A Phase II Study of Eltrombopag as a Novel Therapeutic Approach for Patients With Low-risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) and Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML) With TET2 Mutations
Abhay Singh, MD MPH
Summary
The purpose of this study is to evaluate if a study drug called eltrombopag can improve the blood cell counts in patients with low-risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) and Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML) with mutations in TET2 gene, observe changes in the TET2 gene over time, and evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. TET2 gene is one of the most frequently mutated genes (altered parts of the DNA) in MDS and CMML. Eltrombopag is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug for the treatment of severe aplastic anemia and low levels of platelets in patients with persistent or chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and chronic hepatitis C. Eltrombopag is considered investigational (experimental) in this study because the FDA has not approved its use in the treatment of low-risk MDS or CMML. Eltrombopag is a drug that helps stimulate the body's process of making more platelets (small components of blood that help with clotting) by interacting with specific parts of cells. This interaction starts a series of signals that encourage the growth and development of the cells that produce platelets. It was found that this drug could stop the growth of TET2 mutated cells.
Description
Epigenetic changes such as alterations in DNA methylation and histone modification play an important role in the pathophysiology of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). With the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms, it has become possible to identify genomic aberrations involved in the MDS epigenetics. Additionally, with the advances in therapeutic methods in MDS, several novel genomic aberrations have been reported to predict the effectiveness of specific treatment. It is becoming clear that genomic aberrations may offer more precise cancer phenotypes and help predict precise…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Age ≥ 18 years at the time of signing the informed consent form. * Willing and able to adhere to the study visit schedule and other protocol requirements. * Established diagnosis of very low-, low-, or intermediate-risk MDS (IPSS-R \< 3.5) and \< 5% myeloblasts or CMML 0 (CMML-0, for cases with \< 2% blasts in PB and \< 5% blasts in bone marrow (BM)z,\[14\] with any one of the notable cytopenias as defined below: 1. Hgb \< 10 g/dL prior to enrollment 2. ANC \< 1.5×10\^9/L 3. Platelets \< 100×10\^9/L * Must be relapsed, refractory/resistant, intolerant, or have ina…
Interventions
- DrugEltrombopag (EPAG)
50 mg, 28-day cycles, 3 initial cycles + 12 cycles on extension arm (maximum of 15 cycles)
Location
- Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic Foundation Taussig Cancer InstituteCleveland, Ohio