Autologous Transplant Event-Free Survival (EFS) Following Failure of CHOP-Rituximab (CHOP-R) for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Is the Same as the EFS Following Failure of CHOP Alone.

Several studies have now identified that the addition of rituximab (R) to CHOP chemotherapy has increased the complete response, EFS, and overall survival (OS) for patients with previously untreated DLBCL. However, concerns of increased resistance of DLBCL following failure of CHOP-R and the inability to salvage those patients with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation have been raised. In an attempt to address this issue, we evaluated 103 patients with high risk, relapsed, or refractory DLBCL receiving high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation at our center between 1999 and 2003. Fifty-six (54%) of the patients received CHOP as their initial induction therapy and 47 (46%) received CHOP-R. The patients ranged in age from 20–73 years (median 50). Sixty patients were male and 43 female. Sixty two of the patients were transplanted < 12 months from diagnosis and 41 were transplanted ≥ 12 months from diagnosis. The patients had received a median of 2 prior therapies (range 1–4). The majority (81%) were chemotherapy sensitive at the time of transplantation. The median follow-up of surviving patients is 27 months ( range 3–74). All patients received a BEAM (C) - based regimen [carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan or cycylophosphamide] +/− anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies. There was no difference in the 2-year EFS for patients failing CHOP vs. CHOP-R (60% vs. 68%, p=0.49). In addition, there was no difference in the 2-year overall survival (OS) of patients failing CHOP vs. CHOP-R (72% vs. 68%, p=0.63). In a multivariate analysis, the only factor predicting for an event (relapse or death) post-transplant was having received ≥ 2 prior chemotherapies (Relative Risk (RR) 7.5, p=0.048) and predicting for death from any cause was chemotherapy resistance (RR 2.5, p=0.037) and an increased lactic dehydrogenase at transplant (RR 4.1, p=0.002). The additional use of a monoclonal antibody with the transplant regimen did not significantly impact outcome in this analysis. This study demonstrates that patients with DLBCL failing CHOP-R are able to be salvaged with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation and have a similar 2-year EFS and OS as patients being transplanted following CHOP failure.