Photo by Larry Young
SAN FRANCISCO—A 3-agent chemotherapy regimen can be “highly effective” in patients with extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL), according to researchers.
In a single-center study, this regimen—pegaspargase, gemcitabine, and oxaliplatin (P-GEMOX)—followed by extensive involved-field radiotherapy (EIFRT) produced high rates of long-term overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in newly diagnosed patients with stage I/II ENKTL.
P-GEMOX also proved effective—though to a much lesser degree—in advanced, relapsed, or refractory ENKTL, and these patients appeared to benefit from autologous stem cell transplant (auto-SCT) as consolidation.
Toxicity associated with P-GEMOX was mild to moderate and tolerable, according to Hui-Qiang Huang, MD, PhD, of State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Guangzhou, China.
Dr Huang presented these results at the 8th Annual T-cell Lymphoma Forum.
Newly diagnosed patients
Dr Huang and his colleagues studied 56 patients newly diagnosed with stage I/II, nasal-type ENKTL. Most patients were younger than 60 years of age (80.4%, n=45).
About 79% (n=44) had an ECOG status of 0, and 21.4% (n=12) had a status of 1. About 61% (n=34) had stage I disease, and 39.3% (n=22) had stage II.
All patients received P-GEMOX—gemcitabine at 1000 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8, oxaliplatin at 150 mg/m2 on day 1, and pegaspargase at 2000 U/m2 on day 1. Doses could be adjusted in the event of toxicity.
The regimen was repeated every 3 weeks for a maximum of 4 cycles. Patients then underwent EIFRT—56 Gy in 28 fractions over 4 weeks.
The overall response rate (ORR) after P-GEMOX was 89.3% (50/56). Thirty-five patients achieved a complete response (CR), 15 had a partial response (PR), and 4 had stable disease (SD).
After EIFRT, the ORR increased to 94.6% (53/56). Fifty patients had a CR, 3 had a PR, and 1 had SD.
The median follow-up was 35.2 months (range, 10.6-51.4). Six patients relapsed, and the median time to relapse was 6.2 months.
Five patients died of disease progression. The median time to death was 10.9 months after the completion of EIFRT.
The 4-year OS rate was 90.7±4.0%, and the 4-year PFS rate was 89.1±4.2%.
OS and PFS were superior in patients with stage I disease as compared to stage II (P=0.056 and 0.023, respectively). And OS and PFS were superior in patients who responded to P-GEMOX (P=0.004 and 0.001, respectively).
There were no treatment-related deaths. The most common toxicities (occurring in more than 50% of patients) after P-GEMOX were neutropenia (80.3%), thrombocytopenia (55.3%), and hypoproteinemia (75.0%).
The most common grade 3/4 toxicities (occurring in more than 10% of patients) were granulocytosis (23.2%), thrombocytopenia (19.6%), and hypoproteinemia (10.7%).
Advanced & relapsed/refractory patients
Dr Huang and his colleagues also studied 60 patients with newly diagnosed, stage III/IV ENKTL (25%, n=15), relapsed ENKTL (21.7%, n=19), or refractory disease (43.3%, n=26). Seventy percent of these patients (n=42) had nasal-type ENKTL.
Most patients were younger than 60 years of age (91.7%, n=55). About 73% (n=44) had an ECOG status of 0-1, and 26.7% (n=16) had a status of 2. Fifteen percent of patients (n=9) had stage I disease, 16.7% (n=10) had stage II, 35% (n=21) had stage III, and 33.3% (n=20) had stage IV.
The patients received the same P-GEMOX regimen as the newly diagnosed, stage I/II patients, but they did not receive EIFRT, and responders could undergo auto-SCT.
For the whole cohort, the ORR after P-GEMOX was 70% (42/60). Twenty-one patients had a CR, 21 had a PR, and 9 had SD.
In the newly diagnosed patients, the ORR was 80% (12/15). Four patients had a CR, 8 had a PR, and 2 had SD. In the relapsed/refractory patients, the ORR was 66.7% (30/45). Seventeen patients had a CR, 13 had a PR, and 7 had SD.
The 4-year OS was 43.0±7.3%, and the 4-year PFS was 36.5±6.9%.
There was no significant difference in OS or PFS between the newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory patients (P=0.653 and 0.825, respectively). However, there was a significant difference in PFS and OS between responders and non-responders (P<0.001 for both).
There was a difference in 3-year OS between patients who went on to auto-SCT and those did not, although it did not reach statistical significance (P=0.08). Eleven patients who achieved a CR went on to auto-SCT.
There were no treatment-related deaths. The most common toxicities (occurring in more than 50% of patients) after P-GEMOX were neutropenia (85%), hypoproteinemia (88.3%), anemia (71.6%), fibrinogen decrease (68.3%), and anorexia (53.3%).
The most common grade 3/4 toxicities (occurring in more than 10% of patients) were neutropenia (31.6%), hypoproteinemia (13.3%), and thrombocytopenia (11.7%).
Dr Huang said this research suggests P-GEMOX can be effective for patients with newly diagnosed or previously treated ENKTL. The next step is to investigate which novel agents could be added to the regimen to improve its efficacy.
