Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD, of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, reviews key abstracts from ASH 2023 on treatment of myelofibrosis, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, large B-cell lymphoma, and acute myeloid leukemia (Abstracts 620, 631, 781, 425).
Andrew Srisuwananukorn, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a novel artificial intelligence model that can distinguish between prefibrotic primary myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia. This proposed model may assist clinicians in identifying patients who may benefit from disease-specific therapies or enrollment in clinical trials (Abstract 901).
Harinder Gill, MD, MBBS, of The University of Hong Kong, discusses findings showing the use of an “AAA” regimen (pure oral arsenic trioxide combined with all-trans retinoic acid) in a risk-adapted strategy that minimized chemotherapy was highly effective and safe in patients with newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia of all risk categories and age groups. However, he cautions, early deaths remain an obstacle to realizing a cure for all with this disease (Abstract 157).
Darren Denjay Pan, MD, of Tisch Cancer Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses his findings on risk assessment of CAR T-cell therapy for patients with multiple myeloma. Higher fibrinogen and ferritin values at baseline were associated with inferior overall survival after CAR T-cell therapy, even after controlling for tumor burden. Higher baseline absolute lymphocyte count was also associated with higher risk and grade of immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome, an important toxicity to consider for patients receiving CAR T (Abstract 92).
William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses results from the phase I/II BRUIN study, which shows encouraging response and overall survival in patients with Richter transformation. Although this condition remains a challenging diagnosis, pirtobrutinib represents a potential treatment option that warrants further investigation, according to Dr. Wierda (Abstract 1737).
Jennifer A. Woyach, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses phase I/II findings of the BRUIN study on the use of pirtobrutinib after covalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL). The results suggest that continuing BTK pathway inhibition following a covalent BTK inhibitor may be an important sequencing approach to consider in the treatment of CLL/SLL (Abstract 325).
