Peripheral T cell lymphomas in elderly patients: a retrospective analysis from the Hematology Association of South East Korea (HASEK)

Duvelisib plus romidepsin in relapsed/refractory T cell lymphomas: a phase 1b/2a trial

PI3K-δ inhibitors have shown impressive activity in lymphoid malignancies but have been hampered by autoimmune and infectious toxicities, leading to market withdrawals. We previously demonstrated activity of the PI3K-δγ inhibitor duvelisib in T cell lymphomas (TCLs) that was associated with inflammatory adverse events. As reported here, we conducted a phase 1b/2a study of duvelisib in combination with either romidepsin (n = 66) or bortezomib (n = 32) in patients with relapsed/refractory TCL and found that the addition of romidepsin, but not bortezomib, appeared to increase efficacy while attenuating PI3K inhibitor-driven toxicity. The primary endpoint of the study was to determine the safety and maximum tolerated dose of duvelisib, which was 75 mg twice daily when combined with romidepsin versus 25 mg twice daily when combined with bortezomib. The most common adverse events were neutropenia (42%, 25/59) and fatigue (37%, 22/59) in patients treated with duvelisib and romidepsin and diarrhea (48%, 11/23) and neutropenia (30%, 7/23) in patients treated with duvelisib and bortezomib. Duvelisib and romidepsin resulted in less grade 3/4 hepatotoxicity (14%, 8/59) compared to 40% (14/35) in our previous study with duvelisib monotherapy. This was associated with reductions in circulating inflammatory mediators and myeloid cell inflammatory gene expression. Secondary endpoints of overall and complete response rates were 55% (35/64) and 34% (22/64) for patients treated with duvelisib and romidepsin and 34% (11/32) and 13% (4/32) for patients treated with duvelisib and bortezomib. Among patients with peripheral T cell lymphomas (PTCLs), overall and complete response rates of duvelisib and romidepsin were 56% (27/48) and 44% (21/48), respectively, with exploratory analyses showing increased response rates in patients with a follicular helper T cell subtype. These findings support further development of combined PI3K and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition in TCLs and suggest a unique strategy to enable PI3K inhibitor-based combinations for additional patient populations. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02783625 .

Impact of comorbidity in elderly patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma: an international retrospective analysis of 891 patients

This is the largest study to publish outcomes on an older PTCL cohort.

Higher CCI score correlates with worse OS in PTCL.

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is a heterogeneous group of aggressive neoplasms with poor outcomes, commonly affecting older patients with comorbidities. This study aims to describe outcomes of older patients with PTCL in a large international cohort. Patients aged ≥70 years with PTCL diagnosed from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2015 in the Swedish Lymphoma Registry (SLR) and California Cancer Registry (CCR) were identified. Data on comorbidity were retrospectively collected according to the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and clinical outcomes were extracted. A total of 891 patients were included (SLR, n = 173; CCR, n = 718). Median age was 77 (SLR) and 78 (CCR) years. Included subtypes were as follows: angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, n = 226; anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, n = 122; enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL), n = 31; hepatosplenic TCL, n = 7; natural killer–/T-cell lymphoma, n = 62; PTCL not otherwise specified, n = 443. CCI data were available in 775 patients (87%), and CCI scores were divided into the groups CCI = 0 (39%), CCI = 1 (22%), and CCI > 1 (39%). Median age did not differ among the CCI groups (P = .72). Patients with a CCI > 1 had a worse median overall survival (4.4 months) compared with patients with CCI = 0 (11.9 months) and CCI = 1 (8.4 months; P < .001). Comorbidity and advancing age in as little as 5-year increments are important adverse factors in this group. Most patients died of lymphoma within a year from diagnosis, underscoring the importance of developing new treatments.

How to Sequence Therapies in Peripheral T Cell Lymphoma

OPINION STATEMENT

Peripheral T cell lymphoma (PTCL) represents a heterogeneous group of rare lymphoproliferative disorders. Historically, there has been a lack of pathobiological understanding of PTCL. With the exception of ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma, patients with PTCL have less favorable outcomes, with most patients relapsing shortly after conventional anthracycline-containing multi-agent chemotherapy. The standard management approach for PTCL involves induction therapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation. Patients with relapsed/refractory PTCL have dismal outcomes and limited treatment options despite the available novel agents, therefore remaining a critical unmet need. By virtue of advancement in cancer biology over the recent years, the treatment landscape of PTCL has gradually evolved from conventional chemotherapy based on solely morphological diagnosis toward more individualized therapies by integrating molecular attributes of PTCL to the traditional treatment paradigm. We are at the edge of witnessing a paradigm shift in PTCL management.

Treatment outcomes of dose-attenuated CHOP chemotherapy in elderly patients with peripheral T cell lymphoma

Background

While cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (CHOP) is the most commonly used chemotherapeutic regimen for patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs), elderly patients are more vulnerable to associated toxicities. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of dose-attenuated CHOP in elderly patients with PTCL.

Methods

Patients with PTCL aged >70 years or 65–70-years with comorbidities were treated with dose-attenuated CHOP (cyclophosphamide: 562.5 mg/m², doxorubicin: 37.5 mg/m², vincristine: 1.4 mg/m², and prednisolone: 100 mg for five days; 25% reduced dose of cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin vs. full-dose CHOP) as first-line therapy were included.

Results

Forty-four patients (median age, 74 yr) were analyzed. The majority (N=42, 95.5%) had advanced stage disease and 36 (81.8%) were classified as high/high-intermediate risk by the international prognostic index. The overall response rate was 61.4%, and 21 patients achieved complete response (47.7%). With median follow-up period of 28.8 months, the estimated two-year progression-free and overall survival rates were 36.7% and 46.6%, respectively. Grade 3/4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia occurred in 26.9% and 7.4% of 204 total cycles, which affected 76.7% and 25.6% of the patients, respectively. Nineteen patients (44.2%) experienced febrile neutropenia, and six died due to treatment-related toxicities. High lactate dehydrogenase levels and an involvement of >1 extranodal sites were prognostic indicators of poor survival.

Conclusion

Dose-attenuated CHOP does not compromise treatment efficacy but retains significant toxicity. Our results suggest that some patients can be effectively treated with dose-attenuated CHOP, however a novel therapy for elderly patients with PTCL is required.