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Anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies have consistently shown increased efficacy when added to standard of care for patients with multiple myeloma. We aimed to assess the efficacy of isatuximab in addition to lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone in patients with newly diagnosed transplantation-eligible multiple myeloma.This open-label, multicentre, randomised, active-controlled, phase 3 trial was done at 67 academic and oncology practice centres in Germany. This study is ongoing and divided into two parts; herein, we report results from part 1. Eligible patients were aged 18-70 years; had a confirmed diagnosis of untreated multiple myeloma requiring systemic treatment and a WHO performance status of 0-2; and were eligible for induction therapy, high-dose melphalan and autologous haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, and maintenance treatment. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive three 42-day cycles of induction therapy either with isatuximab plus lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (isatuximab group) or lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone alone (control group) using a web-based system and permuted blocks. Patients in both groups received lenalidomide (25 mg orally on days 1-14 and 22-35), bortezomib (1·3 mg/mBetween Oct 23, 2018, and Sep 22, 2020, 660 patients were included in the ITT analysis (331 in the isatuximab group and 329 in the control group). 654 (99%) patients were White, two were African, one was Arabic, and three were Asian. 250 (38%) were women and 410 (62%) were men. The median age was 59 years (IQR 54-64). MRD negativity after induction therapy was reached in 166 (50%) patients in the isatuximab group versus 117 (36%) in the control group (OR 1·82 [95% CI 1·33-2·48]; p=0·00017). Median follow-up time from start to end of induction therapy was 125 days (IQR 125-131) versus 125 days (125-132). At least one grade 3 or 4 adverse event occurred in 208 (63%) of 330 patients versus 199 (61%) of 328 patients. Neutropenia of grade 3 or 4 occurred in 77 (23%) versus 23 (7%) patients and infections of grade 3 or 4 occurred in 40 (12%) versus 32 (10%) patients. Among 12 deaths during induction therapy, one death due to septic shock in the isatuximab group and four deaths (one cardiac decompensation, one hepatic and renal failure, one cardiac arrest, and one drug-induced enteritis) in the control group were considered treatment-related.Addition of isatuximab to lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone for induction therapy improved rates of MRD negativity with no new safety signals in patients with newly diagnosed transplantation-eligible multiple myeloma.Sanofi and Bristol Myers Squibb (Celgene).

Owing to its heterogeneity and rarity, management of disseminated marginal zone B‐cell lymphoma (MZL) remains largely understudied. We present prospective data on choice of systemic treatment and survival of patients with MZL treated in German routine practice. Of 175 patients with MZL who had been documented in the prospective clinical cohort study Tumour Registry Lymphatic Neoplasms (NCT00889798) collecting data on systemic treatment, 58 were classified as extranodal MZL of mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) and 117 as non‐MALT MZL. We analyzed the most commonly used first‐line and second‐line chemo(immuno)therapies between 2009 and 2016 and examined objective response rate (ORR), progression‐free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and prognostic factors for survival. Compared to patients with MALT MZL, those with non‐MALT MZL more often presented with bone marrow involvement (43% vs. 14%), Ann Arbor stage III/IV (72% vs. 57%) and were slightly less often in good general condition (ECOG = 0; 41% vs. 47%). In German routine practice, rituximab‐bendamustine for a median of 6 cycles was the most frequently used first‐line (76%) and second‐line treatment (36%), with no major differences between MZL subtypes. The ORR for patients encompassing any positive response was 81%. For patients with MALT and non‐MALT MZL, respectively, 5‐years PFS was 69% (95% CI 52%–81%) and 66% (95% CI 56%–75%), 5‐years OS 79% (95% CI 65%–89%) and 75% (95% CI 66%–83%). Cox proportional hazards models showed a significantly increased risk of mortality for higher age in all patient groups. Our prospective real world data give valuable insights into the management and outcome of non‐selected patients with MZL requiring systemic treatment and can help optimize therapy recommendations.

Few data exist on health-related quality of life (QoL) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPC) receiving first-line chemotherapy (Awad L ZE, Mesbah M Boston, MA. Applying survival data methodology to analyze quality of life data, in Mesbah M, Cole BF, Ting Lee M-L (eds): Statistical Methods for Quality of Life Studies: Design, Measurements and Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002). The QOLIXANE study is a prospective, noninterventional, multicenter substudy of the Platform for Outcome, Quality of Life and Translational Research on Pancreatic Cancer (PARAGON) registry, which evaluated QoL in patients with mPC receiving first-line gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy in real-life setting. QoL was prospectively measured via EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaires at baseline and every month thereafter. Therapy and efficacy parameters were prospectively collected. Main objectives were the rate of patients without deterioration of Global Health Status/QoL (GHS/QoL) at 3 and 6 months. Six hundred patients were enrolled in 95 German study sites. Median progression-free survival was 5.9 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.2-6.3). Median overall survival (OS) was 8.9 months (95% CI, 7.9-10.2), while median time to deterioration of GHS/QoL was 4.7 months (95% CI, 4.0-5.6). With a baseline GHS/QoL score of 46 (SD, 22.8), baseline QoL of the patients was severely impaired, in most cases due to loss in role functioning and fatigue. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, 61% and 41% of patients had maintained GHS/QoL after 3 and 6 months, respectively. However, in the QoL response analysis, 35% and 19% of patients had maintained (improved or stable) GHS/QoL after 3 and 6 months, respectively, while 14% and 9% had deteriorated GHS/QoL with the remaining patients being nonevaluable. In the Cox regression analysis, GHS/QoL scores strongly predicted survival with a hazard ratio of 0.86 (P < .0001). Patients with mPC have poor QoL at baseline that deteriorates within a median of 4.7 months. Treatment with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel is associated with maintained QoL in relevant proportions of patients. However, overall, results remain poor, reflecting the aggressive nature of the disease.

Background The effects of intravenous immunoglobulin G replacement on perceived health and infection susceptibility of patients suffering from immunoglobulin G (IgG) deficiencies should be evaluated in a prospective analysis. Methods Patients with symptomatic primary or secondary IgG deficiencies were interviewed prior to the first IgG infusion (t0) and over the course of their treatment (t1 - t6). The respondents rated their current health using a 100 point scale (EQ-5D-5L), ranging from 0 (‘worst imaginable health’) to 100 (‘best imaginable health’). The patients also provided information on the frequency of infections and of infections requiring antibiotics in the past 8 weeks. A healthy control group (CG) without oncologic diseases answered the questions once. Results One hundred six patients with a median age of 65 years (21–85 years) were investigated. The median serum IgG concentration changed from 500 mg/dl (t0) to 772 mg/dl (t6). The mean number of infections and of infections requiring antibiotics decreased during IgG replacement significantly. Current health according to EQ-5D-5L improved from 57 (t0) to 68 (t6), compared to 73 in the CG. Conclusion During the course of IgG replacement patients reported fewer and less severe infections. Their health assessment improved but still was inferior to the healthy CG.

721 Background: Second-line Nal-Iri/5-Fluorouracil/Folinic Acid (Nal-Iri/5-FU/LV) increases overall survival of unselected patients (pts) with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) after gemcitabine-based therapy. It is unknown, which pts will likely benefit or could probably profit more from alternative approaches. Methods: In this prospective trial, 156 pts with locally advanced or metastatic PDAC were included for treatment with biweekly Nal-Iri/5-FU/LV (70 mg/m², 2.4 g/m², 400 mg/m²) after failure of 1st line chemotherapy with Gemcitabine/nab-Paclitaxel, with comprehensive evaluation of prior treatment characteristics, potential predictive factors, and quality of life. Primary end point is the correlation of time to treatment failure (TTF) of 1st and 2nd line therapy. Moreover, translational research was done to measure and evaluate biomarkers in blood and tumor tissue. Here, we explore patient characteristics in two subgroups with short or long treatment duration, with the aim to evaluate potential predictive factors for further analysis. Results: 139 (90%) of the 156 pts included between 03/2018 and 07/2021 in 40 German sites received medication. End of treatment is documented for 128 pts, with 5 still on treatment as of 05/2022 Mean (±SD) treatment duration was 15.5 weeks or 7.7±7.1 cycles (median 7 weeks; 5 cycles). 37 (25%) pts received ≥ 10 cycles. The median was used to separate two subgroups of short and long treatment duration (STD, ≤ 5 cycles, n=66 (52%) vs. LTD, > 5 cycles, n=62, (48%)). Reasons for treatment discontinuation clearly differed between the two subgroups: death in 9% vs. 3%, toxicity in 9% vs. 2%, unrelated medical condition in 12% vs. 2%, and progressive disease in 46% vs. 73%, respectively. Investigator´s decision was a reason for discontinuation in 6% vs. 5%. Pts with STD had a lower performance status (ECOG 1 or 2 in 74% vs. 52%, ECOG 0 in 20% vs. 44% in STD vs. LTD group), lower albumin levels (below normal in 36% vs. 24.2%) and were more likely to suffer from liver metastases (overall 82% vs. 66%). There were no relevant differences with regard to age, sex and tumor burden (number of metastases or CA19-9 levels). Conclusions: Early treatment discontinuation was primarily associated with patient-related factors such as low performance status, low albumin levels and comorbidities, characteristics which could be used to spare patients from treatment with an unfavorable risk-to-benefit ratio. In contrast, surrogate markers for tumor burden did not correlate with treatment success. Clinical trial information: NCT03468335 .

in press

Background Docetaxel-based chemotherapy is effective in metastatic gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. This study reports on the safety and efficacy of the docetaxel-based triplet FLOT (fluorouracil plus leucovorin, oxaliplatin and docetaxel) as a perioperative therapy for patients with locally advanced, resectable tumours. Methods In this controlled, open-label, phase 2/3 trial, we randomly assigned 716 patients with histologically-confirmed advanced clinical stage cT2 or higher or nodal positive stage (cN+), or both, resectable tumours, with no evidence of distant metastases, via central interactive web-based-response system, to receive either three pre-operative and three postoperative 3-week cycles of 50 mg/m2 epirubicin and 60 mg/m2 cisplatin on day 1 plus either 200 mg/m2 fluorouracil as continuous intravenous infusion or 1250 mg/m2 capecitabine orally on days 1 to 21 (ECF/ECX; control group) or four preoperative and four postoperative 2-week cycles of 50 mg/m2 docetaxel, 85 mg/m2 oxaliplatin, 200 mg/m2 leucovorin and 2600 mg/m2 fluorouracil as 24-h infusion on day 1 (FLOT; experimental group). The primary outcome of the trial was overall survival (superiority) analysed in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01216644. Findings Between Aug 8, 2010, and Feb 10, 2015, 716 patients were randomly assigned to treatment in 38 German hospitals or with practice-based oncologists. 360 patients were assigned to ECF/ECX and 356 patients to FLOT. Overall survival was increased in the FLOT group compared with the ECF/ECX group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·77; 95% confidence interval [CI; 0.63 to 0·94]; median overall survival, 50 months [38·33 to not reached] vs 35 months [27·35 to 46·26]). The number of patients with related serious adverse events (including those occurring during hospital stay for surgery) was similar in the two groups (96 [27%] in the ECF/ECX group vs 97 [27%] in the FLOT group), as was the number of toxic deaths (two [ Interpretation In locally advanced, resectable gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, perioperative FLOT improved overall survival compared with perioperative ECF/ECX. Funding The German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe), Sanofi-Aventis, Chugai, and Stiftung Leben mit Krebs Foundation.

Few data exist on health-related quality of life (QoL) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPC) receiving first-line chemotherapy (Awad L ZE, Mesbah M Boston, MA. Applying survival data methodology to analyze quality of life data, in Mesbah M, Cole BF, Ting Lee M-L (eds): Statistical Methods for Quality of Life Studies: Design, Measurements and Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002). The QOLIXANE study is a prospective, noninterventional, multicenter substudy of the Platform for Outcome, Quality of Life and Translational Research on Pancreatic Cancer (PARAGON) registry, which evaluated QoL in patients with mPC receiving first-line gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy in real-life setting. QoL was prospectively measured via EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaires at baseline and every month thereafter. Therapy and efficacy parameters were prospectively collected. Main objectives were the rate of patients without deterioration of Global Health Status/QoL (GHS/QoL) at 3 and 6 months. Six hundred patients were enrolled in 95 German study sites. Median progression-free survival was 5.9 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.2-6.3). Median overall survival (OS) was 8.9 months (95% CI, 7.9-10.2), while median time to deterioration of GHS/QoL was 4.7 months (95% CI, 4.0-5.6). With a baseline GHS/QoL score of 46 (SD, 22.8), baseline QoL of the patients was severely impaired, in most cases due to loss in role functioning and fatigue. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, 61% and 41% of patients had maintained GHS/QoL after 3 and 6 months, respectively. However, in the QoL response analysis, 35% and 19% of patients had maintained (improved or stable) GHS/QoL after 3 and 6 months, respectively, while 14% and 9% had deteriorated GHS/QoL with the remaining patients being nonevaluable. In the Cox regression analysis, GHS/QoL scores strongly predicted survival with a hazard ratio of 0.86 (P .0001). Patients with mPC have poor QoL at baseline that deteriorates within a median of 4.7 months. Treatment with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel is associated with maintained QoL in relevant proportions of patients. However, overall, results remain poor, reflecting the aggressive nature of the disease.

Background: The effects of intravenous immunoglobulin G substitution on health status and infections of patients suffering from immunoglobulin G (IgG) deficiencies should be evaluated in a prospective analysis.Methods: Patients with symptomatic primary or secondary IgG deficiencies were interviewed prior to the first IgG infusion (t0) and over the course of their treatment. The respondents rated their current health using a 100-point scale (EQ-5D-5L), ranging from 0 ('worst imaginable health') to 100 ('best imaginable health'). The patients also provided information on the frequency of infections and infections requiring antibiotics in the past 8 weeks. A control group (CG) without oncologic diseases answered the questions on an one-off basis.Results: 106 patients with a median age of 65 years (21-85 years) were investigated. The median serum IgG-concentration changed from 500 mg/dl (t0) to 772 mg/dl (t6). The mean number of infections and of infections requiring antibiotics decreased during IgG substitution significantly. The EQ-5D-5L health status improved from 57 (t0) to 68 (t6), compared to 73 in the CG.Conclusion: During the course of IgG substitution patients reported fewer and less severe infections. Their health status improved but still was inferior to the healthy CG.Previous presentationData were presented in part at the annual meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies of Hematology and Medical Oncology in Vienna, Austria, 2018.

Christoph Losem,1 Michael Koenigsmann,2 Christine Rudolph3 1Praxis für Hämatologie und Onkologie, Neuss, 2Onkologisches Ambulanzzentrum, Marienstr, Hannover, 3Hospira Germany, A Pfizer Company, München, Germany Background: Symptomatic anemia is a frequent and severe complication of chemotherapy that is commonly treated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. The primary objective of this study was to assess the change in hemoglobin levels in patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia (CIA) following treatment with biosimilar Retacrit® (epoetin zeta). Secondary objectives included changes in hematologic parameters and tolerability. Methods: This was a non-interventional, multicenter, long-term observational study that is part of an ongoing surveillance program for epoetin zeta. Adult patients (N=291) with solid tumors, malignant lymphomas or multiple myeloma, and chemotherapy-induced symptomatic anemia, who were eligible for treatment with biosimilar epoetin zeta, were enrolled. Patients were evaluated at enrollment, 3 months, and 6 months. Results: Evaluable patients had lymphoma or myeloma (n=30) or solid tumors (n=260). At 3 months, patients with lymphoma and myeloma showed the greatest increase in mean (SD) hemoglobin from 9.2 (0.9) to 11.0 (1.8) g/dL, whereas patients with breast cancer showed the smallest increase from 10.0 (1.0) to 11.1 (1.2) g/dL. At 6 months, the greatest mean increase occurred in patients with lymphoma or myeloma from 11.0 (1.8) to 11.7 (2.3) g/dL, and the smallest in patients with other solid tumors from 10.9 (1.4) to 11.1 (1.5) g/dL. Patient evaluation of epoetin zeta therapy was positive, as most patients expressed satisfaction with epoetin zeta treatment during the study, compliance with treatment was high, and most indicated their willingness to be retreated if necessary. Epoetin zeta was also well tolerated; overall, in 25 patients (8.6%), there were 31 adverse events. Conclusion: Despite variability among different disease groups, epoetin zeta was effective and well tolerated in patients with different types of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Keywords: epoetin, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, anemia, chemotherapy, biosimilar epoetin zeta, safety, efficacy, real-world&nbsp

© 2018 The Authors., [Background]: The present prospective, multinational, noninterventional study aimed to document and describe real-world treatment regimens and disease progression in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. [Patients and Methods]: Adult patients initiating any new MM therapy from October 2010 to October 2012 were eligible. A multistage patient/site recruitment model was applied to minimize the selection bias; enrollment was stratified by country, region, and practice type. The patient medical and disease features, treatment history, and remission status were recorded at baseline, and prospective data on treatment, efficacy, and safety were collected electronically every 3 months., [Results]: A total of 2358 patients were enrolled. Of these patients, 775 and 1583 did and did not undergo stem cell transplantation (SCT) at any time during treatment, respectively. Of the patients in the SCT and non-SCT groups, 49%, 21%, 14%, and 15% and 57%, 20%, 12% and 10% were enrolled at treatment line 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4, respectively. In the SCT and non-SCT groups, 45% and 54% of the patients had received bortezomib-based therapy without thalidomide/lenalidomide, 12% and 18% had received thalidomide/lenalidomide-based therapy without bortezomib, and 30% and 4% had received bortezomib plus thalidomide/lenalidomide-based therapy as frontline treatment, respectively. The corresponding proportions of SCT and non-SCT patients in lines 2, 3, and ≥ 4 were 45% and 37%, 30% and 37%, and 12% and 3%, 33% and 27%, 35% and 32%, and 8% and 2%, and 27% and 27%, 27% and 23%, and 6% and 4%, respectively. In the SCT and non-SCT patients, the overall response rate was 86% to 97% and 64% to 85% in line 1, 74% to 78% and 59% to 68% in line 2, 55% to 83% and 48% to 60% in line 3, and 49% to 65% and 36% and 45% in line 4, respectively, for regimens that included bortezomib and/or thalidomide/lenalidomide., [Conclusion]: The results of our prospective study have revealed great diversity in the treatment regimens used to manage MM in real-life practice. This diversity was linked to factors such as novel agent accessibility and evolving treatment recommendations. Our results provide insight into associated clinical benefits., Writing support during the development of our report was provided by Laura Mulcahy and Catherine Crookes of FireKite, an Ashfield company, a part of UDG Healthcare plc, which was funded by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and Janssen Global Services, LLC. The EMMOS study was supported by research funding from Janssen Pharmaceutical NV and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

BACKGROUND: Initial results from the ongoing GALLIUM trial have shown that patients with follicular lymphoma have a longer progression-free survival after first-line immunochemotherapy with obinutuzumab than with rituximab. The aim of this secondary analysis was to evaluate the prognostic value of PET-CT responses after first-line immunochemotherapy in the GALLIUM study.METHODS: GALLIUM is an open-label, parallel-group randomised, phase 3 trial, which recruited previously untreated patients with CD20-positive follicular lymphoma (grades 1-3a; disease stage III/IV, or stage II with largest tumour diameter ≥7 cm) who were aged 18 years or older and met the criteria for needing treatment. Eligible patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive intravenous administration of obinutuzumab (1000 mg on days 1, 8, and 15 of cycle 1, then day 1 of subsequent cycles) or rituximab (375 mg/m2 on day 1 of each cycle), in six 21-day cycles with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (known as CHOP; oral administration) followed by two 21-day cycles of antibody alone, or eight 21-day cycles cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone (known as CVP; oral administration), or six 28-day cycles with bendamustine, followed by maintenance antibody every 2 months for up to 2 years. The primary endpoint of the trial, investigator-assessed progression-free survival, has been reported previously. This secondary analysis reports PET and CT-based responses at end-of-induction therapy and explains their relation with progression-free and overall survival outcomes in patients with available scans. As per protocol, during the trial, PET scans (mandatory in the first 170 patients enrolled at sites with available PET facilities, and optional thereafter), acquired at baseline and end of induction (PET population), were assessed prospectively by investigators and an independent review committee (IRC) applying International Harmonisation Project (IHP) 2007 response criteria, and retrospectively by the IRC only applying current Lugano 2014 response criteria. IRC members (but not study investigators) were masked to treatment and clinical outcome when assessing response. The landmark analyses excluded patients who died or progressed (contrast enhanced CT-based assessment of progressive disease, or started next anti-lymphoma treatment) before or at end of induction. GALLIUM is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01332968.FINDINGS: 1202 patients were enrolled in GALLIUM between July 6, 2011, and Feb 4, 2014, of whom 595 were included in the PET population; 533 (IHP 2007; prospective analysis), and 508 (Lugano 2014; retrospective analysis) were analysed for progression-free survival (landmark analysis). At end of induction, 390 of 595 patients (65·5% [95% CI 61·6-69·4]) achieved PET complete response according to IHP 2007 criteria, and 450 (75·6% [95% CI 72·0-79·0]) obtained PET complete metabolic response according to Lugano 2014 criteria. With a median of 43·3 months of observation (IQR 36·2-51·8), 2·5-year progression-free survival from end of induction was 87·8% (95% CI 83·9-90·8) in PET complete responders and 72·0% (63·1-79·0) in non-complete responders according to IRC-assessed IHP 2007 criteria (hazard ratio [HR] 0·4, 95% CI 0·3-0·6, pINTERPRETATION: Our results suggest that PET is a better imaging modality than contrast-enhanced CT for response assessment after first-line immunochemotherapy in patients with follicular lymphoma. PET assessment according to Lugano 2014 response criteria provides a platform for investigation of response-adapted therapeutic approaches. Additional supportive data are welcomed.FUNDING: F Hoffmann-La Roche.

Objectives This study was conducted to investigate the real-world effectiveness and tolerability of rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapies, which have become the standard of care for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), particularly for physically fit patients. Furthermore, current treatment patterns in clinical practice were documented, and an unselected real-life population was compared with older, comorbid patients. Methods Prospective, multicentre, observational study with rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapy in CLL patients. Results Of 681 patients in total, 485 were enroled in cohort 1 (unselected) and 196 in cohort 2 (comorbid "slow-go" patients). The median patient age was higher than in most randomised controlled trials (cohort 1: 70 years and cohort 2: 75 years). The most common treatment regimen in both first-line and relapsed patients was rituximab-bendamustine. Two-year progression-free survival rate for first-line therapy was 84.1% for cohort 1 and 69.8% for cohort 2 (with best overall response rate 81.8% for cohort 1 and 76.6% for cohort 2). General and B-symptoms declined during treatment and remained at low level or decreased further until study end. The safety profile observed in randomised clinical trials was confirmed. Conclusion Chemoimmunotherapy with rituximab is feasible and safe in a wide variety of clinical settings in CLL, including the treatment of older patients with comorbidities (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01178086).

BACKGROUND Docetaxel is a widely used cytotoxic agent. This study evaluates the impact of docetaxel toxicities on patient's health-related quality of life (QoL). PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a multicenter, prospective, non-interventional trial, in which the QoL was assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaires at baseline and every 4 weeks up to 40 weeks in patients receiving a docetaxel-based chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Treatment-related adverse events were correlated with the corresponding QoL scores. Uni- and multivariate analyses were applied. RESULTS From January 2008 to June 2011, a total of 2659 patients were included. The majority of patients (48.1%) had prostate cancer, followed by breast (17.1%) and non-small-cell-lung cancer (15.8%). Patients received a median of 5 docetaxel cycles with the median dose of 75 mg/m(2). The presence of grade 3/4 diarrhea showed the strongest effect on global health status/QoL average scores (50.91 versus 33.06), followed by vomiting (50.91 versus 35.17), dyspnea (50.94 versus 35.81), mucositis/stomatitis (50.88 versus 36.41), nausea (50.91 versus 36.68), infection (50.90 versus 37.14), fatigue (50.90 versus 43.82) and anemia (50.91 versus 41.03), P < 0.05 for all comparisons. Grade 3/4 leukopenia/neutropenia, alopecia, constipation, neurotoxicity and nail disorders had no significant impact on the global health status/QoL or other items. CONCLUSION In this large non-interventional trial, docetaxel-associated grade 3 or 4 toxicities were shown to have a strong detrimental effect on patient's QoL. Notably, diarrhea and vomiting had the strongest negative impact on QoL measures. This has to be kept in mind while making therapeutic decisions and providing optimized supportive treatment measures. CLINICAL TRIALS NUMBER This study was registered at Deutsches Krebsstudienregister (DKSR, primary registry in the WHO Registry Network) with the ID 527.

IMPORTANCE: Surgical resection has a potential benefit for patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the stomach and gastroesophageal junction. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate outcome in patients with limited metastatic disease who receive chemotherapy first and proceed to surgical resection. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The AIO-FLOT3 (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie-fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel) trial is a prospective, phase 2 trial of 252 patients with resectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Patients were enrolled from 52 cancer care centers in Germany between February 1, 2009, and January 31, 2010, and stratified to 1 of 3 groups: resectable (arm A), limited metastatic (arm B), or extensive metastatic (arm C). Data cutoff was January 2012, and the analysis was performed in March 2013. INTERVENTIONS: Patients in arm A received 4 preoperative cycles of fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel (FLOT) followed by surgery and 4 postoperative cycles. Patients in arm B received at least 4 cycles of neoadjuvant FLOT and proceeded to surgical resection if restaging (using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging) showed a chance of margin-free (R0) resection of the primary tumor and at least a macroscopic complete resection of the metastatic lesions. Patients in arm C were offered FLOT chemotherapy and surgery only if required for palliation. Patients received a median (range) of 8 (1-15) cycles of FLOT. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary end point was overall survival. RESULTS: In total, 238 of 252 patients (94.4%) were eligible to participate. The median (range) age of participants was 66 (36-79) years in arm A (n = 51), 63 (28-79) years in arm B (n = 60), and 65 (23-83) years in arm C (n = 127). Patients in arm B (n = 60) had only retroperitoneal lymph node involvement (27 patients [45%]), liver involvement (11 [18.3%]), lung involvement (10 [16.7%]), localized peritoneal involvement (4 [6.7%]), or other (8 [13.3%]) incurable sites. Median overall survival was 22.9 months (95% CI, 16.5 to upper level not achieved) for arm B, compared with 10.7 months (95% CI, 9.1-12.8) for arm C (hazard ratio, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.25-0.55) (P

Background Symptomatic anemia is a frequent and severe complication of chemotherapy that is commonly treated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. The primary objective of this study was to assess the change in hemoglobin levels in patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia (CIA) following treatment with biosimilar Retacrit® (epoetin zeta). Secondary objectives included changes in hematologic parameters and tolerability. Methods This was a non-interventional, multicenter, long-term observational study that is part of an ongoing surveillance program for epoetin zeta. Adult patients (N=291) with solid tumors, malignant lymphomas or multiple myeloma, and chemotherapy-induced symptomatic anemia, who were eligible for treatment with biosimilar epoetin zeta, were enrolled. Patients were evaluated at enrollment, 3 months, and 6 months. Results Evaluable patients had lymphoma or myeloma (n=30) or solid tumors (n=260). At 3 months, patients with lymphoma and myeloma showed the greatest increase in mean (SD) hemoglobin from 9.2 (0.9) to 11.0 (1.8) g/dL, whereas patients with breast cancer showed the smallest increase from 10.0 (1.0) to 11.1 (1.2) g/dL. At 6 months, the greatest mean increase occurred in patients with lymphoma or myeloma from 11.0 (1.8) to 11.7 (2.3) g/dL, and the smallest in patients with other solid tumors from 10.9 (1.4) to 11.1 (1.5) g/dL. Patient evaluation of epoetin zeta therapy was positive, as most patients expressed satisfaction with epoetin zeta treatment during the study, compliance with treatment was high, and most indicated their willingness to be retreated if necessary. Epoetin zeta was also well tolerated; overall, in 25 patients (8.6%), there were 31 adverse events. Conclusion Despite variability among different disease groups, epoetin zeta was effective and well tolerated in patients with different types of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

Prognostic effect of calreticulin mutations in patients with myelofibrosis after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Since the outcome of relapsed/refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is highly variable, a risk-adapted treatment approach was evaluated. After two cycles of DHAP, patients received high-dose treosulfan/etoposide/carboplatinum (TEC) and autologous stem cell rescue. After TEC, low-risk patients with late relapse (>1 year after first CR who achieved CR after DHAP received no further treatment. Patients with late relapse who achieved CR or PR only after TEC underwent a second cycle of TEC. High-risk patients with early relapse/refractory disease received treosulfan/fludarabine followed by allogeneic transplantation. Rituximab was added in patients with B-cell lymphoma (86%). At entry, 36% of all 57 patients had refractory disease, 32% early and 32% late relapse. During DHAP treatment, progression occurred in 32% of patients. Of 33 patients who received TEC, 5 received second TEC and 15 allogeneic transplantation. Main toxicity after TEC was oral mucositis (CTC grades 3 and 4 in 50% and 13%, respectively). In total, 42% patients achieved CR. Median OS was 21.4 months for all patients and 32.6 for those who underwent allogeneic transplantation. International prognostic index (IPI) at study entry was highly discriminative at predicting OS (P

Background: This study was designed to compare cisplatin/docetaxel with oxaliplatin/docetaxel in patients with advanced and metastatic non-small lung cancer as a first-line treatment. Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to receive either cisplatin 75 mg m−2 and docetaxel 75 mg m−2 every 3 weeks or oxaliplatin 85 mg m−2 and docetaxel 50 mg m−2 every 2 weeks. The primary end point was response rate, and secondary end points were toxicity, time to progression and overall survival. Results: A total of 88 patients (median age: 65 (39–86) years; stage IV: 93%) were randomly assigned. Response rate (complete and partial response) was 47% (95% CI: 33–61%) in the cisplatin/docetaxel arm and 28% (95% CI: 17–43%) in the oxaliplatin/docetaxel arm (P=0.118). There was no significant difference in time to progression (6.3 vs 4.9 months, P=0.111) and median overall survival (11.6 vs 7.0 months, P=0.102) with cisplatin/docetaxel vs oxaliplatin/docetaxel, although slight trends favouring cisplatin were seen. Oxaliplatin/docetaxel was associated with significantly less (any grade) renal toxicity (56% vs 11%), any grade fatigue (81% vs 59%), complete alopecia (76% vs 27%), any grade leukopenia (84% vs 61%) and grade 3/4 leukopenia (44% vs 14%) and neutropenia (56% vs 27%). Conclusion: Oxaliplatin/docetaxel has activity in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, but it seems to be inferior to cisplatin/docetaxel.

We experimentally demonstrate the generation and transmission of a single-lane 180 Gbit/s (90 GBaud) four-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) signal in an intensity-modulation direct-detection system with a 7.5 GHz 3 dB bandwidth. The generated signal is transmitted over a 2 km standard single-mode fiber with, to the best of our knowledge, the highest reported net data rate in the C-band: 150 Gbit/s. A net data rate of 168 Gbit/s is also reachable with 1 km reach. The PAM-4 and duobinary (DB) PAM-4 modulation schemes are compared; the obtained results show that DB-PAM-4 significantly outperforms PAM-4 in the considered strong bandwidth-constrained system. Both a feed-forward equalizer and a maximum-likelihood sequence estimator are investigated for data recovery.

Background: Docetaxel-based chemotherapy is effective in metastatic gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, but has not yet been evaluated in the context of resectable patients. Here we report findings from the phase 2 part of the phase 2/3 FLOT4 trial, which compared histopathological regression in patients treated with a docetaxel-based triplet chemotherapy versus an anthracycline-based triplet chemotherapy before surgical resection.Methods: In this randomised, open-label, phase 2/3 study, eligible participants were recruited from 28 German oncology centres. Patients with resectable gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction cancer who had clinical stage cT2 or higher, nodal positive (cN+) disease, or both were randomly assigned (1:1) to either three preoperative and three postoperative 3-week cycles of intravenous epirubicin 50 mg/m2on day 1, intravenous cisplatin 60 mg/m2on day 1, and either fluorouracil 200 mg/m2as continuous intravenous infusion or capecitabine 1250 mg/m2orally (two doses of 625 mg/m2per day) on days 1 to 21 (ECF/ECX group) or four preoperative and four postoperative 2-week cycles of docetaxel 50 mg/m2, intravenous oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2, intravenous leucovorin 200 mg/m2, and fluorouracil 2600 mg/m2as a 24 h infusion, all on day 1 (FLOT group). Randomisation was done centrally with an interactive web-response system based on a sequence generated with blocks (block size 2) stratified by Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, location of primary tumour, age, and nodal status. No masking was done. Central assessment of pathological regression was done according to the Becker criteria. The primary endpoint was pathological complete regression (tumour regression grade TRG1a) and was analysed in the modified intention-to-treat population, defined as all patients who were randomly assigned to treatment excluding patients who had surgery but did not provide resection specimens for central evaluation. The study (including the phase 3 part) has completed enrolment, but follow-up is ongoing and this is an interim analysis. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01216644. Findings: Between Aug 18, 2010, and Aug 10, 2012, 300 patients (152 patients in the ECF/ECX group; 148 patients in the FLOT group) were enrolled into the phase 2 part of the study, 265 of whom (137 in the ECF/ECX group; 128 in the FLOT group) were assessable on a modified intention-to-treat basis. 119 (93%) of 128 patients in the FLOT group and 126 (92%) of 137 patients in the ECF/ECX group were given all planned preoperative cycles of treatment. FLOT was associated with significantly higher proportions of patients achieving pathological complete regression than was ECF/ECX (20 [16%; 95% CI 10-23] of 128 patients vs eight [6%; 3-11] of 137 patients; p=0·02). 44 (40%) of 111 patients in the ECF/ECX group and 30 (25%) of 119 patients in the FLOT group had at least one serious adverse event involving a perioperative medical or surgical complication. The most common non-surgical grade 3-4 adverse events were neutropenia (52 [38%] of 137 patients in the ECF/ECX group vs 67 [52%] of 128 patients in the FLOT group), leucopenia (28 [20%] vs 36 [28%]), nausea (23 [17%] vs 12 [9%]), infection (16 [12%] vs 15 [12%]), fatigue (19 [14%] vs 11 [9%]), and vomiting (13 [10%] vs four [3%]). Interpretation: Perioperative FLOT was active and feasible to administer, and might represent an option for patients with locally advanced, resectable gastric or gastro-eosophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Introduction. The prognosis of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) has improved during recent years following the introduction of immuno-chemotherapy and Rituximab maintenance. Nevertheless, some patients still relapse early and have a poor prognosis. Several prognostic scoring systems have been developed using clinical, laboratory as well as molecular data, while the early identification of high-risk patients remains a challenge. In this context, the relevance of circulating bcl2/IgH levels for patient stratification is not clear. We could show that high circulating bcl2/IgH levels in the peripheral blood (PB) before therapy were an independent adverse prognostic factor for progression free survival (PFS) in patients receiving R-CHOP or Bendamustine-Rituximab (B-R) in the NHL1 study of the German StiL group (Zohren et al, Blood 2015). Methods. Using a sensitive quantitative PCR method as previously described (Zohren et al, Blood 2015), a total of 2,491 circulating bcl-2/IgH level analyses were performed on PB samples before (n=415) and after (n=305) 6 cycles first-line immuno-chemotherapy and during follow-up (n=1,771). Results of these molecular studies were correlated with clinical outcome. We first present a 10-year update of the 107 bcl2/IgHpositive patients from the StiL-NHL1-trial. Secondly, we report the results from the StiL-NHL7-trial including bcl2/IgH analyses of 308 bcl2/IgHpositive patients who received B-R and Rituximab maintenance. Results. With a median follow-up of 10 years in the 107 bcl2/IgHpositive patients from the StiL-NHL1-trial, high PB bcl-2/IgH levels (bcl-2/IgH to reference gene (tPA) ratio >1) before treatment as compared to low (ratio In contrast, among the 308 bcl-2/IgHpositive patients of the StiL-NHL7-trial, who all received B-R and Rituximab maintenance, PB bcl-2/IgH levels (ratio >1 vs When comparing StiL-NHL1 and StiL-NHL7 patients with respect to bcl-2/IgH levels and the effect of Rituximab maintenance, we found that Rituximab maintenance led to a significantly better PFS. In patients with low (ratio 1) bcl-2/IgH levels (22 vs 99 months, HR 3.46, 95% CI 1.93-6.20; p Conclusion. High circulating bcl-2/IgH levels in the PB before first line therapy identify a subgroup of patients with advanced FL who have significantly shorter PFS after standard immuno-chemotherapy. These patients greatly benefit from the addition of Rituximab maintenance, because pre-treatment bcl-2/IgH levels lose their predictive value with Rituximab maintenance therapy. On the other hand, patients who remain bcl-2/IgHpositive after standard immuno-chemotherapy have short PFS and OS despite treatment with Rituximab maintenance and therefore are candidates for experimental treatment approaches. Disclosures Kobbe: Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: Travel Support, Research Funding. Zohren:Pfizer Inc.: Employment. Buske:Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Bayer: Research Funding. Germing:Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding. Greil:Sandoz: Honoraria, Research Funding; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; MSD: Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Merck: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Astra Zeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Amgen: Honoraria, Other: TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATIONS, EXPENSES, Research Funding; Janssen: Other: TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATIONS, EXPENSES. Schroeder:Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Rummel:Gilead: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Honoraria; Astellas: Honoraria; Eisai: Honoraria; Mundipharma: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Symbio: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

7515Background: Rituximab (R) maintenance is part of a standard treatment for follicular lymphoma. In MZL, however, it is not yet common practice. In this study we compared the effect of 2 years of...

The risk of venous thromboembolism is increased in patients with lymphoma and leukemia; however, little is known about the potential underlying hereditary or acquired thrombophilia. We prospectively analyzed procoagulant markers and gene mutations in patients with lymphoma (n = 35) and leukemia (n = 10) at diagnosis and over the course of treatment. Global coagulation tests were normal in all patients, as were antithrombin and protein S. Activated protein C resistance caused by the factor V Leiden mutation was found in four patients, one patient had the G20210A mutation of the prothrombin gene, and one patient had protein C deficiency. The most striking findings were sustained very high levels of factor VIII (>150 %) in 30 patients (68 %), which correlated with high von Willebrand factor. An acute phase response in these patients was ruled out by absence of fever and normal IL-6 and -α. Elevated factor VIII is an independent thrombophilic risk factor and may play an etiologic role in thromboembolic complications in patients with malignant lymphoma. Since high von Willebrand factor is most likely caused by endothelial cell injury, an additional, unknown pathophysiological association with malignant lymphoma and acute leukemia is possible.

We demonstrate for the first time generation of 16-state quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) signals at a symbol rate of 40 GBd using silicon-based modulators. Our devices exploit silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) integration, which combines silicon-on-insulator slot waveguides with electro-optic cladding materials to realize highly efficient phase shifters. The devices enable 16QAM signaling and quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) at symbol rates of 40 GBd and 45 GBd, respectively, leading to line rates of up to 160 Gbit/s on a single wavelength and in a single polarization. This is the highest value demonstrated by a silicon-based device up to now. The energy consumption for 16QAM signaling amounts to less than 120 fJ/bit – one order of magnitude below that of conventional silicon photonic 16QAM modulators.

Zusammenfassung Fragestellung: Untersucht werden subjektive Krankheitsvorstellungen, Behandlungserwartungen und Therapieerfahrungen von Patienten mit akuter Leukamie im Anfangsstadium ihrer Erkrankung. Methode: Mit 12 an akuter Leukamie erkrankten Patienten wurden in der ersten Behandlungswoche nach Diagnosestellung ausfuhrliche semistrukturierte Interviews durchgefuhrt. Die transkribierten Interviews wurden mit Methoden der qualitativen Sozialforschung (Grounded Theory, Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse) untersucht. Die Einzelfallauswertungen wurden entsprechend den gefundenen Kategorien uberindividuellen Komparationstabellen fur die Themenbereiche Beschwerden, Diagnostik, Ursachen, Beeinflussbarkeit, Behandlungserfahrungen und Prognose zugeordnet und fallubergreifend nach Ahnlichkeiten und Kontrasten verglichen. Ergebnisse: Es finden sich sowohl dramatische, durch uberwaltigende Vernichtungsbedrohung gekennzeichnete Schilderungen, als auch, vor allem bei alteren Erkrankten, bagatellisierende, rational-nuchtern...

The therapy of patients with relapsed or refractory indolent lymphoma relies on the development of new drug combinations. The drugs bendamustine and fludarabine have cytotoxic activity as monotherapy in indolent lymphoma and show synergism in vitro. In this study, we combined both drugs in a multicenter clinical phase I/II trial to evaluate their toxicity and efficacy. Bendamustine was given at 30 or 40 mg/m 2 /d (dose levels 1 and 2), fludarabine at 30 mg/m 2 /d, each drug on days 1 to 3. Six cycles were to be given every 4 weeks. A total of 29 patients with relapsed or refractory indolent lymphoma were included in the study. During phase I, 9 patients were treated at dose level 1 and 7 patients at dose level 2. Thirteen patients were added to the study during phase II. Fourteen patients had follicular lymphoma, 11 patients mantle cell lymphoma, 2 patients lymphoplasmocytic and 2 patients nodal marginal zone lymphoma. Median age was 62 years (range 39 – 74). All patients were in stages III or IV of their disease and had received prior chemotherapy with or without additional radioor immunotherapy. The dose limiting toxicity was hematotoxicity in all cases and occurred in 3 of 7 evaluable patients at dose level I and in 3 of 7 patients at dose level 2. One patient at dose level 2 died of sepsis in neutropenia with persistent thrombocytopenia. The study was continued at dose level 1 (phase II). Analysis of 19 evaluable patients treated at dose level 1 reveiled hematotoxicity CTC grade III in 47% and grade IV in 26%. Neutropenic fever occurred in 4 patients (21%). On an intent-to-treat basis, 45% or 32% of all patients at dose level 1 reached CR or PR, respectively. Nine of 9 patients with mantle cell lymphoma responded to therapy. The overall response rate was 77%. Eight of 15 responders relapsed after a median follow-up time of 14 months (range 2 – 43). The major complication of fludarabine in combination with bendamustine is hematotoxicity. Dose level 1 with 30 mg/m 2 /d of both drugs on days 1 to 3 was defined as the recommended dose. Despite unfavorable prognostic features (histologic subtype, stage of disease, pretreatment) response rates were good with this regimen.

This phase I/II study evaluated high-dose treosulfan in patients with high-grade lymphoma. In all, 21 patients (median age 51, 25-60 years) with primary refractory disease (n=3) or early (n=11) or late (n=7) relapse received DexaBEAM and one course etoposide for cytoreduction and PBPC mobilization. Subsequently, 16 patients received 30 g/m2 treosulfan and 140 mg/m2 melphalan, followed by autologous transplantation. Nine patients received a 2nd high-dose treatment (HDT) with 30 g/m2 treosulfan and 750 mg/m2 thiotepa. Recovery time to >1/nl leukocytes and >25/nl thrombocytes was 8.9 (range 8-11) and 11.9 (8-16) days after 1st and 9.6 (7-13) and 13 (9-19) days after 2nd HDT. Reversible grade 3 or 4 nonhematologic toxicities included mucositis (n=7), infection (n=7) and one episode of re-entry tachycardia. Two treatment-related deaths occurred after 2nd HDT. Since three dose-limiting toxicities occurred among nine patients receiving tandem HDT, 30 g/m2 of treosulfan was considered MTD in this setting. Patients with late compared to early relapse or refractory disease had a higher probability of CR (6/7 vs 3/14 patients, P=0.017) and overall survival (71 vs 21%, P

Purpose Investigation of high-dose chemotherapy (HD-CT) followed by autologous hematopoietic stem-cell support compared with standard-dose chemotherapy (SD-CT) as adjuvant treatment in patients with primary breast cancer and 10 or more positive axillary lymph nodes. Patients and Methods Between November 1993 and September 2000, 307 patients were randomized to receive (following four cycles of epirubicin 90 mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2, intravenously every 21 days) either HD-CT of cyclophosphamide 1,500 mg/m2, thiotepa 150 mg/m2, and mitoxantrone 10 mg/m2, intravenously for 4 consecutive days followed by stem-cell support; or SD-CT in three cycles of cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2, methotrexate 40 mg/m2, and fluorouracil 600 mg/m2 intravenously on days 1 and 8, every 28 days. The primary end point was event-free survival. Results After a median follow-up of 3.8 years, 144 events with respect to event-free survival have been observed (HD-CT: 63 events; SD-CT: 81 events). The first event of failure (HD-CT v SD-CT) was an isolated locoregional recurrence (nine v 11), a distant failure (52 v 68), and death without recurrence (two v two). The estimated relative risk of HD-CT versus SD-CT was 0.75 (95% CI, 0.54 to 1.06; P = .095). Overall survival showed no difference (HD-CT: 40 deaths; SD-CT: 49 deaths). Conclusion There was a trend in favor of HD-CT with respect to event-free survival, but without statistical significance. Further follow-up and a meta-analysis of all randomized studies will reveal the effect of HD-CT as compared with SD-CT as adjuvant treatment in high-risk primary breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Failure to mobilize PBPCs for auto-logous transplantation has mostly been attributed to previous therapy and poses therapeutic problems. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The role of underlying disease was analyzed in 17 of 73 (23%) patients with PBPC mobilization failure, and secondary mobilization with high-dose filgrastim was attempted. RESULTS: Of 16 patients with acute leukemia, 13 (81%) mobilized poorly. In contrast, of 57 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and solid tumor, 53 (93%, p < 0.001) showed good PBPC mobilization. Relapsed disease did not predispose to poor mobilization. As secondary mobilization attempt, 7 patients received 25 µg per kg per day filgrastim without chemotherapy leading to a 3.7 ± 2.8-fold (SD) increase in the maximum number of circulating CD34+ cells (p = 0.104). PBPC apheresis yielded 3.3 (±0.5) × 106 CD34+ cells per kg of body weight in 5 patients. Four poor mobilizers received 50 µg per kg per day filgrastim as second or third mobilization attempt. Circulating CD34+ cells in these patients increased by 1.5 (±0.7) compared with the primary G–CSF application. CONCLUSION: Selective PBPC mobilization failure was seen in patients with acute leukemia whereas remarkably good mobilization was seen in other malignancies. Increasing the filgrastim dose to 25 µg per kg per day may allow PBPC collection in patients failing PBPC mobilization.

TPS4133 Background: Neoadjuvant or perioperative chemotherapy has become a standard of care for locally advanced, resectable gastric cancer and adenocarcinoma of the GEJ. However, patient’s outcome is still unsatisfactory and 5-year survival, even in prospective trials, has been below 40%. Targeting HER2 with Trastuzumab and Pertuzumab prolonged survival in patients with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer as did Trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer. This provides a rationale for the evaluation of anti-HER2 treatment for resectable patients. Methods: This is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, investigator initiated phase II trial. Patients with HER2-positive locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the stomach and GEJ (i.e. ≥cT2 any N or any T N-positive) with exclusion of distant metastases are enrolled. HER2 status is centrally assessed. Patients are randomized 1:1 to 4 pre-operative 2-week cycles (8 weeks) of FLOT (Docetaxel 50 mg/m²; Oxaliplatin 85 mg/m²; Leucovorin 200 mg/m²; 5-FU 2600 mg/m²) followed by surgery and 4 additional cycles of FLOT (arm A); or the same therapy in combination with Trastuzumab 8/6 mg/kg and Pertuzumab 840 mg every 3 weeks pre- and postop, followed by a total of 9 additional cycles of Trastuzumab/Pertuzumab monotherapy (arm B). Primary endpoint of the phase II part (n = 100) of the trial is to show numerical improvement of the rate of pathological complete remission to approx. 25% with antibodies compared to approx. 16% with FLOT alone as assessed by a centralized pathology. Main secondary endpoints are safety and tolerability. Once results from phase II become available, study transition into phase III will be evaluated based on de facto results and current medical standards. Recruitment has already started; by February 2017 a total of 19 patients have been randomized. EudraCT: 2014-002695-86 Clinical trial information: NCT02581462.

The treatment of refractory or relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) remains challenging. In this retrospective study, 88 patients with refractory or relapsed NHL received treosulfan and fludarabine as a reduced-intensity conditioning for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Of the 88 intensely pre-treated patients, 73 experienced a relapse, with 18 of the 88 patients experiencing an early relapse (ER

Patients with malignancies have an increased risk for venous thromboembolisms (VTE), but data on patients with acute leukaemia are very limited so far. We found VTE in 12% of 455 patients with acute leukaemia, half of which occurred in association with central venous catheters, with equal risk of ALL and AML.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a common malignancy in children, but rarely occurs in adults. Accepted unfavourable prognostic factors include age1 year, low histologic grade and advanced stage, MYCN amplification, chromosomal aberrations, elevations of neuron specific enolase and lactate dehydrogenase, and increased catecholamine metabolites in urine or serum. In adults, abdomen/retroperitoneum are the primary sites and in children the adrenal gland.A 51- year-old man was admitted to our hospital with hypertension and a large right retroperitoneal mass. Clinically, phaeochromocytoma was suspected. Tumour resection revealed adrenal NB grade III. Chemotherapy according to the paediatric German Neuroblastoma Trial (NB97) was started. Follow-up computed tomography showed regression of the enlarged mediastinal and retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Because of local and systemic progression palliative radiochemotherapy was started. The patient died 9 months after diagnosis.To the best of our knowledge this is the oldest NB patient registered so far in Germany. Currently there are no standard treatment guidelines for patients with NB in adulthood. Collection and evaluation of data in adult patients with this tumour are warranted in order to optimise treatment strategies.

Immunomagnetic separation using anti-CD34 monoclonal antibodies and paramagnetic microspheres has been used to enrich hematopoietic stem cells from human bone marrow, whole cord blood, or mobilized peripheral blood mononuclear cell collections. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of two different CD34+ cell selection techniques in enriching CD34+ cells from mobilized fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Using the magnetic cell sorter (MACS), the final product purity was 74.1% CD34+ cells (starting population 2.3% +/- 3.3%) with a 60.3% CD34+ cell yield. Using Dynabeads and subsequent chymopapain incubation for releasing the target cells from the beads (Isolex system), the released cells contained 83.3% CD34+ cells (starting population 1.2% +/- 0.7%) with a 43.4% yield. These results indicate that CD34+ cells can be isolated with high purity from fresh leukapheresis products using both immunomagnetic techniques.

Introduction Primary or post-ET/post-PV myelofibrosis is one of the Philadelphia chromosome-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasia characterized by significantly reduced overall survival. More recently several mutated genes have been detected, which allow, in addition to clinical factors, to identify patients with a significantly shorter overall survival and a higher risk of transformation into acute leukemia. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is still the only curative treatment option for patients with myelofibrosis, and due to the inherent risk of the treatment procedure careful selection of the patients is required. Molecular genetics may help to select patients for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Patients and methods To determine the impact of mutated genes in patients with myelofibrosis who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation we analyzed samples from 169 patients with a median age of 58 years (r: 18 - 75) who received allogeneic stem cell transplantation either from related (n = 36) or unrelated (n = 133) donor. Stem cell source were more often peripheral blood stem cells (n = 165) than bone marrow (n = 4). The intensity of conditioning was mainly reduced intensity (n = 166), rather than myeloablative conditioning (n = 3). Patients suffered from primary myelofibrosis (n = 110), post-ET/PV myelofibrosis (n = 46), while 13 patients were in acceleration or had transformed into acute myeloid leukemia. According to dynamic IPSS (DIPSS) (n = 165) the patients were either low (n = 7), intermediate-1 (n = 35), intermediat-2 (n = 91), or high risk (n = 32). Regarding molecular genetics we found JAK2V617F mutations in 62%, calreticulin (CALR) mutations in 20%, MPL mutations in 4%, U2AF1 in 7%, SRSF2 in 10%, SF3B1 in 4%, ASXL1 in 29%, IDH1 in 2%, IDH2 in 3%, CBL in 1%, DNMT3A in 4%, TET2 in 10%, EZH2 in 4%, while none of the patients showed mutations in ETV6 and PTPN11. Overall, only in 11 patients no mutation could be detected. One mutation could be detected in 41%, 2 mutations in 30%, 3 mutations in 11%, 4 mutations in 5%. Results During follow-up 39 patients experienced relapse and 46 patients experienced non-relapse mortality. From the non-molecular factors regarding disease-free survival in univariate analysis age < 58 (p < 0.01), intermediate-1 and low risk according to DIPPS (p = 0.002), HLA-matched vs. mismatched (p = 0.04) were significant factors for improved disease-free survival. Regarding molecular markers improved disease-free survival was seen for patients with mutations in CALR (p = 0.005), while negative impact on disease-free survival was seen for mutations in U2AF1 (p = 0.035), ASXL1 (p = 0.05), IDH2 (p = 0.006), DNMT3A (p = 0.029). No significant difference could be seen for patients with EZH2, IDH1, SRSF2, and SF3B1 mutations. There was no difference in disease-free survival for patients without any mutation vs. 1, and more than 1 mutation (p = 0.12). Regarding the previously described unfavorable mutations ASXL1, SRSF2, EZH2, IDH1, and IDH2, we found 40 patients who had at least 1 of these unfavorable mutations, 11 had 2 of these mutation, and 1 had 3 of these unfavorable mutations. However, the estimated 5-year disease-free survival did not differ significantly between patients without any of these unfavorable mutations, with 1 or with 2 of them (47 vs. 40 vs. 41%, p = 0.5). Conclusions These results suggest that some molecular marker such as ASXL1, U2AF1, IDH2 and DNMT3A negatively influence DFS in myelofibrosis after allogeneic stem cell transplantation in a univariate analysis. In contrast, the poor prognosis of the recently described unfavorable mutated genes SRSF2, EZH2, and IDH1 was not observed and may therefore be overcome by allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

One of the mechanisms by which normal hematopoietic progenitor cells remain localized within the bone marrow microenvironment is likely to involve adhesion of these cells to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. For example, there is evidence that uncommitted, HLA-DR-negative progenitor cells and committed erythroid precursors (BFU-E) bind to fibronectin. However, fibronectin is not known to mediate binding of committed myeloid (granulocyte-macrophage) progenitors, raising the possibility that other ECM proteins may be involved in this process. We investigated the binding of the MO7 myeloid cell line to a variety of ECM proteins and observed significant specific binding to collagen type I (56% +/- 5%), minimal binding to fibronectin (18% +/- 4%) or to laminin (19% +/- 5%), and no binding to collagen type III, IV, or V. Similarly, normal bone marrow myeloid progenitor cells (CFU-GM) demonstrated significant specific binding to collagen type I (46% +/- 8% and 47% +/- 12% for day 7 CFU-GM and day 14 CFU-GM, respectively). The ability of collagen to mediate binding of progenitor cells was not restricted to the myeloid lineage, as BFU-E also showed significant binding to this ECM protein (40% +/- 10%). The binding of MO7 cells and CFU-GM was collagen-mediated, as demonstrated by complete inhibition of adherence after treatment with collagenase type VII, which was shown to specifically degrade collagen. Binding was not affected by anti-CD29 neutralizing antibody (anti-beta-1 integrin), the RGD-containing peptide sequence GRGDTP, or divalent cation chelation, suggesting that collagen binding is not mediated by the beta-1 integrin class of adhesion proteins. Finally, mature peripheral blood neutrophils and monocytes were also found to bind to collagen type I (25% +/- 8% and 29% +/- 6%, respectively). These data suggest that collagen type I may play a role in the localization of committed myeloid and erythroid progenitors within the bone marrow microenvironment.

Investigation of high-dose chemotherapy (HD-CT) compared with standard-dose chemotherapy (SD-CT) as adjuvant treatment in patients with primary breast cancer and >/=10 axillary lymph nodes. From November 1993 to September 2000, 307 patients were randomized to receive after four cycles of epirubicin (90 mg/m(2)), cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m(2)) i.v. (every 21 days) and either HD-CT of cyclophosphamide (1500 mg/m(2)), thiotepa (150 mg/m(2)) and mitoxantrone (10 mg/m(2)) i.v. for four consecutive days followed by stem cell transplantation or a SD-CT of three cycles CMF (cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m(2), methotrexate 40 mg/m(2), 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m(2), i.v. on day 1 and 8, respectively, every 28 days). After a median follow-up of 6.1 years, 166 events with respect to event-free survival (EFS) (SD-CT: 91, HD-CT: 75) have been observed. The hazard ratio of HD-CT versus SD-CT is estimated as 0.80 [95% confidence interval (0.59, 1.08)], P = 0.15. The trend to a superiority of HD-CT as compared with SD-CT with respect to EFS seems to be more pronounced in premenopausal patients as compared with postmenopausal patients and in patients with tumor grade 3 as compared with patients with tumor grade 1/2. With a follow-up of 6 years, there was a trend in favor of HD-CT with respect to EFS not being significant. A proper meta-analysis needs to be undertaken for an evaluation of subgroups of patients who might benefit from HD-CT.