Reporting from:
8th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma, Lugano;
American Society of Clinical Oncology 38th Annual Meeting, Orlando;
British Cancer Research Meeting, Glasgow
Scientific Editors:
George Canellos, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
Anton Hagenbeek, University of Utrecht
John Goldman, Hammersmith Hospital
Volker Diehl, University of Cologne
Producer: Sarah-Jane Maxwell
Presenters: Peter Goodwin & Gareth Mitchell
Michael Keating, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
Early results from a study of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) show an improvement from combination immunochemotherapy with rituximab, fludarabine and cyclophosphamide.
COMMENT: George Canellos, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Rebecca Auer, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London
Antisense oligonucleotide to Bcl-2, can enhance the activity of rituximab in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells in culture. Rebecca Auer said that trials with patients are also in progress, and her team’s findings suggest that antisense will have a role in the treatment of CLL.
COMMENT: Michael Keating, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston & George Canellos, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Volker Diehl, University of Cologne
Final results of the German Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Study Group’s HD 9 trial were announced in Lugano. Patients were treated with either the gold standard COPP/ABVD chemotherapy, baseline BEACOPP, or escalated BEACOPP.
John Radford, Manchester University
A different chemotherapy regimen – VAPEC-B – before involved-field radiotherapy is being studied in early-stage low-risk Hodgkin’s disease. The approach appears to minimize relapse rate, and it is not associated with an excess of second malignancy.
James Armitage, University of Nebraska
Allogeneic transplantation for mantle cell lymphoma offers the chance of harnessing graft-versus-tumor effect. However, even though survival has been long for a few patients, the treatment is a long shot, according to James Armitage.
Wolfgang Hiddemann, University of Munich
Autologous transplantation for patients with mantle cell lymphoma with myelo-ablative therapy is an option that can improve outlook, according to Wolfgang Hiddemann.
Wyndham Wilson, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda
In the absence of alternative strategies for mantle cell lymphoma, Wyndham Wilson is testing the powerful EPOCH regimen, together with the monoclonal antibody rituximab, to achieve minimum residual disease. His team then uses an idiotype vaccine to remove remaining tumor cells.
COMMENT: George Canellos, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Jim Nachman, University of Chicago
In a session on pediatric lymphomas at Lugano, there was a distinct theme of “less is more”, and one study compared low-dose involved-field radiotherapy with no radiotherapy for children with Hodgkin’s disease in whom an initial complete response had been achieved. The team wanted to see whether chemotherapy alone is an effective option, especially as girls who receive chest radiation are at higher risk of breast cancer in later life.
COMMENT: Sharon Murphy, Northwestern University, Chicago
John Leonard, Cornell University, New York
Results from Lugano about combination immunotherapy with two different monoclonal antibodies: eptratuzumab and rituximab.
Bart Barlogie, University of Arkansas, Little Rock
Good-risk patients with multiple myeloma may justifiably hope for a cure, according to Bart Barlogie. At Lugano he reported his latest findings on mini-allogeneic transplantation with high-dose melphalan (non-myeloablative therapy). He said that if you separate out the poor-risk patients you can do very well.
George Canellos, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
There was an important debate in Lugano about whether allogeneic transplants have a role in lymphoma. Professor Norbert Schmitz of Hamburg presented persuasive data showing that they do: data that the opposing speaker, George Canellos, did not deny. And yet, George came out firmly against allogeneic transplants for lymphoma in most situations.
Andreas Hochhaus, University of Heidelberg
Although imatinib is emerging as the logical choice for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) resistance to interferon, what about resistance to imatinib itself? That is the question behind an ongoing study aimed at evaluating response and resistance to imatinib. At this year’s ASCO Meeting, Andreas Hochhaus gave his study findings.
Brian Druker, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland
As we have all been hearing so much recently, imatinib has been dramatically effective in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and gastro-intestinal stromal tumors. In Glasgow, Scotland, delegates at the British Cancer Research Meeting were keen to hear the latest from imatinib trail-blazer Brian Druker.
