Hematologic Oncology

Though T-cell lymphoma is a more rare hematologic malignancy, researchers are exploring therapies such as brentuximab vedotin to improve outcomes for these patients.

A combination regimen of the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax plus low-dose cytarabine demonstrated an acceptable safety and pharmacokinetic profile in elderly patients with treatment-naïve acute myeloid leukemia.

Changes are underway in the field of hematologic malignancies, as the World Health Organization is publishing a revised classification of tumors of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues—slated to be released in early 2017.

Naval Daver, MD, assistant professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, discusses research evaluating different immune checkpoint pathways in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Negative reports evaluating molecularly selected agents should not derail the process of developing future therapies by employing a precision medicine approach.

The FDA has placed clinical holds on several phase I trials of vadastuximab talirine (SGN-CD33A) in acute myeloid leukemia, according to Seattle Genetics, the manufacturer of the antibody-drug conjugate.

Palbociclib can help patients with mantle cell lymphoma overcome resistance to ibrutinib, according to phase I results presented at the 2016 ASH Annual Meeting.

Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, of Mayo Clinic, discusses studies exploring PD-1 inhibitors in Hodgkin lymphoma, specifically the CheckMate-039 trial.

Results from the randomized phase II HOVON89 trial showed that nearly 40% of patients with low intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndrome who were refractory to erythropoietin and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor experienced hematologic improvement with erythroid response after being treated with lenalidomide monotherapy.

Miguel-Angel Perales, MD, deputy chief, Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service, director, Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Fellowship Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, provides an overview of the PROGRESS II trial, which was conducted for patients with hematologic malignancies.

Koichi Takahashi, MD, assistant professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a study exploring a potential biomarker for patients likely to develop therapy-related leukemia.

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chairman and director, chief of Lymphoma, and director of Clinical and Translational Cancer Research at John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses phase III results of a study exploring rituximab as maintenance therapy after autologous stem cell transplantation in younger patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

JCAR017 has received an FDA breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory, aggressive large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Patients with myeloproliferative disorders have a high symptom burden that significantly affects emotional status, quality of life, and functional ability.

Treatment for patients with aggressive lymphomas needs to be intensified with more effective strategies, potentially including an infusion, dose-adjusted regimen of etoposide phosphate, prednisone, vincristine sulfate, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, and rituximab.

Early data from a phase I/II study suggest that the combination of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) and nivolumab (Opdivo) may be an active and well-tolerated outpatient regimen in patients with relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma after failure of standard frontline chemotherapy.