Laurie Helen Sehn, MD, MPH, of the British Columbia Cancer Agency, discusses a first-ever finding on obinutuzumab and bendamustine in the setting of rituximab-refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (Abstract LBA8502).
Michael Pfreundschuh, MD, of Universitaetsklinikum des Saarlandes, summarizes a session he chaired on this topic, which covered Burkitt’s lymphoma as well as lymphoblastic leukemia in children and adults.
Erin Elizabeth Hahn, PhD, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, discusses the use of recommended post-treatment services for adolescent and young adult Hodgkin lymphoma survivors (Abstract 107).
Treatment of mantle cell lymphoma continues to evolve, both in the front-line and relapsed settings. Key advances include better use of established agents, such as the incorporation of high-dose cytarabine into initial induction regimens and application of rituximab (Rituxan)...
In aphase III trial reported in The Lancet and at the recent American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, Martin Dreyling, MD, of the European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network, and colleagues found that ibrutinib (Imbruvica) was associated with improved progression-free survival vs...
Mantle cell lymphoma is a pernicious, incurable disease. Front-line therapies for this disease are not currently standardized; however, novel therapies for relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma can ideally be translated into beneficial treatments for newly diagnosed patients, as clearly...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jia Ruan, MD, PhD, and colleagues, first-line treatment with the immunomodulatory agent lenalidomide (Revlimid) and the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab (Rituxan) followed by maintenance lenalidomide and rituximab produced a high...
In a genome-wide association study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hervé Ghesquieres, MD, PhD, of Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon, France, and colleagues identified two inherited genetic variants that were associated with poorer event-free and overall survival in patients with diffuse large...
The use of T cells that are genetically engineered to express chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) has made headway as an approach to hematologic malignancies, with the best results achieved in leukemia. At the 2015 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, a preliminary...
In a Swedish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Weibull et al found that pregnancy did not appear to increase the risk of subsequent relapse in women with Hodgkin lymphoma in remission. Study Details The study included data from Swedish health-care registers and medical records...
Researchers from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have published a study showing that African American pediatric patients with Hodgkin lymphoma have inferior overall survival compared with their white and Hispanic peers. The study, published ...
In the long-term follow-up of the Italian HD2000 trial reported by Merli et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, no significant differences in overall or progression-free survival were observed after 10 years among patients with previously untreated advanced Hodgkin lymphoma receiving ABVD...
Solid-organ transplant recipients have a higher rate of cancer mortality than what is expected in the general population, according to a Canadian study by Acuna et al published in JAMA Oncology. Cancer mortality among transplant recipients was significantly elevated compared with data for the...
According to the American Cancer Society’s 2014 Cancer Facts & Figures, Hodgkin lymphoma is diagnosed in about 800 adolescents and young adults each year. And while standard treatments for the cancer, including chemotherapy and radiation, are very effective in improving survival,...
The 11th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma was held June 15–18 in Lugano, Switzerland. More than 3,000 hematologists, clinical oncologists, pathologists, and researchers attended the meeting, which was first convened in 1981. Topics of discussion included lymphoma staging in the new...
The 11th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma was held June 15–18 in Lugano, Switzerland. Topics of discussion included lymphoma staging in the new millennium, lymphoma and its microenvironment, and lymphoma cure vs control. The ASCO Post summarized several key presentations in the July...
Final results of an international phase II trial of first-line treatment for primary testicular diffuse large B-cell lymphoma show that using a combined treatment strategy including chemotherapy and central nervous system and testicular prophlaxis “was associated with a good outcome.” The results...
Seattle Genetics, Inc, announced that the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 10-0 to recommend that the agency grant accelerated approval of brentuximab vedotin (ADCETRIS) for the treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma who relapse after autologous stem cell transplant...
In this installment of Oncology Worldwide, internationally regarded lymphoma expert and cancer survivor, Kensei Tobinai, MD, Chief, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, sheds light on the Japanese oncology experience. Medical Education What was the medical school experience in Japan like? When...
The approval of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) is a major milestone for the treatment of patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma. It represents an excellent example of personalized cancer therapy. Patients are preselected based on a predictive biomarker that is...
The antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) was granted accelerated approval on August 19 for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Brentuximab vedotin is the first new drug to be approved in Hodgkin lymphoma in more...
Three abstracts reported at the Best of ASCO® meeting in Seattle provide guidance to hematologists when it comes to long-standing gray areas in lymphoma management, according to Oliver Press, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle....
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 6th Annual Congress on Hematologic Malignancies, held recently in New York, included reviews of the management of hematologic diseases as well as discussions of outstanding issues in the field. The following is a synopsis of some of the important...
At the 2011 Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Kauai, Hawaii, Andreas Engert, MD, Chairman of the German Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group (GHSG) and Professor of Medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, discussed the treatment of nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL),...
Compared with standard R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan], doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone), intensified immunochemotherapy with R-ACVBP (dose-intensive rituximab, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vindesine [not available in U.S.], bleomycin, and prednisone) significantly improves ...
At the recent Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Kauai, Hawaii, Julie M. Vose, MD, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, discussed novel treatments for peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). PTCL is a heterogeneous group of aggressive T-cell/natural killer (NK) cell non-Hodgkin...
Elderly Hodgkin lymphoma, typically defined as affecting individuals ≥ 60 years of age, remains a disease for which no standard treatment recommendation exists. This population is underrepresented in clinical studies, and survival rates in older patients with Hodgkin lymphoma are significantly and ...
At the 2011 Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference held recently in Kauai, Hawaii, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, Director of the Lymphoma Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, discussed Hodgkin lymphoma in elderly patients. Event-free survival and overall survival rates in...
The Canadian HD.6 randomized study in patients with nonbulky early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma is mostly of historic interest.1,2 It has little relevance to current treatment standards or questions, and the risk for its inappropriate interpretation is of great concern. Radical Radiation Approach Long...
A criticism of the HD.6 trial is that current radiation techniques are probably less toxic than subtotal nodal radiation therapy, which was used in this investigation. Responding to this in an accompanying editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine,1 David J. Straus, MD, of the lymphoma...
An important study suggests that radiotherapy may not be a necessary addition to chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with limited-stage Hodgkin lymphoma, sparing patients the risks of late radiation-induced cardiac effects and second cancers. These data were based on 12 years of follow-up ...
The new anti-CD20 monocolonal antibody obinutuzumab is being studied in the treatment of patients with relapsed CD20-positive indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. GAUSS is the first clinical trial to compare obinutuzumab head-to-head against rituximab (Rituxan) induction therapy. “In this first...
The findings of RESORT1 have tremendous implications, both clinically and economically, commented Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, in an interview. “The maintenance arm received rituximab [Rituxan] every 3 months...
For patients with low–tumor-burden follicular lymphoma treated upfront with rituximab (Rituxan), retreating upon disease progression was as effective as extended dosing, or maintenance therapy, in a randomized phase III study that compared the approaches.1 Given the excellent outcomes, lack of a...
SWOG S0016, which compared treatment with CHOP-R (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone, plus rituximab [Rituxan]) and CHOP-RIT (CHOP plus tositumomab/iodine-131 tositumomab [Bexxar]) in patients with follicular lymphoma, was one of the most important studies at the 2011 ASH...
In patients with previously untreated follicular lymphoma, similar outcomes were achieved with CHOP-R (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone, plus six doses of rituximab [Rituxan]) and CHOP-RIT (CHOP plus one dose of tositumomab/iodine-131 tositumomab [Bexxar]) in a phase III...
Attendees at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), held recently in in San Diego, were able to choose from a wide range of interesting and important sessions exploring hematologic malignancies. In addition to The ASCO Post’s regular news coverage from the meeting,...
Nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) accounts for approximately 5% of Hodgkin lymphoma cases. It is distinguished from classic Hodgkin lymphoma by a variety of clinical and pathologic features, including expression of B-cell associated antigens such as CD20. Given that the...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology have become the most widely used guidelines in oncology practice. The Guidelines cover 97% of all patients with cancer and are continually updated by expert panels. The 2012 Guidelines include some completely...
Final analysis of the German Hodgkin Study Group (GHSG) HD14 trial concluded that intensified chemotherapy with two cycles of escalated BEACOPP (bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine [Matulane], and prednisone) followed by two cycles of ABVD (doxorubicin,...
Panobinostat produced objective responses in 27% and tumor reductions in 74% of 129 patients enrolled in “the largest, prospective, multicenter, international trial conducted in heavily pretreated patients” with Hodgkin lymphoma who relapsed or were refractory to autologous stem cell...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication The CD20-directed monoclonal antibody rituximab...
The value of the targeted agent crizotinib (Xalkori) may not be restricted to the 5% of patients with non–small cell lung cancer who have abnormalities in the ALK gene. In a phase I study conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group consortium, crizotinib halted tumor growth and, in some cases,...
The treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the major success stories in medical oncology. Depending on clinical stage, clinical risk factors, and the treatment given, 60% to 90% of all patients can be cured of their malignancy long-term. Hodgkin lymphoma survivors represent one of...
Final data from the Children’s Cancer Group (CCG) trial evaluating low-dose involved-field radiation therapy (IFRT) for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma achieving a complete response after chemotherapy show that at a median follow-up of 7.7 years, IFRT produced a statistically significant improvement ...
Systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an aggressive T-cell lymphoma subtype characterized by uniform expression of CD30. Apart from low- to intermediate-risk patients with ALK-positive disease, patients with ALCL have a poor prognosis when treated with conventional, anthracycline-based...
Updated results of the StiL NHL1 study, presented at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting Plenary Session, showed that bendamustine plus rituximab (Rituxan) more than doubled the median progression-free survival, compared with the standard R-CHOP regimen (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,...
Risks associated with being a young cancer survivor were emphasized by two studies highlighted in press briefings at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting. Investigators from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) reported that adolescents and young adults treated for high-risk B-precursor acute lymphoblastic ...
Among children with favorable-risk Hodgkin lymphoma, those who achieved a complete response after two cycles of chemotherapy and received no radiotherapy had high rates of survival similar to those who had a less complete response to chemotherapy and received radiotherapy, according to a study in...
The value of routine CT surveillance monitoring of pediatric patients for recurrence of Hodgkin lymphoma has been unclear. A study of CT surveillance recently reported by Stephan D. Voss, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed...