The Role of JAK1/2 Inhibitors in the Treatment of Chronic Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Author(s):  
Clodagh Keohane ◽  
Ruben Mesa ◽  
Claire Harrison

In 2005, the description of the JAK2V617F mutation for the first time provided a molecular key to enable more rapid diagnosis and target for novel therapeutics in the myeloproliferative neoplasms. In 2007, the first-in-class agent INC18424, ruxolitinib, JAKafi, or JAKAVI was first tested in patients with intermediate-risk 2 or high-risk myelofibrosis regardless of whether they possessed the JAK2V617F mutation. Patients treated with this agent had major reduction in splenomegaly as well as impressive reduction, and in some cases resolution, of symptoms. This study was followed by the two Controlled Myelofibrosis Study with Oral JAK Inhibitor Therapy (COMFORT) trials (the first-ever phase III trials in myelofibrosis), which confirmed results in these aspects were superior to either placebo or standard care, and updated results show a survival advantage with this therapy. This paper discusses these results and data from other JAK inhibitors while speculating on the future of these therapies. It also reflects on the fact that the true targets and agents' mode of action are uncertain. Unlike targeted therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), these agents do not deliver molecular remission, and it is not clear whether their predominant benefit is mediated via JAK2, JAK1, or both. Nonetheless, the advent of the JAK inhibitor is a welcome advance and has made a dramatic improvement to the therapeutic landscape of these conditions.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2440
Author(s):  
Francesco Spagnolo ◽  
Bruna Dalmasso ◽  
Enrica Tanda ◽  
Miriam Potrony ◽  
Susana Puig ◽  
...  

Inherited pathogenic variants (PVs) in the CDKN2A tumor suppressor gene are among the strongest risk factors for cutaneous melanoma. Dysregulation of the p16/RB1 pathway may intrinsically limit the activity of MAPK-directed therapy due to the interplay between the two pathways. In our study, we assessed, for the first time, whether patients with germline CDKN2A PVs achieve suboptimal results with BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi)+/−MEK inhibitors (MEKi). We compared the response rate of nineteen CDKN2A PVs carriers who received first-line treatment with BRAFi+/−MEKi with an expected rate derived from phase III trials and “real-world” studies. We observed partial response in 16/19 patients (84%), and no complete responses. The overall response rate was higher than that expected from phase III trials (66%), although not statistically significant (p-value = 0.143; 95% CI = 0.60–0.97); the difference was statistically significant (p-value = 0.019; 95% CI = 0.62–0.97) in the comparison with real-world studies (57%). The clinical activity of BRAFi+/−MEKi in patients with germline CDKN2A PV was not inferior to that of clinical trials and real-world studies, which is of primary importance for clinical management and genetic counseling of this subgroup of patients.


Hematology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 480-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro M. Vannucchi ◽  
Paola Guglielmelli

Abstract Polycythemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) are chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms that are characterized by thrombohemorrhagic complications, symptom burden, and impaired survival mainly due to thrombosis, progression to myelofibrosis, and transformation to acute leukemia. In this manuscript, we will review the most recent changes in diagnostic criteria, the improvements in risk stratification, and the “state of the art” in the daily management of these disorders. The role of conventional therapies and novel agents, interferon α and the JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib, is critically discussed based on the results of a few basic randomized clinical studies. Several unmet needs remain, above all, the lack of a curative approach that might overcome the still burdensome morbidity and mortality of these hematologic neoplasms, as well as the toxicities associated with therapeutic agents.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 558-558
Author(s):  
Martin D. Berger ◽  
Sebastian Stintzing ◽  
Volker Heinemann ◽  
Shu Cao ◽  
Yuji Miyamoto ◽  
...  

558 Background: The introduction of immunotherapy has significantly improved outcome in various tumors. Immune stimulating proteins exert an anti-tumor effect mainly through enhancing T-cell mediated immune response. Additionally, preliminary data suggest a major role of immune stimulating proteins in modulating angiogenesis. We therefore hypothesize that variations in genes involved in the immune activation pathway may predict outcome in pts with mCRC treated with first-line FOLFIRI/ bevacizumab (bev). Methods: The impact of 4 functional SNPs within the CD40L, Light, OX40L and ICOS genes on outcome was evaluated in 322 pts with mCRC treated with first-line FOLFIRI/bev in two randomized phase III trials. We used TRIBE as a discovery (n = 215) and FIRE-3 as a validation set (n = 107). One hundred twenty-nine pts treated with FOLFIRI/cetuximab (cet) served as a control cohort (FIRE-3). OncoArray, a custom array manufactured by Illumina was used for data extraction. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood. Results: Baseline characteristics: FOLFIRI/bev, discovery set (TRIBE), median PFS/OS/FU 9.7/26.2/48.9 mo; FOLFIRI/bev, validation set (FIRE-3), PFS/OS/FU 11.5/32.4/71.1 mo; FOLFIRI/cet, control set (FIRE-3) PFS/OS/FU 12.8//23.9/70.7 mo. The CD40L rs1126535 SNP showed significant association with OS. Pts in the discovery cohort harboring any T allele and treated with FOLFIRI/bev had a longer median OS compared to C/C carriers (27.9 vs. 20.0 mo) in both univariate (HR 1.83, 95% CI 1.19-2.81, p = 0.005) and multivariate analyses (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.03-2.56, p = 0.038). Similarly, any T allele carriers in the validation cohort had a significantly longer median OS than those harboring a C/C genotype (40 vs. 19.0 mo) in the multivariate analysis (HR 2.80, 95% CI 1.05-7.50, p = 0.040). However, this association could not be shown in pts receiving FOLFIRI/cet (HR 0.60, 95% CI, 0.18-1.94, p = 0.38). Conclusions: We show for the first time that the CD40L polymorphism rs1126535 might serve as a predictive marker in pts with mCRC treated with FOLFIRI/bev. Targeting CD40L might be promising to further improve treatment against mCRC and to overcome resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy.


Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 2978-2978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vibe Skov ◽  
Caroline Riley ◽  
Mads Thomassen ◽  
Lasse Kjær ◽  
Thomas Stauffer Larsen ◽  
...  

Introduction: The Philadelphia-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are associated with a high risk of arterial and venous thrombosis, which are attributed to several mechanisms, including elevated blood cell counts per se, in vivo leukocyte and platelet activation with increased adhesion of granulocytes, monocytes and platelets to each other and to a dysfunctional endothelium. In recent years, evidence has accumulated that chronic inflammation is an important pathogenetic mechanism for MPN-disease development and disease progression, inducing increasing genomic instability in hematopoietic cells and thereby emergence of additional mutations of significance for myelofibrotic and leukemic transformation. Recent studies have shown several thrombo-inflammatory genes to be upregulated in patients with MPNs, likely contributing to the increased risk of thrombosis. Several studies have documented that long term treatment with interferon-alpha2 (IFN) is able to normalize elevated cell counts in concert with induction of a remarkable decrease in the JAK2V617F allele burden and accordingly impacting important thrombosis promoting factors in MPNs. Herein, using whole blood gene expression profiling we for the first time report that treatment with IFN is able to normoregulate or significantly downregulate upregulated thrombo-inflammatory genes in patients with MPNs. Methods: Eight patients with ET, 21 patients with PV, and 4 patients with PMF participated in the study. All patients received treatment with IFN, in the large majority in a dosage ranging from 45-90 ug x 1 sc/week. Gene expression microarray analysis of whole blood was performed before and after 3 months of treatment. Total RNA was purified from whole blood, amplified to biotin-labeled RNA, and hybridized to Affymetrix HG-U133 2.0 Plus chips. Results: We identified 6261, 10,008, and 2828 probe sets to be significantly differentially expressed in ET, PV, and PMF, respectively, in response to treatment with IFN (pvalue < 0.05). Six thrombo-inflammatory genes were investigated: F3, PADI4, SELP, SERPINE1, SLC2A1, and THBS1. In all patients groups, the 6 genes were significantly upregulated at baseline and either normoregulated or significantly downregulated during treatment with IFN (Figure 1). Discussion and Conclusions: Thrombosis contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality in MPNs. Despite treatment with conventional drugs (hydroxyurea, anagrelide) - the most used cytoreductive therapies worldwide - patients with MPNs are still suffering potentially life-threatening or life-invalidating thrombotic complications in the brain, heart, lungs and elsewhere. Therefore, there is an urgent need for studies that explore the pathogenetic mechanisms eliciting the thrombotic state and the impact of novel therapies, such as IFN, upon the thrombogenic factors which might be operative. Herein, we have for the first time shown that IFN significantly downregulates several thrombo-inflammatory genes, known to be the upregulated in patients with concurrent or previous thrombosis. Highly intriguing, we found that IFN significantly downregulated the PADI4 gene, which is required for neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation and thrombosis development. A most recent study has shown neutrophils from patients with MPNs to be associated with an increase in NET formation, which was blunted by ruxolitinib. This study also showed that JAK2V617F-driven MPN mouse models have a NET-rich, prothrombotic phenotype, highlighting NETosis to be yet another important thrombosis mechanism in MPNs. In conclusion, we have for the first time shown 3 months IFN-treatment to be associated with a significant downregulation of upregulated thrombo-inflammatory genes, including significant downregulation of the NETosis associated gene - PADI4. In the context of a significantly increased risk of thrombosis after the MPN-diagnosis with a particular increased risk at 3 months, our results of significant downregulation of these thrombo-inflammatory genes during IFN-therapy are of paramount importance and may signal an advantage of IFN over conventional cytoreductive therapies. Further studies are required to decipher the impact of IFN upon upregulated thrombo-inflammatory genes and if combination therapy with ruxolitinib may be even more efficacious. Figure 1 Disclosures Hasselbalch: Novartis: Research Funding; AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals: Other: Data monitoring board. OffLabel Disclosure: Interferon-alpha for treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms


Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 5396-5396
Author(s):  
Vibe Skov ◽  
Mads Thomassen ◽  
Lasse Kjær ◽  
Thomas Stauffer Larsen ◽  
Torben A Kruse ◽  
...  

Introduction The Philadelphia-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) develop in a biological continuum from the early cancer stages (ET/PV) to the advanced myelofibrosis stage characterized by huge splenomegaly, bone marrow failure and -fibrosis. Importantly, bone marrow fibrosis also increases from the early stages with reticulin fibrosis only and later deposition of mature collagen as well. Fibulins are glycoproteins that are important constituents of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Thus, fibulins have been shown to modulate cell morphology, growth, adhesion and motility. Dysregulation of fibulins has been reported in several cancers. In addition, upregulation of fibulins and elevated circulating fibulins have been reported in diseases - other than cancers -, in which chronic inflammation is an important pathogenetic factor, such as cardiovascular diseases. Thus, deregulated fibulins have been described in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Herein, using whole blood gene expression profiling, we for the first time report deregulated fibulins in patients with MPNs. Aim To detect if genes associated with pre-atherosclerotic changes in type II diabetes are deregulated in patients with MPNs. Material and methods Gene expression microarrays were applied to generate gene expression profiles of whole blood from control subjects (n=21) and patients with ET (n=19), PV (n=41), and PMF (n=9). Total RNA was purified, amplified to biotin-labeled aRNA and hybridized to microarray chips. The statistical software R was applied to perform initial data processing and statistical analysis of gene expression changes between patients and control subjects. An FDR <0.05 was considered significant. Results We identified 23,657, 25,567, and 17,417 probe sets which were significantly differentially expressed between controls and patients with ET, PV, and PMF, respectively (FDR < 0.05). We focused upon the top 15 upregulated genes from a previous gene expression microarray study performed on arterial tissue from patients with type 2 diabetes compared to non-diabetic patients undergoing artery bypass graft surgery. Several of these genes were significantly deregulated in patients with MPNs (Table 1). In patients with ET, FBLN1, FBLN2,FAM107A, IGF2, MEG3, and ELN were significantly upregulated and ZFP36L2 were significantly downregulated. In patients with PV, FBLN1, FBLN2, ELN, LEPR, FAM107A, IGF2, CRISPLD2, and MEG3 were significantly upregulated and ZFP36L2 and SERPINF1 were significantly downregulated. In patients with PMF, MEG3, LEPR, FBLN1, FAM107A, ELN, IGF2, and VWF were significantly upregulated and ZFP36L2 and SERPINF1 were significantly downregulated. Discussion and conclusions Fibulins regulate several cellular functions including tissue homeostasis and remodeling after injury, angiogenesis, and tumorigenesis. Thus, fibulins have been reported to be upregulated in several cancer types, in which deregulated fibulins have been associated with cancer invasiveness and disease progression. We have for the first time shown that fibulins are also highly deregulated in patients with MPNs. The significance of our findings is presently unknown but since interactions between fibulins and transforming growth factor (TGFbeta) have been demonstrated, upregulated fibulins may enhance the capacities of TGFbeta, which shares several of the regulatory functions excerted by fibulins. In the context of chronic inflammation being a driving force for MPN development during the biological continuum from early cancer stages to the advanced myelofibrosis stage and chronic inflammation likely also accelerates the development of atherosclerosis in MPNs, it is highly intriguing to note that fibulins are also elevated in arteries from patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Thus, upregulated fibulins in blood cells may actually indirectly reflect ongoing matrix modelling during atherosclerosis development, including remodeling and turnover of basement membranes in the inflamed endothelium. In conclusion, highly deregulated fibulins have been demonstrated in circulating blood cells by whole blood gene expression profiling. Further studies are needed to assess the significance of our findings in terms of potential associations to modelling of ECM in the bone marrow and during development of atherosclerosis in MPNs. Disclosures Hasselbalch: Novartis: Research Funding; AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals: Other: Data monitoring board.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Eleutherakis-Papaiakovou ◽  
Nikolaos Kanellias ◽  
Efstathios Kastritis ◽  
Maria Gavriatopoulou ◽  
Evangelos Terpos ◽  
...  

Panobinostat represents a potent oral nonselective pan-histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDAC) with activity in myeloma patients. It has been approved by the FDA and EMA in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone for the treatment of multiple myeloma, in patients who have received at least two prior regimens, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent. In order to further explore its clinical potential, it is evaluated in different combinations in relapsed/refractory and newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. This review focuses on available data about panobinostat’s pharmacology and its role in clinical practice. This review will reveal panobinostat’s efficacy as antimyeloma treatment, describing drug evolution from preclinical experimental administration to administration in phase III trials, which established its role in current clinical practice. Based on the latest data, we will present its mechanism of action, its efficacy, and most important issues regarding its toxicity profile. We will further try to shed light on its role in current and future therapeutic landscape of myeloma patients. Panobinostat retains its role in therapy of multiple myeloma because of its manageable toxicity profile and its efficacy, mainly in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma patients. These characteristics make it valuable also for novel regimens in combination with second-generation proteasome inhibitors, IMiDs, and monoclonal antibodies. Results of ongoing trials are expected to shed light on drug introduction in different therapeutic combinations or even at an earlier level of disease course.


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