Faculty Collaboration Database

Outcomes of rituximab-BEAM versus BEAM conditioning regimen in patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma undergoing autologous transplantation. Cancer 2020 May 15;126(10):2279-2287

Date

02/13/2020

Pubmed ID

32049359

Pubmed Central ID

PMC7190439

DOI

10.1002/cncr.32752

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85079369077 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   16 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although rituximab-based high-dose therapy is frequently used in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients undergoing autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (auto-HCT), data supporting the benefits are not available. Herein, we report the impact of rituximab-based conditioning on auto-HCT outcomes in patients who have DLBCL.

METHODS: Using the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) registry, 862 adult DLBCL patients undergoing auto-HCT between 2003 and 2017 using BEAM (BCNU, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan) conditioning regimen were included. All patients received frontline rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapy and had chemosensitive disease pre-HCT. Early chemoimmunotherapy failure was defined as not achieving complete remission (CR) after frontline chemoimmunotherapy or relapse within 1 year of initial diagnosis. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS).

RESULTS: The study cohort was divided into 2 groups: BEAM (n = 667) and R-BEAM (n = 195). On multivariate analysis, no significant difference was seen in OS (P = .83) or progression-free survival (PFS) (P = .61) across the 2 cohorts. No significant association between the use of rituximab and risk of relapse (P = .15) or nonrelapse mortality (P = .12) was observed. Variables independently associated with lower OS included older age at auto-HCT (P < .001), absence of CR at auto-HCT (P < .001) and early chemoimmunotherapy failure (P < .001). Older age (P < .0002) and non-CR pre-HCT (P < .0001) were also associated with inferior PFS. There was no significant difference in early infectious complications between the 2 cohorts.

CONCLUSION: In this large registry analysis of DLBCL patients undergoing auto-HCT, the addition of rituximab to the BEAM conditioning regimen had no impact on transplantation outcomes. Older age, absence of CR pre auto-HCT, and early chemoimmunotherapy failure were associated with inferior survival.

Author List

Jagadeesh D, Majhail NS, He Y, Ahn KW, Litovich C, Ahmed S, Aljurf M, Bacher U, Badawy SM, Bejanyan N, Cairo M, Cerny J, Epperla N, Farhadfar N, Freytes CO, Gale RP, Haverkos B, Hossain N, Inwards D, Kamble RT, Kenkre VP, Lazarus HM, Lazaryan A, Lekakis L, Mei M, Murthy HS, Mussetti A, Nathan S, Nishihori T, Olsson RF, Ramakrishnan Geethakumari P, Savani BN, Yared JA, Fenske TS, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Sureda A, Hamadani M

Authors

Kwang Woo Ahn PhD Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Timothy Fenske MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Mehdi H. Hamadani MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
Carmustine
Cohort Studies
Cytarabine
Etoposide
Female
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Humans
Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse
Male
Melphalan
Middle Aged
Multivariate Analysis
Registries
Rituximab
Survival Analysis
Transplantation Conditioning
Transplantation, Autologous
Treatment Failure
Treatment Outcome
Young Adult