Tag Archive for: JAK stat pathway

How Molecular Markers Affect MPN Treatment | Advances in Research

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How Molecular Markers Affect MPN Treatment | Advances in Research from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Are there new molecular markers being discovered that could affect myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) care? Dr. Lucia Masarova explains common MPN driver mutations and what researchers are learning about recently discovered molecular markers, such as ASXL1.

Dr. Lucia Masarova is an MPN Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Masarova.

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 Expert Perspective | Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera

Expert Perspective | Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Dr. Masarova, molecular testing is important for people diagnosed with MPNs and may help provide insight into effective treatment approaches. What are some new areas of research related to molecular markers? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

Molecular markers are very relevant in our designs or thinking about myeloproliferative neoplasms. Not only treatments, but also the disease qualification or prognostication wherever since the discovery of the so-called driver mutations, which are the mutations responsible for the overproduction of the blood counts and disease pathogenesis.  

Among them we have the most common, JAK2 mutation, then also calreticulin, MPL, or in some instances we don’t even understand and call it triple-negative. 

There we have learned, over the years, that the amount of the expression, or allele burden, does correlate with the disease behavior outcome. And then our ability to reverse that. So, a chief decrease of the burden is also relevant to the outcome of the patients. So, developing therapies or even putting these as an endpoint for clinical trials is important for our decision-making and moving towards eradication of the disease.  

Then there are additional molecular changes, which include non-drivers, which are additional mutations that we have learned and even implemented in the latest prognostic models, some of them are very unfavorable, such as ASXL1, Ezh2, IDH mutations, certain splicing factors.  

And those play additional roles, a lot of it we still do not understand, in how the disease is going to ultimately behave. What is their interplay, and how we can interfere with that?  

So, learning about the impact of these mutations and the drivers and the other effects that cause the disease evolution will probably become the landmark of this decade and in facing myeloproliferative neoplasms. 

And I’m hoping we will develop medications, or we will be able to focus our efforts and our decision-making based on molecular definition, as it’s currently very broadly seen across all cancers. We call it precision medicine where we really define, “How does this look like,” not how we box it in based on morphology. What is it driving? What is it not responding? And what can we do to improve that?  

So, I totally see here a big potent and powerful tool to allow us to make the most individualized and customized decisions for our patients to offer them the best outcomes.  

Expert Perspective | Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera

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Expert Perspective | Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is it possible to change the course of disease in polycythemia vera patients? MPN specialist and researcher Dr. Lucia Masarova shares an overview of the research in disease modification, discussing her work as the coauthor in an article entitled Moving Towards Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera, recently published in the journal Blood.

Dr. Lucia Masarova is an MPN Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Masarova. 

 

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Dr. Masarova, you are a coauthor in an article entitled Moving Towards Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera, which was recently published in the journal Blood. Can you share some of the highlights of the article and what it means for PV patients? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

Disease modification in polycythemia vera. I’m so excited finally being talking about this because we’ve been really, really, really so hungry for this term, although we still don’t know what it means.  

So, we group together with lots of experts in the myeloproliferative neoplasm field and try to brainstorm and put together, “What does it actually mean?” And to me, and to all of us, it was to offer our patients the normal or not-normal lifespan without the consequences of the disease that they face. Because we historically divided polycythemia vera into high-risk or low-risk disease based on the age or previous history of thrombosis or clotting complications.  

However, there is a huge area of patients that wouldn’t have either, and still suffer tremendously a bad quality of life, and ultimately also face the disease progression to myelofibrosis, which is the most actual complication of long-term polycythemia vera duration.  

So, the concept of disease modification would be to actually prevent the complications to even occur. To allow our patient to live free of having the fear of living with a thrombosis or clotting complication or ultimately progress into myelofibrosis. We have to learn how to get there. What are the relevant endpoints of tools for us to utilize to really understand? We have learned a lot from seeing what we call molecular remissions, or control of the JAK2 mutation with certain medications, for example, interferons or latest ruxolitinib (Jakafi), the JAK inhibition, where the decrease of the allele burden, which represents the disease, is correlated with better outcome.  

So, that is something that we have to be learning down the road with a longer follow-up. But that basically triggered us to focus on what can we do better? How do we prevent this from even happening rather than only controlling the historically main points of the disease which are presented by the blood counts symptoms and display? And where we are actually failing quite a lot of patients because despite them having a control count, they still don’t have a happy life, and lots of them suffer and complain.  

So, this is something to be learned, and this is opening the disease modification not only for polycythemia vera, but also for all patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms, which have a little bit of a different feeling in the whole myeloid malignancies field. Because it is a very long disease, and it could evolve and change, and only now we starting to understand what does actually happen there. Why some people could live for 30 years, and never face any consequences, and the others would progress very fast? 

So, disease modification would normally allow us to develop and learn more tools and better biomarkers, but also focus on drugs that are really needed to help with these long-term outcomes of our patients.  

Choosing a Myelofibrosis Treatment Plan | Key Questions to Ask

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Choosing a Myelofibrosis Treatment Plan | Key Questions to Ask from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

When considering therapy for myelofibrosis, where do you start? Dr. Lucia Masarova shares advice and key questions to ask your provider when making myelofibrosis treatment decisions.

Dr. Lucia Masarova is an MPN Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Masarova.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

When considering treatment options, what key questions should patients ask about their proposed treatment plan? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

What’s the goal of my therapy? That is one of the most important things to know. Patients don’t even know how long they have to be on the medicines. What to do and how does it look when the medicine is still working? What do I need to be looking for in this medicine? And then what are we going to do if it fails? And what does it actually mean when it fails? What is the schedule? How burdensome the treatment is? How often do I have to come?  

How often and what do I have to pay? Because the financial burden we have to really, really face the truth. It is very, very, very significant and somebody living with this disease predicates. It’s something we cannot take lightly, and we really have to combine our efforts and help with that. There are fantastic patient support organizations, but is not well-known, and is still in the rare – in rarer field. So, there’s more effort that we do. 

When do I need more help? Where to be referred to more experts? What is the role of stem cell transplantations, if ever? So, those are really the key things.  

Where do I find reliable resources to learn about my treatment, to learn about the disease? How do I connect with people from the same community? It is a disease with a lower age in a lot of circumstances and really facing this disease in the 30s or 40s or 50s is a really challenging thing. Although we have more and more medications currently, we really do have now to start thinking about their durability, about the safety for long-term, about their assessments for not performing, and where do we place the ultimate cure for stem cell transplants?  

And how do we make it actually happen in more and more eligible patients? Because we have to face the truth. It is still not utilized to where it belongs. Patients are not being referred. 

Patients are not being transplanted. And they may change with novel therapies. But we have to really consider all of our tools to offer the longest life span and to prevent all the disease trouble that comes with living with MPNs.   

Katherine Banwell:

When it comes to clinical trials, where do they fit in in choosing treatment? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

For me, it’s number one., and always number one.  

That’s just the academic centers which are dedicated and focused on developing better and novel and up front and just tailored and customized drugs. But I know that the life is out there and it’s a little bit more challenging for everybody to deal with such a rare disease.  

I would definitely say any patient that does not respond to current therapy in terms of uncontrolled symptoms or spleen, or other concerns should be referred and evaluated for participation in clinical trials. It is the only way we could understand what is driving that this is not responding and how could we help the best?   

For patients with myelofibrosis, which is the most aggressive myeloproliferative neoplasm, I would definitely put it in. If they are not doing well on number  one, JAK inhibitor, whatever is being used, they should be highly encouraged to be referred to centers and evaluated for clinical trials. 

We have been developing as others and own strategies to potentiate the benefit and efficacy of the current treatments, as well as agents in what we call salvage or refractory setting.  

However, I cannot emphasize enough to really focus on the first track that providers choose for their patients and utilize it to the best ability to avoid frequent or quick switching. Because in a salvage or  refractory setting we cannot offer the same benefit we could offer upfront. We are pushing the disease, maybe being less responsive, maybe more refractory, if we don’t handle the medication we have currently on the table to the best ability.  

Those are excellent medications, fantastic drugs, but there are shortcomings in each and every one of them. And we could do better to really start thinking about what has happened with the medication, why is it failing the patient, and what else could we do? And that’s only possible in the clinical trial setting, especially in such a rare disease as myeloproliferative neoplasms are.   

Katherine Banwell:

Why is it important for patients to feel like they have a voice in their treatment options? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

Because it’s about the patients. I would say, as I always say to my patients, “Nobody’s a better advocate for you than you.” I really, really, really like working with patients. They are educated. They understand where to find resources. They’re not afraid to ask. That challenges all of my team and everybody to really be engaged. They know when to notify me. Not to be quiet when they need something. And really raise their voice when something doesn’t work.  

Patients know their bodies more than anybody can. And no data, no boxes, no books can ever tell me how it actually is. It’s not by chance we have two ears to listen and one mouth to talk.  

So, we have to really listen what the patient has to say and take all the abilities, the resources, the knowledge, the capabilities to really make the best thing for the patients, because it is ultimately and only about that.  

Is Stem Cell Transplant the Only Curative Option for Myelofibrosis?

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Is Stem Cell Transplant the Only Curative Option for Myelofibrosis? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is there a cure for myelofibrosis? Dr. Lucia Masarova explains the role of stem cell transplant for the treatment of myelofibrosis and reviews additional therapies for patients who do not qualify for the procedure, such as JAK inhibitor therapy.

Dr. Lucia Masarova is an MPN Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Masarova.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Dr. Masarova, stem cell transplant is sometimes recommended for people with myelofibrosis. Is this still the closest option to cure for those patients? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

I would say so, as much as we don’t like it. We would like to develop novel conservative, less aggressive, that we call procedures or drugs. Stem cell transplants still represent a long-term cure for patients that are eligible. 

Katherine Banwell:

What about for patients who don’t qualify for stem cell transplant? What are effective long-term treatments for them? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

That’s a very, very important question and topic. The key point here is the long-term because long-term is a little difficult term in conservative management of myeloproliferative neoplasm, particularly when it comes to myelofibrosis.  

With the development of JAK inhibitors, the longest experiences we have with the first one called ruxolitinib or Jakafi, we have seen prolonged outcomes in survival so patients could live longer than expected before.  

However, it’s not forever. So, that’s why we are trying to develop novel strategies where I see a lot of roles of combinations of JAK inhibitors and other correlative compounds, such as bromodomains inhibitors or hypomethylating agents or others that would affect the pathways that we are missing currently to cover with the JAK inhibition. And that ultimately leads to medication failures and patients being refractory and then having a shortened lifespan.  

So, I’m hoping we will develop something for long-term. Particularly promising a very, very interesting concept is with the calreticulin where we are developing monoclonal antibodies or vaccines because we have seen and discovered calreticulin driver to be a targetable thing that causes immunogenicity. 

But I do really hope that we will move forward with these discoveries and the JAK mutate or other drivers causing myeloproliferative neoplasms to offer long-term management.  

Myelofibrosis Therapies in Clinical Trials | BET Inhibitors

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Myelofibrosis Therapies in Clinical Trials | BET Inhibitors from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are BET inhibitors? Dr. Lucia Masarova, an MPN specialist and researcher, explains what BET inhibitors are and discusses the role these therapies may play in the treatment of myelofibrosis.

Dr. Lucia Masarova is an MPN Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Masarova.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

We’re starting to hear more about BET inhibitors. Could you explain what they are and how they work to treat myelofibrosis? 

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

BET inhibitors are abbreviations for bromodomain inhibition, which is a very relevant regulator of transcription factors that play a significant role for making the blood cells.  

So, just differentiation of red cells or platelets, as well as very significant role in cytokines regulation. We know that myelofibrosis is a disease that is defined by overactive JAK-STAT Pathway that ultimately leads to increased cytokines.  

However, there are other pathways that play a significant role, and one of the very major ones is NF-kB, where the BET inhibitor come in play because they target it and help us to decrease the cytokine load as well as alter the differentiational block that happens in the red cells or megakaryocytes or platelets in these patients. 

So, the combination of bromodomain inhibition, or even using it as a single agent on or after refractory I think is a very promising tool that excludes the only JAK inhibition that we’ve been developing for diseases and opens the door for combination strategies that we were so many years thinking through and trying to find out. 

This is really the most promising compound or way of altering the disease background that we can see.  

How Can MPN Providers and Patients Guard Against Disease Progression?

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How Can MPN Providers and Patients Guard Against Disease Progression? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How exactly can myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) providers and patients guard against disease progression? Expert Natasha Johnson explains the likelihood of disease progression and the importance of monitoring blood cell counts and symptoms for optimal care.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…monitor your blood cell counts, be your own advocate. Think about if they’re changing, could it be medication, or is it disease progression? Monitor your symptoms. Look at the total symptoms score or write down your symptoms and try to record where you’re at in intervals. Are things getting worse? If they are, don’t wait three months for your next appointment. Contact your healthcare provider and ask to be seen. Ask about getting a repeat bone marrow biopsy to establish where the current disease status is because that can open up doors possibly to more treatments.”

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See More From [ACT]IVATED MPN

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Transcript:

Natasha Johnson:

There is a risk for progression for patients with MPN. When we look at this, we know that myeloproliferative neoplasms is really an umbrella term for three different diseases that run along a continuum. And they all are unique in that they have an overactive JAK-STAT pathway. And in that, they have very similar disease characteristics and driver mutations. So with that, progression is possible. It doesn’t mean that it’ll happen. It doesn’t matter what the percentage is. We don’t know that, we can’t say it definitely happens, but it’s something that we watch for. We educate you on those signs and symptoms of progression. So this could be caught early and be activated on early. So what are signs of progression? Progression can be thought as if you start to see changes in blood cell counts.

So this could mean a decrease in hemoglobin or platelets, or a rise or decrease in white blood cell counts. Now it’s very important to remember that sometimes changes in blood cell counts is really a side effect to medication, and that needs to be thought of before you think about disease progression. But it’s changes in these counts that don’t improve despite modifying the dose of medication. Another sign of disease progression is an increase or worsening in symptoms.

And here is where it’s important to know what the symptoms are and try to think about or keep a record in where you were and then where you are at today. When we think progression may be happening, it is important that your provider order a bone marrow biopsy, because that helps to reestablish current disease status, and it helps to guide treatment. Maybe it opens doors for more treatments.

My activation tip here would be, number one, monitor your blood cell counts, be your own advocate. Think about if they’re changing, could it be medication, or is it disease progression? Monitor your symptoms. Look at the total symptoms score or write down your symptoms and try to record where you’re at in intervals. Are things getting worse? If they are, don’t wait three months for your next appointment. Contact your healthcare provider and ask to be seen. Ask about getting a repeat bone marrow biopsy to establish where the current disease status is because that can open up doors possibly to more treatments. 

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What Are the Long-Term Effects of JAK Inhibitors?

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What Are the Long-Term Effects of JAK Inhibitors? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

MPN expert Dr. Gabriela Hobbs discusses what researchers know about the long-term safety of JAK inhibitors and options for patients if the treatment loses effectiveness over time.

Dr. Gabriela Hobbs is a hematology-oncology physician specializing in the care of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), chronic myeloid leukemia, and leukemia. Dr. Hobbs serves as clinical director of the adult leukemia service at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn more about Dr. Hobbs.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

What are the long-term effects of JAK inhibitors? And what happens when JAK inhibitors are no longer effective? 

Dr. Hobbs:

Yeah. Great question. So, so far the patients that have been on JAK inhibitors for a long time don’t seem to have the development of additional toxicities that we didn’t know about.  

So, I’ll just comment on some of the things that we do know about. Weight gain is a common complaint that I have from patients, especially those that have polycythemia vera, because maybe they didn’t want to gain weight when they were put on a JAK inhibitor compared to the myelofibrosis patients who maybe had lost a lot of weight before being on a JAK inhibitor.  

There are certainly higher risk probably of developing infections with some of the JAK inhibitors. And we see, for example, shingles reactivation being a common one. And there’s the concern of development of skin cancers, which has been seen with some JAK inhibitors. But generally speaking, long-term use seems to be safe. That being said, ruxolitinib (Jakafi), which is the oldest one to be approved, has only been around since 2011, so we don’t have decades worth of experience to know.  

When JAK inhibitors stop working – to answer the second part of your question – until fairly recently we really didn’t have a whole lot to offer because there was only one JAK inhibitor. Now we have two others. We have fedratinib (Inrebic) and also pacritinib (Vonjo). And we know from the studies that have been done with both of these agents that some patients that lose response to Jakafi, meaning that their spleen starts to grow or their symptoms start to come back, can be treated with these other JAK inhibitors.  

And many patients will, again, have control of their spleen and symptoms. Now losing response to a JAK inhibitor can come in many different ways. And so, some patients may also develop signs of having leukemia or progression of their disease to leukemia. And, unfortunately, for those patients, being on another JAK inhibitor doesn’t make sense. So, those patients may need to receive other types of medications or a stem cell transplant. 

How Driver Mutation Research Is Advancing MPN Treatments

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How Driver Mutation Research Is Advancing MPN Treatments from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How do driver mutations affect MPN care? MPN researcher Dr. Gabriela Hobbs shares an update on what’s being learned about the JAK mutation and how researchers are working towards targeted therapy for MPNs.

Dr. Gabriela Hobbs is a hematology-oncology physician specializing in the care of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), chronic myeloid leukemia, and leukemia. Dr. Hobbs serves as clinical director of the adult leukemia service at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn more about Dr. Hobbs.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

There have been huge developments in the last 10 to 15 years in the field of MPN. So, I’d like to dig a little deeper. We hear about the common driver mutations in MPNs like JAK2, CALR, and MPL. How are these being studied , and what is being discovered?  

Dr. Hobbs:

Yeah. So, it’s amazing how in the last 15 years really so much has been discovered. You know. The JAK2 mutation was first published out in 2005 and calreticulin in 2013. So, those are relatively recent discoveries. And I think a lot of efforts has been put into learning about what these mutations are doing and how they lead to disease. And so, we have the JAK inhibitors, which block the signaling through a pathway called JAK-STAT. And all of these mutations will activate that pathway within cells.  

And so, many of the approved drugs, for example, ruxolitinib (Jakafi), fedratinib (Inrebic), and pacritinib (Vonjo), work on blocking that pathway.  

But since then, we’ve also learned that there are other mutations and other pathways that are likely involved in the development of myeloproliferative neoplasms and also their progression. And so, what we’re seeing now is that many of the clinical trials that are being conducted don’t just target the JAK-STAT pathway or the pathway that’s influenced by these main mutations.  

But also block other pathways to try to really block all the variant expression of signaling in the myeloproliferative neoplasms. And so, we’re trying to attack it by many different angles.  

Katherine:

Yeah. Is there a possibility of specific targeted therapies at MPNs similar to those in AML such as FLT3 inhibitors? 

Dr. Hobbs:

Absolutely. So, similarly to AML, we know that we have mutations in similar types of genes called tyrosine kinases. So, these are enzymes that are turned on and always active. And so, I think there is definitely hope that we can develop some targeted agents. For example, ruxolitinib or the other JAK inhibitors are similar. They’re tyrosine kinase inhibitors where they block an enzyme, specifically the JAK2 enzyme.  

But I think that we can definitely do better and develop more specific inhibitors, for example, a molecule that just blocks the JAK2 mutation and not just every JAK2 molecule in every cell. Similarly to AML, there are mutations, for example, in enzymes called IDH.  

And we have IDH inhibitors for AML. And there are some studies that are using IDH inhibitors for MPN. So, I think we’re going to continue to see more targeted therapies specific to the mutations that occur in MPN. 

What Are Common MPN Symptoms?

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What Are Common MPN Symptoms? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Jeanne Palmer, an MPN specialist, reviews the most common symptoms associated with essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV), and myelofibrosis (MF).

Dr. Jeanne Palmer is a hematologist specializing in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and bone marrow transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Dr. Palmer also serves as Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and is Vice Chair and Section Chief for Hematology. Learn more about Dr. Palmer, here.

 

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Would you walk us through the common symptoms of each of the MPNs? Let’s start with essential thrombocythemia. 

Dr. Jeanne Palmer:

Right. So, there are a number of shared symptoms throughout all the diseases and when we start to figure out how to categorize them, they call into several different categories. The first one is inflammation-related symptoms. We know that the inherent pathway that’s dysregulated or that causes these diseases to happen can also result in significant inflammation in a person, that can result in things like fevers, night sweats, weight loss, and overall feeling really fatigued and poorly, which is something that it seems to be much more prevalent in patients with MPNs, all sorts of them, actually. 

The next set of symptoms is related to microvasculature, so all the little blood vessels. And sometimes we think, oh, maybe that’s because there’s too many red blood cells or platelets and the blood become viscous. It’s probably more related to the actual dysregulation of that JAK2 pathway, which is inherent to all the myeloproliferative diseases and as a result, the little blood vessels can clamp down and that can give people headaches, visual changes, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, and even can cause sort of a painful rash called erythromelalgia in the body. 

So, these are things that can happen that are probably less appreciated side effects of the disease. And finally, there’s spleen-related symptoms. The spleen is in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen and it’s an organ that generally is about 12 centimeters in length, 10 to 12, but in patients with myeloproliferative diseases it can be enlarged. And as a result of an enlarged spleen people can have feeling like they get fuller early. So, if you’re eating a meal, all of the sudden you can only eat half of that meal versus the whole meal. 

Discomfort or pain in the left upper quadrant. Sometimes it’s much more noticeable when you like bend over to tie your shoes. And then sometimes people can actually, when the spleen gets really big, the blood flow can be impaired towards the end of it which can cause some of the spleen tissue to die, and that can be painful. So, these are things that if somebody does start to notice that they’re having fullness in the left upper quadrant, pain, stuff like that, that that may be related to spleen symptoms.  

Katherine Banwell:

What about PV or polycythemia vera, what are the symptoms? 

Dr. Jeanne Palmer:

So, all of these sorts of relate to all of the myeloproliferative diseases. So, one other one that I didn’t mention, and this is actually more in PV than others, is itching. Itching can be absolutely unbearable when somebody has PV. It’s particularly noticeable after taking a shower. So, a lot of times I’ve met patients who are like I haven’t been able to take a shower in years, because it causes such a high degree of itching. 

Katherine Banwell:

Why a shower? Is it different from having a bath?  

Dr. Jeanne Palmer:

Water on the body that can cause the problem. So, if people take hot showers, it’s even worse. Although I think that people sort of react to it differently. Usually what patients end up doing is more like sponge bath type of things, rather than actually being exposed to the water. 

 Taking colder showers or cooler showers can sometimes help mitigate that. But the itching, and even in the absence of a shower, people can have pretty severe itching, and that can also be one of the major side effects.