Abstract
Autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) remains the standard of care for Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients younger than 70 years old. The role of induction therapy is crucial within a program of high-dose therapy since deeper is the response before, higher is the outcome of transplant.
In this study, we analyzed a real life setting of patients treated with three different induction approaches: VAD (Vincristine-Adriamycin-Dexamethasone), VD (Bortezomib - Dexamethasone), and VTD (Bortezomib-Thalidomide-Dexamethasone) in terms of depth of response, 2 years therapy-free rate and toxicity.
One hundred and sixty-three MM patients (pts) were included in the analysis: 62 pts treated with VAD (38%), 44 with VD (27%) and 57 with VTD (35%). In VTD group 49 pts (86%) received Bortezomib subcutaneously. As shown in Table 1, patients of the three groups were similar for D&S stage (p 0.59), a higher rate of ISS stage 3 was observed in VAD group (p=0.019), patients in VTD group were significantly older (p=0.024), median follow-up was significantly lower in VTD pts (p<0.001). The overall response rates after induction were similar in all three groups (p=0.156), with higher rate of responses of good quality (CR+VGPR) for patients treated with Bortezomib-based combinations: VAD 24.2%, VD 52.3%, VTD 63.2% (p<0.001). No difference was observed between VTD and VD (p=0.258). A different pattern of responses was observed after transplant, VTD, in fact, was superior to VAD (p<0.001) and VD (p=0.012), while no difference was highlighted between VAD and VD (p=0.352). As a matter of fact, 2 years therapy-free rate were: 48% for patients treated with VAD vs 73% with VD vs 74% with VTD (p=0.189). Of note, however, bortezomib base therapy maintained its superiority with respect to VAD (p=0.03). No differences were observed between VD and VTD regimens in terms of toxicity of any grade and type (52.3% VD vs 52.6% VTD, p> 0.9), and of discontinuation rate (14% in VTD and 18% in VD, p=0.395). The incidence of all grades peripheral neuropathy (PN) was similar between VD and VTD (28.2% and 31.4% p=0.835), but grade 3-4 PN was significantly higher in VD group (no patients in VTD vs 18% in VD pts, p=0.078), probably due to different way of Bortezomib administration in VTD group (86% of pts received subcutaneous Bortezomib).
In this study, we confirm that Bortezomib-based regimens are better than VAD in terms of overall response rate, good quality responses and long-term disease control. VTD is superior to VD in terms of good quality responses after transplant but disease control at 2 years is similar.
Corso:Janssen-Cilag: Honoraria.
