Background: In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), a MYC-rearrangement (MYC-R) is present in approximately 10% of cases and has been associated with an inferior outcome following R-CHOP chemotherapy. In a previous report that retrospectively analyzed the prognostic impact of a MYC-R on survival following DA-EPOCH-R, patients with a MYC-R had a similar outcome to MYC negative cases (4 year EFS of 83% versus 76% respectively: p=0.46 Ann Oncol 2011 (22) Suppl 4 # 71). We set out to prospectively validate these results in a multicenter study.

Methods: Patients were newly diagnosed with DLBCL or B-cell lymphoma unclassifiable (BCL-U) with features intermediate between DLBCL and Burkitt lymphoma (BL). Only cases that harbored a MYC translocation by fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) or conventional cytogenetic testing were included in this report. Treatment consisted of 6 cycles of DA-EPOCH-R.

Results: 52 patients were included in this preliminary analysis. Characteristics were median (range) age 61 (29-80) years; male sex 37 (71%); stage III or IV disease 38 (73%); IPI score 0-2 in 35% versus 3-5 in 65%; HIV positive 4 (7%). Histologic diagnosis was DLBCL in 45 (86%) and BCL-U in 7 (14%). All cases had a MYC-rearrangement. BCL2 was rearranged in 14/31 (45%) and overexpressed by IHC in 24/43 (56%) cases tested. There were 3 deaths secondary to infectious complications and otherwise toxicities were similar to previous reports of the regimen. At a median follow-up time of 14 months, progression-free survival (PFS), time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were 79%, 86% and 77% respectively for all patients. PFS was 87% and 64% in cases that were FISH positive (double-hit) and IHC positive for BCL2 respectively.

Conclusions: Albeit short follow-up, DA-EPOCH-R in MYC-R DLBCL demonstrates promising activity in a multicenter prospective setting. Further analysis of this data is planned with central pathology review of cases and longer follow-up. The principal arm of this study testing the regimen in BL remains open to accrual (NCT01092182).

Figure 1
Figure 1.
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Disclosures

LaCasce:Seattle Genetics, Inc.: Research Funding.

Topics:
b-lymphocytes, burkitt's lymphoma, epoch protocol, lymphoma, phase 2 clinical trials, diffuse large b-cell lymphoma, follow-up, bcl-2 protein, hiv seropositivity, infection as complication of medical care

Author notes

*

Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.

© 2014 by The American Society of Hematology
2014
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