Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology - Research Publications

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    Australia and New Zealand consensus position statement: use of COVID-19 therapeutics in patients with haematological malignancies
    Campbell, A ; Teh, B ; Mulligan, S ; Ross, DM ; Weinkove, R ; Gilroy, N ; Gangatharan, S ; Prince, HM ; Szer, J ; Trotman, J ; Lane, S ; Dickinson, M ; Quach, H ; Enjeti, AK ; Ku, M ; Gregory, G ; Hapgood, G ; Ho, PJ ; Cochrane, T ; Cheah, C ; Greenwood, M ; Latimer, M ; Berkahn, L ; Wight, J ; Armytage, T ; Diamond, P ; Tam, CS ; Hamad, N (Wiley, 2023-02)
    Despite widespread vaccination rates, we are living with high transmission rates of SARS-CoV-2. Although overall hospitalisation rates are falling, the risk of serious infection remains high for patients who are immunocompromised because of haematological malignancies. In light of the ongoing pandemic and the development of multiple agents for treatment, representatives from the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand and infectious diseases specialists have collaborated on this consensus position statement regarding COVID-19 management in patients with haematological disorders. It is our recommendation that both patients with haematological malignancies and treating specialists be educated regarding the preventive and treatment options available and that patients continue to receive adequate vaccinations, keeping in mind the suboptimal vaccine responses that occur in haematology patients, in particular, those with B-cell malignancies and on B-cell-targeting or depleting therapy. Patients with haematological malignancies should receive treatment for COVID-19 in accordance with the severity of their symptoms, but even mild infections should prompt early treatment with antiviral agents. The issue of de-isolation following COVID-19 infection and optimal time to treatment for haematological malignancies is discussed but remains an area with evolving data. This position statement is to be used in conjunction with advice from infectious disease, respiratory and intensive care specialists, and current guidelines from the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce and the New Zealand Ministry of Health and Cancer Agency Te Aho o Te Kahu COVID-19 Guidelines.
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    Clinical characteristics of Australian treatment-naive patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma from the lymphoma and related diseases registry
    Nguyen, J ; Wellard, C ; Chung, E ; Cheah, CY ; Dickinson, M ; Doo, NW ; Keane, C ; Talaulikar, D ; Berkahn, L ; Morgan, S ; Hamad, N ; Cochrane, T ; Johnston, AM ; Forsyth, C ; Opat, S ; Barraclough, A ; Mutsando, H ; Ratnasingam, S ; Giri, P ; Wood, EM ; McQuilten, ZK ; Hawkes, EA (Wiley, 2023-04)
    Comprehensive clinical characteristics of Australian patients with classical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL) have not previously been systematically collected and described. We report real-world data of 498 eligible patients from the first 5 years of the Lymphoma and Related Diseases Registry (LaRDR), including baseline characteristics, histologic subtype, and treatment patterns in first-line therapy. Patient demographics and distribution of histopathological subtypes of cHL are similar to reported international cohorts. Doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) was the most common therapy for both early and advanced-stage disease, and 48% of patients with the early-stage disease received radiotherapy. Treatment patterns are consistent with international guidelines. In comorbid patients ≥60 years of age with advanced-stage disease, there is greater variation in treatment. In patients with a recorded response, the objective response rate (ORR) was 96% in early-stage disease, and 88% in advanced-stage disease. Early progression-free survival data suggest Australian patients with cHL have good outcomes, similar to other international studies.
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    Assessment of Healthcare Resource Utilization and Hospitalization Costs in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma Undergoing CAR-T Cell Therapy With Tisagenlecleucel: Results From the ELARA Study
    Fowler, NH ; Dickinson, M ; Ghosh, M ; Chen, AI ; Andreadis, C ; Tiwari, R ; Masood, A ; Ramos, R ; Jousseaume, E ; Thieblemont, C ; Dreyling, M ; Schuster, SJ (ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC, 2023-01)
    Follicular lymphoma (FL) is generally considered an indolent disease, although patients with relapsing FL experience progressively shorter durations of response to second or later lines of therapy. The ongoing ELARA trial in adult patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) FL treated with tisagenlecleucel demonstrated an overall response rate of 86.2% and a complete response rate of 69.1%, with no treatment-related deaths. Tisagenlecleucel was administered in the outpatient setting in 18% of patients in ELARA; however, there is limited knowledge concerning the impact of inpatient versus outpatient tisagenlecleucel administration on healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) among patients with r/r FL. Here, we present the first HCRU analysis among patients with r/r FL who received tisagenlecleucel in the Phase II, single-arm, multicenter ELARA trial. HCRU was characterized using hospitalization data from day 1 to month 2 after tisagenlecleucel infusion. Information on length of stay, facility use, and discharge was assessed in patients who received tisagenlecleucel in the outpatient or inpatient setting. All costs were inflated to 2020 US dollars. As of August 3, 2021 (20-month median follow-up), 17/97 (18%) r/r FL patients were infused in an outpatient setting. Patients infused in the outpatient setting generally had favorable Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status and Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index scores, and less bulky disease at baseline. However, the outpatients had higher proportions of patients with grade 3A FL, primary refractory disease, and >5 lines of prior therapy compared with inpatients. Forty-one percent of patients treated in the outpatient setting did not require hospitalization within 30 days after infusion, and outpatients who did require hospitalization had a shorter average length of stay compared with inpatients (5 versus 13 days). No outpatients required intensive care unit (ICU) admission, whereas 9% of inpatients were admitted to the ICU. The mean postinfusion hospitalization costs were $7477 and $40,054 in the outpatient and inpatient settings, respectively. Efficacy between both groups was similar. Tisagenlecleucel can be safely administered to some patients in the outpatient setting, which may reduce HCRU for patients with r/r FL.
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    Fitness criteria for Australian patients referred for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy
    Tam, CS ; Ho, PJ ; Purtill, D ; Blyth, E ; Butler, J ; Dickinson, M ; Harrison, S (WILEY, 2022-08)
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    Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a consensus practice statement from the Australasian Lymphoma Alliance
    Wight, J ; Hamad, N ; Campbell, BA ; Ku, M ; Lee, K ; Rose, H ; Armytage, T ; Latimer, M ; Lee, H-P ; Lee, S-T ; Dickinson, M ; Khor, R ; Verner, E (WILEY, 2022-09)
    Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common lymphoma subtype, accounting for 30-40% of lymphoma diagnoses. Although aggressive, cure is achievable in approximately 60% of cases with primary chemoimmunotherapy, and in a further substantial minority by salvage therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. Despite promising activity in early phase clinical trials, no intensified or novel treatment regimen has improved outcomes over R-CHOP21 in randomised studies. However, there remain several areas of controversy including the most appropriate prognostic markers, central nervous system prophylaxis and the optimal treatment for patients with high-risk disease. This position statement presents an evidence-based synthesis of the literature for application in Australasian practice.
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    Efficacy comparison of tisagenlecleucel vs usual care in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma
    Salles, G ; Schuster, SJ ; Dreyling, M ; Fischer, L ; Kuruvilla, J ; Patten, PEM ; von Tresckow, B ; Smith, SM ; Jimenez-Ubieto, A ; Davis, KL ; Anjos, C ; Chu, J ; Zhang, J ; Bodoni, CL ; Thieblemont, C ; Fowler, NH ; Dickinson, M ; Martinez-Lopez, J ; Wang, Y ; Link, BK (ELSEVIER, 2022-11-22)
    The ELARA trial indicates tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel) is an effective anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (r/r FL). As ELARA is a single-arm trial, this study compares tisa-cel outcomes from the ELARA trial with usual care from a real-world cohort. ELARA enrolled 98 patients as of 29 March 2021 (median follow-up: 15 months from enrollment). Usual care data were obtained from ReCORD-FL, a global retrospective study of patients with r/r FL, who met similar eligibility criteria to ELARA. With a data cutoff date of 31 December 2020, 187 patients with ≥2 preceding treatment lines were included in the ReCORD-FL (median follow-up: 57 months from third-line) study. An indirect treatment comparison was performed for 97 patients from the ELARA trial and 143 patients from the ReCORD-FL study with no missing data on baseline factors. The line of therapy for which outcomes were assessed was selected or matched between cohorts using propensity score modeling. After baseline factor adjustment via weighting by odds, complete response rate (CRR; 95% confidence interval) was 69.1% (59.8%-78.3%) for tisa-cel vs. 37.3% (26.4%-48.3%) for usual care; overall response rate was 85.6% (78.7%-92.5%) vs. 63.6% (52.5%-74.7%). Kaplan-Meier probability of being progression/event-free at 12 months was 70.5% (61.4%-79.7%) for tisa-cel vs. 51.9% (40.6%-63.3%) for usual care, with hazard ratio (HR)=0.60 (0.34-0.86); 12-month overall survival was 96.6% (92.9%-100%) vs. 71.7% (61.2%-82.2%), with HR=0.2 (0.02-0.38). In conclusion, tisa-cel was associated with a 1.9-fold higher complete response rate and a 1.4-fold higher rate of being progression or event free at 12 months vs usual care, as well as a death risk reduction of 80%. The findings provide additional evidence on the benefit of tisa-cel in patients with r/r FL after ≥2 treatment lines. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03568461.
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    Improving outcomes for patients with lymphoma: design and development of the Australian and New Zealand Lymphoma and Related Diseases Registry
    Anderson, MA ; Berkahn, L ; Cheah, C ; Dickinson, M ; Gandhi, MK ; Giri, P ; Hawkes, EA ; Johnston, A ; Keane, C ; McQuilten, ZK ; Mulligan, SP ; Opat, S ; Talaulikar, D ; Trotman, J ; Williams, J ; Wood, EM ; Armytage, T ; Barraclough, A ; Carradice, D ; Chong, G ; Cochrane, T ; Hamad, N ; Ku, M ; Lee, D ; Morgan, S ; Mutsando, H ; Narayana, M ; Prince, HM ; Ratnasingam, S ; Wight, J ; Badoux, X ; Cull, G ; Kuss, B ; Marlton, P ; Tam, C ; Casan, J ; Cushion, T ; Tedjaseputra, A ; Birch, S ; Brown, C ; Ellis, D ; Harvey, Y ; Hitchins, S ; Jain, S ; Jessup, P ; Juneja, S ; Kearney, D ; Kumar, B ; Lade, S ; Lee, K ; Leslie, C ; Long, E ; Morey, A ; Nath, L ; Norris, D ; Parker, A ; Parry, J ; Chen, FP-Y ; Chung, E ; Morison, J ; Rowsell, L ; St George, G ; Thu, C ; Waters, N ; Wellard, C ; Zheng, M (BMC, 2022-10-10)
    BACKGROUND: Lymphoma is a malignancy of lymphocytes and lymphoid tissues comprising a heterogeneous group of diseases, with up to 80 entities now described. Lymphoma is the 6th most common cancer in Australia, affecting patients of all ages, with rising incidence rates. With the proliferation of efficacious novel agents, therapeutic strategies are increasingly diverse and survival is improving. There is a clear need for contemporary robust and detailed data on diagnostic, investigational and management strategies for this disease in Australia, New Zealand and worldwide, to inform and benchmark local and international standards of care. Clinical quality registries can provide these data, and support development of strategies to address variations in management, including serving as platforms for clinical trials and other research activities. The Lymphoma and Related Diseases Registry (LaRDR) was developed to capture details of patient demographics, disease characteristics, and management throughout their disease course and therapy and to develop outcome benchmarks nationally and internationally for lymphoma. This report describes the aims, development and implementation of the LaRDR, as well as challenges addressed in the process. METHODS: The LaRDR was established in 2016 as a multicentre, collaborative project at sites across Australia with a secure online database which collects prospective data on patients with a new diagnosis of lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). LaRDR development required multidisciplinary participation including specialist haematology, information technology, and biostatistical support, as well as secure funding. Here we describe the database development, data entry, ethics approval process, registry governance and support for participating sites and the coordinating centre. RESULTS: To date more than 5,300 patients have been enrolled from 28 sites in Australia and New Zealand. Multiple challenges arose during the development, which we describe, along with approaches used to overcome them. Several confirmed international collaborations are now in place, and the registry is providing valuable data for clinicians, researchers, industry and government, including through presentations of results at major national and international conferences. CONCLUSION: Challenges in establishing the LaRDR have been successfully overcome and the registry is now a valuable resource for lymphoma clinicians, researchers, health economists and others in Australia, New Zealand and globally.
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    The gamma delta lymphomas: an Australian multi-centre case series
    Harrop, S ; Di Ciaccio, P ; Doo, NW ; Cochrane, T ; Campbell, BA ; Hamad, N ; Dickinson, M ; Van Der Weyden, C ; Prince, HM (AME Publishing Company, 2022-03-01)
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    Pharmacodynamics and molecular correlates of response to glofitamab in relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma
    Broeske, A-ME ; Korfi, K ; Belousov, A ; Wilson, S ; Ooi, C-H ; Bolen, CR ; Canamero, M ; Alcaide, EG ; James, I ; Piccione, EC ; Carlile, DJ ; Dimier, N ; Umana, P ; Bacac, M ; Weisser, M ; Dickinson, M (ELSEVIER, 2022-02-08)
    Glofitamab, a novel CD20xCD3, T-cell-engaging bispecific antibody, exhibited single-agent activity in Study NP30179, a first-in-human, phase 1 trial in relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Preclinical studies showed that glofitamab leads to T-cell activation, proliferation, and tumor cell killing upon binding to CD20 on malignant cells. Here, we provide evidence of glofitamab's clinical activity, including pharmacodynamic profile, mode of action, and factors associated with clinical response, by evaluating biomarkers in patient samples from the dose-escalation part of this trial. Patients enrolled in Study NP30179 received single-dose obinutuzumab pretreatment (1000 mg) 7 days before IV glofitamab (5 µg-25 mg). Glofitamab treatment lasted ≤12 cycles once every 2 or 3 weeks. Blood samples were collected at predefined time points per the clinical protocol; T-cell populations were evaluated centrally by flow cytometry, and cytokine profiles were analyzed. Immunohistochemical and genomic biomarker analyses were performed on tumor biopsy samples. Pharmacodynamic modulation was observed with glofitamab treatment, including dose-dependent induction of cytokines, and T-cell margination, proliferation, and activation in peripheral blood. Gene expression analysis of pretreatment tumor biopsy samples indicated that tumor cell intrinsic factors such as TP53 signaling are associated with resistance to glofitamab, but they may also be interlinked with a diminished effector T-cell profile in resistant tumors and thus represent a poor prognostic factor per se. This integrative biomarker data analysis provides clinical evidence regarding glofitamab's mode of action, supports optimal biological dose selection, and will further guide clinical development. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT03075696.
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    Axicabtagene ciloleucel as first-line therapy in high-risk large B-cell lymphoma: the phase 2 ZUMA-12 trial
    Neelapu, SS ; Dickinson, M ; Munoz, J ; Ulrickson, ML ; Thieblemont, C ; Oluwole, OO ; Herrera, AF ; Ujjani, CS ; Lin, Y ; Riedell, PA ; Kekre, N ; de Vos, S ; Lui, C ; Milletti, F ; Dong, J ; Xu, H ; Chavez, JC (NATURE PORTFOLIO, 2022-04)
    High-risk large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) has poor outcomes with standard first-line chemoimmunotherapy. In the phase 2, multicenter, single-arm ZUMA-12 study (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03761056) we evaluated axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel), an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, as part of first-line treatment in 40 patients with high-risk LBCL. This trial has completed accrual. The primary outcome was complete response rate (CRR). Secondary outcomes were objective response rate (ORR), duration of response (DOR), event-free survival (EFS), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), assessment of safety, central nervous system (CNS) relapse and blood levels of CAR T cells and cytokines. The primary endpoint in efficacy-evaluable patients (n = 37) was met, with 78% CRR (95% confidence interval (CI), 62-90) and 89% ORR (95% CI, 75-97). As of 17 May 2021 (median follow-up, 15.9 months), 73% of patients remained in objective response; median DOR, EFS and PFS were not reached. Grade ≥3 cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurologic events occurred in three patients (8%) and nine patients (23%), respectively. There were no treatment-related grade 5 events. Robust CAR T-cell expansion occurred in all patients with a median time to peak of 8 days. We conclude that axi-cel is highly effective as part of first-line therapy for high-risk LBCL, with a manageable safety profile.