[Update on lymphomas: 1997, a profitable year].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Coiffier.
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Two isoforms of lymphotoxin beta (LTbeta) were isolated from mRNAs of a panel of human lymphoid cell lines and tumor tissues obtained from patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The truncated LTbeta mRNA variant lacked 46 base pairs complementary to the complete sequence of exon 2, suggesting that both isoforms are produced by an alternative splicing mechanism. Skipping out of exon 2 causes a reading frame shift and a premature stop codon in the LTbeta mRNA variant. The predictive translated polypeptide would correspond to a severely shortened LTbeta protein that would lack the majority of the extracellular domain of the native molecule, thus impairing its normal complex assembly with LTalpha. These observations provide new insights into the molecular heterogeneity and biological function of LTbeta within the tumor necrosis factor and LT ligand-receptor system.
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BACKGROUND: Despite improved detection of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), results of its treatment with conventional therapies remain disappointing and the survival rate poor. The role of high-dose chemotherapy has recently been investigated but no potential benefit has been clearly established. We report here our experience with MCL patients treated with intensive chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Of the 16 MCL patients who received high-dose chemotherapy and ASCT beginning in 1989, six were treated in first-line and 10 in sensitive relapse. Twelve of 16 patients received regimens which included total body irradiation. All patients received peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) with the exception of one, who underwent bone marrow transplantation. RESULTS: Three patients died of toxic effects of treatment, Three months after transplant, seven achieved complete response, (CR) and two partial responses (PR), two were stable and two had progressed. With a median follow-up after transplant of 22 months, five of the six surviving patients were without progression, and three were in CR. The median times for event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were, respectively, 249 and 317 days. The expected three-year EFS and OS were 24%. The median survival after diagnosis was only 29 months. None of the criteria appeared to be significantly associated with a better outcome, but first-line intensification and a short delay after initial diagnosis may be favorable. CONCLUSION: In this study we were not able to confirm the hypothetical benefit of high-dose chemotherapy and PBSC transplantation in mantle cell lymphoma, even though this approach may be promising in a subgroup of patient.
PURPOSE: A prospective study was performed to assess plasma measurement of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), lymphotoxin alpha (LTalpha), and their soluble receptors (p55 and p75) for prognostic risk assignment in patients with malignant lymphomas. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred forty-two patients, 124 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and 18 with Hodgkin's disease (HD), were analyzed. Plasma samples were tested by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Elevated plasma levels of TNF, p55,and p75 were associated with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status > or = 2, Ann Arbor stage III/IV, elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and beta2-microglobulin levels, > or = two involved extranodal sites, B symptoms, anemia, and low serum albumin level. Elevated levels of p55 and p75 were associated with older age and higher values of C-reactive protein. TNF, p55, and p75, but not LTalpha, plasma levels higher than median predicted shorter freedom from progression (FFP) survival and overall survival. Three distinct risk groups for patient outcome were identified: patients with low risk (TNF, p55, and p75 below median values), intermediate risk (one or two parameters higher than median), and high risk (all three parameters higher than median). At a median follow-up duration of 25 months, the actuarial 2-year FFP survival rates were 79%, 60%, and 37%, respectively (P < .0001), and overall survival rates were 91%, 82%, and 51% (P < .0001). The addition of the TNF ligand-receptor-based model to the International Prognostic Index (IPI) yielded a significant improvement of the predictive value of IPI. CONCLUSION: TNF and its soluble receptors' plasma measurements represent valuable prognostic markers in lymphoma patients.
PURPOSE: To update the randomized study that compared consolidative sequential treatment (ifosfamide, etoposide, asporaginase, and cytarabine) versus the high-dose regimen of cyclophosphamide, carmustine, and etoposide (CBV) followed by autotransplantation in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in first complete remission and to focus on high-intermediate and high-risk patients identified by the international prognostic index. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nine hundred sixteen patients received induction treatment on the LNH84 protocol with open randomization for the anthracycline. In a subsequent randomization, 541 patients in complete remission were assigned to receive consolidation by either sequential chemotherapy (n = 273) or autotransplant (n = 268). Among the higher risk population (two or three risk factors), 236 patients in complete remission were assessable for the consolidation phase, with 111 in the sequential chemotherapy arm and 125 in the autotransplant arm. RESULTS: Among 541 randomized patients, disease-free survival and survival did not differ significantly between the two consolidative treatment arms. In the higher risk population, CBV was superior to sequential chemotherapy, with 5-year disease-free survival rates of 59% (95% confidence interval, 49% to 69%) and 39% (95% confidence interval, 28% to 50%), respectively (P = .01, relative risk = 1.19). The 5-year survival rate was superior in the CBV group at 65% (95% confidence interval, 56% to 74%) compared with 52% in the sequential chemotherapy group (95% confidence interval, 42% to 62%) (P = .06, relative risk = 1.49). CONCLUSION: This study shows a superior disease-free survival for higher risk patients in complete remission. Dose-intensive consolidation therapy should be considered for patients at higher risk who achieve complete remission after induction treatment.
PURPOSE: To assess the incidence of lymphoma transformation in the natural history of follicular lymphoma (FL) patients and the factors that are predictive of this event. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two hundred twenty patients with FL treated in our institution between 1975 and 1990, with a median follow-up duration of 9 years, were included in this retrospective analysis. RESULTS: Transformation was proven by histology in 34 patients or by cytology in 13 patients and was considered as highly probable on clinical arguments in five patients for an overall incidence of 24%. The probability of transformation was 22% at 5 years and 31% at 10 years and tended to plateau after 6 years. Predictive factors for transformation were nonachievement of complete remission (CR) after initial therapy (P < 10(-4), low serum albumin level (< 35 g/L) (P = .001), and beta 2-microglobulin level greater than 3 mg/L (P = .02) at diagnosis. In a multiparametric analysis, only beta 2-microglobulin level retained prognostic significance for freedom-from-transformation (FFT) survival (P = .04). Transformation accounted for 44% of deaths and was associated with a poor outcome, with a median survival time of 7 months. CONCLUSION: Transformation is an early event in the course of the disease and is mainly observed in patients with known adverse prognostic factors or those who do not achieve CR after initial treatment. These findings may be useful to select follicular lymphoma patients for intensive therapeutic approaches.
PURPOSE: Characteristics and outcome of 108 patients with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma were analyzed according to initial location of the lymphoma, within or outside of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred eight patients with MALT lymphoma were studied. Fifty-five patients (51%) had GI involvement and 53 patients (49%) had another involved extranodal site: 13 orbit; 11 lung; 10 skin; seven parotid; six thyroid; three Waldeyer's ring; two breast; and one pancreas involvement. At diagnosis, 47 patients (44%) had stage IE, 26 (24%) had stage IIE, and 35 (32%) had disseminated disease. No significant difference in the clinical or biologic characteristics was observed between GI and non-GI patients. RESULTS: Complete response after the first treatment was reached in 76% of the patients, with no difference between the two subgroups. With a median follow-up of 52 months, median survival was not reached and was identical in the two subgroups, but GI MALT patients had a longer time to progression (8.9 years compared with 4.9 years in non-GI patients; P = .01). The different non-GI locations seemed to have a similar outcome. CONCLUSION: MALT lymphoma is an indolent disease that usually presents as localized extranodal tumor without accompanying adverse prognostic factor, and these patients have a good outcome. However, non-GI patients seem to progress more often than GI patients.
PURPOSE: The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to analyze clinical, histopathologic characteristics, treatment outcome, and prognostic factors of patients with follicular large-cell lymphoma (FLCL); and (2) to compare them with those of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLCL) treated in the same therapeutic trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-nine FLCL patients who were histologically reviewed and who received an intensive chemotherapy regimen according to the LNH 87 protocol were analyzed and compared with 1,096 B-cell DLCL patients included in the same protocol. RESULTS: After intensive induction treatment, 59 patients (67%) achieved a complete remission [CR]. Estimated 5-year survival was 59%, and estimated 5-year freedom from progression (FFP) was 39%. Prognostic factors associated with shorter FFP were age greater than 60 years (P = .02), advanced clinical stage (P = .01), abnormal lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) level (P = .02), abnormal beta-2 microglobulin (P = .02), B symptoms (P = .03), bone marrow involvement (P = .04), and high expression of bcl-2 protein (P = .05). When compared with B-cell DLCL patients, FLCL patients were younger (P = .02), had a better Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status (P = .05), less bulky mass (P = .04), more advanced clinical stages (P < .001), and more bone marrow involvement (P = .02). No significant difference was observed between FLCL and DLCL patients for response to therapy (67% v 67% of CR), 5-year overall survival (58% v 51%), 5-year disease-free survival (53% v 57%), or FFP survival (39% v 43%). CONCLUSION: FLCL patients have a favorable response rate and survival when treated with intensive chemotherapy. Their outcome is similar to that of B-cell DLCL patients, and a long-term FFP is observed for a substantial number of patients. Some adverse prognostic factors (including those of the International Prognostic Index, bone marrow involvement, and beta-2 microglobulin) have been identified to define a subset of patients who require other therapeutic approach.
PURPOSE: To clarify disease characteristics and optimal treatment for elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), we performed a randomized trial in 453 patients older than 69 years with aggressive lymphoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two hundred twenty patients received cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m2, teniposide (VM-26) 75 mg/m2, and prednisone 40 mg/m2/d for 5 days (CVP) and 233 patients received CVP plus pirarubicin (THP-doxorubicin) 50 mg/m2 (CTVP), each for six courses every 3 weeks. RESULTS: The median age was 75 years. Most patients had clinically aggressive disease; 30% had one and 53% two or three adverse prognostic parameters as defined by the International Prognostic Index. More patients on the CTVP arm had an elevated lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) level, but the two groups were otherwise well balanced. CTVP treatment was more frequently associated with leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and infectious complications. Death during chemotherapy occurred in 16% and 21% of patients on the CVP and CTVP arms, respectively (not significant). Forty percent of patients achieved a complete response (CR): 47% on CTVP and 32% on CVP (chi2 = 20.98, P = .0001). The median time to treatment failure (TTF) was 7 months for CTVP versus 5 months for CVP (log-rank test, P < .05). The median survival time was 13 months in both groups; however, the 5-year survival rate was 26% with CTVP versus 19% with CVP (chi2 = 4.68, P < .05). Lymphoma progression was the primary cause of death. CONCLUSION: Elderly patients with aggressive lymphoma have an aggressive disease with adverse prognostic parameters at the time of diagnosis. Slightly longer survival was observed for patients treated with an anthracycline-containing regimen.
The purpose of this study was to, assess the efficacy of glycosylated recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (lenograstim) in the prevention of neutropenia and infection in patients receiving dose-intensive chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). A second objective was to determine clinical predicators of delay to cytotoxic chemotherapy administration. One hundred-sixty two patients with intermediate- or high-grade NHL and at least one poor prognostic factor received a total of 4 cycles of the LNH-84-regimen every 2 weeks, with an open randomization to treatment with anthracyclines. Patients were randomized to receive subcutaneous lenograstim 5 micrograms/kg/day (n = 82) or placebo (n = 80) from day 6 to day 13 of each cycle. The incidence of severe neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count (ANC) < 0.5 x 10(9)/L) was reduced in the lenograstim group compared with placebo (52% vs 75%). A significant reduction (p < 0.001) in the median duration of ANC < 0.5 x 10(9)/L was also observed in patients treated with lenograstim during each cycle of chemotherapy (0-1 day vs 2-4 days in placebo recipients). Fever occurred in 66 patients in each treatment group. Thirty-four percent of placebo recipients had documented infections during ANC < 1.0 x 10(9)/L compared with 18.5% of lenograstim-treated patients (p < 0.05). Infections of > or = 2 severity were significantly less frequent (p = 0.001) among lenograstim recipients compared with placebo (25 vs 49). The most common adverse events among lenograstim recipients were headache, mild bone pain and injection site reactions. Although lenograstim significantly increased (p = 0.0001) relative dose intensity compared with placebo (93% vs 80%), no difference in CR rate (67% vs 71%) or 3-year survival (63% vs 55%) was observed. The results of this study suggest that patients treated with a chemotherapy regimen that induces severe neutropenia can benefit from treatment with lenograstim. Furthermore, lenograstim permits treatment to be delivered at full dose intensity at 2 week intervals, even in patients with bone marrow involvement, and may permit further dose escalation of the chemotherapeutic regimen used.
In 93 newly diagnosed lymphoma patients, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) and its p55 soluble receptor (p55-sR), were prospectively determined in plasma by IRMA and ELISA methods respectively. These 93 patients included 31 patients with low grade lymphoma, 55 with intermediate or high grade lymphoma and 7 with Hodgkin's disease. Median TNF alpha plasma values were 20 pg/mL (range 5-380 pg/mL) in patients versus 7 pg/mL (range 4-9 pg/mL) in healthy control subjects. Presence of TNF alpha level equal or greater than 20 pg/mL was significantly associated with elevated LDH level, serum beta 2-microglobulin level > or = 3 mg/L, hemoglobin < or = 12 g/dL, Ann Arbor stage III or IV disease, and with bulky tumor. High level of TNF alpha was also associated, although less strongly, with B symptoms, poor performance status, and serum albumin < or = 35 g/L, yet it was not associated with change in acute phase protein levels. Levels of p55-sR were also markedly elevated in these lymphoma patients (median of 3.5 ng/mL, range 0.8-18.8 ng/mL) versus 1.45 ng/mL in control subjects (range 1.1-2.3 ng/mL). Level of p55-sR equal or greater than 3.5 ng/mL was significantly associated with poor performance status, B symptoms, beta 2-microglobulin levels > or = 3 mg/L, serum albumin < or = 35 g/L, C-reactive protein > 6 mg/L, hemoglobin < or = 12 g/dL, and bulky tumor. In the whole group of 93 patients, both high TNF alpha and p55-sR levels strongly predicted short freedom from progression and overall survival. This study suggests that elevated TNF alpha and p55-sR plasma levels have a high correlation with other adverse prognostic factors in lymphoma patients and predict their poor outcome.
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a common condition whose incidence has increased by 75% over the last 15 years. The HIV epidemic is among the factors that have contributed to this increase: patients with AIDS have 1% annual risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and the increase in survival of AIDS patients has led to an increase in the frequency of AIDS-associated lymphomas. A number of other viruses are directly involved in the occurrence of lymphomas, such as the HTLV-1 and the EBV. The HSV type 8 has recently been incriminated in the occurrence of lymphomas located in the cavities of the body. The role of the hepatitis C virus in the occurrence of lymphoma is controversial. Inherited or acquired immunodeficiencies (e.g., due to treatment for an autoimmune disease or transplant) are associated with an increased incidence of lymphoma. The role of toxic chemicals, especially those used in farming, is receiving increasing attention. A number of infectious diseases promote the occurrence of lymphomas; the best illustration of this link is the association between Helicobacter pylori and primary low-grade gastric lymphomas.
This multicentre randomized single-blind parallel group study compared the efficacy of oral ondansetron plus methylprednisolone (OND+MPS) with conventional antiemetic strategies (TH) over 4 consecutive courses in moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. This study was conducted in naive patients receiving a minimum of 3 cytotoxics including adriamycin (> or = 35 mg/m2) and cyclophosphamide (> or = 500 mg/m2) plus an other alkylating agent. Of the 364 patients included in the study, 70% had a breast cancer and 30% a lymphoma. Patients were divided into two groups. On day 1, one group of patients received OND (8 mg, po) 2 hours before chemotherapy, followed by a slow intravenous injection of MPS (120 mg) 30 minutes before chemotherapy. Eight hours after the start of chemotherapy, patients received OND (8 mg, po) and MPS (16 mg, po). On days 2-4, patients received OND (8 mg, po) and MPS (16 mg, po) twice daily. The second group of patients received conventional antiemetic treatment (benzamide plus corticosteroids with or without benzodiazepins). The primary efficacy parameter was defined as complete control of emesis (0 emetic episodes) over 4 consecutive courses of chemotherapy. In the OND+MPS group, 63% of patients experienced complete control of emesis versus 33% in the TH group (p < 0.001). The secondary parameters (percentage of days with no emetic episodes, control of emetic episodes, grade of nausea at each course, patient preference and quality of life evaluation) were always significantly better in the OND+MPS treated group. The percentage of days without any emetic episode over the 4 courses of chemotherapy was 91% in the OND+MPS group and 75% in the TH group (p < 0.001). Ninety-two percent of patients from OND+MPS group preferred to continue their treatment versus 76% in the TH group (p < 0.001). Concerning the quality of life assessed by FLIC and FLIE questionnaires, the analysis showed a significant difference at the end of the treatment in favor of OND+MPS (p = 0.037 and 0.0075 respectively). This study showed the interest in using the combination OND+MPS right from the first course of moderately emetogenic chemotherapy.
We evaluated the reliability of a flow cytometry technique for counting mononuclear cells (MNCs) in cytapheresis products. Eighty freshly-prepared samples of peripheral stem cells were studied using a dual immunolabeling technique with antibodies to CD13/CD14, and were also labeled with anti-CD34. Results of this immunophenotype determination were compared to those of the conventional method for counting MNCs under the microscope. Dual CD13/CD14 labeling was found to be a simple and reliable method for counting MNCs in the presence of immature and stimulated cells. When used in combination with CD34 labeling, the dual immunolabeling method helped improve the evaluation of the quality of peripheral stem cell grafts.
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We describe a new nonrandom rearrangement, dic(4;17)(p11;p11), which was identified in three patients with small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukemia (SLL/CLL). All three cases had in common atypical morphological features with a significant component of prolymphocytes, an unusual clinical outcome, and were refractory to chemotherapy. To further define the cytogenetic breakpoints, we investigated the cases by whole chromosome painting and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with centromeric probes. FISH analysis detected the same cytogenetic rearrangement in all patients, suggesting that the dic(4;17)(p11;p11) is a recurrent translocation in SLL/CLL. Moreover, FISH analysis showed a monoallelic deletion of the TP53 gene in all cases, suggesting a correlation with the aggressive course of the disease and the clinical outcome observed in these patients.
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