CHOP plus etoposide and gemcitabine (CHOP-EG) as front-line chemotherapy for patients with peripheral T cell lymphomas: A pilot study

Abstract

6638 Background: The present study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CHOP plus etoposide and gemcitabine as front-line chemotherapy for patients with peripheral T cell lymphomas. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed peripheral T cell lymphomas except cutaneous T cell lymphoma and ALK positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma were enrolled. Treatment consisted of classical CHOP plus etoposide 100 mg/m2 intravenously (i.v.) on day 1 and gemcitabine 600 mg/m2 i.v. on day 1 in a 3 weeks interval. Results: Twenty-two patients were enrolled in onto the currentthis study. The median age was 57.5 years (range, 20–68 years). Histological subtypes were as follows: peripheral T cell unspecified (n=12), extranodal NK/T cell, nasal type (n=6), angioimmunoblastic T cell (n=2), ALK negative anaplastic large cell (n=2). Fourteen complete responses (CR; 63.6%) and 3 partial responses (PR; 13.6%) were confirmed, giving an overall response rate of 77.3% (95% CI; 58.3%–96.3%). Grade 4 neutropenia occurred in 15 patients (68.2%), and febrile neutropenia was observed in 4 patients (18.2%). However, there was no treatment-related death. The common non-hematological toxicities were nausea (grade 1/2, 63.6%) and stomatitis (grade 1/2, 31.8%). Median survival has not yet been reached, while median event free survival was 172.5 days at a median follow-up duration of 222 days (range, 88–522 days). Estimated overall survival at 1-year was 56.3 ± 14.7%. Conclusions: The CHOP-EG regimen was found to be well-tolerated and effective in patients with peripheral T cell lymphomas. A phase II study is currently ongoing, and the results will be presented at the meeting. No significant financial relationships to disclose.