Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation for Follicular Lymphoma in First Remission: Long Term Follow up of Two Sequential Trials with Standard Dose and High Dose CHOP Induction.

High dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) has been employed as salvage therapy for patients (pts) with relapsed follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (FL). Recently, the randomized European CUP trial demonstrated that following 3 cycles of CHOP, ASCT significantly improved both disease free and overall survival when compared to continued CHOP in pts with relapsed FL. In an attempt to improve the results of high dose therapy in FL, we undertook 2 sequential studies for pts with FL in first remission. In the first study, 77 pts with previously untreated advanced stage FL (median age 43), received 6–8 cycles of standard dose CHOP (SD-CHOP) + involved field radiotherapy followed by high dose chemoradiotherapy and anti-B cell purged autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). Following SD-CHOP induction, 27 of 77 pts (36%) were in CR and 50 in a minimal disease state (< 2 cm masses, < 20% BM involvement). At BM harvest, 36 pts had histologic evidence of BM involvement. In the second trial, 19 pts with advanced stage disease (median age 44) were treated with 4 cycles of dose intensified CHOP (HD-CHOP) (cyclophosphamide 1.5 g/m2 day 1 and 2) with G-CSF support followed by high dose chemoradiotherapy and anti-B cell purged autologous ABMT. Following HD-CHOP, 13 of 19 pts were in CR. At BM harvest, 7 of the 19 HD-CHOP pts had histologic BM involvement. Following ABMT, there were 2 acute in-hospital deaths in the pts receiving SD-CHOP induction and none in the pts who received HD-CHOP induction. Nine late deaths in remission were observed in the SD-CHOP pts including 6 from MDS/AML, and 2 late deaths in the HD-CHOP pts. Thirty-three pts who received SD-CHOP remain alive without relapse, with a median follow up of 12 years. Ten pts who received HD-CHOP induction remain alive without relapse, with a median follow up of 9.1 years. For pts receiving SD-CHOP induction, the DFS and overall survival at 10 years are 42% (90% CI: 33%–52%) and 64% (90% CI: 55%–73%), respectively. For pts who received HD-CHOP induction, the DFS and overall survival at 10 years are 59% (90% CI: 38%–79%) and 75% (90% CI: 57%–93%), respectively. The impact of BM treatment and DFS was examined. Pts with known bcl-2 translocations for whom post-BM purging samples were available for pcr examination were analyzed. Following ABMT, pts who were reinfused with pcr negative BM had a significantly better DFS than the pts who were reinfused with pcr positive BM. This study suggests that a subset of pts with FL experience long term remission following ABMT in first remission.