Haematologica, Vol 93, Issue 1, 124-127 doi:10.3324/haematol.11644
Copyright © 2008 by Ferrata Storti Foundation
Thalidomide in induction treatment increases the very good partial response rate before and after high-dose therapy in previously untreated multiple myeloma
Henk M. Lokhorst1,,
Ingo Schmidt-Wolf2,
Pieter Sonneveld1,
Bronno van der Holt1,
Hans Martin2,
Rene Barge1,
Uta Bertsch2,
Jana Schlenzka2,
Gerard M.J. Bos1,
Sandra Croockewit1,
Sonja Zweegman1,
Iris Breitkreutz2,
Peter Joosten1,
Christof Scheid2,
Marinus van Marwijk-Kooy1,
Hans-Juergen Salwender2,
Marinus H.J. van Oers1,
Ron Schaafsma1,
Ralph Naumann2,
Harm Sinnige1,
Igor Blau2,
Michel Delforge1,
Okke de Weerdt1,
Pierre Wijermans1,
Shulamiet Wittebol1,
Ulrich Duersen2,
Edo Vellenga1,
Hartmut Goldschmidt1 for Dutch-Belgian HOVON and German GMMG
1Dutch-Belgian Hemato-Oncology Cooperative Group (HOVON), The Netherlands and 2German GMMG
Correspondence: H.M. Lokhorst, Dept. of Hematology, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: h.lokhorst{at}umcutrecht.nl

ABSTRACT
In the prospective phase 3 HOVON-50/GMMG-HD3 trial, patients
randomized to TAD (thalidomide, doxorubicin, dexamethasone)
had a significantly higher response rate (at least PR) after
induction compared with patients randomized to VAD (vincristine,
adriamycin, dexamethasone, 72%
vs. 54%,
p<0.001). Complete
remission (CR) and very good partial remission (VGPR) were also
higher after TAD. After High Dose melphalan 200mg/m
2 response
was comparable in both arms, 76% and 79% respectively. However,
CR plus VGPR were significantly higher in the patients randomized
to TAD (49%
vs. 32%,
p<0.001). CTC grade 3–4 adverse
events were similar in both arms.
Key words: thalidomide, untreated multiple myeloma.

Introduction
Induction therapy, such as the combination of vincristine, doxorubicin
and dexamethasone (VAD), followed by stem cell collection and
autologous stem cell transplantation is currently considered
the standard treatment for younger myeloma patients.
1,2,3 Recently
thalidomide-based regimens have been shown to be highly effective
as first line treatment in terms of response and event free
survival. New induction schedules like the thalidomide-dexamethasone
combination are advocated as preparation regimens, with the
rationale that these increase the initial response rate which
may result in a higher (complete) response rate and prolonged
survival following high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell
transplantation.
4–8 However, others have questioned the
value of VAD as initial therapy in multiple myeloma (MM) and
have emphasized the care needed before drawing conclusions from
surrogate outcomes such as response rate.
9 The objective of
the HOVON 50 MM/GMMG-HD3 phase 3 trial was to evaluate the efficacy
of thalidomide combined with intensive therapy in previously
untreated patients.
10

Design and Methods
Patients with newly diagnosed MM, Salmon and Durie stage II
or III, age 18–65 years, were eligible for inclusion in
the HOVON-50/GMMG-HD3 study. Informed consent was obtained prior
to randomization. According to the Declaration of Helsinki,
the protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Board of each
participating hospital. Patients were randomly assigned to arm
A: 3 cycles of VAD: vincristine (0.4 mg, IV rapid infusion on
days 1–4), doxorubicin (9 mg/m
2, IV rapid infusion on
days 1–4) and dexamethasone 40 mg orally (days 1–4,
9–12, 17–20)
11 or to arm B, the same regimen but
with thalidomide 200 – 400 mg orally, days 1–28
instead of vincristine (TAD). Cycle 2 started at day 29, cycle
3 at day 57. Thalidomide was started at day 1 of the first TAD
cycle and was stopped 2 weeks before stem cell mobilization
was started. The thalidomide dose could be escalated to a maximum
400 mg when tolerability was good. Patients in arm B received
thrombosis prophylaxis consisting of subcutaneously low molecular
weight heparin (LMWH) nadroparine 2,850 IE anti-Xa or 5,700
anti-Xa when weight >90 kg.
12 Stem cells were mobilized using
the CAD regimen, i.e. cyclophosphamide 1000 mg/m
2 iv day 1,
doxorubicin 15 mg/m
2, iv rapid infusion on days 1–4, dexamethasone
40 mg orally on days 1–4, given at 4–6 weeks after
induction treatment, plus G-CSF 5 mg/kg twice daily until collection.
After induction therapy, all patients were to receive 1 or 2
courses of high dose Melphalan (HDM) 200 mg/m
2 with autologous
stem cell rescue. Centers committed to single or double HDM
before start of study. Patients randomized to arm A received
maintenance therapy with

-interferon (3
x10
6 IU, three times
week) and patients randomized to arm B received Thalidomide
50 mg daily without venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis.
Response was evaluated as intention to treat according to the
EBMT criteria and required a negative immune fixation for patients
in CR.
14 Recently, achievement of a VGPR, defined as a 90% or
greater reduction in the serum M-protein plus urinary M-protein
level < 100 mg/24 hours has been recognized. This criterion
was, therefore, also included in the response evaluation.
15 Response was evaluated after induction treatment and at least
3 months after HDM 1.

Results and Discussion
A first interim analysis was performed on 402 patients of the
1,240 included in the trial, 201 patients per treatment arm
with validated data, registered before August 2004. Median age
was 56 years (range 34–65), 248 male and 154 female patients.
Most patients (81%) had stage III myeloma according to Salmon
and Durie. According to the International Staging System (ISS)
163 patients were in stage I, 81 in stage II and 78 in stage
III, while 80 patients could not be classified due to missing
β2-microglobulin and/or albumin data.
13 Patient characteristics
were in general equally distributed between both arms (
Table 1).
The total response (

PR) after 3 courses of TAD was significantly
higher compared with the response after 3 courses of VAD (72%
vs. 54%,
p<0.001). In addition, VGPR plus CR was higher in
patients receiving TAD (arm B, 33% CR 4%)
vs. VAD (arm A, 15%;
CR 2%,
p<0.001). Total response rates (PR, VGPR plus CR)
following HDM1 were comparable in both arms: VAD +HDM1; 76%,
TAD plus HDM1; 79% (
p=0.55). However, TAD followed by HDM1 resulted
in a significantly higher proportion of patients achieving VGPR
plus CR, 49%
vs. 32% (
p<0.001), while the CR percentages
were not statistically different (16%
vs. 11%,
p=0.19). The
ISS had no impact on response rate, nor was there an association
between ISS and treatment arm. Thalidomide could be given at
full dose to 62% of patients, was reduced in 17% of patients,
had to be stopped in 19% of patients, while no data were available
for 2% of patients. CTC grade 3–4 events were recorded
in 33% of patients during VAD and in 41% of patients during
TAD (
p=0.13). Grade 3–4 neurology occurred in 7% of patients
during VAD and in 12% of patients during TAD (
p=0.09). All grade
3–4 adverse events during induction therapy are listed
in
Table 2. Twenty seven patients (13%) in arm A and 37 patients
(18%) in arm B went off protocol treatment without receiving
HDM, mainly due to excessive toxicity (3%), intercurrent death
(6%) or progressive disease (5%) comparable in both arms. The
incidence of VTE during induction therapy was published previously.
12 In short: VTE incidence in both arms was reported to be comparable
(Arm A, 4% and Arm B, 8%,
p=0.08).
Impressive response rates have been reported for first line
therapies that combine the conventional anti-myeloma drugs with
novel agents such as thalidomide, lenalidomide or bortezomib.
16–18 Our study shows that more effective induction therapy by including
thalidomide not only improves the remission status after induction
but that the superior response is maintained until after intensification.
It is remarkable that this better response was only reflected
by a higher percentage of VGPR while total response and CR rate
were not improved. Do these results further support the value
of VAD as initial therapy in multiple myeloma? One would think
so, although the better quality of the response induced by thalidomide
must be balanced against the greater toxicity and the need for
VTE prophylaxis associated with the combination. It is not yet
known whether these increased response rates are translated
in prolonged EFS and OS. Recently published studies showed that
only thalidomide maintenance following autologous transplantation
prolonged event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS)
while thalidomide given during all phases of treatment (induction,
intensification and maintenance), only prolonged EFS but not
OS, due to multi-drug resistant relapses after transplantation.
19,20
We conclude that thalidomide as part of initial treatment improves pre- and post-transplant response by increasing the percentages of patients achieving a VGPR. Longer follow-up is needed to establish the effect on long term outcome. Our study supports the exploration of other combinations with novel agents that may induce even higher response rates and are probably associated with fewer side effects. Promising schemes in this respect are bortezomib, dexamethasone, with or without doxorubicin (PAD) and lenalidomide combined with dexamethasone.16–18

Footnotes
Authors Contributions
HML, PS, HG: principal investigators, substantial contribution to design, analysis and interpretation of the data, drafting or revising the article for intellectual content, final approval of manuscript; UB, BvdH, JS, RB, IB, GB, ISW, AC, SZ, HM, PJ, CS, MvMK, HS, MHvO, MS, RN, HS, WB, GV, OdW, PW, SW, UD, EV substantial contribution to design, analysis and interpretation of the data, drafting or revising the article for intellectual content, final approval of manuscript. The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest.
Received for publication April 22, 2007.
Accepted for publication August 17, 2007.

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