A phase Ib study to assess the efficacy and safety of vismodegib in combination with ruxolitinib in patients with intermediate- or high-risk myelofibrosis

BACKGROUND

The JAK inhibitor (JAKi) ruxolitinib is standard treatment for myelofibrosis (MF), but some patients are unresponsive. Pre-clinical and clinical data suggest that addition of a Hedgehog pathway inhibitor (HPI) to ruxolitinib might improve response. Vismodegib is an HPI approved for treatment of locally advanced and metastatic basal cell carcinoma. The MYLIE study assessed the safety and efficacy of combining ruxolitinib with vismodegib in ruxolitinib-naive patients with MF and characterized the pharmacokinetics (PK) of vismodegib in this setting.

METHODS

In this phase Ib study, ten patients with intermediate- or high-risk primary or secondary MF received open-label vismodegib (150 mg/day orally) and ruxolitinib (15 or 20 mg orally twice daily, depending on baseline platelet count) for up to 48 weeks, or until withdrawal or discontinuation. PK samples were collected throughout the study for comparison with other patient populations. Efficacy outcomes at week 24 included spleen response (≥ 35% reduction in volume by imaging) and improvement in bone marrow fibrosis by central and investigator assessment, symptom response (≥ 50% reduction in Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Symptom Assessment Form Total Symptom score), and anemia response (per International Working Group for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Research and Treatment revised response criteria).

RESULTS

As of November 17, 2017, eight patients had completed 48 weeks of treatment with vismodegib and ruxolitinib; two discontinued treatment early. At week 24 (± 1 week), three patients experienced a spleen response by central review and no patients showed a 1-grade improvement in bone marrow fibrosis by central review. Five patients experienced symptom response at week 24, and no patients experienced an anemia response. The most common adverse events were muscle spasm (100% of patients), alopecia (70%), dysgeusia (50%), thrombocytopenia (50%), and nausea (40%); these events were predominantly grade 1/2. Three patients experienced a total of six serious adverse events.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of vismodegib and ruxolitinib was tolerable and no new safety signals were seen, but there was no evidence that the addition of vismodegib to ruxolitinib improved any of the efficacy outcome measures assessed. Further evaluation of this combination will not be pursued.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02593760 . Registered November 2, 2015.

Prognostic role of RDW in hematological malignancies: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), a biomarker for discrimination of anemia, has been recently identified as a prognostic factor in various types of cancer. Here we performed a meta-analysis in order to assess the correlation between RDW and the survival outcomes in patients with hematologic malignances.

Patients/methods

We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and ISI Web of Science for relevant studies, to investigate the prognostic significance of RDW in hematological malignancies. Odds ratios or hazards ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are pooled to estimate the association between RDW and clinicopathological parameters of patients with hematologic malignances.

Results

Seven trials with 1031 patients suffering from hematological malignancies were included in the meta-analysis, and the results indicated that increased pretreatment RDW predicted poor overall survival (HR = 2.35, 95% CI 1.70–3.24), poor progress-free survival (HR = 2.44, 95% CI 1.70–3.49) and poor event-free survival (EFS) (HR = 3.15, 95% CI 1.59–6.25). Furthermore, the similar results were observed in subgroup analysis stratified by cancer type, such as multiple myeloma, and diffuse large B cell lymphoma, etc.

Conclusions

As for hematologic malignances, patients with higher RDW are more likely to have poorer prognosis than those with lower RDW.