Treatment Of Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma Research Articles

Combination Chemoimmunotherapy Using Alemtuzumab, Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide, and Doxorubicin (Campath-FCD) Is an Effective First-Line Regimen in Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas.

Peripheral (mature) T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) are represented by distinct lymphoma entities, many of which with a rather unfavourable clinical outcome as compared to B-cell lymphomas. Standard treatment regimens have not been established, except in primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (PCTCL). With regard to the unfavourable prognosis we designed a treatment protocol using chemoimmunotherapy in peripheral T-cell lymphomas except PCTCL and ALK-positive large cell anaplastic T-cell lymphomas, consisting of alemtuzumab 3, 10, 30, 30 mg, days 1–4, fludarabine (Flu) 25 mg/m2 days 2–4, cyclophosphamide (CP) 600 mg/m2 day 3, and doxorubicin (Dox) 50 mg/m2 day 4. Included were patients with primary diagnosis or with first or second relapse. Rationales for this regimen were proven efficacy of CP and Dox in T-cell lymphomas, high efficacy of Flu and CP (FC) in other lymphomas and the possible synergism of antibodies with cytotoxic drugs. So far, 23 patients have been included, 18 are evaluable for response and toxicity. Of the latter, 10 patients were diagnosed with PTCL-NOS, 5 with AILD, one with enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma, one with NK-cell lymphoma, and one with T-PLL. 9 patients were enrolled with primary diagnosis and 9 patients in relapse. The median age was 60 years (range 21–77); the median non-age adjusted IPI 2.5 (0–4), 2 in patients with primary diagnosis and 3 in patients with relapse. The overall response rate was 61% (11/18). In patients with primary diagnosis the CR rate was 78% (7/9), one patient achieved no change, and one patient died from treatment associated complications before response could be evaluated. All responding patients are in ongoing CR at 2+, 2+, 6+, 11+, 15+,16+, and 17+ months. In the group of relapsed patients one CR and 3 PR (44%) were observed. The main toxicity was leukocytopenia (81% grade III and IV of all evaluable treatment cycles), other grade III and IV toxicities included anemia (18%), thrombocytopenia (39%), infections (18%) nausea/emesis (9%), and allergic reactions (4%). Ten (56%) patients reactivated CMV without CMV-related disease and one patient with suspected CMV-peumonia. In conclusion, this is the first study demonstrating that alemtuzumab can be integrated into a triple-agent chemotherapy regimen. The combination is effective in the first-line treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas, however, regarding the general outcome a longer follow-up period of a larger patient population is required.

Bilateral Hearing Loss During Vincristine Therapy: A Case Report

Vincristine sulfate is a chemotherapeutic agent used in different cancer therapies. It is also the first choice of treatment for peripheral T-cell lymphoma with cyclophosphamide and adriamycin. Sudden hearing loss during vincristine therapy is a very rare event. This is a case of a 16-year old girl who developed sudden bilateral hearing loss related to vincristine therapy.

Treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation.

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) are a rare entity of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL). Despite the poor outcome after conventional chemotherapy, the impact of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation is not well defined in these patients. In a retrospective study, we evaluated the outcome of 15 patients (9 male, 6 female) with PTCL after HDCT with autologous (10 patients) and allogeneic (5 patients) stem cell transplantation between 1996 and 2001 at our department. At the time of transplantation three patients were in second remission, seven patients were in partial remission (PR), and three patients had refractory disease. Two patients were treated with sequential HDCT (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, etoposide, prednisolone, m-CHOEP). The conditioning regimes were heterogeneous. After HDCT ten patients (67%, autologous 7, allogeneic 3) achieved CR, two patients (13%, autologous 2, allogeneic 0) had refractory disease, and three patients (20%, autologous 1, allogeneic 2) died because of toxic side effects before evaluation of response was performed. The median overall survival (OS) was 12 months. The 1-year probability of survival for the autologous and allogeneic groups was 58% and 40%, respectively. At the time of evaluation, six patients are alive and nine patients have died (four severe infection, one late toxicity, two disease progression, and two relapse). Despite the small number of patients in this study, HDCT with autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation seems to be an effective treatment option that can achieve CR for patients with PTCL. Because of the poor outcome of these patients after conventional chemotherapy, HDCT seems to be a rational option in first-line therapy. Whether it improves survival in these patients should be further investigated.

Combination of 13-cis Retinoic Acid and Interferon-α in the Treatment of Recurrent or Refractory Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma

We previously reported the therapeutic efficacy of 13-cis retinoic acid (13-cRA) in some subtypes of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). This study sought to clarify if the addition of interferon- α 2a (IFN- α 2a), an agent with synergistic cytotoxicity with 13-cRA in many types of malignant cells, may be more effective in the treatment of PTCL. Eligible patients has histologically proven PTCL, which was recurrent after or refractory to anthracycline-containing systemic chemotherapy. The treatment included oral administration of 13-cRA 1 mg/kg/day, divided into three doses, and intramuscular injection of IFN- α 2a 4.5 MU/m 2, three times per week. From March 1995 to July 2000, a total of 17 patients, 10 men and 7 women, with a median age of 47 years (range, 18-77 years), were recruited. The histologic diagnosis included 7 cases of unspecified PTCL, 6 cases of Ki-1 anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), 1 case of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, and 3 cases of angiocentric nasal NK/T cell lymphoma. They received a median of 1.7 months of treatment (range, 0.4-13.3 months). One patient refused further treatment due to toxicity. The doses of 13-cRA and IFN- α 2a had to be decreased in 7 and 7 patients, respectively. Grade III/IV hematologic and non-hematologic toxicity developed in 2 and 5 patients, respectively. There were 5 partial responses (Ki-1, 4; unspecified PTCL, 1), with a total response rate of 31.3% (95% Cl, 5.7-56.8%). The median duration of response for the responders was 2.5 months (range, 0.8-7.2 months). The median overall survival for the entire group of patients was 3.6 months. In conclusion, a combination of 13-cRA and IFN- α 2a is a useful salvage treatment for selected patients with recurrent or refractory PTCL, particularly those with the Ki-1 subtype. However, the data does not support that addition of IFN- α 2a is superior to 13-cRA alone.