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Leo I. Gordon, MD, FACP
Leo I. Gordon, MD, FACP
Posted: Monday, August 29, 2022
The CD19-positive cell-targeting immunomodulator blinatumomab may be promising for high-risk patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to a phase II study conducted by Deborah A. Katz, MD, of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, and colleagues. In fact, the majority of patients who achieved a partial response or stable disease following chemotherapy achieved a complete response after administration of blinatumomab. The findings of this open-label, multicenter, single-arm study were published in the journal Leukemia and Lymphoma.
“Consolidation with blinatumomab therapy following induction with R-chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed, high-risk [DLBCL] was better tolerated with no new safety signals compared with previous studies in patients with relapsed or refractory lymphomas,” stated the study investigators.
Adult patients with newly diagnosed, high-risk DLBCL and an International Prognostic Index score of 3 to 5, and/or doubt-hit/triple-hit disease, and/or double protein expression of MYC and BCL-2 with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 or less were enrolled (n = 47). Patients were separated into groups based upon whether they had achieved a complete response, a partial response, or stable disease 3 weeks following six rounds of R-chemotherapy. Patients were assigned to receive continuous blinatumomab via intravenous infusion for a single 84-day cycle (n = 28), or they received no blinatumomab treatment (n = 19).
Blinatumomab appeared to be well tolerated, with only five patients (17.9%) experiencing grade 4 adverse events: four cases of neutropenia and one of infection. Following blinatumomab treatment, 75% of patients in the partial response group and 100% of patients in the stable disease group achieved a complete response. There were two deaths during the course of the study, but they were due to disease progression or infection and were unrelated to blinatumomab treatment.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit tandfonline.com.
