.7–37.2). Importantly, higher IC50 values were seen in normal hematopoietic cells. In AML and ALL, PFT-μ induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in a dose-dependent fashion. PFT-μ also led to an increase of the active form of caspase-3 and reduced the intracellular concentrations of AKT and ERK1/2 in NALM-6 cells. Moreover, PFT-μ enhanced cytotoxicity of cytarabine, 17-(allylamino)-17-desmethoxygeldanamycin, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, and sorafenib in NALM-6, TOM-1 and KG-1a cells. This is the first study demonstrating significant antileukemic effects of the HSP70 inhibitor PFT-μ, alone and in combination with different antineoplastic drugs in both AML and ALL. Our results suggest a potential therapeutic role for PFT-μ in acute leukemias.

BAALC-associated gene expression profiles define IGFBP7 as a novel molecular marker in acute leukemia

Over expression of BAALC (brain and acute leukemia, cytoplasmic) predicts an inferior outcome in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients. To identify BAALC-associated genes that give insights into its functional role in chemotherapy resistance, gene expression signatures differentiating high from low BAALC expressers were generated from normal CD34(+) progenitors, T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and AML samples. The insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) was one of the four genes (CD34, CD133, natriuretic peptide receptor C (NPR3), IGFBP7) coexpressed with BAALC and common to the three entities. In T-ALL, high IGFBP7-expression was associated with an immature phenotype of early T-ALL (P<0.001), expression of CD34 (P<0.001) and CD33 (P<0.001). Moreover, high IGFBP7-expression predicted primary therapy resistance (P=0.03) and inferior survival in T-ALL (P=0.03). In vitro studies revealed that IGFBP7 protein significantly inhibited the proliferation of leukemia cell lines (Jurkat cells: 42% reduction, P=0.002; KG1a cells: 65% reduction, P<0.001). In conclusion, IGFBP7 was identified as a BAALC coexpressed gene. Furthermore, high IGFBP7 was associated with stem cell features and treatment failure in T-ALL. In contrast to BAALC, which likely represents only a surrogate marker of treatment failure in acute leukemia, IGFBP7 regulates the proliferation of leukemic cells and might be involved in chemotherapy resistance.

[Systemic therapy of male breast cancer]

Due to its low incidence there is only few information on optimal systemic therapy of male breast cancer. There are no prospective randomized trials, neither for early breast cancer nor for advanced stages. Retrospective analyses mostly comprise long-term-data from a small number of patients. In terms of epidemiology, cellular receptors or genetics there exist some significant differences between male and female breast cancer. Therefore, the possibility to extrapolate treatment recommendation for male patients from female breast cancer-trials is limited. Despite a high rate of receptor positivity, hormonal therapy seems to be less efficient in men, possibly due to different biological factors. The current standard in endocrine therapy is tamoxifen. It is not known whether tamoxifen therapy is as effective as orchiectomy, but tamoxifen is favoured because of its low side effects. The use of aromatase inhibitors needs to be considered carefully, since aromatization is blocked, but 5-alpha-reductase increases estrogen-like androstanediole. There might be a benefit from additional therapy with GnRH-analoga respectively 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, but data is not available yet. Combination of GnRH-analoga and antiandrogens does induce tumor remission, but comparison to other endocrine therapies is still lacking. Currently, the efficiency of fulvestrant, an estrogen receptor destructor, is being examined. Cytostatic therapy seems to be as effective as in female breast cancer patients. Nevertheless, convincing prospective trials for the management of early and advanced male breast cancer need to be performed.

[Dental and periodontal sequelae of bulimia nervosa]

Twenty-eight women with established bulimia nervosa according to the US psychiatric diagnostic criteria DSM III R with periods of morbidly increased appetite and vomiting, as well as 35 psychically and somatically healthy women were subjected to dental examination. The bulimic patients revealed a significantly poorer dental status (DMFS rate) than the control group. Within the patient group a deterioration of the DMFS rate was observed parallel with an increase in the frequency of vomiting and bulimic attacks, in sugar consumption and duration of the disease, as well as a decrease in salivary flow. Causes and implications for treatment and prevention are discussed.