A Blog from the Lymphoma Program at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian
While attending iwCLL 2013, Dr. Richard Furman, a nationally recognized CLL clinician and researcher here in the Lymphoma Program, sat down and gave his thoughts on the latest advances in CLL treatment, and how this will effect future patient outcomes.
The discussion can be found here.
Recently, at the 12th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma, Dr. Peter Martin, presented preliminary results from a phase I study evaluating palbociclib (also known as PD 0332991) combined with bortezomib in patients with previously treated mantle cell lymphoma. Mantle cell lymphoma is characterized by genetic changes that result in loss of cell cycle control, resulting in unrestrained cell proliferation. Palbociclib is an oral drug that specifically inhibits CDK4, enzyme that is central to the proliferation of mantle cell lymphoma cells. Data from WCMC demonstrated that palbociclib could arrest the growth of mantle cell lymphoma cells and that prolonged growth arrest could sensitize the cells to killing by low doses of bortezomib, thereby potentially improving its efficacy and tolerability. In our recent oral presentation at the ICML, we reported that palbociclib could be safely combined with low-dose bortezomib and that the combination appeared to have promising efficacy. Our results suggest that strategies to control the cell cycle should be explored.
For a full listing of all current clinical trials underway in the Lymphoma Program, please click here.
Idelalisib (previously called CAL-101 and GS-1101) is a first-in-class selective, oral inhibitor of the PI3K-delta enzymes that while essential to the process of activation, proliferation, and survival of B cells, is also hyperactive in B-cell malignancies. The treatment has previously shown considerable promise as a both a monotherapy and a combination therapy in recurrent non-Hodgkin lymphoma and a variety of other lymphomas.
At the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, I presented updated results from a recent combination therapy study, contrasting the tolerability and activity of the PI3K-inhibitor idelalisib with rituximab and/or bendamustine in patients with previously treated indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma. From the 78 patients there was an overall response rate (ORR) was 81% with a complete response (CR) of 28%. The ORR/CR for idelalisib/rituximab was 77%/20%, idelalisib/bendamustine 85%/29%, and idelalisib/bendamustine/rituximab 79%/43%, with a progression free survival of 73% after 20 months.
The study concluded that idelalisib-based combination therapy deserves further clinical development as this combination therapy is highly active and well tolerated in patients with relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
For a full listing of all current clinical trials underway in the Lymphoma Program, please click here.
New Developments in Lymphoma 