Lymphoma Research Results and Study Updates

In a nearly 1,000-patient trial, treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) and the chemotherapy regimen AVD was better at eliminating cancer and keeping it at bay than the current standard initial treatment for the disease, AVD and brentuximab (Adcetris). The nivolumab combination also had fewer side effects.

More than half of clinical trial participants treated with venetoclax, ibrutinib, prednisone, obinutuzumab, and lenalidomide (ViPOR) had substantial tumor shrinkage. Of those, 38% had tumors that disappeared completely.

The cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin (Lipitor) may help reduce the risk of heart failure in people with lymphoma who receive chemotherapy drugs called anthracyclines, results from a clinical trial suggest. Anthracyclines, such as doxorubicin, are used to treat many types of cancer.

A large clinical trial has shown that in people with blood cancers, a cyclophosphamide-based regimen better protects against graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) after an allogeneic stem cell transplant than the standard regimen.

New findings show that the CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) improved survival for people with large B-cell lymphoma that was not responding to initial treatment or had quickly relapsed. The new results from the ZUMA-7 trial offer real hope for this group of patients.

An NCI study shows that people with low-grade lymphomatoid granulomatosis who are treated with interferon alfa-2b, a type of immunotherapy, can live for decades after diagnosis.

Based on an NCI-sponsored clinical trial conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group, FDA has approved the drug brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in combination with chemotherapy for some children and adolescents with Hodgkin lymphoma.

Results from three clinical trials have found that CAR T cells may be superior to standard treatments for patients with B-cell NHL that has not responded to treatment (refractory) or has returned after treatment (relapsed).

NCI researchers have found that adding the targeted therapy ibrutinib (Imbruvica) to standard chemotherapy can improve how long some younger people with a specific form of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma live. The new findings come from a new analysis of a previously conducted phase 3 clinical trial called Phoenix.

People with blood cancers seem to be less protected by COVID-19 vaccines than those with other cancers and people without cancer, three new studies suggest. Experts believe this limited effectiveness is likely due to patients’ weakened immune systems.

In a recent study, a treatment regimen using brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) instead of the chemotherapy drug vincristine allowed some children and teens with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma to avoid radiation therapy—and the long-term health problems that can come with it.

A CAR T-cell therapy called brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for some patients with mantle cell lymphoma. This is the third CAR T-cell therapy approved by FDA for patients with cancer.

For children with aggressive Burkitt lymphoma and other B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, adding rituximab (Rituxan, Truxima) to chemotherapy substantially increases the likelihood of the child being cured, results from a large clinical trial show.

In an NCI study, an alternative treatment regimen called dose-adjusted EPOCH-R that is less toxic than standard dose-intensive chemotherapy was highly effective for adults with Burkitt lymphoma across all age groups and independent of HIV status.

A remodeled CAR T-cell therapy causes fewer neurologic side effects and is equally effective as the original form of the treatment, according to results from the first clinical trial testing the approach in patients with B-cell lymphomas.

In some people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), treating a single tumor with an in situ vaccine can help to shrink, or eliminate, tumors in other parts of the body, findings from a small clinical trial suggest.

In a small trial involving patients with slow-growing B-cell lymphoma, injecting the compound SD-101 directly into tumors (in situ vaccination) and giving low-dose radiation shrank the injected tumors and, frequently, tumors elsewhere in the body.

FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for some women with advanced cervical cancer and some patients with primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

FDA has approved tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) for certain kinds of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Read about the trial that led to the approval and what the approval means for people with lymphoma.

The FDA has expanded the approved uses of brentuximab (Adcetris) in people with Hodgkin lymphoma. Under the new approval, brentuximab can be used in combination with three other chemotherapy drugs as an initial treatment in patients with advanced disease.

In a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, NCI researchers identified genetic subtypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common type of lymphoma, that could help explain why some patients with the disease respond to treatment and others don’t.

Some people who have been treated for breast cancer or lymphoma have a higher risk of developing congestive heart failure than people who haven’t had cancer, results from a new study show.