Lymphoma

Adult patients with early thymic precursor (ETP) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a subgroup of T-cell ALL, could benefit from the use of response-based risk stratification and therapy intensification similar to that used in pediatric patients with ETP-ALL.

Adding midostaurin to chemotherapy prolonged survival in younger adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia and a FLT3 mutation, according to a randomized trial.

Over recent years, there has been much progress in elucidating the biology of these lymphomas, and this has paved the way for novel therapies that are currently under investigation in clinical trials.

Anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy may benefit patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma who have relapsed or are refractory to standard therapy.

The novel IDH2-inhibitor enasidenib was well tolerated and offered durable responses in a phase I trial of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia patients with an IDH2 mutation.

Researchers are making much-needed progress in developing treatments for patients with three rare malignancies: recurrent and refractory primary central nervous (CNS) system lymphoma, secondary CNS lymphoma, and primary vitreoretinal lymphoma.

Adjuvant radiotherapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is unnecessary for elderly patients who have PET-negative bulky disease following immunochemotherapy.

Prognostic somatic copy number alterations in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma can be detected and monitored noninvasively using ctDNA from patient plasma.

Ahead of the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, we discuss the discontinuation of TKIs in some chronic myeloid leukemia patients.

This review will highlight the survival impact that rituximab therapy has had on major lymphoid malignancies, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma. We will also discuss alternative anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies.

Given the benefit of rituximab to patients, it will be important that the use of biosimilar compounds not compromise the efficacy of treatment. However, measures to improve access to anti-CD20 therapy in a cost-effective manner will clearly provide benefit to patients with lymphoma.

There is considerable value in having achieved a minimal residual disease negativity for pediatric and adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Insurance status at the time of chronic myeloid leukemia diagnosis appears to have an influence on survival outcomes, with the uninsured and those on Medicaid having worse overall survival.

Female survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia were at risk for neurocognitive impairment and were more susceptible to the effects of sleep disturbance and fatigue compared with their male counterparts.

On April 28, 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration approved midostaurin (Rydapt) for treating newly diagnosed FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia and three types of systemic mastocytosis.

Maintenance lenalidomide significantly prolonged progression-free survival in elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who responded to first-line R-CHOP.

Single-agent use of blinatumomab resulted in anti-leukemic activity in patients with tyrosine kinase inhibitor–relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome positive B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Treatment with ponatinib yielded better overall survival compared with allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia with a T315I mutation.

Global inequities in childhood leukemia survival have narrowed in recent years but still persist, according to data from CONCORD-2.

Kinase oncoproteins and growth factors both activate the proto-oncogene c-FOS and DUSP1, allowing the persistence of residual leukemia cell populations despite tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.

Low pretreatment disease burden improved durability of CAR T-cell therapy in patients with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Treatment of CML with tyrosine kinase inhibitors including imatinib, nilotinib, and dasatinib can be associated with subclinical pulmonary hypertension.

The FDA has recently released a statement identifying a new rare T-cell lymphoma caused by breast implant surgery.

Patients who have survived Hodgkin lymphoma were at more than double the risk for diagnosis with a second cancer, according to the results of a recent study.

During maintenance therapy for childhood ALL, there was a general increase in DNA-incorporated thioguanine nucleotides (DNA-TGN), and this increase was associated with a lower frequency of disease relapse.

As we learn more about the biology of AML, it appears that 7+3 only rarely clears residual leukemic clones in patients with higher-risk disease. New therapies are needed that can target and eradicate resistant subclones early in the disease course.

Adding rituximab to an escalated regimen of BEACOPP did not improve progression-free survival in patients with advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma.

The final, long-term analysis of the landmark IRIS study showed that imatinib’s efficacy persists over time in patients with CML, and no unacceptable late toxic or cumulative effects were observed.

There is a critical need for new therapies for T-cell lymphomas, and with ongoing trials of mTOR and aurora kinase inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors, and others, new options may be on the horizon.