Treatment approach for elderly and unfit patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or patients with comorbidities are often treated with chlorambucil (Chl) as front-line therapy despite relatively low response rates. The addition of a monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody to Chl substantially increases response rates and prolongs progression-free survival (PFS) in these patients, without increasing toxicity. As a result, the ESMO guidelines recommend that previously untreated CLL patients with relevant co-morbidity, but without TP53 deletion/mutation, should be treated with the combination of Chl plus an anti-CD20 antibody (rituximab, ofatumumab or obinutuzumab).

Areas covered: This review focuses on the treatment approach of elderly and unfit patients with untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Expert commentary: The addition of a monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody to Chl is currently the suggested treatment in this subset of CLL patients. The choice of the anti-CD20 antibody remains an open question, although obinutuzumab was found to be superior to rituximab, in a head-to-head comparison of Chl-based combinations, in untreated CLL patients with comorbidities, with higher progression free survival, complete remission rates and minimal residual disease-negative remissions. Because patients with a TP53 deletion/mutation are resistant to chemo-immunotherapy, treatment with the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib is recommended in this setting.

KEYWORDS:

• Elderly CLL patients
• unfit CLL patients
• CLL treatment
• chemo-immunotherapy
• BCR inhibitors

Declaration of interest

L Laurenti is on the advisory board for the Janssen, Gilead, Roche, Abbvie, and on the speakers’ bureau of Janssen, Gilead and Roche. D Efremov on the speakers’ bureau of Gilead. The authors have no other 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 apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

The manuscript was not funded.