Phase II Study of the Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Panabinostat (LBH589) in Patients with Low or Intermediate-1 Risk Myelodysplastic syndrome

Abstract 1731

Panabinostat is a very potent panhistone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) with activity in acute myelogenous leukemia (CCR 2006;12: 4628). We hypothesized that single agent panabinostat could be active in patients with low and intermediate-1 risk MDS. Oral route of administration and safety profile further increased interest in this approach. To test this concept we designed a phase II study of panabinostat for patients above 18 years of age with lower risk disease. Patients could have received prior therapy or be treatment naïve. Appropriate renal, hepatic and cardiac functions were required. Patients were excluded if they had previous HDACi treatment. Patients with history of cardiac pathology such as rhythm alterations were excluded from the study. Use of drugs that could induce QT prolongation and CYP3A4 inhibitors were not allowed. Panabinostat was used at dose of 20 mg orally three times a week for consecutive 3 weeks with cycles repeated every 4 weeks. The primary objective of the study was overall response rate defined by IWG. A maximum of 40 patients could be enrolled. The study was to stop early if the expected response rate was less than 15%. Stopping rules were as follows: Stop if the number of patients with hematologic improvement/the number of patients evaluated was 0/15 or 1/32. The study also contained a stopping rule for non-hematological toxicity. Thirteen patients were enrolled between August 2009 and December 2010. Median age was 70 years (range 47 to 84, 84% of patients older than 60), 70% were transfusion dependent, 70% had intermediate-1 risk MDS, most patients were diploid but one patient with del(5q), one with trisomy 8, one with complex cytogenetics and 2 with deletion of 20q were included. Median percent of marrow blasts was 1% (range 1 to 6%). At start of therapy, median hemoglobin was 9.5 (range 7.5–11.2 G/dL), median platelet count was 56 (range 6–431 k/uL) and median white blood cell count was 4.6 (range 0.8–20.3 k/uL). Approximately 40% had previous therapy for MDS including hypomethylating agents, lenalidomide and investigational agent. Median number of prior therapies for treated patients was 2 (range 1 to 4). Median duration of disease at time of enrollment was 10 months (range 1–50). Patients received a median of 4 cycles of panabinostat (range 1–9). Of 13 patients, 1(8%) achieved a hematological improvement including both an erythroid and platelet response that lasted for 3 months. No complete remissions or partial responses were documented. Six patients (46%) had stable disease for a median duration of 6 months (range 2–13.6). Median overall survival was 15 months (1–31 months). Two patients died because progression to AML. Therapy was well tolerated: no major adverse events were documented except for one patient that developed significant QTc prolongation. Adverse events included mild fatigue and gastrointestinal toxicity. As a biomarker of molecular activity, histone H3 acetylation was measured in 5 patients with variable results. Induction of acetylation was documented in 2. Despite the fact that the stopping rule for activity was not officially met, because of the very modest clinical activity observed, the study was closed to new patient entry. In conclusion, panabinostat given as a single agent orally at a dose of 20 mg thee times a week for 3 weeks followed by one week of rest has limited clinical activity in patients with lower risk MDS.