Targeting Complete Response with Upfront Bortezomib Followed By Autologous Transplantation and Consolidation Therapy for Untreated Multiple Myeloma (TUBA study)

• Published in: Blood 2016-12, Vol.128 (22), p.3463-3463
• Main Authors: Nakasone, Hideki, Terasako-Saito, Kiriko, Hirano, Teiichi, Wake, Atsushi, Shimizu, Seiichi, Yamazaki, Etsuko, Akazawa, Kouhei, Usuki, Kensuke, Chiba, Shigeru, Minauchi, Koichiro, Miyaoka, Etsuo, Ota, Shuichi, Taniguchi, Shuichi, Kanda, Yoshinobu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-4971; 1528-0020
• DOI: 10.1182/blood.V128.22.3463.3463

[Background] Multiple myeloma (MM) is generally considered incurable. Recently, novel drugs, including bortezomib, have demonstrated a survival benefit for newly diagnosed MM patients compared with classical treatments. Complete response (CR) after treatment is known to be associated with superior progression-free survival. Thus, we prospectively evaluated the efficacy and safety of boretezomib + dexamethasone (BD) for patients with newly diagnosed MM, followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT). We added BD consolidation therapy to aim CR if CR was not achieved after ASCT. [Patients and methods] This clinical study prospectively recruited newly diagnosed MM patients eligible for ASCT between 2010 and 2012. Due to health insurance issues in Japan, two courses of high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DX) had been administrated prior to BD induction treatment until Nov. 2011, while BD was administrated as an initial induction treatment since Dec. 2011. BD induction treatment included 1.3 mg/m2 of bortezomib on days 1, 4, 8, and 11 with 20mg of dexamethasone on days 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, and 12. This BD induction cycle was repeated every 3 weeks for 4 courses. Thereafter, filgrastim-based mobilization and ASCT following high-dose melphalan administration was performed. If patients did not achieve CR after ASCT, BD consolidation therapy (bortezomib: 1.3 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15; dexamethasone 20 mg/day on days 1-2, 8-9, and 15-16) every 4 weeks was added to target CR (Figure 1) (UMIN-CTR: UMIN000002442). [Results] The median observational duration among survivors was 1536 days (range: 464-2023) at this analysis. Of the 47 enrolled MM patients, 46 (male 27; female 19) were eligible for BD induction treatment, while the remaining one achieved CR before BD induction. The median age of the patients was 59 (range: 35-67) years. Of the 44 patients whose karyotype analyses were available, normal karyotype was observed in 35. Abnormal karyotype included complex type in 4, diploid in 1, and other abnormalities in 4. FISH revealed deletion of p53 in 5 of 39 patients whose information was available; deletion of 13-chromosome in 16 of 42, IgH-MAF fusion in 1 of 40; IgH-FGFR3 fusion in 5 of 41; IgH-BCL1 fusion in 9 of 39. Of the 46 MM patients, 19 received HD-DX prior to BD induction, and 34 received ASCT after BD induction treatment (Figure 1). During the BD induction phase, 3 patients experienced disease progression, and BD treatment was discontinued in