Abstract
Bortezomib is active in Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM) but associated with considerable peripheral neuropathy (PN). The proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib (CFZ) is approved in the USA for relapsed/refractory myeloma. Herein, we examined the efficacy and safety of carfilzomib, rituximab, and dexamethasone (CaRD) in 31 proteasome inhibitor and rituximab naive WM patients with symptomatic disease. Median baseline characteristics: age 61, prior therapies 0 (range 0-1), hematocrit 32.3%, hemoglobin 10.7 g/dL, serum IgM 3375 mg/dL, serum M-protein 2.185 g/dL, B2M 3.6 mg/L, and bone marrow disease involvement 60%. Therapy consisted of IV CFZ 20 mg/m2 (cycle 1) then 36 mg/m2 (cycles 2 and beyond) with IV dexamethasone (dex) 20 mg given on days 1,2,8,9 and rituximab 375 mg/m2 on days 2,9 of each 21-day cycle. Treatment consisted of six induction cycles, then maintenance beginning 8 weeks after induction (given every 8 weeks for eight cycles; consisted of CFZ 36 mg/m2, and IV dex 20 mg on days 1,2 and rituximab 375 mg/m2 on day 2). Patients with IgM level >4000 mg/dL underwent plasmapheresis and/or had rituximab held until IgM <4000 mg/dL to prevent symptomatic IgM flare. Patients received oral acyclovir (400 mg twice daily) and famotidine (20 mg twice daily) as concomitant medications. For all 31 patients, median serum IgM levels and M-protein declined to 749 mg/dL and 0.7 g/dL, respectively (p<0.00001). Median hematocrit and hemoglobin rose to 40.9% and 13.7 g/dL, respectively (p<0.00001). A total of 30 patients concluded induction therapy with bone marrow tumor involvement reduced to a median of 7.5% (p=0.0003). The best overall response rate using criteria adapted from the 3rd International Workshop on WM was 81% (1 CR, 8 VGPR, 12 PR, 4 Minor Responses). With a median follow-up of 8 cycles, 22 patients remain on study, including 20 currently on maintenance therapy. Median time to response (for minor responders or better) was 2.1 months. Grade >2 treatment related toxicities included asymptomatic elevation in lipase (12.9%), dex-related hyperglycemia (6.45%), reversible neutropenia (9.67%), and cardiomyopathy (3.22%). There were no grade 2 or greater PN events. Treatment discontinuation occurred for non-response (n=8), cardiomyopathy in a patient with multiple cardiac risk factors (n=1), and progressive disease (n=1). CaRD is highly active and offers a neuropathy sparing approach for proteasome-inhibitor based therapy in WM.
Disclosures:
Off Label Use: Carfilzomib is a novel proteasome inhibitor, which offers a neuropathic sparing approach on waldenstrom macroglobulinemia disease when used in a combination therapy with rituximab and dexamethasome.
