Hematologic Oncology

This study is the first to show significantly improved OS from single-agent treatment in this particularly difficult to treat population.

De-escalated treatment may be possible in patients with advanced HL who reach a metabolic response after only 2 cycles of escalated BEACOPP.

Overall response was strong even in high-risk patients (over age 65, with 17p deletion, with prior ibrutinib therapy, and mutations of BTK and PLCγ2).

FDA warns, however, about the possibility of TLS due to rapid tumor cell destruction.

Here we review current prognostic models, risk factors, and prophylaxis methods to provide a practical approach to preventing CNS relapse in patients with DLBCL.

Until the superiority of novel agents is proven for all prognostically relevant subgroups of patients with CLL, we believe chemoimmunotherapy continues to have a role.

Elimination of chemotherapy from our combination regimens should be a shared goal among researchers that will move us a step closer to more patient-friendly and scientifically driven therapies for CLL.

A case series of rare peripheral T-cell lymphoma that is associated with breast implants found that most cases have an indolent clinical course.

In the randomized phase III iNNOVATE trial, adding ibrutinib to rituximab significantly improved PFS in patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

In CAPTIVATE, first-line ibrutinib plus venetoclax yielded a high rate of undetectable residual disease, without new safety signals, in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

In TRANSCEND NHL 001, the CD19-directed 4-1BB CAR T-cell product lisocabtagene maraleucel yielded durable responses in heavily pretreated R/R DLBCL.

In this second part of our two-part review, we discuss the use of mutation profiling in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms and other myeloid diseases.

A UK team found multiple targets of non-coding mutations, highlighting the importance of broadening the search for cancer drivers into the regulatory genome.

The approval includes adults with R/R DLBCL after two or more lines of prior systemic therapy, high-grade B-cell lymphoma, and DLBCL arising from FL.

“The core message is that DLBCL can no longer be viewed as a single disease,” explained senior author Dr. Louis M. Staudt, Director of NCI’s Center for Cancer Genomics.

Achieving undetectable MRD after chemoimmunotherapy predicted longer progression-free and overall survival in CLL patients.

The combination of rituximab and the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax significantly lengthened PFS among CLL patients in the phase III MURANO trial.

In the DUO and DYNAMO trials, duvelisib improved clinical responses in patients with R/R CLL/SLL and FL, respectively.

In this first part of our two-part review, we introduce mutation profiling as a relevant clinical tool for hematologists treating patients with myeloid malignancies.

Pooled data show PET imaging of metabolic tumor burden at diagnosis helps identify patients most at risk of FL recurrence.

The FDA has approved brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to treat adults with previously untreated stage III or IV cHL, in combination with chemotherapy.

A multicenter team of researchers reports that JAK3/STAT5 mutations are important in ALL and may be targetable.

Three year OS was significantly worse compared with the general population, with a persistent risk for relapse.

Follicular large cleaved cell lymphoma is frequently misclassified, according to researchers.

A large prospective analysis of three large cohorts found a positive link between risk for myeloma and cumulative average young adult and adult BMI.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved blinatumomab (Blincyto) for patients in remission from B-cell precursor ALL with MRD.

In a phase II study, voxtalisib, which targets all four class I PI3Ks, had efficacy in FL but limited clinical effect in MCL, DLBCL, and CLL/SLL.

In this large population-based, case-control study, having ever used a statin was linked to lower risk of total NHL and certain NHL subtypes, including DLBCL.

BET inhibitors CPI-1205 and CPI-0610 have shown promise in two phase I trials in DLBCL and other lymphomas, investigators at TAT 2018 reported.

Recent FDA approval of front-line brentuximab vedotin with chemotherapy in patients with stage III/IV Hodgkin lymphoma offers the first new treatment for this disease in over 40 years.