New therapies in non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas are among the most prevalent hematologic malignancies. Although the addition of rituximab (R) to chemotherapy has made a big impact in the treatment of B cell lymphomas, most of them are not cured yet. The panorama in natural killer/T cell lymphomas is more unsatisfactory, thus representing a group of diseases where effective therapies constitute an urgent medical need. In recent years, several new antineoplastic agents have been tested in clinical trials showing promising results. The aim of this review is to update information of these studies that are already changing the scenario of the treatment of patients with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Keywords:

• antibodies
• B cell receptor
• lymphoma
• NF-κB inhibitors
• non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• treatment

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• Ibrutinib, alone or in combination, improves the rate of response in relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma and might improve the response rate in other B-cell lymphomas.

• Bortezomib regimens seem to be a good alternative in mantle cell lymphoma and might be a potential drug in other non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) where NFκB is involved like in activated B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

• Lenalidomide combined with rituximab, with or without chemotherapy, shows very high rate of response in follicular lymphoma and may overcome the negative impact on survival in nongerminal center diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

• New anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (i.e., obinutuzumab) may replace rituximab to further increase their efficacy in B-cell NHL.

• Brentuximab vedotin has impressive activity in relapsed/refractory patients with systemic and primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

• New monoclonal antibodies targeting T-cell inhibitory molecules (i.e., anti-PD1) show promising results in indolent B-cell NHL.