Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Impact of early use of lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone on clinical outcomes in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Hematology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We retrospectively investigated the prognostic factor of lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone (Rd) in Japanese patients with refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma (RRMM) registered in the Kansai Myeloma Forum from January 2006 to December 2013. A total of 140 patients were analyzed. The median age was 66 years. The overall response rate was 68.6 %, including 33.1 % with a better than very good partial response. At 13.0 months median follow-up, the median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were 34.2 and 17.0 months, respectively. In univariate analyses, patients with one or two prior therapies had significantly longer OS (41.2 vs. 21.5 months; P = 0.002) and PFS (29.0 vs. 13.0 months; P = 0.006) than patients treated with three or more prior therapies. Prior use of thalidomide was associated with significantly shorter PFS (19.0 vs. 16.0 months; P = 0.045). The prior use of bortezomib or high-dose therapy with stem cell transplantation, and the International Staging System had no impact on long-term outcome. Multivariate analysis showed that only the number of prior therapies was a significant predictor of both OS and PFS. Our findings suggest that greater benefit may occur when Rd therapy is used at the first or second relapse in RRMM.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kumar SK, Rajkumar SV, Dispenzieri A, Lacy MQ, Hayman SR, Buadi FK, et al. Improved survival in multiple myeloma and the impact of novel therapies. Blood. 2008;111:2516–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Kyle RA, Rajkumar SV. Multiple myeloma. Blood. 2008;111:2962–72.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Singhal S, Mehta J, Desikan R, Ayers D, Roberson P, Eddlemon P, et al. Antitumor activity of thalidomide in refractory multiple myeloma. N Engl J Med. 1999;341:1565–71.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Barlogie B, Pineda-Roman M, van Rhee F, Haessler J, Anaissie E, Hollmig K, et al. Thalidomide arm of total therapy 2 improves complete remission duration and survival in myeloma patients with metaphase cytogenetic abnormalities. Blood. 2008;112:3115–21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Dimopoulos MA, Zervas K, Kouvatseas G, Galani E, Grigoraki V, Kiamouris C, et al. Thalidomide and dexamethasone combination for refractory multiple myeloma. Ann Oncol. 2001;12:991–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Palumbo A, Facon T, Sonneveld P, Bladè J, Offidani M, Gay F, et al. Thalidomide for treatment of multiple myeloma: 10 years later. Blood. 2008;111:3968–77.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Hideshima T, Chauhan D, Shima Y, Raje N, Davies FE, Tai YT, et al. Thalidomide and its analogs overcome drug resistance of human multiple myeloma cells to conventional therapy. Blood. 2000;96:2943–50.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Weber DM, Chen C, Niesvizky R, Wang M, Belch A, Stadtmauer EA, et al. Lenalidomide plus dexamethasone for relapsed multiple myeloma in North America. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:2133–42.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Dimopoulos M, Spencer A, Attal M, Prince HM, Harousseau JL, Dmoszynska A, et al. Lenalidomide plus dexamethasone for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:2123–32.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Dimopoulos MA, Chen C, Spencer A, Niesvizky R, Attal M, Stadtmauer EA, et al. Long-term follow-up on overall survival from the MM-009 and MM-010 phase III trials of lenalidomide plus dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Leukemia. 2009;23:2147–52.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Iida S, Chou T, Okamoto S, Nagai H, Hatake K, Murakami H, et al. Lenalidomide plus dexamethasone treatment in Japanese patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Int J Hematol. 2010;92:118–26.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Rajkumar SV, Jacobus S, Callander NS, Fonseca R, Vesole DH, Williams ME, et al. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Lenalidomide plus high-dose dexamethasone versus lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone as initial therapy for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma: an open-label randomised controlled trial. Lancet Oncol. 2010;11:29–37.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Palumbo A, Bringhen S, Ludwig H, Dimopoulos MA, Bladé J, Mateos MV, et al. Personalized therapy in multiple myeloma according to patient age and vulnerability: a report of the European Myeloma Network (EMN). Blood. 2011;118:4519–29.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Durie BG, Harousseau JL, Miguel JS, Bladé J, Barlogie B, Anderson K, et al. International Myeloma Working Group. International uniform response criteria for multiple myeloma. Leukemia. 2006;20:1467–73.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Greipp PR, San Miguel J, Durie BG, Crowley JJ, Barlogie B, Bladé J, et al. International staging system for multiple myeloma. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:3412–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Stadtmauer EA, Weber DM, Niesvizky R, Belch A, Prince MH, San Miguel JF, et al. Lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone at first relapse in comparison with its use as later salvage therapy in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Eur J Haematol. 2009;82:426–32.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhu YX, Kortuem KM, Stewart AK. Molecular mechanism of action of immune-modulatory drugs thalidomide, lenalidomide and pomalidomide in multiple myeloma. Leuk Lymphoma. 2013;54:683–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Brioli A, Melchor L, Cavo M, Morgan GJ. The impact of intra-clonal heterogeneity on the treatment of multiple myeloma. Br J Haematol. 2014;165:441–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhu YX, Braggio E, Shi CX, Bruins LA, Schmidt JE, Van Wier S, et al. Cereblon expression is required for the antimyeloma activity of lenalidomide and pomalidomide. Blood. 2011;118:4771–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Avet-Loiseau H, Soulier J, Fermand JP, Yakoub-Agha I, Attal M, Hulin C, et al. Impact of high-risk cytogenetics and prior therapy on outcomes in patients with advanced relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma treated with lenalidomide plus dexaméthasone. Leukemia. 2010;24:623–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Harousseau JL, Dimopoulos MA, Wang M, Corso A, Chen C, Attal M, et al. Better quality of response to lenalidomide plus dexamethasone is associated with improved clinical outcomes in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Haematologica. 2010;95:1738–44.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Bataille R, Annweiler C, Beauchet O. Multiple myeloma international staging system: “staging” or simply “aging” system? Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2013;13:635–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Avet-Loiseau H, Durie BG, Cavo M, Attal M, Gutierrez N, Haessler J, et al. International Myeloma Working Group. Combining fluorescent in situ hybridization data with ISS staging improves risk assessment in myeloma: an International Myeloma Working Group collaborative project. Leukemia. 2013;27:711–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Kuroda J, Shimura Y, Ohta K, Tanaka H, Shibayama H, Kosugi S, et al. Limited value of the international staging system for predicting long-term outcome of transplant-ineligible, newly diagnosed, symptomatic multiple myeloma in the era of novel agents. Int J Hematol. 2014;99:441–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all the researchers of the KMF for their scientific support.

Conflict of interest

This work was partly supported by a research fund from the Celgene Corporation (Summit, NJ).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Consortia

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tsutomu Kobayashi.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kobayashi, T., Kuroda, J., Fuchida, Si. et al. Impact of early use of lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone on clinical outcomes in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Int J Hematol 101, 37–45 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-014-1696-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-014-1696-6

Keywords

Navigation