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The taxanes (paclitaxel and docetaxel) represent an important class of antineoplastic agents that interfere with microtubule function leading to altered mitosis and cellular death. Paclitaxel (Taxol(®)) was originally extracted from a yew tree (Taxus spp., Taxaceae) a small slow-growing evergreen, coniferous tree. Due to the initial scarcity of paclitaxel, docetaxel (Taxotere(®)) a semisynthetic analog of paclitaxel produced from the needles of European yew tree, Taxus baccata was developed. Docetaxel differs from paclitaxel in two positions in its chemical structure and this small alteration makes it more water soluble. Today, paclitaxel and docetaxel are widely prescribed antineoplastic agents for a broad range of malignancies including lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, bladder cancer, and other carcinomas. Although very active clinically, paclitaxel and docetaxel have several clinical problems including poor drug solubility, serious dose-limiting toxicities such as myelosuppression, peripheral sensory neuropathy, allergic reactions, and eventual development of drug resistance. A number of these side effects have been associated with the solvents used for dilution of these antineoplastic agents: Cremophor EL for paclitaxel and polysorbate 80 for docetaxel. In addition, reports have linked these solvents to the alterations in paclitaxel and docetaxel pharmacokinetic profiles. In this review, we provide preclinical and clinical data on several novel taxanes formulations and analogs which are currently US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved or in clinical development in various solid tumor malignancies. Of the new taxanes nab-paclitaxel and cabazitaxel have enjoyed clinical success and are FDA-approved; while many of the other compounds described in this review are unlikely to be further developed for clinical use in daily practice. Furthermore, the successful clinical emergence of novel nontaxane microtubule-targeting chemotherapy agents such as epothilones and eribulin is liable to further restrict the development of novel taxanes.

The outcomes of patients with primary plasma cell leukemia (pPCL) after undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in the novel agent era are unknown. We report outcomes of 348 patients with pPCL receiving autologous (auto-) HCT (n = 277) and allogeneic (allo-) HCT (n = 71) between 2008 and 2015. Median age was 60 years and 56 years for auto- and allo-HCT respectively. For auto-HCT, the 4-year outcomes were: non-relapse mortality (NRM) 7% (4–11%), relapse (REL) 76% (69–82%), progression-free survival (PFS) 17% (13–23%), and overall survival (OS) 28% (22–35%). Karnofsky performance status (KPS) > 90 and ≥very good partial response (VGPR) predicted superior OS in multi-variate analysis for auto-HCT. For allo-HCT, the 4-year outcomes were: NRM 12% (5–21%), REL 69% (56–81%), PFS 19% (10–31%), and OS 31% (19–44%). Compared with prior CIBMTR pPCL patients (1995–2006), inferior survival was noted in the current cohort (3-year OS, 39% vs. 38% in allo-HCT, and 62% vs. 35% in auto-HCT) respectively. However, we noted an increased HCT utilization, from 12% (7–21%) in 1995 to 46% (34–64%) in 2009 using SEER data (available till 2009). Despite modern induction translating to higher proportion receiving HCT, the outcomes remain poor in pPCL patients, mainly derived by high relapse rates post-HCT.

We performed the first in-depth, comparative and prospective biomonitoring of Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients ( N  = 39) receiving ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) or idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T) in the real-world setting. In cilta-cel patients response rates were higher and atypical neurotoxicities/infections more frequent. Peak CAR T counts were significantly higher in cilta-cel patients, driven by CD4 + CAR expansion, correlating with clinical responses. Expansion of cilta-cel cells was associated with higher CAR and CD27 expression while, in contrast to ide-cel, there was no correlation between TIM3 expression and CAR T proliferation. Cilta-cel CAR T expansion was followed by a CAR-specific switch from proliferation-associated genes to genes/surface markers indicating effector/memory function. The longer persistence of cilta-cel CAR T was associated with increased IL-7R expression; in vitro data showed persistent antigen-independent activation and higher metabolic activity of cilta-cel vs. ide-cel CAR T. Among cilta-cel-treated patients experiencing atypical neurotoxicities, central nervous system (CNS)-infiltrating, effector-type CAR T presented a distinct inflammatory phenotypic/cytokine-expression profile. This in-depth biomonitoring report following real-world cilta-cel or ide-cel highlights intrinsic biological differences between BCMA-targeting CAR T products, potentially explaining differences in clinical activity and toxicity. Our findings may guide optimization of cellular immunotherapy strategies in MM. Two BCMA-targeted CAR T products, idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) and ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), have been approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). Here the authors report distinct expansion, phenotype, function, and toxicity of cilta-cel vs. ide-cel CAR T cells in a realworld cohort of patients with MM.

Male-specific late effects after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) include genital chronic graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), hypogonadism, sexual dysfunction, infertility, and subsequent malignancies. They may be closely intertwined and cause prolonged morbidity and decreased quality of life after HCT. We provide a systematic review of male-specific late effects in a collaboration between transplant physicians, endocrinologists, urologists, dermatologists, and sexual health professionals through the Late Effects and Quality of Life Working Committee of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, and the Transplant Complications Working Party of the European Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. The systematic review summarizes incidence, risk factors, screening, prevention and treatment of these complications and provides consensus evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice and future research.

Pre-harvest autologous blood collection from bone marrow (BM) donors is performed to meet potential post-operative transfusion needs. This study examines the impact of autologous blood transfusion on BM donor’s health and safety. The study included first-time unrelated BM donors from the United States whose BM harvest was facilitated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) centers between 2006 and 2017. Examination of 7024 BM donors revealed that 60% received at least one unit of autologous blood. The donors who received autologous blood were older, had lower hemoglobin pre-harvest, underwent longer duration of anesthesia, and higher volume BM harvest. Only donors who underwent high-volume BM harvest, defined as a BM harvest volume >27% of donor’s blood volume, benefited from autologous transfusion. After a high-volume BM harvest, autologous blood transfusion was shown to decrease grade 2 to 4 collection-associated toxicities within 48 h of BM donation (p = 0.010) and shorten the time to donor-reported “complete” recovery from donation-associated symptoms (p < 0.001). Therefore, autologous transfusion could be avoided as support of marrow donation in the majority of unrelated BM donors and should be limited to cases where the planned BM harvest volume is expected to exceed 27% of donor’s blood volume.

The landscape of treatment for multiple myeloma (MM) has significantly changed over the last decade due to novel agents that have shown superiority in efficacy such as proteasome inhibitors (PIs) and immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) over traditional therapies. However, the real‐world utilization of these new agents has not been studied well. This study evaluated year‐to‐year changes in treatment choices in a cohort of patients aged 66 or older in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry linked with Medicare claims (SEER‐Medicare) data who were diagnosed with MM between 2007 and 2011. We identified 2477 symptomatic newly diagnosed patients who were followed for 6 months or more postdiagnosis and treated with systemic therapies but not with stem cell transplantation. Symptomatic patients were identified by evidence of hypercalcemia, renal failure, anemia, or bone lesions (CRAB criteria). The minimum follow‐up was imposed to ensure sufficient data to characterize treatment. Our analysis found that the proportion of treated patients increased from 75% in the 2007 cohort to 79% in the 2011 cohort. The share of PI‐based regimens including PI plus alkylating agents, PI plus IMiD, and PI‐only increased from 9% to 21%, 3% to 11%, and 16% to 22%, respectively, between 2007 and 2011. These findings translate to the share of PI‐based regimens having increased from 28% to 55% and that of IMiDs‐based regimens (excluding PI plus IMiD) having decreased from 43% to 27%. In conclusion, while the usage of PIs among elderly MM patients increased significantly replacing IMiD‐based regimens (with or without alkylating agents but not with PI) between 2007 and 2011, this significant shift did not increase the proportion of treated patients. This study evaluated year‐to‐year changes in treatment choices in a cohort of patients aged 66 or older in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)‐Medicare registry diagnosed with MM between 2007 and 2011. We found that while the usage of PIs among elderly MM patients increased significantly replacing IMiD‐based regimens (with or without alkylating agents but not with PI) between 2007 and 2011, this significant shift did not increase the proportion of treated patients.

A CD19-specific CAR T-cell therapy with intermediate affinity for CD19 produced a response in 77% of adults with refractory disease. Overall survival was 61% at 12 months, and serious toxic effects were rare.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Background In this study, we compared outcomes of intensified myeloablative conditioning regimens using large registry data from Japan (Japanese Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy) and the United States (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research). Methods Adult patients who underwent their first myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for acute leukemia in remission between 2010 and 2018 using conditioning regimens of cyclophosphamide plus total‐body irradiation (CY/TBI), CY/TBI+cytarabine (AraC), or CY/TBI+etoposide (VP16) were included. Results The acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cohort (N = 480, 38.8%) indicated that overall survival (OS) was poorer in CY/TBI+AraC (hazard ratio [HR] 1.46, p < 0.001) and CY/TBI+VP16 (HR 1.39, p = 0.059) compared to CY/TBI. Relapse was not suppressed, while treatment‐related mortality (TRM) was significantly higher (HR 1.78 and 1.74, p < 0.001 and 0.018, respectively). In the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cohort (N = 3901, 61.2%), OS was comparable among these regimens. With intensified regimens, relapse was significantly suppressed in CY/TBI+VP16 (HR 0.74, p = 0.005), while TRM was higher (HR 1.21, p = 0.077). No interactions were observed regarding the country. Conclusion In AML adding AraC and VP16 to CY/TBI had an adverse effect on OS. Conversely, in ALL, adding VP16 or AraC to CY/TBI did not affect survival, but the addition of VP16 reduced the risk of relapse. Clinical Trial Registration The authors have confirmed clinical trial registration is not needed for this submission.

Background/aimsChimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy has been shown to improve the remission rate and survival for patients with refractory haematological malignancies. The aim of this study is to describe ocular adverse effects associated with CAR T therapy in patients with haematological malignancies.MethodsThis is a retrospective, single-institution, case series. Patients aged 18 years or older who received standard of care CAR T therapy for relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma with a documented ophthalmic evaluation were included. The primary outcome was clinician ophthalmic examination findings.ResultsA total of 66 patients received CAR T-cell therapy from February 2018 to October 2019 with 11 receiving an ophthalmic examination. Eleven patients (n=22 eyes) who received CAR T-cell therapy were included in review. The median time from CAR T-cell infusion date to ocular examination was 57.5 days. The median patient age at the time of examination was 60.5 years. Ten patients had subjective symptoms prompting ophthalmic examination. Two patients reported floaters and photopsias. One patient had worsening ocular graft-versus-host disease. Two patients were identified with possible reactivation of viral infections, including herpes zoster ophthalmicus and regressing acute retinal necrosis.ConclusionsThe increasing use of CAR T therapy for malignancies underscores the importance of ophthalmologists and oncologists understanding the potential toxicities associated with its use, particularly ocular toxicities and when to refer for an ophthalmic examination.