A 4-weekly course of rituximab is safe and improves tumor control for patients with minimal residual disease persisting 3 months after autologous hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation: results of a prospective multicenter phase II study in patients with follicular lymphoma

作者：Morschhauser F^*; Recher C; Milpied N; Gressin R; Salles G; Brice P; Vey N; Haioun C; Colombat P; Rossi J F; Deconinck E; Lazreg F; Bergougnoux L; Delsol G; Attal M

来源：Annals of Oncology, 2012, 23(10): 2687-2695.

DOI：10.1093/annonc/mds202

• follicular lymphoma
• autologous stem cell transplantation
• minimal residual disease
• rituximab

This study explored the efficacy and safety of rituximab as treatment of clinical or molecular residual disease after autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) in follicular lymphoma (FL). %26lt;br%26gt;Forty patients with CD20+ FL and clinically (group A, n = 14) or clono-specific PCR-detectable (group B, n = 25) residual disease persisting 3 months after ASCT received rituximab 375 mg/m superset of once weekly for 4 weeks. %26lt;br%26gt;Response rate at day 50 was 36% [90% confidence interval (CI) 15-61] in group A (World Health Organization criteria) and 52% (90% CI 34-70) in group B (conversion PCR-undetectable status to undetectable status). The best response rate was 71% [nine complete responses (CRs) and one partial response] in group A and 76% in group B. At 36 months, all 10 responses persisted in group A, whereas 46% of patients in group B still had PCR-undetectable disease. Furthermore, 68% of patients in group B were still in clinical CR. Rituximab after ASCT was safe with few grade 3-4 toxic effects (15% patients), mainly acute reactions and infections. %26lt;br%26gt;Rituximab induced a high rate of durable CRs in patients with clinically detectable disease, as well as durable eradication of PCR-detectable disease in patients with FL after ASCT. Continued molecular responses assessed with a highly sensitive and clono-specific PCR technique were correlated with an excellent disease control.

• 出版日期2012-10