Dr. Hill on the Utility of BTK Inhibitors in Relapsed/Refractory MCL

Brian T. Hill, MD, PhD, director of the Lymphoid Malignancies Program and staff physician at Taussig Cancer Institute, as well as an assistant professor of hematology and oncology at the Cleveland Clinic, discusses the utility of BTK inhibitors in relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

The decision of whether to use a BTK inhibitor in a patient with relapsed/refractory MCL is largely dependent on what the patient received in the frontline setting and what their current risk status is, explains Hill. For example, patients who receive up-front anthracycline-based therapy or bendamustine with or without high-dose cytarabine and transplant will likely relapse. The length of their relapse can inform whether they are candidates for second-line BTK inhibitor therapy, Hill says.

Patients who relapse following induction therapy and a 5- to 10-year–long remission are likely going to respond well to BTK inhibitor therapy. However, patients who have short remissions or are refractory to induction therapy should be considered for CAR T-cell therapy, concludes Hill.