Late Relapses Characterize Autologous Transplantation (ASCT) in First Complete Remission (CR) for Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma (PTCL).

Abstract

With the exception of ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), standard-dose chemotherapy is curative in a minority of patients (pts) with PTCL, and most pts have progressive disease less than 2 years from completing treatment. Several studies suggest that ASCT in 1st CR significantly improves the short-term outcome of pts with PTCL, but its long-term efficacy is not known. To address this, we assessed the outcome of sequential patients who underwent ASCT in 1st CR (n=15). Histologic subtypes were PTCL, unspecified, in 6 pts, angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma in 5 pts, ALK-negative ALCL in 3 pts and hepatosplenic gamma delta T-cell lymphoma in 1 pt. Induction chemotherapy was CHOP (n=2) or CHOP-ICE hybrid (n=12) in 93% of pts. The age-adjusted IPI (AAIPI) was 2–3 in 9 of 14 assessable patients (64%), and 11 pts (73%) had stage III–IV disease. The conditioning regimen consisted of BEAM or CBV in 10 pts and TBI/Cy/VP-16 in 5 pts. All patients received peripheral blood progenitor cells for hematopoietic support. The median follow-up of all patients is 24 months (range 4.5–70). Five pts (33%) have progressed, with a median time to progression of 50 months (range 10–70). Four of the 5 pts who progressed did so more than 2 years from ASCT; they comprise 57% of patients with more than 2-years of follow-up. Four of 5 patients with progressive disease have died, with a median time from progression to death of 1 month (0.6–14.6). In this small series the AAIPI was not predictive of PFS or OS. While our results confirm the that ASCT in 1st CR significantly delays the time to progression, they suggest that it may not be curative in the majority of patients. If confirmed in ongoing larger prospective studies, this observation warrants trials of post-ASCT maintenance treatment and, for younger patients, trials of allogeneic transplantation in 1st CR or sequential ASCT followed by allogeneic transplantation. Figure Figure