- Chung, David;
- Shah, Nina;
- Wu, Juan;
- Logan, Brent;
- Bisharat, Lina;
- Callander, Natalie;
- Cheloni, Giulia;
- Anderson, Kenneth;
- Chodon, Thinle;
- Dhakal, Binod;
- Devine, Steve;
- Somaiya Dutt, Poorvi;
- Efebera, Yvonne;
- Geller, Nancy;
- Ghiasuddin, Haider;
- Hematti, Peiman;
- Holmberg, Leona;
- Howard, Alan;
- Johnson, Bryon;
- Karagkouni, Dimitra;
- Lazarus, Hillard;
- Malek, Ehsan;
- McCarthy, Philip;
- McKenna, David;
- Mendizabal, Adam;
- Nooka, Ajay;
- Munshi, Nikhil;
- ODonnell, Lynn;
- Rapoport, Aaron;
- Reese, Jane;
- Rosenblatt, Jacalyn;
- Soiffer, Robert;
- Stroopinsky, Dina;
- Uhl, Lynne;
- Vlachos, Ioannis;
- Waller, Edmund;
- Young, James;
- Pasquini, Marcelo;
- Avigan, David
PURPOSE: Vaccination with dendritic cell (DC)/multiple myeloma (MM) fusions has been shown to induce the expansion of circulating multiple myeloma-reactive lymphocytes and consolidation of clinical response following autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (auto-HCT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this randomized phase II trial (NCT02728102), we assessed the effect of DC/MM fusion vaccination, GM-CSF, and lenalidomide maintenance as compared with control arms of GM-CSF and lenalidomide or lenalidomide maintenance alone on clinical response rates and induction of multiple myeloma-specific immunity at 1-year posttransplant. RESULTS: The study enrolled 203 patients, with 140 randomized posttransplantation. Vaccine production was successful in 63 of 68 patients. At 1 year, rates of CR were 52.9% (vaccine) and 50% (control; P = 0.37, 80% CI 44.5%, 61.3%, and 41.6%, 58.4%, respectively), and rates of VGPR or better were 85.3% (vaccine) and 77.8% (control; P = 0.2). Conversion to CR at 1 year was 34.8% (vaccine) and 27.3% (control; P = 0.4). Vaccination induced a statistically significant expansion of multiple myeloma-reactive T cells at 1 year compared with before vaccination (P = 0.024) and in contrast to the nonvaccine arm (P = 0.026). Single-cell transcriptomics revealed clonotypic expansion of activated CD8 cells and shared dominant clonotypes between patients at 1-year posttransplant. CONCLUSIONS: DC/MM fusion vaccination with lenalidomide did not result in a statistically significant increase in CR rates at 1 year posttransplant but was associated with a significant increase in circulating multiple myeloma-reactive lymphocytes indicative of tumor-specific immunity. Site-specific production of a personalized cell therapy with centralized product characterization was effectively accomplished in the context of a multicenter cooperative group study. See related commentary by Qazilbash and Kwak, p. 4703.