Ferric Carboxymaltose and Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agent Treatment Reduces the Rate of Blood Transfusion in Refractory Anemia

Background: Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are used to treat refractory anemia (RA). Guidelines suggest iron supplementation for unresponsive patients, regardless of iron deficiency. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of iron supplementation with ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) on the reduction of red blood cell transfusion (RBCT) rate in transfusion-dependent RA patients. Methods: This was a prospective quasi-randomized study, wherein patients were randomly assigned into three groups: (A) ESAs alone, (B) ferric gluconate (FG) and ESAs, and (C) FCM and ESAs. Hemoglobin and ferritin levels, as well as the number of RBCTs at 4 and 28 weeks were compared. Economic evaluation was also performed. Results: A total of 113 RA patients were enrolled. In total, 43 were treated with intravenous FG and ESAs, 38 with FCM and ESAs, and 32 with ESAs alone. At both follow-ups, erythropoietic response was increased in those receiving iron as compared with those with ESAs alone (p = 0.001), regardless of the type of iron. At one month, ferritin levels were higher in the FCM and ESA groups (p = 0.001). RBCTs were lower in both iron groups. The less costly treatment strategy was FCM, followed by FG, and lastly ESAs. Conclusions: Addition of iron to ESAs in RA reduced RBCT requirement and improved hemoglobin values.

ASXL1 mutations with serum EPO levels predict poor response to darbepoetin alfa in lower-risk MDS: W-JHS MDS01 trial

Darbepoetin alfa (DA) is used to treat anemia in lower-risk (IPSS low or int-1) myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). However, whether mutations can predict the effectiveness of DA has not been examined. The present study aimed to determine predictive gene mutations. The primary endpoint was a correlation between the presence of highly frequent (≥ 10%) mutations and hematological improvement-erythroid according to IWG criteria 2006 by DA (240 μg/week) until week 16. The study included 79 patients (age 29–90, median 77.0 years; 52 [65.8%] male). Frequently (≥ 10%) mutated genes were SF3B1 (24 cases, 30.4%), TET2 (20, 25.3%), SRSF2 (10, 12.7%), ASXL1 (9, 11.4%), and DNMT3A (8, 10.1%). Overall response rate to DA was 70.9%. Multivariable analysis including baseline erythropoietin levels and red blood cell transfusion volumes as variables revealed that erythropoietin levels and mutations of ASXL1 gene were significantly associated with worse response (odds ratio 0.146, 95% confidence interval 0.042–0.503; p = 0.0023, odds ratio 0.175, 95% confidence interval 0.033–0.928; p = 0.0406, respectively). This study indicated that anemic patients who have higher erythropoietin levels and harbor ASXL1 gene mutations may respond poorly to DA. Alternative strategies are needed for the treatment of anemia in this population. Trial registration number and date of registration: UMIN000022185 and 09/05/2016.

Does Outcome/Survival of Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndromes Should Be Predicted by Reduced Levels of ADAMTS-13? Results From a Pilot Study

INTRODUCTION

Von Willebrand factor (vWF) cleaving protease ADAMTS-13 has a key role for maintaining normal size of vWF. A deficiency or dysfunction of vWF cleaving protease is associated with ultra large vWF multimers and thrombotic microangiopathy. Patients with cancers have reduced levels of vWF cleaving protease. In this pilot study, we have evaluated whether or not deficiencies of ADAMTS-13 were present in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Moreover, we assessed if a reduction in basal levels of ADAMTS-13 may play a role in the prognosis of MDS.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We measured and compared the levels of vWF cleaving protease ADAMTS-13 in 100 patients with MDS and 35 healthy controls. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the International Prognostic Scoring System: group I consisting of 44 patients with low-risk MDS and group II of 56 patients with high-risk MDS. Patients with high-risk and low-risk MDS presented significantly lower levels of ADAMTS-13 than controls (P < .001 and P = .0177, respectively). High-risk patients had significantly lower levels of ADAMTS-13 when compared with the low-risk group (P < .001).

RESULTS

We found that reduced levels of ADAMTS-13 have a relationship with overall survival (P < .001). Statistical analysis showed that ADAMTS-13 correlates with cytogenetics (P < .001) and a tendency of slight correlation with platelet count and basal levels of ADAMTS-13 (R, 0.35; P value, 0.001). Moreover, we found that levels of ADAMTS-13 have correlation with response to treatment (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

ADAMTS-13 in MDS might represent a surrogate marker of prognosis, response to therapy, or disease progression. Further studies are needed.

Impact of the relative dose intensity on survival of patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes treated with Azacitidine

We performed a retrospective analysis of 93 myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients with intermediate 2 or high‐risk IPSS score to study the impact of Azacitidine (AZA) relative dose intensity (RDI) <80% on the overall survival (OS). There were 51.6% of patients who had full dose and 48.4% had dose reduction or delayed with a RDI <80%. Nineteen patients (20.4%) had RDI <80% before getting objective response. Overall and progression‐free survivals (OS, PFS) probabilities for the whole population were 58% (95% CI: 48‐69) and 47% (95% CI: 38‐58) at 1 year; 35% (95% CI: 26‐47) and 31% (95% CI: 23‐43) at two years, respectively. When analyzing the outcomes according to the response to AZA, median OS was 32 months (range: 26‐55) for responders and 8 months (range: 7‐12) for nonresponders, with a respective 1‐year and 2‐year OS probabilities of 91% vs 28% and 66% vs 6%, respectively (P < 0.001). Interestingly, there was no impact of dose reduction on OS nor on PFS, however, when analyzing the timing of dose reduction as time‐dependent variable, we found that patients who had dose reduction before achieving the objective response, had significantly lower OS (P = 0.02) and PFS (P = 0.01) compared to patients who had dose reduction after achieving the objective response. In multivariate analysis, acute myeloid leukemia with 21%‐30% blasts in BM and poor and very poor karyotype significantly impacted OS, (HR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.27‐3.44, P = 0.004, and HR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.6‐4.6, P < 0.001 respectively), as well as PFS (HR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.07‐3.17, P = 0.028, and HR = 3.03, 95% CI: 1.7‐5.39, P < 0.001, respectively).

The impact of anaemia, transfusion dependency, comorbidities and polypharmacy in elderly patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are heterogeneous clonal disorders ranging from indolent conditions with a near-normal life expectancy to forms approaching acute myeloid leukaemia. Comorbid conditions have rarely been systematically studied among patients with MDS. Older age per se has a negative impact on survival of MDS patients, in particular of those with lower risk. However, age indirectly affects also the survival of higher-risk patients by limiting their eligibility to intensive treatments. In addition, ageing is associated with an increasingly high risk of developing comorbidity, and a high prevalence of comorbid diseases has indeed been reported in MDS patients. The impact of multi-morbidities/comorbidities and polypharmacy in patients with low-risk MDS patients is a poorly explored topic. We focused on medications, multi-morbidities and comorbidities of 155 low-risk MDS patients followed in the haematological outpatients clinics or in medical/oncology wards of our University Hospital. One or more comorbidities were present at diagnosis in 24 younger patients with MDS syndromes (31%), whereas 56 older patients with MDS (75%) presented 1 or more comorbidities (P < 0.001).The most frequent comorbidity was cardiac comorbidity 18% in younger patients and 25% in older patients. With no statistical significance between older and younger patients, congestive heart failure was the most frequent observed disease. Our study has shown a statistical correlation between transfusion dependency and polypathology (P = 0.0014). These data were also confirmed in a subanalysis of the younger group of patients. Our study has shown that comorbidity is very common among patients with MDS, potentially affecting the clinical course and outcome of MDS patients.