Dr. Uldrick on Rituximab Plus Liposomal Doxorubicin in HIV-Infected Patients With KSHV-MCD

Thomas S. Uldrick, MD, staff clinician, HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch, Center for Cancer Research at the National Institutes of Health, discusses long-term data from a study examining rituximab plus liposomal doxorubicin in HIV-infected patients with Kaposi sarcoma (KS) herpes virus-associated multicentric Castleman disease (KSHV-MCD).

KSHV is able to infect endothelial cells, B-cells, and concurrent tumors, Uldrick says. Results from a study showed that 95% of patients treated with rituximab plus liposomal doxorubicin will have a complete resolution of symptoms, while nearly 90% will have normalization of all laboratory abnormalities that are caused by MCD.

Twenty-two patients were treated with rituximab plus liposomal doxorubicin. Long-term follow-up of this data demonstrates that patients present with a wide range of symptoms, such as fevers, anemia, edema, and swelling. Researchers sought to determine which baseline factors predicted good long-term outcomes in patients, especially those with HIV-associated and KSHV factors. The only factor that predicted survival was advanced KS, Uldrick adds.

The 5-year overall survivals was 91% for patients without advanced KS and 56% for patients with advanced KS. Additionally, 70% of patients were disease-free after a median of 3 cycles of treatment.

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