Dr. Duvic on Importance of Classifying T-Cell Lymphomas

Madeleine Duvic, MD, professor of Medicine and Dermatology, Blanche Bender Professorship in Cancer Research, director of the Research Fellowship Program, Department of Dermatology, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the importance of classifying T-cell lymphomas and new targets in development. Duvic shared this insight during the 2016 OncLive State of the Science Summit on Hematologic Malignancies.

The field is moving toward personalized medicine and targeted therapies, Duvic explains. Therefore, if researchers can determine what markers a cancer bears on its surface, they can design a toxin-antibody to selectively kill cancer cells and decrease adverse events. The more the community knows about the molecular basis for cancer on an individualized basis, she adds, the more prepared oncologists will be to offer effective therapy.

There are many new targets that are being investigated, she says. One of the most promising options is chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. However, there are also antibodies that are being developed, based on surface markers.

Additionally, microRNA inhibitors can regulate the large amount of genes controlled by mRNA. There is a new category of drugs for patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas and cutaneous T-cells lymphomas. These disease are very sensitive to histone deacetylase inhibitors—romidepsin (Istodax) and vorinostat (Zolinza) are approved for peripheral T-cell and cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.