Originally published as JCO Early Release 10.1200/JCO.2008.17.4870 on November 24 2008

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Autologous Stem-Cell Transplantation As First-Line Therapy in Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas: Results of a Prospective Multicenter Study

Peter Reimer, Thomas Rüdiger, Eva Geissinger, Florian Weissinger, Christoph Nerl, Norbert Schmitz, Andreas Engert, Hermann Einsele, Hans Konrad Müller-Hermelink, Martin Wilhelm

From the Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik II, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg; Pathologisches Institut, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Würzburg; Krankenhaus München-Schwabing, 1. Medizinische Abteilung, München; Allgemeines Krankenhaus St. Georg, Abteilung für Hämatologie, Hamburg; Innere Medizin I. Medizinische Klinik der Universität zu Köln, Köln; and Med Klin 5, Klinikum Nürnberg Nord, Nürnberg, Germany

Corresponding author: Peter Reimer, MD, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik II, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Klinikstr 6-8, D-97070 Würzburg, Germany; e-mail: p.reimer{at}medizin.uni-wuerzburg.de

Purpose Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are rare malignancies with poor outcome after conventional chemotherapy. The role of myeloablative therapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation (autoSCT) is still unclear. Therefore, we initiated the first prospective multicenter study on upfront autoSCT in PTCL and recently reported good feasibility and efficacy of this approach. Here, we present the final analysis of the study.

Patients and Methods The treatment regimen consisted of four to six cycles of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone followed by mobilizing therapy with either the dexamethasone, carmustine, melphalan, etoposide, and cytarabine protocol or the etoposide, methylprednisolone, cytarabine, and cisplatin protocol and stem-cell collection. Patients in complete remission (CR) or partial remission (PR) underwent myeloablative chemoradiotherapy (fractionated total-body irradiation and high-dose cyclophosphamide) and autoSCT.

Results From June 2000 to April 2006, 83 patients were enrolled onto the study. Main subgroups were PTCL not specified (n = 32) and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (n = 27). Fifty-five (66%) of the 83 patients received transplantation. The main reason for not receiving autoSCT was progressive disease. In an intent-to-treat analysis, the overall response rate after myeloablative therapy was 66% (56% CR and 8% PR). With a median follow-up time of 33 months, 43 patients are alive; the estimated 3-year overall and disease-free survival rates for patients in CR (calculated from CR to the date of relapse) and 3-year progression-free survival rate were 48%, 53%, and 36%, respectively.

Conclusion The results of this prospective study suggest a substantial impact on outcome for upfront autoSCT in PTCL and should be further evaluated in randomized trials. Pretransplantation treatment needs to be improved to increase the transplantation rate.

published online ahead of print at www.jco.org on November 24, 2008.

Supported by the Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung, Würzburg, Germany.

Authors’ disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.

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