Rituximab retherapy in patients with relapsed aggressive B cell and mantle cell lymphoma

Neither effective salvage regimens nor the outcome and response to retherapy with rituximab containing chemotherapy have been defined for rituximab pre-treated patients with relapsing aggressive lymphoma. We report here a single-centre retrospective outcome analysis of second-line immunochemotherapy with rituximab. In 28 patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B cell lymphomas, first-line immunochemotherapy had induced objective responses in 18 patients. Nine of 28 patients responded to rituximab containing salvage therapy, leading to a median overall survival of 243 days after start of second immunochemotherapy. Long-term disease free survivors (1,260 and 949 days) were restricted to the group of twelve patients that had received allogeneic stem cell transplantation as consolidation therapy. In 21 patients with relapsed mantle cell lymphomas (MCL), 19 patients had reached remissions with first-line therapy. Of those, 16 patients experienced responses to salvage therapy with a median overall survival of 226 days. Noteworthy, none of patients with initial non-responding disease reached a remission with second immunochemotherapy. Seven patients with MCL stayed free from progression after high-dose therapy with autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation in two and five cases, respectively. In summary, responses to repeated immunotherapy with rituximab were observed in approximately one third and two thirds of initially responding patients with aggressive B cell lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma, respectively, but not in primarily refractory disease. Lasting remissions were achieved only by high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplantation

Diffuses großzelliges B-Zell-Lymphom

Das diffuse großzellige B-Zell-Lymphom ist die häufigste Neoplasie des lymphatischen Systems. Es geht von reifen B-Zellen aus und führt unbehandelt rasch zum Tode. Charakteristisch sind rasch progrediente Lymphknotenvergrößerungen und/oder extranodale Manifestationen sowie Allgemeinsymptome (B-Symptomatik). Die individuelle Prognose kann mit Hilfe des Internationalen Prognostischen Index (IPI) abgeschätzt werden. Der Therapieanspruch ist kurativ. Die Erstlinientherapie erfolgt mit 6 - 8 Zyklen des R-CHOPProtokolls. In frühen Stadien ist eine Reduktion der Therapiezyklen möglich. Der Stellenwert der Bestrahlung ist nicht endgültig geklärt. Weitere ungeklärte Fragen wie Prognose- oder Response-gesteuerte Therapie, der Wert intensiverer Therapieprotokolle oder die Wirksamkeit neuer Substanzen sind Gegenstand prospektiver klinischer Studien. Die Heilungsrate von Patienten mit diffusem großzelligen B-Zell-Lymphom liegt bei etwa 60 - 70%