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The sympathomimetic agonist mirabegron did not lower JAK2-V617F allele burden, but restored nestin-positive cells and reduced reticulin fibrosis in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms: results of phase II study SAKK 33/14.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Drexler, Beatrice 
Passweg, Jakob R 
Tzankov, Alexandar 
Bigler, Martin 
Theocharides, Alexandre Pa 

Abstract

The β-3 sympathomimetic agonist BRL37344 restored nestin-positive cells within the stem cell niche, and thereby normalized blood counts and improved myelofibrosis in a mouse model of JAK2-V617F-positive myeloproliferative neoplasms. We therefore tested the effectiveness of mirabegron, a β-3 sympathomimetic agonist, in a phase II trial including 39 JAK2-V617F-positive patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms and a mutant allele burden more than 20%. Treatment consisted of mirabegron 50 mg daily for 24 weeks. The primary end point was reduction of JAK2-V617F allele burden of 50% or over, but this was not reached in any of the patients. One patient achieved a 25% reduction in JAK2-V617F allele burden by 24 weeks. A small subgroup of patients showed hematologic improvement. As a side study, bone marrow biopsies were evaluated in 20 patients. We found an increase in the nestin+ cells from a median of 1.09 (interquartile range 0.38-3.27)/mm2 to 3.95 (interquartile range 1.98-8.79)/mm2 (P<0.0001) and a slight decrease of reticulin fibrosis from a median grade of 1.0 (interquartile range 0-3) to 0.5 (interquartile range 0-2) (P=0.01) between start and end of mirabegron treatment. Despite the fact that the primary end point of reducing JAK2-V617F allele burden was not reached, the observed effects on nestin+ mesenchymal stem cells and reticulin fibrosis is encouraging, and shows that mirabegron can modify the microenvironment where the JAK2-mutant stem cells are maintained. (Registered at clinicaltrials.gov identifier: 02311569).

Description

Keywords

Acetanilides, Adult, Amino Acid Substitution, Animals, Female, Fibrosis, Hematologic Neoplasms, Humans, Janus Kinase 2, Male, Mice, Middle Aged, Mutation, Missense, Myeloproliferative Disorders, Nestin, Reticulin, Sympathomimetics, Thiazoles

Journal Title

Haematologica

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0390-6078
1592-8721

Volume Title

104

Publisher

Ferrata Storti Foundation (Haematologica)
Sponsorship
European Research Council (648765)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (708411)
Cancer Research UK (C61367/A26670)
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_12009)