Clinical Research for Azacitidine Combined With Low-dose Dasatinib in Maintenance Therapy of Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Clinical Trial

Official title:

Clinical Research for Azacitidine Combined With Low-dose Dasatinib in Maintenance Therapy of Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05042531
• Other study ID #: AZALDDASA3
• Secondary ID: ChiCTR2100042418
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: November 13, 2021
• Est. completion date: December 15, 2023

Study information

• Verified date: April 2022
• Source: LanZhou University
• Contact: Bei Liu, MD
• Phone: +86 13809319379
• Email: liubeiff[@]163.com
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This project is a prospective, single-center study to evaluate the efficacy, safety and related mechanisms of azacitidine combined with low-dose dasatinib in maintenance therapy in patients with intermediate and high-risk acute myeloid leukemia(AML). The patients were randomly divided into azacitidine group and azacitidine combined with low-dose dasatinib group. The overall survival and disease-free survival were taken as the main end points, and the mortality and recurrence rate were taken as the secondary end points, meanwhile, the incidence of adverse events were evaluated. At the same time, the mRNA expressions of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT1, DNMT3a, DNMT3b), tumor suppressor genes (TP53, P15, P16, P21, CDH1, DOK6, SHP1, PTPN11) and differentiation genes (pu.1, C/EBP α, C/EBP β) were detected. Pyrophosphate sequencing was used to detect the methylation level of the promoter region of these tumor suppressor genes. Western Blot was used to detect apoptosis proteins (caspase3, caspase8) and phosphorylated proteins (pSTAT3, pSTAT5, pAKT). The proportion of apoptotic population of bone marrow cells was determined by flow cytometry. Therefore, the data in this study will reflect the efficacy and safety of azacitidine or azacitidine combined with low-dose dasatinib in real-world maintenance therapy in patients with medium and high-risk AML.

Description:

In addition to studying the overall survival, disease-free survival and recurrence rates, mortality and incidence of adverse events of patients treated with azacitidine or azacitidine combined with low-dose dasatinib, we will also study its related mechanisms. One of the pathogenesis of AML is that abnormal DNA methylation makes the cell cycle out of control and carcinogenesis by inhibiting the expression of tumor suppressor genes. In addition, the abnormal activation of tyrosine kinase signal pathway also promotes the development of leukemia. Azacitidine, the hypomethylating agents, can not only inhibit the DNA methyltransferase family, but also activate tumor suppressor genes to inhibit a variety of tyrosine kinase signaling pathways, including JAK-STAT. NaShen et al have directly demonstrated that tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) can not only inhibit the abnormal activation of tyrosine kinase pathway, but also reduce DNA methylation. This study found that the combination of the second generation TKIs and hypomethylating agents can reduce has a synergistic effect on promoting apoptosis and reducing DNA methylation. In addition, TKIs often produces drug resistance due to long exposure time, and the main mechanisms of drug resistance is due to DNA methylation and abnormal reactivation of tyrosine kinase signal pathway. The combination of TKI and azacitidine reduces DNA methylation and inhibits the reactivation of abnormal tyrosine kinase signal pathway, which is helpful to improve TKI drug resistance. Based on the above theory, we assume that patients treated with azacitidine and dasatinib may have more obvious demethylation effect, increased expression of tumor suppressive genes, more obvious apoptosis, and inhibition of phosphorylated protein expression.So we did the lab tests of these mechanisms.We innovatively used azacitidine and TKIs in the treatment of patients with AML maintenance, in order to reduce drug toxicity, enhance drug efficacy, improve patient prognosis and reduce the financial burden of patients.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 30
• Est. completion date: December 15, 2023
• Est. primary completion date: September 1, 2023
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with intermediate and high-risk AML who are diagnosed according to the 2016 WHO guidelines, aged =18 years;

2. Detect minimal residual disease(-) after induction therapy and consolidation therapy;

3. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status score 0-2;

4. The heart, pulmonary, liver and kidneys have sufficient organ functions:

1. Cardiac color doppler ultrasound shows cardiac ejection fraction> 50%, heart function classification NYHA III/IV, no heart block or arrhythmia;

2. Patients without severe restrictive/obstructive pulmonary disease;

3. Liver function: total bilirubin (TBIL) < 2 times the upper limit of normal, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and/or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) <2.5 times the upper limit of normal;

4. Renal function: serum creatinine (Cr) < 1.5 times the upper limit of normal.

5. The patient and family members agree and sign an informed consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with malignant tumors of other organs;

2. HCV positive; or HIV positive; or one of the following HBV test results:

1. HBsAg positive;

2. HBsAg negative, HBcAb positive and HBV DNA titer positive;

3. Pregnant and lactating women, and patients who have family planning during the enrollment period;

4. Patients considered to be unsuitable for enrollment by the investigator.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Acute Myeloid Leukemia
• Leukemia
• Leukemia, Myeloid
• Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute

Intervention

Drug:
• Azacitidine
Azacitidine, 75mg/m2,d1-7;Treatment cycles every 28 days
• Dasatinib
dasatinib,20mg,po,qd,treatment cycles every 28 days

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
China	The First Hospital of Lanzhou University	Lanzhou	Gansu

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
LanZhou University	Beijing Health Alliance Charitable Foundation

Country where clinical trial is conducted

China, 

References & Publications (18)

Adès L, Itzykson R, Fenaux P. Myelodysplastic syndromes. Lancet. 2014 Jun 28;383(9936):2239-52. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61901-7. Epub 2014 Mar 21. Review. — View Citation

Al-Jamal HA, Mat Jusoh SA, Hassan R, Johan MF. Enhancing SHP-1 expression with 5-azacytidine may inhibit STAT3 activation and confer sensitivity in lestaurtinib (CEP-701)-resistant FLT3-ITD positive acute myeloid leukemia. BMC Cancer. 2015 Nov 7;15:869. doi: 10.1186/s12885-015-1695-x. — View Citation

Amrein PC. The potential for dasatinib in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, and myeloproliferative neoplasms. Leuk Lymphoma. 2011 May;52(5):754-63. doi: 10.3109/10428194.2011.555890. Epub 2011 Apr 4. Review. — View Citation

Cassileth PA, Harrington DP, Hines JD, Oken MM, Mazza JJ, McGlave P, Bennett JM, O'Connell MJ. Maintenance chemotherapy prolongs remission duration in adult acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. J Clin Oncol. 1988 Apr;6(4):583-7. — View Citation

Fernandez S, Desplat V, Villacreces A, Guitart AV, Milpied N, Pigneux A, Vigon I, Pasquet JM, Dumas PY. Targeting Tyrosine Kinases in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Why, Who and How? Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Jul 12;20(14). pii: E3429. doi: 10.3390/ijms20143429. Review. — View Citation

Gao X, Lin J, Gao L, Deng A, Lu X, Li Y, Wang L, Yu L. High expression of c-kit mRNA predicts unfavorable outcome in adult patients with t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 10;10(4):e0124241. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124241. eCollection 2015. — View Citation

Guerrouahen BS, Futami M, Vaklavas C, Kanerva J, Whichard ZL, Nwawka K, Blanchard EG, Lee FY, Robinson LJ, Arceci R, Kornblau SM, Wieder E, Cayre YE, Corey SJ. Dasatinib inhibits the growth of molecularly heterogeneous myeloid leukemias. Clin Cancer Res. 2010 Feb 15;16(4):1149-58. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-09-2416. Epub 2010 Feb 9. — View Citation

Hunault-Berger M, Maillard N, Himberlin C, Recher C, Schmidt-Tanguy A, Choufi B, Bonmati C, Carré M, Couturier MA, Daguindau E, Marolleau JP, Orsini-Piocelle F, Delaunay J, Tavernier E, Lissandre S, Ojeda-Uribe M, Sanhes L, Sutton L, Banos A, Fornecker LM, Bernard M, Bouscary D, Saad A, Puyade M, Rouillé V, Luquet I, Béné MC, Hamel JF, Dreyfus F, Ifrah N, Pigneux A. Maintenance therapy with alternating azacitidine and lenalidomide in elderly fit patients with poor prognosis acute myeloid leukemia: a phase II multicentre FILO trial. Blood Cancer J. 2017 Jun 2;7(6):e568. doi: 10.1038/bcj.2017.50. — View Citation

La Rosée P, Johnson K, Corbin AS, Stoffregen EP, Moseson EM, Willis S, Mauro MM, Melo JV, Deininger MW, Druker BJ. In vitro efficacy of combined treatment depends on the underlying mechanism of resistance in imatinib-resistant Bcr-Abl-positive cell lines. Blood. 2004 Jan 1;103(1):208-15. Epub 2003 Aug 21. — View Citation

Lang F, Wunderle L, Pfeifer H, Schnittger S, Bug G, Ottmann OG. Dasatinib and Azacitidine Followed by Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplant for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia with Evolving Myelodysplasia: A Case Report and Review of Treatment Options. Am J Case Rep. 2017 Oct 16;18:1099-1109. Review. — View Citation

Molica M, Breccia M, Foa R, Jabbour E, Kadia TM. Maintenance therapy in AML: The past, the present and the future. Am J Hematol. 2019 Nov;94(11):1254-1265. doi: 10.1002/ajh.25620. Epub 2019 Sep 11. Review. — View Citation

Patel AB, Pomicter AD, Yan D, Eiring AM, Antelope O, Schumacher JA, Kelley TW, Tantravahi SK, Kovacsovics TJ, Shami PJ, O'Hare T, Deininger MW. Dasatinib overcomes stroma-based resistance to the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib using multiple mechanisms. Leukemia. 2020 Nov;34(11):2981-2991. doi: 10.1038/s41375-020-0858-1. Epub 2020 May 14. — View Citation

Rashidi A, Weisdorf DJ, Bejanyan N. Treatment of relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukaemia in adults. Br J Haematol. 2018 Apr;181(1):27-37. doi: 10.1111/bjh.15077. Epub 2018 Jan 9. Review. — View Citation

Shen N, Yan F, Pang J, Zhao N, Gangat N, Wu L, Bode AM, Al-Kali A, Litzow MR, Liu S. Inactivation of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases Reverts Aberrant DNA Methylation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Clin Cancer Res. 2017 Oct 15;23(20):6254-6266. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-0235. Epub 2017 Jul 18. — View Citation

Sun GK, Tang LJ, Zhou JD, Xu ZJ, Yang L, Yuan Q, Ma JC, Liu XH, Lin J, Qian J, Yao DM. DOK6 promoter methylation serves as a potential biomarker affecting prognosis in de novo acute myeloid leukemia. Cancer Med. 2019 Oct;8(14):6393-6402. doi: 10.1002/cam4.2540. Epub 2019 Sep 4. — View Citation

Tallman MS, Wang ES, Altman JK, Appelbaum FR, Bhatt VR, Bixby D, Coutre SE, De Lima M, Fathi AT, Fiorella M, Foran JM, Hall AC, Jacoby M, Lancet J, LeBlanc TW, Mannis G, Marcucci G, Martin MG, Mims A, O'Donnell MR, Olin R, Peker D, Perl A, Pollyea DA, Pratz K, Prebet T, Ravandi F, Shami PJ, Stone RM, Strickland SA, Wieduwilt M, Gregory KM; OCN, Hammond L, Ogba N. Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Version 3.2019, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2019 Jun 1;17(6):721-749. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2019.0028. — View Citation

Tavor S, Shalit T, Chapal Ilani N, Moskovitz Y, Livnat N, Groner Y, Barr H, Minden MD, Plotnikov A, Deininger MW, Kaushansky N, Shlush LI. Dasatinib response in acute myeloid leukemia is correlated with FLT3/ITD, PTPN11 mutations and a unique gene expression signature. Haematologica. 2020 Dec 1;105(12):2795-2804. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2019.240705. — View Citation

Xie N, Zhong L, Liu L, Fang Y, Qi X, Cao J, Yang B, He Q, Ying M. Autophagy contributes to dasatinib-induced myeloid differentiation of human acute myeloid leukemia cells. Biochem Pharmacol. 2014 May 1;89(1):74-85. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2014.02.019. Epub 2014 Mar 4. — View Citation

* Note: There are 18 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	overall survival	OS is defined as the time from the date of enrollment until the date of death from any cause.	up to 30 months.
Primary	disease-free survival	Event-free survival is defined as the time from enrollment until documented refractory disease, relapse after complete remission(CR) or CR with incomplete recovery of blood counts(CRi), or death from any cause.	up to 30 months.
Secondary	mortality	The proportion of patients from enrollment to death was recorded.	mortality rate at 30 months.
Secondary	recurrence rate	Record the proportion of patients with recurrence in the study.	recurrence rate at 30 months.
Secondary	adverse events	Number of participants with treatment-related adverse events as assessed by CTCAE v5.0.	Adverse events were assessed weekly during the first and second cycles, and every two cycles thereafter (each cycle is 28 days), up to 30 months.
Secondary	apoptotic protein and phosphorylated protein	The relative expression of apoptotic protein(caspase3, caspase8) and phosphorylated protein(pSTAT3, pSTAT5, pAKT) were detected by western blot with bone marrow aspirate.	once before enrollment and once after the completion of the study, up to 30 months.
Secondary	DNA methyltransferase, tumor suppressor genes and differentiation genes	To detect the mRNA expression of DNA methyltransferase(DNMT1, DNMT3a, DNMT3b), tumor suppressor genes(TP53,P15, P16, P21, CDH1, DOK6, SHP1, PTPN11) and differentiation gene(pu.1, C/EBPa, C/EBPß) with bone marrow aspirate by Q-PCR.	once before enrollment and once after the completion of the study, up to 30 months.
Secondary	methylation level in the promoter region of some tumor suppressor genes.	Detection of methylation level in the promoter region of the above tumor suppressor genes by pyrophosphate sequencing using patient bone marrow aspirate.	once before enrollment and once after the completion of the study, up to 30 months.
Secondary	Percentage of bone marrow cell apoptosis population	The percentage of apoptotic population of bone marrow cells was determined by flow cytometry.	once before enrollment and once after the completion of the study, up to 30 months.