First experience with brentuximab vedotin in posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder after liver transplantation: complete remission followed by lethal sepsis

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders following kidney transplantation: A literature review with updates on risk factors, prognostic indices, screening strategies, treatment and analysis of donor type

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) is a devastating complication of kidney transplantation with an insidious presentation and potential to disseminate aggressively. This review delineates the risk factors, prognostic indexes, screening, current management algorithm and promising treatment strategies for PTLD. Kidneys from both extended criteria donors (ECD) and living donors (LD) are being increasingly used to expand the donor pool. This review also delineates whether PTLD outcomes vary based on these donor sources. While Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a well-known risk factor for PTLD development, the use of T-cell depleting induction agents has been increasingly implicated in aggressive, monomorphic forms of PTLD. Research regarding maintenance therapy is sparse. The international prognostic index seems to be the most validate prognostic tool. Screening for PTLD is controversial, as annual PET-CT is most sensitive but costly, while targeted monitoring of EBV-seronegative patients was more economically feasible, is recommended by the American Society of Transplantation, but is limited to a subset of the population. Other screening strategies such as using Immunoglobulin/T-cell receptor require further validation. A risk-stratified approach is taken in the treatment of PTLD. The first step is the reduction of immunosuppressants, after which rituximab and chemotherapy may be introduced if unsuccessful. Some novel treatments have also shown potential benefit in studies: brentuximab vedotin, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy and EBV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Analysis of LD v DD recipients show no significant difference in incidence and mortality of PTLD but did reveal a shortened time to development of PTLD from transplant. Analysis of SCD vs ECD recipients show a higher incidence of PTLD in the ECD group, which might be attributed to longer time on dialysis for these patients, age, and the pro-inflammatory nature of these organs. However, incidence of PTLD overall is still extremely low. Efforts should be focused on optimising recipients instead. Minimising the use of T-cell depleting therapy while encouraging research on the effect of new immunosuppressants on PTLD, screening for EBV status are essential, while enabling shared decision-making during counselling when choosing kidney donor types and individualised risk tailoring are strongly advocated.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder: Update on treatment and novel therapies

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is rare and heterogeneous lymphoid proliferations that occur as a result of immunosuppression following solid organ transplant (SOT) and haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) with the majority being driven by EBV. Although some histologies are similar to lymphoid neoplasms seen in immunocompetent patients, treatment of PTLD may be different due to difference in pathobiology and higher risk of treatment complications. The most common treatment approach in SOT PTLD after failing immunosuppression reduction (RIS) takes into consideration a risk-stratified sequential algorithm with rituximab +/- chemotherapy based on phase 2 studies. In HSCT PTLD, RIS alone and chemotherapy are usually ineffective making rituximab +/- RIS as the gold standard of frontline treatment. In this review, we give an update on the treatment of PTLD beyond RIS. We highlight the most recent studies that attempted to incorporate more aggressive chemotherapy regimens and novel treatments into the traditional risk-stratified sequential approach. We also discuss the role of EBV-cytotoxic T lymphocytes in treatment of EBV-driven PTLD. Other novel agents with potential role in PTLD will be discussed in addition to the challenges that could arise with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors in this population.

Do antibody-drug conjugates increase the risk of sepsis in cancer patients? A pharmacovigilance study

Introduction: Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) produce unparalleled efficacy in refractory neoplasms but can also lead to serious toxicities. Although ADC-related sepsis has been reported, the clinical features are not well characterized in real-world studies. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the association between ADCs and sepsis using FAERS data and uncover the clinical characteristics of ADC-related sepsis. Methods: We performed disproportionality analysis using FAERS data and compared rates of sepsis in cancer patients receiving ADCs vs. other regimens. Associations between ADCs and sepsis were assessed using reporting odds ratios (RORs) and information component (IC). For each treatment group, we detected drug interaction signals, and conducted subgroup analyses (age, gender, and regimens) and sensitivity analyses. Results: A total of 24,618 cases were reported with ADCs between Q1, 2004 and Q3, 2021. Sepsis, septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and other sepsis-related toxicities were significantly associated with ADCs than other drugs in this database. Sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome have the highest safety concerns with ADCs compared with other anticancer monotherapies. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin and inotuzumab ozogamicin showed increased safety risks than other ADCs. For the top nine ADC-related sepsis, males showed higher sepsis safety concern than females (p <0.001); however, age did not exert influence on the risk of sepsis. We identified that 973 of 2,441 (39.9%) cases had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and 766 of 2613 (29.3%) cases on ADCs died during therapy. Time-to-onset analysis indicated ADC-related sepsis is prone to occur within a month after administration. Co-administration of ADCs with colony-stimulating factors, proton pump inhibitors, H2-receptor antagonists, or CYP3A4/5 inhibitors showed to synergistically increase the risk of sepsis-related toxicities. Conclusion: Antibody-drug conjugates may increase the risk of sepsis in cancer patients, leading to high mortality. Further studies are warranted to characterize the underlying mechanisms and design preventive measures for ADC-related sepsis.

CD30 expression and survival in posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders

Background: Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a rare but life-threatening complication of transplantation. For refractory and relapsed PTLD new therapies are needed, such as the antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin that targets CD30. There is limited knowledge of CD30 expression in various subtypes of PTLD and its correlation to clinicopathological features. Therefore, we studied the expression of CD30 in PTLD following solid organ transplantation and correlated CD30 expression to PTLD subtype, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-status, intratumoral regulatory T-cells (Tregs), clinical features, and outcome.Methods: We included 50 cases of PTLD from a nation-wide study of PTLDs following solid organ transplantation in Sweden. The tumor biopsies were reevaluated, and clinical data were collected. CD30 expression on tumor cells was analyzed by immunohistochemistry with the clone Ber-H2. Thirty-one cases were stained with clone 236 A/E7 for detection of forkhead box protein 3 (FoxP3, a Treg biomarker).Results: The case series consisted of 6% polymorphic, 88% monomorphic, and 6% Hodgkin lymphoma-like PTLDs and 53% of the cases were EBV+. Overall, 70% (35/50) of the PTLDs were CD30+ (≥1% CD30+ tumor cells) and 30% (15/50) were CD30-. All polymorphic PTLDs (n = 3) and Hodgkin lymphomas (n = 3), 88% (14/16) of non-germinal center type of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and 75% (9/12) of T-cell PTLDs were CD30+ whereas all germinal center-type of DLBCL (n = 5) and Burkitt type PTLD (n = 2) were CD30-. CD30+ PTLD tended to be EBV+ more frequently (p = .07) and occurred earlier posttransplant (2.1 vs. 8.2 years, p = .01) than CD30- PTLD. Type of transplant and localization of the tumor did not differ between the groups except that CNS engagement was more common in CD30- PTLD (p = .02). CD30-status was not associated with presence of intratumoral Tregs or overall survival.Conclusion: Expression of CD30 varied with PTLD subtype. There was no association between CD30 and survival, regardless of subtype.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric intestinal transplant recipients: A literature review

Intestinal transplantation is a successful treatment for children with intestinal failure, but has many potential complications. PTLD, a clinically and histologically diverse malignancy, occurs frequently after intestinal transplantation and can be fatal. The management of this disease is particularly challenging. The rejection-prone intestinal allograft requires high levels of immunosuppression, a precondition for PTLD. While EBV infection clearly plays a role in disease pathogenesis, the relatively naïve immune system of children is another likely contributor. As a result, pediatric intestine recipients have a higher risk of developing PTLD than other solid organ recipients. Other risk factors for disease development such as molecular and genomic changes that precipitate malignant transformation are not fully understood, especially among children. Studies on adults have started to describe the molecular pathogenesis of PTLD, but the genomic landscape of the malignancy remains largely undefined in pediatric intestinal transplant patients. In this review, we describe what is known about PTLD in pediatric patients after intestinal transplant and highlight current knowledge gaps to better direct future investigations in the pediatric population.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder after solid-organ transplant in children

The post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) are a diverse group of potentially life-threatening conditions affecting organ transplant recipients. PTLD arises in the setting of an attenuated host immunologic system that is manipulated to allow a foreign graft but then fails to provide adequate immune surveillance of transformed malignant or premalignant lymphocytes. The diversity of biological behavior and clinical presentation makes for a challenging clinical situation for those involved in the care of children with PTLD occurring after solid-organ transplantation. This review details a large transplant center's multidisciplinary approach to monitoring for PTLD and systematic approach to intervention, which has been essential for early recognition and successful treatment.