Dr. Goy Discusses the Evolution of Treatment for MCL

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chief, Division of Lymphoma, chairman and director, John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses the evolving treatment landscape of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Goy says that with the approvals of novel therapies in the US and Europe, the field of MCL has changed significantly. With these new agents, it has become clear that rituximab (Rituxan), cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) alone or bendamustine and rituximab alone is not sufficient in MCL. Currently, the median progression-free survival (PFS) with R-CHOP is 14 to 18 months, and patients eventually become chemoresistant.

Dose-intensive therapy and cytarabine-containing regimens show a much better outcome in terms of PFS and overall survival (OS), says Goy. These regimens showed a PFS more than 7 years in addition to a higher OS. Goy says that cytarabine-containing regimens are better and show an earlier and higher incidence of molecular complete remission and deeper responses. Although, dose-intensive strategies without high-dose therapy and transplant are not necessarily feasible across the board, Goy says.