IELSG38: phase II trial of front-line chlorambucil plus subcutaneous rituximab induction and maintenance in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma.

The IELSG38 trial was conducted to investigate the effects of subcutaneous (SC) rituximab on the complete remission (CR) rate and the benefits of SC rituximab maintenance in patients with extranodal marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) who received front-line treatment with chlorambucil plus rituximab. Study treatment was an induction phase with oral chlorambucil 6 mg/m2/day on weeks 1-6, 9-10, 13-14, 17-18, and 21-22, and intravenous rituximab 375 mg/m2 on day 1 of weeks 1-4, and 1,400 mg SC on weeks 9, 13, 17, and 21. Then, a maintenance phase followed with rituximab administered at 1,400 mg SC every two months for two years.

Nonpeghylated liposomal doxorubicin combination regimen (R-COMP) for the treatment of lymphoma patients with advanced age or cardiac comorbidity.

Doxorubicin is the most effective single agent in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Its use is limited because of the cardiac toxicity primarily in elderly patients (pts) and in pts with history of cardiac disease. Liposomal doxorubicin has been proven to reduce cardiotoxicity.

Atypical Presentation of COVID-19 Incidentally Detected at 18F-FDG PET/CT in an Asymptomatic Oncological Patient.

The incidence of COVID-19, a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2, is rapidly growing worldwide. In this pandemic period, the chance of incidental pulmonary findings suggestive of COVID-19 at F-FDG PET/CT in asymptomatic oncological patients is not negligible. To suspect COVID-19 is more demanding whether its presentation is atypical.

Long-term results of the MCL01 phase II trial of rituximab plus HyperCVAD alternating with high-dose cytarabine and methotrexate for the initial treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare and incurable lymphoproliferative disorder. In the MCL01 trial, patients were treated with the R-HCVAD regimen [rituximab plus HyperCVAD (hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, dexamethasone; R-CVAD) alternating with high-dose methotrexate and cytarabine (AM)] for four cycles followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for those who reached only a partial response. After a median follow-up of 10·5 years, we reported 10-year progression-free and overall survival rates of 35% and 61% respectively, with a 10-years cumulative incidence rate of second malignancies of 10·6%.

Long-Term Results of the FOLL05 Trial Comparing R-CVP Versus R-CHOP Versus R-FM for the Initial Treatment of Patients With Advanced-Stage Symptomatic Follicular Lymphoma.

Purpose The FOLL05 trial compared R-CVP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone) with R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) and R-FM (rituximab plus fludarabine and mitoxantrone) regimens without rituximab maintenance as initial therapy for patients with advanced-stage follicular lymphoma (FL). A previous analysis with a median follow-up of 34 months showed a superior 3-year time to treatment failure, the primary study end point, with R-CHOP and R-FM versus R-CVP and showed R-CHOP to have a better risk-benefit ratio in terms of toxicity than R-FM. We report a post hoc analysis of this trial after a median follow-up of 7 years.

Whole-brain radiotherapy or autologous stem-cell transplantation as consolidation strategies after high-dose methotrexate-based chemoimmunotherapy in patients with primary CNS lymphoma: results of the second randomisation of the International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group-32 phase 2 trial.

Background: The International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group-32 (IELSG32) trial is an international randomised phase 2 study that addresses two key clinical questions in the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed primary CNS lymphoma. Results of the first randomisation have demonstrated that methotrexate, cytarabine, thiotepa, and rituximab (called the MATRix regimen) is the induction combination associated with significantly better outcome compared with the other induction combinations tested. Here, we report the results of the second randomisation that addresses the efficacy of myeloablative chemotherapy supported by autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT), as an alternative to whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), as consolidation after high-dose-methotrexate-based chemoimmunotherapy.

Combination of rituximab and nonpegylated liposomal doxorubicin (R-NPLD) as front-line therapy for aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in patients 80 years of age or older: a single-center retrospective study.

The incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in patients 80 years of age or older is 50 times higher than in 20- to 24-year-olds. Very elderly patients are often not treated with standard immunochemotherapy because of poor performance status, comorbidities, and toxicity concerns. We retrospectively analyzed data for 29 patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or grade 3B follicular lymphoma and treated with rituximab in combination with nonpegylated liposomal doxorubicin between January 2010 and August 2015.

A Multicenter Phase II Study of Twice-Weekly Bortezomib plus Rituximab in Patients with Relapsed Follicular Lymphoma: Long-Term Follow-Up.

Single-agent bortezomib (B) has shown activity in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory indolent lymphoma. On the basis of these findings, we performed a phase II study of B combined with rituximab (R) in patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma (FL). Forty-five patients with fairly good prognostic profiles were enrolled from 2007 to 2011 and received a total of 6 cycles of the B+R combination.

The chronic lymphocytic leukemia international prognostic index predicts time to first treatment in early CLL: Independent validation in a prospective cohort of early stage patients.

The chronic lymphocytic leukemia International Prognostic Index (CLL-IPI) combines 5 parameters (age, clinical stage, TP53 status [normal vs. del(17p) and/or TP53 mutation], IGHV mutational status, serum β2-microglobulin) to predict survival and time-to-first-treatment (TTFT) in CLL patients. We performed an observational study in 337 prospectively collected, Binet stage A patients to validate the ability of the CLL-IPI to predict TTFT in an independent cohort of early stage CLL patients.

Combination of bendamustine and rituximab as front-line therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: multicenter, retrospective clinical practice experience with 279 cases outside of controlled clinical trials.

Recently, encouraging results in terms of safety and efficacy have been obtained using bendamustine-rituximab (BR) in untreated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) patients enrolled in a phase II study. Here, we report a retrospective international multicenter study of CLL patients treated with BR as front-line therapy. The cohort included 279 patients with progressive CLL from 33 centers (29 Italian, 3 Israeli and 1 German) who received at least 1 cycle of BR as first-line treatment during the 2008-2014 period.

Long-Term Results of the HD2000 Trial Comparing ABVD Versus BEACOPP Versus COPP-EBV-CAD in Untreated Patients With Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Study by Fondazione Italiana Linfomi.

Purpose: The randomized HD2000 trial compared six cycles of ABVD (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine), four escalated plus two standard cycles of BEACOPP (bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone), and six cycles of COPP-EBV-CAD (cyclophosphamide, lomustine, vindesine, melphalan, prednisone, epidoxorubicin, vincristine, procarbazine, vinblastine, and bleomycin; CEC) in patients with advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma. After a median follow-up of 42 months, patients who received BEACOPP were reported to have experienced better progression-free survival (PFS) but not better overall survival (OS) results than those receiving ABVD. We here report a post hoc analysis of this trial after a median follow-up of 10 years.

Prospective validation of predictive value of abdominal computed tomography scan on time to first treatment in Rai 0 chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients: results of the multicenter O-CLL1-GISL study.

Objective: We performed an external and multicentric validation of the predictive value of abdominal computed tomography (aCT) on time to first treatment (TTFT) in early stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients.

Methods: aCT was performed at diagnosis in 181 Rai 0 patients enrolled in the O-CLL1-GISL trial (clinicaltrial.gov ID:NCT00917549).

Cometary science. Dust measurements in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko inbound to the Sun.

Critical measurements for understanding accretion and the dust/gas ratio in the solar nebula, where planets were forming 4.5 billion years ago, are being obtained by the GIADA (Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator) experiment on the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Between 3.

Cometary science. On the nucleus structure and activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Images from the OSIRIS scientific imaging system onboard Rosetta show that the nucleus of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko consists of two lobes connected by a short neck. The nucleus has a bulk density less than half that of water. Activity at a distance from the Sun of >3 astronomical units is predominantly from the neck, where jets have been seen consistently.

Cometary science. The morphological diversity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko acquired by the OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System) imaging system onboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft at scales of better than 0.8 meter per pixel show a wide variety of different structures and textures. The data show the importance of airfall, surface dust transport, mass wasting, and insolation weathering for cometary surface evolution, and they offer some support for subsurface fluidization models and mass loss through the ejection of large chunks of material.

The genotype of MLH1 identifies a subgroup of follicular lymphoma patients who do not benefit from doxorubicin: FIL-FOLL study.

Though most follicular lymphoma biomarkers rely on tumor features, the host genetic background may also be relevant for outcome. Here we aimed at verifying the contribution of candidate polymorphisms of FCγ receptor, DNA repair and detoxification genes to prognostic stratification of follicular lymphoma treated with immunochemotherapy. The study was based on 428 patients enrolled in the FOLL05 prospective trial that compared three standard-of-care regimens (rituximab-cyclophosphamide-vincristine-prednisone versus rituximab-cyclophosphamide-doxorubicin-vincristine-prednisone versus rituximab-fludarabine-mitoxantrone) for the first line therapy of advanced follicular lymphoma.

Prospective validation of a risk score based on biological markers for predicting progression free survival in Binet stage A chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients: results of the multicenter O-CLL1-GISL study.

A risk score based on three biological features (CD38, ZAP-70, and IGHV mutational status) was previously developed to predict progression-free survival (PFS) in untreated Binet A CLL patients. Here we perform a score validation analysis in a prospective and independent cohort of patients. Biological markers (CD38, ZAP-70, and IGHV mutational status) and gene expression profiles (GEP) of leukemic cells from CLL patients included in a prospective multicenter observational study (O-CLL1-GISL protocol, clinicaltrial.

Fludarabine plus alemtuzumab (FA) front-line treatment in young patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and an adverse biologic profile.

In 45, ≤ 60 years old patients with CLL and an adverse biologic profile, a front-line treatment with Fludarabine and Campath (Alemtuzumab(®)) was given. The overall response rate was 75.5%, the complete response rate (CR) 24.

Total body computed tomography scan in the initial work-up of Binet stage A chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients: Results of the prospective, multicenter O-CLL1-GISL study.

Total body computed tomography (TB-CT) scan is not mandatory in the diagnostic/staging algorithm of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The aim of this study was to determine the value and prognostic significance of TB-CT scan in early stage CLL patients. Baseline TB-CT scan was performed in 240 Binet stage A CLL patients (179 Rai low- and 61 Rai intermediate-risk) included in a prospective multicenter observational study (clinicaltrial.