Aggressive, Recurrent Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Current Clinical Trials
Note: Some citations in the text of this section are followed by a level of
evidence. The PDQ editorial boards use a formal ranking system to help the
reader judge the strength of evidence linked to the reported results of a
therapeutic strategy. (Refer to the PDQ summary on Levels of Evidence 1 for more
information.)
Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the treatment of choice for patients whose
lymphoma has relapsed.[1] Preliminary studies indicate that approximately 20%
to 40% of patients will have a long-term disease-free status, but the precise
percentage depends on patient selection and the specific treatment used.
Preparative drug regimens have varied; some investigators also use total-body
irradiation. Similar success has been achieved using autologous marrow, with
or without marrow purging, and allogeneic marrow.[2-6]
In a prospective randomized study known as the PARMA trial, 215 patients in
first or second relapse of aggressive lymphoma, younger than 60 years, and with no bone marrow or central nervous system involvement, were given two
cycles of intensive combination chemotherapy. The 109 patients who
responded were randomly assigned to receive four more cycles of chemotherapy and
involved-field radiation therapy (IF-XRT) versus autologous BMT
followed by IF-XRT. With a 5-year median follow-up,
the event-free survival was significantly improved with transplantation (46%
vs. 12%). Overall survival (OS) was also significantly better with
transplantation (53% vs. 32%).[7][Level of
evidence: 1iiA] Salvage BMT was unsuccessful for patients on the nontransplant arm whose
disease relapsed.
In general, patients who responded to initial therapy and who have responded to
conventional therapy for relapse prior to the BMT have
had the best results. In a prospective trial, patients who relapsed late (more
than 12 months after diagnosis) had better OS than patients who
relapsed earlier (8-year survival was 29% vs. 13%, P = .001).[8][Level of
evidence: 3iiiA] Peripheral stem cell transplantation has yielded results
equivalent to standard autologous transplantation.[9,10] Even patients who
never experienced complete remission with conventional chemotherapy may have
prolonged progression-free survival (31% at 5 years) after high-dose
chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation if they retain chemosensitivity to reinduction therapy.[11][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiii] Some patients who relapse after a previous autologous transplantation can have durable remissions after myeloablative or nonmyeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation.[12,13][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv] Since
toxic effects can be severe, and patients require specialized team management,
BMT should be done at institutions that have the
appropriate expertise and resources available.
In general, retreatment with standard agents rarely produces a cure in patients
whose lymphomas relapse. Patients who relapse with aggressive lymphoma after 3
years in remission have similar prognoses to de novo lymphoma using curative
therapy.[14] Several salvage chemotherapy regimens are
available.[15-17] Rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, can induce
responses in 33% of patients with relapsing aggressive lymphoma of
appropriate phenotype (CD20-positive).[18,19][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv]
Radiolabeled anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies, such as iodine-131 tositumomab
and yttrium-90 ibritumomab, induce 60% to 80% response rates in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma.[20-22][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv] Denileukin difitox, a fusion protein combining diptheria toxin and interleukin-2, resulted in a 25% objective response rate in 45 heavily pretreated patients as evidenced in E-1497 2, for example, with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (CD25, i.e., interleukin-2 receptor, expression was not correlated with response).[23][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv]
The indolent lymphomas may relapse with an aggressive histology (i.e., histologic conversion). The durability of the second remission may be short,
and clinical trials, such as autologous or allogeneic peripheral stem cell
transplantation, should be considered.[24-27] Durable responses to
radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies have been reported for transformed low-grade
B-cell lymphoma.[20,21] Not infrequently, an aggressive lymphoma may relapse as a
small cell (indolent) lymphoma. Such a situation occurs with indolent lymphoma
in the bone marrow and aggressive lymphoma in a nodal site. Patients may
present in such a manner, and chemotherapy might successfully eradicate the
peripheral disease while failing to eliminate the small cell component from the
bone marrow. The clinical significance and natural history of this pattern of
disease is not well defined. In general, patients with aggressive lymphoma who
relapse with indolent histology will benefit from palliative therapy.[14]
Palliation may be achieved with very low-dose (4 Gy) IF-XRT for patients with indolent and aggressive relapsed disease.[28]
Current Clinical Trials
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with aggressive, recurrent adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma 3. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.
General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site 4.
References
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Guglielmi C, Gomez F, Philip T, et al.: Time to relapse has prognostic value in patients with aggressive lymphoma enrolled onto the Parma trial. J Clin Oncol 16 (10): 3264-9, 1998.
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Vose JM, Anderson JR, Kessinger A, et al.: High-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 11 (10): 1846-51, 1993.
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Liberti G, Pearce R, Taghipour G, et al.: Comparison of peripheral blood stem-cell and autologous bone marrow transplantation for lymphoma patients: a case-controlled analysis of the EBMT Registry data. Lymphoma Working Party of the EBMT. Ann Oncol 5 (Suppl 2): 151-3, 1994.
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Lee AY, Connors JM, Klimo P, et al.: Late relapse in patients with diffuse large-cell lymphoma treated with MACOP-B. J Clin Oncol 15 (5): 1745-53, 1997.
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Rizzieri DA, Sand GJ, McGaughey D, et al.: Low-dose weekly paclitaxel for recurrent or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Cancer 100 (11): 2408-14, 2004.
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Kewalramani T, Zelenetz AD, Nimer SD, et al.: Rituximab and ICE as second-line therapy before autologous stem cell transplantation for relapsed or primary refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Blood 103 (10): 3684-8, 2004.
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Coiffier B, Haioun C, Ketterer N, et al.: Rituximab (anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody) for the treatment of patients with relapsing or refractory aggressive lymphoma: a multicenter phase II study. Blood 92 (6): 1927-32, 1998.
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Tobinai K, Igarashi T, Itoh K, et al.: Japanese multicenter phase II and pharmacokinetic study of rituximab in relapsed or refractory patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma. Ann Oncol 15 (5): 821-30, 2004.
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Fisher RI, Kaminski MS, Wahl RL, et al.: Tositumomab and iodine-131 tositumomab produces durable complete remissions in a subset of heavily pretreated patients with low-grade and transformed non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. J Clin Oncol 23 (30): 7565-73, 2005.
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Witzig TE, Gordon LI, Cabanillas F, et al.: Randomized controlled trial of yttrium-90-labeled ibritumomab tiuxetan radioimmunotherapy versus rituximab immunotherapy for patients with relapsed or refractory low-grade, follicular, or transformed B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 20 (10): 2453-63, 2002.
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Wiseman GA, Gordon LI, Multani PS, et al.: Ibritumomab tiuxetan radioimmunotherapy for patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma and mild thrombocytopenia: a phase II multicenter trial. Blood 99 (12): 4336-42, 2002.
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Dang NH, Hagemeister FB, Pro B, et al.: Phase II study of denileukin diftitox for relapsed/refractory B-Cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 22 (20): 4095-102, 2004.
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Bastion Y, Sebban C, Berger F, et al.: Incidence, predictive factors, and outcome of lymphoma transformation in follicular lymphoma patients. J Clin Oncol 15 (4): 1587-94, 1997.
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