Single-Agent Lenalidomide for Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Aggressive Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Who Had Received Prior Stem Cell Transplant.

High-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplant (SCT) is a standard treatment option for younger patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (a-NHL) who fail to respond, or relapse after initial therapy. For patients who relapse after SCT there are few effective treatment options and prognosis remains poor (Vose et al Blood. 80(8):2142–8, 1992). A second SCT was shown to achieve only marginal responses and at an increased risk of toxic death (Lenain et al Hematol J. 5(5):403–9, 2004). Therefore, new approaches are needed for treatment of patients in this poor prognostic group. Lenalidomide (Revlimid®) is an immunomodulatory agent that has shown clinical activity in treatment of several B-cell malignancies. Two phase 2 studies of lenalidomide monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) a-NHL were conducted in the US (NHL-002; Wiernik et al JCO 26:4952–7, 2008) and internationally (CC-5013 NHL-003). In an extended follow-up of the NHL-002 study, the overall response rate (ORR) was 35%, which included 12% of patients with a complete response (CR), and a median duration of response (DR) lasting 10.4 months (Wiernik et al 2008 EHA. Abst: 764). Comparable efficacy was observed in the larger confirmatory, phase 2, NHL-003 study of lenalidomide in a similar patient population. The goal of this analysis was to learn the ORR and DR to lenalidomide in patients with a prior SCT.

Patient data from both phase II studies were pooled for this report. Eligibility for both studies was similar – patients with R/R a-NHL, which included diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), transformed lymphoma (TL), and follicular lymphoma grade III (FL-III), with measurable disease (≥ 2 cm), and ≥ 1 prior treatment regimen. Patients received oral lenalidomide 25 mg once daily on days 1–21 of a 28-day cycle. Protocol defined treatment continued for up to 52 wks in NHL-002, or until disease progression in NHL-003. Primary endpoint was ORR; secondary endpoints included DR, progression-free survival (PFS), and safety.

87 patients with a prior SCT (14 patients from NHL-002; 73 patients from NHL-003) were included in this analysis. Median age of patients was 61 yrs (range, 23–76), with a median of 4 prior therapies (range, 2–12). The ORR to lenalidomide was 39% (34/87), with 13% (11/87) CR/CRu and 26% (23/87) partial response (PR). Median PFS for all 87 patients was 3.8 months (95% CI, 2.6, 5.6) and the DR for 34 responders was 9.7 months (95% CI, 4.2, 16.3). Responses occurred in 15 of 52 patients (29% ORR; 10% CR/CRu) with DLBCL, 12 of 19 patients with MCL (63% ORR; 26% CR/CRu), and in 6 of 10 patients with TL (60% ORR; 10% CR/CRu). The table summarizes responses for patients who did not have a transplant, for those who had a SCT anytime prior to lenalidomide; as the last therapy prior to lenalidomide; and not as last therapy prior to lenalidomide. Most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were neutropenia (44%), thrombocytopenia (33%), and anemia (9%). Eighteen (20.6%) patients discontinued treatment due to adverse events. Patients with a prior history of SCT appeared to have a significantly higher rate of thrombocytopenia, all grades (51% v 30%; P = 0.001), and grades 3 or 4 (33% v 16%; P = 0.002). Patients with a prior SCT were also more likely to experience a dose reduction/interruption due to thrombocytopenia compared with those without a prior SCT (25% v 14%; P = 0.027).

Based on a pooled dataset from two phase II studies, oral lenalidomide monotherapy appears to be a well tolerated and active therapy resulting in durable responses in patients with R/R a-NHL who had a prior SCT. Furthermore, the potential of achieving a response to lenalidomide appears to be independent of prior history of SCT.

Vose:Celgene: Research Funding. Off Label Use: Lenalidomide for the treatment of relapsed/refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. . Czuczman:Celgene: Research Funding. Zinzani:Celgene: Research Funding. Tuscano:Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Pietronigro:Celgene: Employment, Equity Ownership. Ervin-Haynes:Celgene: Employment. Witzig:Celgene: Research Funding.