Although conclusions on noninferiority could not be drawn due to low statistical power, the study provides additional information on the safety and efficacy of pathogen-reduced platelets treated with two commercial pathogen-reduction technologies.

3029 Background. In a recent phase 3 trial, bortezomib–melphalan – prednisone–thalidomide followed by maintenance treatment with bortezomib–thalidomide (VMPT-VT) demonstrated superior efficacy compared with VMP. Peripheral neuropathy (PN) was the most important dose limiting toxicity. To decrease neurologic toxicities, the protocol was amended and patients in both arms received once-weekly instead of the initial twice-weekly bortezomib infusions. This post-hoc analysis assessed the impact of bortezomib dose-modification schedule on clinical outcomes and safety. Methods. Patients (N=511) older than 65 years were randomized to receive nine 6-week cycles of VMPT-VT (N=254; induction:V 1.3 mg/m2, d 1, 4, 8, 11, 22, 25, 29, 32, cycles 1–4, d 1, 8, 22, 29, cycles 5–9; M 9 mg/m2 d 1–4, P 60 mg/m2, d 1–4, T 50 mg d 1–42; maintenance: V 1.3 mg/m2 every 14 days and T 50 mg/day) or VMP (N=257) alone. In March 2007, the protocol was amended: both VMPT-VT and VMP induction schedules were changed to nine 5-week cycles and bortezomib schedule was modified to weekly administration (1.3 mg/m2 d 1,8,15,22, all cycles). Patients receiving VMPT-VT and VMP were pooled together and stratified according to the once-weekly or twice-weekly infusion modality; analyses were also conducted for patients receiving VMP only, to eliminate the influence of thalidomide and of maintenance on efficacy and safety. Results. Patients were evaluated in intention-to-treat: 372 patients received once-weekly and 139 twice-weekly bortezomib infusion. Patient characteristics were similar in the two groups, median age was 71 years. The efficacy data did not appear to be affected by the bortezomib schedule. Overall response rates were 85% with once weekly and 86% with twice- weekly schedule (P = .78), including CR rates of 30% and 35% (P = .27).Three-year PFS was 50% in the once-weekly and 47% in the twice-weekly group (P = 1.00), and 3-year OS was 88% and 89%, respectively (P = .54). Similar outcome was seen in the analyses restricted to VMP patients: CR rates were 23% with once-weekly and 27% with twice-weekly schedule (P = .54), 3-years PFS was 46% in once-weekly and 39% (P = .86) in twice-weekly group and 3-years OS was 87% and 89% (P = .47), respectively. The incidence of grade 3/4 hematologic toxicity was similar in the two groups (44% vs 45%, P = .83), but severe thrombocytopenia was slightly less common in the once-weekly patients (19% vs 26%, P = .08).The incidence of non-hematologic grade 3/4 adverse events was significantly reduced in the once-weekly: 35% vs 51% (P = .003). Grade 3/4 gastrointestinal events (6% vs 11%, P = .08), severe systemic events (4% vs 7%, P = .09) and grade 3/4 dermatologic events (2% vs 7%, P = .006) were less frequent in patients receiving once-weekly bortezomib. There was a significantly reduced overall incidence of grade 3/4 PN (8% vs 28%, P < .001) in the once-weekly group. The median time to onset of grade 3/4 sensory PN was 4.3 months in the once-weekly group and 3.2 months in the twice-weekly group (P = .10). The cumulative incidence of sensory PN appeared to plateau after 12 months of therapy in both groups. Rates of discontinuations (5% versus 15%) and dose reductions (15% versus 41%) due to PN were also significantly lower in the once-weekly group (P < .001). These results were reflected in analysis restricted to VMP patients, in which the incidence of grade 3/4 PN (7% vs 29%, P < .001), the discontinuation rate (4% vs 16%, P = 0.002), and the dose reductions rate (15% vs 41% P < 0.001) were significantly lower in once-weekly group. Despite the cumulative planned dose being lower in the once-weekly group (46.8 vs 67.6 mg/m2), the delivered cumulative dose of bortezomib was similar in the two groups (39.4 mg/m2 vs 40.1 mg/m2). No association of PN with age or other baseline characteristics was outlined. The only significant factor influencing the incidence of PN was the reduction of bortezomib infusion from twice- to once-weekly (p<0.001). Low dose thalidomide did not affect grade 3/4 PN rate (p=0.16). Conclusion. These results demonstrate that 1. both once-weekly and twice-weekly schedules in combination with MP ± thalidomide are highly effective in patients ≥ 65 years; 2. once-weekly schedule significantly reduced the incidence of PN and decreased the rate of discontinuation, resulting in similar cumulative bortezomib doses in the two groups; 3. the improvement in the safety profile was not associated with any reduction in the efficacy. Disclosures: Bringhen: Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen Cilag: Honoraria. Leoni:Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen Cilag: Honoraria. Patriarca:Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen Cilag: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Merck: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Guglielmelli:Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen Cilag: Honoraria. Elice:Celgene: Honoraria; Novatis: Honoraria. Boccadoro:Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Janssen-Cilag: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Palumbo:Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen-Cilag: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

BACKGROUND: Indolent nonfollicular non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas (INFLs) are clonal mature B-cell proliferations for which treatment has not been defined to date. METHODS: In this phase 2 study of patients with advanced INFL, the authors evaluated the efficacy and safety of first-line rituximab, fludarabine, and cyclophosphamide (FCR) as induction immunochemotherapy (rituximab 375 mg/m 2 intravenously on day 1 of each cycle and on days 1 and 14 of cycles 4 and 5; fludarabine 25 mg/m 2 intravenously on days 2-4, cyclophosphamide 250 mg/m 2 intravenously on Days 2-4) every 28 days for 6 cycles followed by a maintenance phase with 4 infusions of rituximab (375 mg/m 2 intravenously on day 1) every 2 months for responders. RESULTS: Forty-seven patients were enrolled. Among 46 evaluable patients (28 men; median age, 59 years), 19 were diagnosed with lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, 21 were diagnosed with small lymphocytic lymphoma, and 6 were diagnosed with nodal marginal zone lymphoma. The overall response rate after maintenance was 89.1% with a 67.4% complete remission (CR) rate (CR/unconfirmed CR) and a 21.7% partial response rate. After a median follow-up of 40.9 months, the failure-free survival and progression-free survival rates both were 90.1%, and the overall survival rate was 97.4%. The main toxicity was hematologic, and related grade 3 and 4 neutropenia was observed in 55.3% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: FCR induction therapy followed by a short maintenance phase is a highly effective regimen with acceptable toxicity. Cancer 2012;118:3954-61.

128 Background. In newly diagnosed myeloma patients the combination of bortezomib with melphalan-prednisone (VMP) was superior to MP. In relapsed-refractory patients the 4 drug combination bortezomib-melphalan-prednisone-thalidomide (VMPT) induced a high proportion of complete responses (CR). Aims. This prospective, randomized, phase III trial, compared VMPT with a maintenance regimen including bortezomib and thalidomide with VMP without a maintenance regiment. The primary end point was PFS. Methods. Patients (N=511) older than 65 years were randomly assigned to receive VMPT followed by maintenance with bortezomib and thalidomide (N=254) or VMP (N=257). Initially, patients were treated with nine 6-week cycles of VMPT (induction: bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2 days 1,4,8,11,22,25,29,32 in cycles 1–4 and days 1,8,22,29 in cycles 5–9; melphalan 9 mg/m2 days 1–4; prednisone 60 mg/m2 days 1–4 and thalidomide 50 mg days 1–42; maintenance: bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2 every 15 days and thalidomide 50 mg/day) or VMP (bortezomib, melphalan and prednisone at the same doses and schedules previously described without maintenance). In March 2007, the protocol was amended: both VMPT and VMP induction schedules were changed to nine 5-week cycles and bortezomib schedule was modified to weekly administration (1.3 mg/m2 days 1,8,15,22 in cycles 1–9). Results. All patients have been evaluated in intention-to-treat. Patient characteristics were similar in both groups, median age was 71 years. The response rates were always superior in the VMPT group: at least PR rate (86% vs 79%, p=0.02), at least VGPR rate (55% vs 47%, p=0.07) and CR rate (34% vs 21% p=0.0008), respectively. Maintenance treatment did not increase the best response achieved during VMPT induction. After a median follow-up of 17.8 months, the 2-year PFS was 70.0% in the VMPT group and 58.2% in the VMP group (HR=0.62, 95% CI 0.44–0.88, p=0.008). The achievement of CR significantly prolonged PFS in both VMPT (p<0.0001) and VMP (p=0.003) patients. Chromosomal abnormalities, such as del13, t(4;14), t(14;16) or del17, did not affect 2-year PFS in both VMPT (p=0.51) and VMP (p=0.41) patients. The 2-year overall survival (OS) was 89.6% in the VMPT group and 89.0% in the VMP group (HR=0.94, 95% CI 0.51–1.72, p=0.84). The incidence of grade 3–4 neutropenia (37% vs 28%, p=0.02) and cardiac complications (10% vs 5%, p=0.04) was higher in the VMPT group. The incidence of other grade 3–4 adverse events was similar in the VMPT group and in the VMP group: thrombocytopenia (21% vs 19%), peripheral neuropathy (5% vs 8%), infections (12% vs 9%), and gastrointestinal complications (6% vs 8%), respectively. From twice-weekly, the weekly infusion of bortezomib significantly decreased the incidence of grade 3–4 peripheral neuropathy in the VMPT group (from 18% to 4%, p=0.0002) and in the VMP (from 13% to 2%, p=0.0003), without any significant change in CR rates and 2-year PFS. Conclusion. VMPT followed by maintenance with bortezomib and thalidomide was superior to VMP for response rates and PFS. The weekly infusion of bortezomib significantly reduced the incidence of peripheral neuropathy without affecting outcome. This is the first report showing the superiority of a 4-drug combination followed by maintenance in comparison with the most recent standard therapy, VMP. These data will be updated at the meeting. Disclosures: Palumbo: Janssen-Cilag: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Off Label Use: thalidomide, lenalidomide, bortezomib . Bringhen:Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen Cilag: Honoraria. Patriarca:Janssen Cilag: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Petrucci:Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen-Cilag: Honoraria. Musto:Janssen Cilag: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Boccadoro:Celgene: Consultant, advisory committee, Research Funding; Janssen Cilag: Consultant, advisory committee, Research Funding; Pharmion: Consultant, advisory committee, Research Funding.

Evidence of long-term response to lenalidomide in heavily pretreated patients with multiple myeloma is lacking. This study sought to assess whether long-term responders exist, long-term responders' characteristics, and predictive factors of a long-term response. One hundred and four patients with multiple myeloma treated with lenalidomide and dexamethasone after ≥2 therapy lines (median, 3) were analyzed. Long-term response was defined as at least a partial response (≥PR) lasting ≥12 months. The overall response rate was 73%, and 80.3% of the responses were achieved within 5 months. The median response was 14.3 months. Patients evaluable for long-term response numbered 87, and a total of 47% were long-term responders. Compared to non-long-term responders, long-term responders had better overall survival, less light-chain multiple myeloma, and higher incidence of t(11;14). Previous allogeneic transplant (alloSCT) and the response quality predicted a long-term response. In conclusion, patients treated with lenalidomide can become long-term responders; alloSCT and response quality predict long-term response.

Background and Objectives Strategies for overcoming alloimmune refractoriness to random donor platelets are based on the use of compatible platelets selected from large panels of HLA‐typed donors or cross‐matching (XM). The aim of this study was to review the effectiveness of a platelet XM programme for treating refractory haematological patients at Milan's Policlinico Hospital (PHM) 2002–2014 and Spedali Civili in Brescia (SCB) 2013–2016. Materials and Methods A commercially available solid‐phase antibody detection system was used for platelet antibody detection and XM. Forty‐nine alloimmune refractory patients at PHM and 13 at SCB, respectively, received a median [IQR] of 12 [6–13] and 18 [13–15] XM compatible platelet transfusions after the detection of refractoriness. The absolute increases in post‐transfusion platelet counts obtained using random, and XM platelets were retrieved from the patients’ hospital records. Results The critical review at SCB showed that the median [IQR] 1 h post‐transfusion increase in platelet counts was 3 × 109/L [1–5] after 47/47 random platelet transfusions, and 10 × 109/L [2–25] after 325/326 XM compatible platelet transfusions. The documentation concerning the outcomes of XM platelet transfusions at PHM was incomplete, and so the findings of the review were inconclusive. Conclusion This retrospective analysis confirmed the effectiveness of the XM programme at SCB, but revealed defective data collection and retrieval methods at PHM, thus underlining the importance of such methods. The literature review accompanying this retrospective analysis identified a recently described algorithm for ensuring platelet support in refractory patients that optimally integrates the combined use of XM and HLA typing.

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A 51-year-old man was admitted to our center because he presented with a unilateral exophthalmos, which had appeared 3 months before, associated with multiple subcutaneous nodules characterized by discontinuous clinical manifestation. Medical history revealed only a hepatitis C virus (HCV) -related chronic hepatitis. The patient did not present with any other symptoms. On physical examination, he had a unilateral right exophthalmos and multiple subcutaneous nodules on the left forearm and neck.