Dr. Jasmine Zain: Challenges in T-Cell Lymphoma Treatment

Jasmine Zain, MD, director of the T-cell Lymphoma Program, professor of hematology and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, of City of Hope National Medical Center, discusses the recent developments and challenges of treatment for patients with T-cell lymphoma.

In this episode of Medical Spotlight, Zain explains that T-cell lymphomas generally have a poor prognosis, are rare, and there are less effective treatment options for these patients compared with those who have B-cell lymphomas.

However, Zain notes that progress has been made in the armamentarium of T-cell lymphomas. With the incorporation of gene expression profiling, researchers have determined that T-cell lymphoma is not 1 disease, but is made up of multiple diseases. She notes that gene expression profiling has allowed for the identification of various subgroups within T-cell lymphomas that are not just based on histologic classification, but on molecular pathways.

"These have now started to help us understand some of the prognosis of these diseases and prognostic differences between the different subtypes so we can tailor the treatments of each patient to the different subgroups," Zain says. "We're not quite there yet, but that's kind of where we're headed and we're making progress. And, we have some new targeted agents that we can incorporate into the treatment of these patients."

Throughout the episode, Zain referred to several key studies in the T-cell lymphoma paradigm, including those that were presented at the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting. Additionally, she focuses on outcomes related to the differing subtypes across T-cell lymphoma, updated classifications, and novel targeted therapies that are in development for patients whose T-cell lymphomas are driven by these molecular alterations. She also explored sequencing in the upfront and later-line settings, and when consolidative autologous stem cell transplant is most appropriate for a patient with a T-cell lymphoma.

Finding approaches that will be non-cytotoxic based should be the way of future research efforts in T-cell lymphoma, Zain mentions. "And I think the tumor microenvironment is where the issue is going to be," she says.