CLINICAL NEWS
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Featured research from recent issues of Blood
PAPER SPOTLIGHT
Combining Romidepsin and
Pralatrexate in Relapsed/
Refractory T-Cell Lymphoma:
Are Two Drugs Better Than One?
In a phase I trial of patients with
relapsed/refractory peripheral
T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), combin-
ing romidepsin and pralatrexate –
two agents approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration for
this indication – led to an overall
response rate (ORR) of 71 percent,
doubling the ORR that had previ-
ously been seen with either agent
alone.
“PTCL is a group of rare, het-
erogeneous malignancies with
an aggressive course, character-
ized by relative insensitivity to
conventional chemotherapy and
an inferior prognosis, compared
[with] their B-cell counterparts,”
Jennifer E. Amengual, MD,
from the Center for Lymphoid
Malignancies and Hebert Irving
Comprehensive Cancer Center at
Columbia University Medical Cen-
ter in New York, and colleagues
explained in the report published
in Blood. Adding agents or trans-
plantation to CHOP (cyclophos-
phamide, doxorubicin, vincristine,
prednisone) has led to “modest
and marginal” improvements in
survival, but by combining two
new agents, the authors hoped
to exploit the synergy observed
in preclinical models of PTCL,
without increasing toxicity.
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ASH Clinical News
This single-center, dose-escalation
trial included 29 patients (median
age = 54 years; range = 23-73
years) with previously treated
PTCL. Patients were required to
have an Eastern Cooperative On-
cology Group performance status
score of ≤2 and adequate organ
and marrow function. People
were ineligible for inclusion if
they had central nervous system
disease or lymphomatous menin-
gitis or took concomitant CYP3A4
inhibitors.
Seven patients (24%) had B-cell
lymphomas and 18 (62%) had T-
cell lymphomas, while four (14%)
had blastic plasmacytoid dendritic
neoplasm or H