Maintenance therapy for low-grade lymphomas: Has the time come?

Current Opinion in Oncology

Volumn 19, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 425-432

  Cartron, Guillaume ^a,b   Solal Céligny, Philippe ^c  

^a MONTPELLIER UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (France)

^b INSERM   (France)

^c CENTRE JEAN BERNARD   (France)

Author keywords

Follicular lymphoma; Immunochemotherapy; Maintenance treatment; Rituximab

Indexed keywords

ALPHA INTERFERON; CD20 ANTIBODY; CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE; DAUNORUBICIN; FLUDARABINE; IBRITUMOMAB TIUXETAN; MITOXANTRONE; PREDNISONE; RITUXIMAB; TOSITUMOMAB I 131; VINCRISTINE; VINCRISTINE SULFATE;

AUTOLOGOUS STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION; CANCER CHEMOTHERAPY; CANCER GRADING; CANCER SURGERY; CLINICAL TRIAL; COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY; DISEASE COURSE; DISEASE FREE SURVIVAL; DRUG EFFICACY; FOLLICULAR LYMPHOMA; HUMAN; IMMUNOTHERAPY; LYMPHOCYTE; MAINTENANCE THERAPY; MANTLE CELL LYMPHOMA; MONOTHERAPY; NEUTROPENIA; NONHODGKIN LYMPHOMA; OUTCOME ASSESSMENT; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RELAPSE; REVIEW; SURVIVAL; TREATMENT RESPONSE; VIRUS INFECTION;

ANTIBODIES, MONOCLONAL; ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS; HUMANS; LYMPHOMA, LOW-GRADE; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS;

EID: 34548387950     PISSN: 10408746     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/CCO.0b013e3282c9ad65     Document Type: Review

References (55)

1. Foussard N, Mounier N, Van Hoof A, et al. Update of the FL2000 randomized trial combining rituximab to CHVP-interferon in follicular lymphoma (FL) patients. J Clin Oncol 2006; 24:Abstract 7508.
2. Herold M, Haas R, Srock S, et al. Addition of rituximab to first-line MCP (mitoxantrone, chlorambucil, prednisolone) chemotherapy prolongs survival in advanced follicular lymphoma - 4 years follow-up results of a phase III trial of the East German Study Group Hematology and Oncology (OSHO#39). Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 484.
3. Marcus RE, Solal-Celigny P, Imrie K, et al. MabThera (Rituximab) plus cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisone (R-CVP) chemotherapy improves survival in previously untreated patients with advanced follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 481.
4. Buske C, Kneba M, Lengfelder E, et al. Front-line combined immuno-chemotherapy (R-CHOP) significantly improves the time to treatment failure and overall survival in elderly patients with advanced stage follicular lymphoma - results of a prospective randomized trial of the Gerlan Low Grade Lymphoma Study Group (GLSG). Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 482.
5. Ghielmini M, Schmitz SF, Cogliatti SB, et al. Prolonged treatment with rituximab in patients with follicular lymphoma significantly increases event-free survival and response duration compared with the standard weekly x 4 schedule. Blood 2004; 103:4416-4423.
6. Hochster HS, Weller E, Gascoyne RD, et al. Maintenance rituximab after CVP results in superior outcome in advanced follicular lymphoma: results of the E1496 phase III trial from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and the Cancer and Leukemia Group B. Blood 2005; 106:Abstract 349.
7. Hainsworth JD, Litchy S, Shaffer DW, et al. Maximizing therapeutic benefit of rituximab: maintenance therapy versus re-treatment at progression in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - a randomized phase II trial of the Minnie Pearl Cancer Research Network. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23:1088-1095.
8. Forstpointner R, Unterhalt M, Dreyling M, et al. Maintenance therapy with rituximab leads to a significant prolongation of response duration after salvage therapy with a combination of rituximab, fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and mitoxantrone (R-FCM) in patients with recurring and refractory follicular and mantle cell lymphomas: results of a prospective randomized study of the German Low Grade Lymphoma Study Group (GLSG). Blood 2006; 108:4003-4008. This trial included MCL patients and is the only study to find an increase in response duration in this histological subtype.
9. Van Oers MH, Klasa R, Marcus RE, et al. Rituximab maintenance improves clinical outcome of relapsed/resistant follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma in patients both with and without rituximab during induction: results of a prospective randomized phase 3 intergroup trial. Blood 2006; 108:3295-3301. This large multicentric trial is the more documented about toxicities of rituximab maintenance. It demonstrated a significant advantage in terms of survival with rituximab maintenance in patients receiving either CHOP or R-CHOP.
10. Pott C, Schrader C, Gesk S, et al. Quantitative assessment of molecular remission after high-dose therapy with autologous stem cell transplantation predicts long-term remission in mantle cell lymphoma. Blood 2006; 107:2271-2278.
11. Gribben JG, Neuberg D, Freedman AS, et al. Detection by polymerase chain reaction of residual cells with the bcl-2 translocation is associated with increased risk of relapse after autologous bone marrow transplantation for B-cell lymphoma. Blood 1993; 81:3449-3457.
12. Freedman AS, Neuberg D, Mauch P, et al. Long-term follow-up of autologous bone marrow transplantation in patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma. Blood 1999; 94:3325-3333.
13. Colombat P, Brousse N, Morschhauser F, et al. Single treatment with rituximab monotherapy for low-tumor burden follicular lymphoma (FL): survival analyses with extended follow-up of 7 years. Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 486.
14. Ezdinli EZ, Harrington DP, Kucuk O, et al. The effect of intensive intermittent maintenance therapy in advanced low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Cancer 1987; 60:156-160.
15. Steward WP, Crowther D, McWilliam LJ, et al. Maintenance chlorambucil after CVP in the management of advanced stage, low-grade histologic type non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A randomized prospective study with an assessment of prognostic factors. Cancer 1988; 61:441-447.
16. Rohatiner AZ, Gregory WM, Peterson B, et al. Meta-analysis to evaluate the role of interferon in follicular lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23:2215-2223.
17. Deconinck E, Foussard C, Milpied N, et al. High-dose therapy followed by autologous purged stem-cell transplantation and doxorubicin-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced follicular lymphoma: a randomized multicenter study by GOELAMS. Blood 2005; 105:3817-3823.
18. Lenz G, Dreyling M, Schiegnitz E, et al. Myeloablative radiochemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation in first remission prolongs progression-free survival in follicular lymphoma: results of a prospective, randomized trial of the German Low-Grade Lymphoma Study Group. Blood 2004; 104:2667-2674.
19. Dreyling M, Lenz G, Hoster E, et al. Early consolidation by myeloablative radiochemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation in first remission significantly prolongs progression-free survival in mantle-cell lymphoma: results of a prospective randomized trial of the European MCL Network. Blood 2005; 105:2677-2684.
20. Press OW, Unger JM, Braziel RM, et al. Phase II trial of CHOP chemotherapy followed by tositumomab/iodine I-131 tositumomab for previously untreated follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: five-year follow-up of Southwest Oncology Group Protocol S9911. J Clin Oncol 2006; 24:4143-4149.
21. 90Y) ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin) for previously untreated follicular lymphoma patients. Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 2479.
22. Nademanee A, Forman S, Molina A, et al. A phase 1/2 trial of high-dose yttrium-90-ibritumomab tiuxetan in combination with high-dose etoposide and cyclophosphamide followed by autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with poor-risk or relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Blood 2005; 106:2896-2902.
23. Press OW, Eary JF, Gooley T, et al. A phase I/II trial of iodine-131-tositumomab (anti-CD20), etoposide, cyclophosphamide, and autologous stem cell transplantation for relapsed B-cell lymphomas. Blood 2000; 96:2934-2942.
24. Colombat P, Salles G, Brousse N, et al. Rituximab (anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody) as single first-line therapy for patients with follicular lymphoma with a low tumor burden: clinical and molecular evaluation. Blood 2001; 97:101-106.
25. Rambaldi A, Lazzari M, Manzoni C, et al. Monitoring of minimal residual disease after CHOP and rituximab in previously untreated patients with follicular lymphoma. Blood 2002; 99:856-862.
26. Ghielmini M, Schmitz SF, Cogliatti S, et al. Effect of single-agent rituximab given at the standard schedule or as prolonged treatment in patients with mantle cell lymphoma: a study of the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK). J Clin Oncol 2005; 23:705-711.
27. Hainsworth JD, Litchy S, Burris HA, et al. Rituximab as first-line and maintenance therapy for patients with indolent nonhodgkin's lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 2002; 20:4261-4267.
28. Hainsworth JD, Litchy S, Barton JH, et al. Single-agent rituximab as first-line and maintenance treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma: a phase II trial of the Minnie Pearl Cancer Research Network. J Clin Oncol 2003; 21:1746-1751.
29. Brugger W, Hirsch J, Grunebach F, et al. Rituximab consolidation after high-dose chemotherapy and autologous blood stem cell transplantation in follicular and mantle cell lymphoma: a prospective, multicenter phase II study. Ann Oncol 2004; 15:1691-1698.
30. Morschhauser F, Recher C, Milpied JN, et al. Rituximab given after high dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation induces durable clearance of minimal residual disease in about half of the patients with follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: 36 months results of a multicenter open label phase II trial (M39012 trial). Blood 2004; 104:Abstract 747.
31. Pott C, Boettcher S, Bruggemann M, et al. Quantitative assessment of circulating t(14;18) positive cells by RQ-PCR at diagnosis and follow-up correspond to clinical characteristics and predicts time to treatment failure in follicular lymphoma. Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 2414.
32. Hirt C, Schueler F, Kiefer T, et al. Prognostic significance of quantitative t(14;18) PCR monitoring in advanced stage follicular lymphoma patients. Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 2757.
33. Ladetto M, de Marco F, Benedetti F, et al. Clinical and molecular results of the multicenter randomized GITMO-IIL Trial in poor risk follicular lymphoma (FL) at diagnosis: rituximab-supplemented high-dose sequential chemotherapy (R-HDS) is superior to CHOP-R in molecular remissions rate, EFS and PFS. Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 325.
34. Lenz G, Dreyling M, Hoster E, et al. Immunochemotherapy with rituximab and cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone significantly improves response and time to treatment failure, but not long-term outcome in patients with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma: results of a prospective randomized trial of the German Low Grade Lymphoma Study Group (GLSG). J Clin Oncol 2005; 23:1984-1992.
35. Mangel J, Leitch HA, Connors JM, et al. Intensive chemotherapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation plus rituximab is superior to conventional chemotherapy for newly diagnosed advanced stage mantle-cell lymphoma: a matched pair analysis. Ann Oncol 2004; 15:283-290.
36. Woods AS, Buckstein R, Mangel J, et al. High dose therapy/ASCT with rituximab for in-vivo purging and post-ASCT consolidation in relapsed follicular lymphoma achived prolonged clinical and molecular remissions. Blood 2004; 104:Abstract 914.
37. Gordan LN, Grow WB, Pusateri A, et al. Phase II trial of individualized rituximab dosing for patients with CD20-positive lymphoproliferative disorders. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23:1096-1102.
38. Berinstein NL, Grillo-Lopez AJ, White CA, et al. Association of serum Rituximab (IDEC-C2B8) concentration and antitumor response in the treatment of recurrent low-grade or follicular non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Ann Oncol 1998; 9:995-1001.
39. Regazzi MB, Iacona I, Avanzini MA, et al. Pharmacokinetic behavior of rituximab: a study of different schedules of administration for heterogeneous clinical settings. Ther Drug Monit 2005; 27:785-792.
40. Cartron G, Blasco H, Paintaud G, et al. Pharmacokinetics of rituximab and its clinical use: thought for the best use? Crit Rev Oncol Hematol (in press).
41. Coiffier B, Tilly H, Pedersen LM, et al. HuMax CD20 fully human monoclonal antibody in chronic lymphocytic leuchemia. Early results from an ongoing phase I/II clinical trial. Blood 2006; 108:Abstract 448.
42. Umana P, Moessner E, Bruenker P, et al. Novel 3rd generation humanized type II CD20 antibody with glycoengineered Fc and modified elbow hinge for enhanced ADCC and superior apoptosis induction. Blood 2006; 108: Abstract 229.
43. Hinton PR, Xiong JM, Johlfs MG, et al. An engineered human IgG1 antibody with longer serum half-life. J Immunol 2006; 176:346-356.
44. Solal-Celigny P. Safety of rituximab maintenance therapy in follicular lymphomas. Leuk Res 2006; 30 (Suppl 1):S16-S21.
45. Kimby E. Tolerability and safety of rituximab (MabThera). Cancer Treat Rev 2005; 31:456-473.
46. Roll P, Palanichamy A, Kneitz C, et al. Regeneration of B cell subsets after transient B cell depletion using anti-CD20 antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum 2006; 54:2377-2386.
47. Leandro MJ, Cambridge G, Ehrenstein MR, Edwards JC. Reconstitution of peripheral blood B cells after depletion with rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum 2006; 54:613-620.
48. Anolik JH, Friedberg JW, Zheng B, et al. B cell reconstitution after rituximab treatment of lymphoma recapitulates B cell ontogeny. Clin Immunol 2007; 122:139-145.
49. Horwitz SM, Negrin RS, Blume KG, et al. Rituximab as adjuvant to high-dose therapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation for aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Blood 2004; 103:777-783.
50. Van der Kolk LE, Baars JW, Prins MH, van Oers MH. Rituximab treatment results in impaired secondary humoral immune responsiveness. Blood 2002; 100:2257-2259.
51. McIlwaine LM, Fitzsimons EJ, Soutar RL. Inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion, abdominal pain and disseminated varicella-zoster virus infection: an unusual and fatal triad in a patient 13 months post Rituximab and autologous stem cell transplantation. Clin Lab Haematol 2001; 23:253-254.
52. Matteucci P, Magni M, Di Nicola M, et al. Leukoencephalopathy and papovavirus infection after treatment with chemotherapy and anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody. Blood 2002; 100:1104-1105.
53. Quartier P, Tournilhac O, Archimbaud C, et al. Enteroviral meningoencephalitis after anti-CD20 (rituximab) treatment. Clin Infect Dis 2003; 36:e47-e49.
54. Suzan F, Ammor M, Ribrag V. Fatal reactivation of cytomegalovirus infection after use of rituximab for a posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorder. N Engl J Med 2001; 13:1000.
55. Goldberg SL, Pecora AL, Alter RS, et al. Unusual viral infections (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and cytomegalovirus disease) after high-dose chemotherapy with autologous blood stem cell rescue and peritransplantation rituximab. Blood 2002; 99:1486-1488.