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For patients who have chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), one of the primary treatment options is administration of nilotinib 300 mg twice daily (BID). In previous studies which compared outcomes associated with nilotinib or imatinib treatment, nilotinib achieved a higher rate of deep molecular response (MR). We conducted a phase II, open‐label, multicenter study to investigate an intrapatient nilotinib dose‐escalation strategy for patients with newly diagnosed chronic‐phase (CP) CML based on early MR4.5 achievement. The primary study endpoint was achievement of MR4.5 by 24 months following the initiation of nilotinib 300 mg BID. Fifty‐three patients were enrolled, 51 received nilotinib, and 37 completed the treatment. An increase in the nilotinib dose (to 400 mg BID) was allowed when patients satisfied our criteria for no optimal response at any time point. The median (range) dose intensity was 600 (207‐736) mg/day. Of 46 evaluable patients, 18 achieved an optimal response and 28 did not. Of the latter, nine patients underwent dose escalation to 400 mg BID, and none achieved MR4.5. The remaining 19 patients could not undergo dose escalation, 12 (63%) because of adverse events (AEs), and 7 (37%) for non‐AE related reasons. Four of these patients achieved MR4.5. The MR4.5 rate by 24 months was 45.7%. The progression‐free, overall and event‐free survival were each 97.6%. No new safety concerns were observed. Our findings support the use of continuous nilotinib at a dose of 300 mg BID for newly diagnosed patients with CML‐CP., The N‐Road study aimed to determine the optimal treatment strategy for nilotinib use in patients with newly diagnosed CML‐CP based on early achievement of deep molecular response. Most patients received nilotinib at a dose of 300 mg BID and were able to achieve an early deep molecular response. Together with the finding that none of the patients whose dose was escalated to 400 mg BID achieved MR4.5, we consider that continuous nilotinib at a dose of 300 mg BID may be the optimal treatment strategy for newly diagnosed patients with CML‐CP.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder caused by the BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase1,2. ABL1-selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) including nilotinib have dramatically improved the prognosis of patients with CML3–7. The ultimate goal of CML treatment is likely to be TKI-free maintenance of deep molecular response (DMR), which is defined by quantitative measurement of BCR-ABL1 transcripts on the international scale (IS)8, and durable DMR is a prerequisite to reach this goal9. Thus, an algorithm to enable the early prediction of DMR achievement on TKI therapy is quite valuable. Here, we show that our mathematical framework based on a clinical trial dataset10 can accurately predict the response to frontline nilotinib. We found that our simple dynamical model can predict nilotinib response by using two common laboratory findings (observation values): IS11,12 and white blood cell (WBC) count. Furthermore, our proposed method identified patients who failed to achieve DMR with high fidelity according to the data collected only at three initial time points during nilotinib therapy. Since our model relies on the general properties of TKI response, our framework would be applicable to CML patients who receive frontline nilotinib or other TKIs in clinical practice.Significance StatementChronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder caused by the BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase. The goal of this treatment is the sequential achievement of deep molecular response (DMR). Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are effective in the reduction because they inhibit CML cell proliferation. However, because of individual differences in the TKI efficacy, some patients are unable to achieve DMR, so that early prediction of DMR reachability is necessary for personalized medicine. By combining time series analysis and mathematical modeling, we developed a mathematical method that accurately predicts patients who do not achieve DMR in the early stages of TKI administration. Our prediction method gives a basis of effective personalized treatments for CML patients.

The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy of 2-year consolidation therapy with nilotinib, at a dose of 300 mg twice daily, for achieving treatment-free remission in chronic myeloid leukemia patients with a deep molecular response (BCR-ABL1IS ≤0.0032%). Successful treatment-free remission was defined as no confirmed loss of deep molecular response. We recruited 96 Japanese patients, of whom 78 sustained a deep molecular response during the consolidation phase and were therefore eligible to discontinue nilotinib in the treatment-free remission phase; of these, 53 patients (67.9%; 95% confidence interval: 56.4–78.1%) remained free from molecular recurrence in the first 12 months. The estimated 3-year treatment-free survival was 62.8%. Nilotinib was readministered to all patients (n=29) who experienced a molecular recurrence during the treatment-free remission phase. After restarting treatment, rapid deep molecular response returned in 25 patients (86.2%), with 50% of patients achieving a deep molecular response within 3.5 months. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor withdrawal syndrome was reported in 11/78 patients during the early treatment-free remission phase. The treatment-free survival curve was significantly better in patients with undetectable molecular residual disease than in patients without (3-year treatment-free survival, 75.6 versus 48.6%, respectively; P=0.0126 by the log-rank test). There were no significant differences in treatment-free survival between subgroups based on tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment before the nilotinib consolidation phase, tyrosine kinase inhibitor-withdrawal syndrome, or absolute number of natural killer cells. The results of this study indicate that it is safe and feasible to stop tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who have achieved a sustained deep molecular response with 2 years of treatment with nilotinib. This study was registered with UMIN-CTR (UMIN000005904).

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is a rare disease entity of malignant lymphoma, characterized by selective growth of lymphoma cells within the vessel lumina in various organs [1]. The ...

Background : Nilotinib is a potent and selective inhibitor of BCR-ABL. In the Evaluating Nilotinib Efficacy and Safety in Clinical Trials-Newly Diagnosed Patients (ENESTnd) trial, frontline nilotinib therapy at 300 mg twice daily (BID) resulted in a higher rate of deep molecular response (DMR) compared to imatinib therapy in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in the chronic phase (CML-CP). Furthermore, in the ENESTxtend study, many patients with suboptimal response or treatment failure achieved a major molecular response (MMR) after the nilotinib dose was increased to 400 mg BID from 300 mg BID. The present study was aimed at investigating a strategy of intra-patient nilotinib dose escalation for patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP in order to achieve MR4.5early. Methods : N-Road is a multicenter phase II clinical study for patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP, in which nilotinib was administered at 300 mg BID for 24 months. In this study, increasing the nilotinib dose to 400 mg BID was allowed if patients satisfied the criteria for no optimal response at any time points. The criteria for no optimal response were defined as follows: BCR-ABL1 > 10% on the International Scale [IS] after 3 months, BCR-ABL1 > 1% on the IS after 6 months, BCR-ABL1 > 0.1% on the IS after 12 months, BCR-ABL1 > 0.0032% on the IS after 18 months, two consecutive losses of MMR, and two consecutive losses of MR4.5 (BCR-ABL1 ≤ 0.0032% on the IS). The primary endpoint was the cumulative MR4.5rate by 24 months after the initiation of nilotinib treatment. Results: Between August 2012 and July 2015, 53 Japanese patients were enrolled, of whom 51 were evaluated in the study. The median patient age was 50 years. The ratio of men to women was 33:18. The numbers of patients with low, intermediate, high Sokal risk scores was 21 (41.2%), 21 (41.2%), and 6 (11.8%), respectively, and 3 (5.9%) had an unknown risk. The median duration of nilotinib treatment was 23.8 months (range, 4.1-26.3 months). Of the patients, 33 (64.7%) completed 24 months of treatment, 7 (13.7%) had ongoing treatment, and 11 (21.6%) discontinued treatment because of adverse events (AEs; n=4), protocol deviation (n=1), loss to follow-up (n=3), death (n=1), insufficient effect (n=1), or consent withdrawal (n=1). The cumulative MR4.5 rate (95% confidence interval [CI]) in the 46 evaluable patients was 52.0% (36.9-69.0%) by 24 months (Figure). The cumulative MR4.0 and MMR rates were 60.9% (46.1-76.0%) and 83.5% (69.6-93.5%) by 24 months, respectively. Among the 46 evaluable patients, 26 satisfied the criteria for no optimal response. The dose was increased in 6 of the 26 patients but not in the remaining 20 patients for the following reasons,: hematological AEs (n=3), non-hematological AEs (n=9), achievement of MR4 at 18 months (n=2), patient refusal (n=4), and unknown (n=2). Although 4 patients with no optimal response achieved MR4.5, all of them did not receive an increased treatment dose. The actual mean dose intensities in the patients with or without optimal response were 570 and 560 mg/day, respectively. None of the patients had disease progression, and 1 patient died of an unknown cause during the study. The estimated rates (95% CI) of progression free survival and overall survival at 24 months were 98% (84-100%) and 98% (84-100%), respectively. The most common (≥20%) non-hematological AEs of any grade were rashes (47%), headache (34.2%), fatigue (21.6%) and nausea (23.5%). The most common (≥5%) grade 3/4 laboratory abnormalities were increased lipase (10.6%), decreased phosphate (12.2%) and increased alanine aminotransferase (7.8%). Cardiovascular events were observed to be ischemic heart disease in 2 patients (3.9%). Conclusion: In this study, it was difficult to evaluate the efficacy of nilotinib dose escalation to achieve MR4.5 early because the dose could not be increased to 400 mg BID in many patients who did not show optimal response. However, as we were unable to increase the dose to 400 mg BID in many patients because of AEs and as nilotinib therapy demonstrated superior MR4.5, these results might support continuous nilotinib therapy using a dosage of at least 300 mg BID for newly diagnosed CML. Disclosures Nishiwaki: Novartis PHARMA: Research Funding.

Abstract 5104 Introduction: Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is a rare disease entity of malignant lymphoma, characterized by the selective growth of lymphoma cells within the lumina of vessels in various organs. Although recent reports showed that prompt and accurate diagnosis lead to better outcomes, absence of typical clinical manifestations and its aggressive behavior frequently makes it difficult. LR11 (also called SorLA or SORL1) is a type I membrane protein, from which a soluble form (sLR11) is released by proteolytic shedding. sLR11 is originally known to be a biomarker of carotid intima-media thickness. We have recently found that LR11 is expressed on human leukemia cell lines, and sLR11 is released in its culture medium. Serum sLR11 levels are significantly elevated in patient serum samples with acute leukemia and B cell lymphomas, and are associated with tumor burden and bone marrow invasion. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that LR11 may be also expressed and released from IVLBCL cells; therefore we evaluated its clinical importance in IVLBCL. Materials and methods: Serum samples and paraffin embedded tumor specimens were obtained from 6 patients who were histologically diagnosed as IVLBCL from 2009 to 2012. Specimens were subjected to immunostaining using anti-LR11 antibody, and serum sLR11 levels were measured by ELISA method. Patient laboratory and clinical data were collected retrospectively. Also, serum samples from 75 healthy volunteers, and 10 patients with collagen diseases presenting similar clinical manifestations as IVLBCL were analyzed. Results: Tissue samples of IVLBCL were obtained by bone marrow biopsy (N=2), transbronchial lung biopsy (N=2), and random skin biopsy (N=2). Biopsy specimens showed that cytoplasm of IVLBCL cells were specifically immunoreacted against the anti-LR11 antibody (Figure 1). Median serum sLR11 level of IVLBCL patients was 86. 0 ng/ml (mean ± SD: 201. 8 ± 260. 0 ng/ml), which was significantly elevated than those of healthy volunteers (median: 8. 4 ng/ml, mean±SD: 8. 8 ± 1. 8 ng/ml, p Conclusions: We have identified LR11 as a novel molecule which was proven to be expressed in IVLBCL cells and circulated in patients' serum. LR11 immunostaining clearly highlights the tumor cells and sLR11 enables to distinguish IVLBCL from other differential diagnosis by serum evaluation. These findings suggest that LR11 is a useful diagnostic tool for IVLBCL, and serum sLR11 is a sensitive biomarker for diagnosis and disease monitoring of this challenging disease. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.