Phase II study of gemcitabine for treatment of patients with advanced stage marginal zone B-cell lymphoma: Consortium for Improving Survival of Lymphoma (CISL) trial.
BACKGROUND
Therapeutic approaches to marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (MZL) continue to evolve. Localized MZL responds favorably to local treatments, including surgery and/or local radiation therapy. However, MZL manifests as a disseminated disease in one-third of the cases at diagnosis. Moreover, relapses involving distant sites after local therapy have been reported previously. Therefore, the search for effective forms of systemic therapy is a critical issue. We conducted this multi-center, phase II trial to assess the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine single chemotherapy for patients with stage III/IV MZL.


METHODS
Patients received gemcitabine 1250 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8 of each cycle. The treatment was repeated every 3 weeks and continued for 6 cycles until disease progression, withdrawal due to toxicity, or withdrawal of consent.


RESULTS
Between Sep. 2006 and Sep. 2008, a total of 16 patients were enrolled (with informed consent) into this trial from 6 institutes in Korea. Among these patients, 4 patients dropped out without evaluation. The median age of the 12 (9 males, 3 females) evaluated patients was 62 (range 25-73) years. Seven patients (58%) evidenced involvement of extranodal sites. All patients received previous treatment for MZL. The patients received a total of 69 cycles of gemcitabine chemotherapy (range 3-6 [median 6] cycles/person). There were 2 PR (17%; 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 0.0-41%), 9 SD (75%), and 1 PD (8%). There were 8/69 cycles (12%) of grade 3/4 neutropenia. Non-hematologic toxicities were mild and tolerable. There were 5 cycles (8%) of delayed chemotherapy (median 1 week) owing to neutropenia. Dose reduction was required in 12 cycles. However, no treatment-related death occurred in this study. The median TTP was 10.2 months (95% CI, 5.3-15.1). As the response rate in stage I did not justify progressing to stage II (> or = 8/15), this study had to be discontinued, in accordance with the established protocols.


CONCLUSIONS
Gemcitabine as a single agent, in this dosage and at this schedule, evidenced minimal clinical activity in cases of advanced MZL.
Department of Internal Medicine, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, South Korea.
Sung Yong
SY
Oh
Won Seog
WS
Kim
Dae Ho
DH
Lee
Seok Jin
SJ
Kim
Sung Hyun
SH
Kim
Baek Yeol
BY
Ryoo
Hye Jin
HJ
Kang
Young Jin
YJ
Choi
Joo Seop
JS
Chung
Hyo Jung
HJ
Kim
Cheolwon
C
Suh
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018450:Disease Progression; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018442:Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012008:Recurrence; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D000093542:Gemcitabine
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000093542:Gemcitabine