AMSTERDAM – The novel monoclonal antibody , thereby thwarting a mechanism that non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) use to evade immune surveillance, investigators report.
Dr. Mark Roschewski
Among 97 patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive or indolent lymphomas in a phase 1b/2 trial who were treated with Hu5F9 (5F9) plus rituximab, the objective response rate (ORR) was 45%, reported Mark Roschewski, MD, of the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, Md.
5F9 is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that targets CD47, the “don’t eat me” signal that inhibits macrophages from carrying out their crucial phagocytosis role.
“Rituximab, through its activity on the Fc receptor, places an extrinsic ‘eat me’ signal, so when you give these two things together you’re blocking the ‘don’t eat me’ signal and you’re placing the ‘eat me’ signal, and then the cell becomes susceptible to phagocytosis,” he said in a briefing prior to his presentation of the data at the annual congress of the European Hematology Association.
5F9 is the first agent in its class and the most advanced in clinical trials, but several similar agents are also in development. As previously reported, a similar molecule labeled TTI-621 has shown early activity in the treatment of T-cell lymphomas.
In an interview, Dr. Roschewski explained that the therapeutic approach shows promise for the treatment of NHL and nonmalignant diseases.
“This target isn’t even specific to cancer. There is rationale for using this to treat infections or other conditions. Basically, anything that your innate immune system should normally chew up, if that cell has always been evading it using that signal, this removes that [evasion] mechanism,” he said.
In preclinical studies, 5F9 showed the most activity against NHL and acute myeloid leukemia, he noted.
Results of the phase 1b portion of the study were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (2018;379:1711-21). At the EHA Congress, Dr. Roschewski reported on extended follow-up of the phase 1b cohort and preliminary phase 2 data.
In phase 2, the investigators enrolled patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that was either primary refractory to standard therapy or relapsed/refractory after two or more prior lines of therapy and who were not eligible for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. They also enrolled a smaller cohort of patients with the indolent lymphoma histologies follicular lymphoma and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) whose disease was relapsed or refractory to at least two prior lines.
Dr. Roschewski reported on pooled data for 115 patients enrolled in phases 1b and 2: 70 with DLBCL, 41 with FL, and 4 with MZL.
The patients were heavily pretreated with a median of three prior lines of therapy. Of the patients with DLBCL, 59% had primary refractory disease, and 89% of the patients with DLBCL in phase 2 were not eligible for CAR T-cell therapy.
Among all patients in this analysis, 85% had disease that was refractory to a prior rituximab-containing regimen, and the majority had disease that was refractory to the last rituximab-containing regimen.
Among 97 patients evaluable for response (59 with DLBCL, 35 with FL, and 3 with MZL), the ORR was 45%, including 19% CR and 27% partial responses (PR). An additional 17% of patients had stable disease, and 38% experienced disease progression.
The ORR for DLBCL patients was 35%, consisting of 15% CR and 20% PR. An additional 12% of patients with DLBCL had stable disease, and 53% experienced progression.
Of the patients with indolent lymphomas, the ORR was 61%, including 24% CR and 37% PR. Of this group, 24% had stable disease, and 16% had disease progression.
For all patients, the median time to response was 1.8 months (range 1.6-7.3 months).
Efficacy among patients with DLBCL was similar across subtypes and for patients with primary refractory vs. acquired refractory disease. The responses also were similar irrespective of prior lines of therapy.
Patients tolerated the combination well, with no maximum tolerated dose at up to 45 mg/kg of 5F9, and no significant dose-related toxicities.
Most adverse events were grade 1 or 2. The most common adverse events included expected on-target anemia, caused by clearance of aging red blood cells, which are cleared by the CD47-blocking effects of 5F9. This anemia can be mitigated with an initial priming dose of 1 mg/kg 5FP that causes a transient mild decline in hemoglobin and a temporary reticulocytosis that soon resolves. Hemoglobin levels return to baseline even with continued 5F9 at doses much higher than the priming dose, Dr. Roschewski said.
Other adverse events were infusion reactions and related symptoms. There were no autoimmune adverse events, and just 8 of the 115 patients available for the safety analysis (7%) had to discontinue therapy.
Enrollment in the phase 2 trial is continuing, and a 30-mg/kg maintenance dose of 5F9 has been selected for a trial in patients with DLBCL who are either ineligible for CAR T-cell therapy or have disease that progressed on three or more prior lines of therapy.
The study is funded by Forty Seven and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Dr. Roschewski reported having no financial disclosures.
SOURCE: Roschewski M et al. EHA Congress, Abstract S867.