Dr. Kolibaba on Efficacy of Entospletinib in Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Kathryn Kolibaba, MD, co-chair, Hematology Research Committee, US Oncology Research, discusses why the Syk inhibitor entospletinib (GS-9973) demonstrates efficacy in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Researchers have known that the Syk tyrosine kinase is active in hematologic malignancies for quite some time, Koliabba explains. The first targeted therapy that was studied in this space was fostamatinib. However, this was not a very specific inhibitor that was associated with high levels of toxicity, as well as high rates of activity on other kinases.

Therefore, researchers were very excited to develop the Syk inhibitor for these patients, in the hopes that there would be strong activity as well as limited levels of toxicity. Results of a phase II trial presented at the 2016 ASH Annual Meeting showed that the therapy was well tolerated and demonstrated modest activity in patients with relapsed or refractory MCL.