title: Gemcitabine alone and/or containing chemotherapy is efficient in refractory or relapsed NK/T-cell lymphoma.
abstract: Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKL) has a dismal prognosis. Although L-asparaginase has shown promising efficacy as a frontline therapy, currently there are no treatment options after progression to an L-asparaginase-containing regimen. We report the results of gemcitabine-containing therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory ENKL. We retrospectively reviewed 20 patients with refractory or relapsed ENKL who received a gemcitabine-containing regimen between 2005 and 2011. The overall response rate was 40% (8 of 20 patients) with a complete response (CR) rate of 20% (n = 4) and a partial response (PR) rate of 20% (n = 4). Four complete responders had a disease-free status for more than 7 months including two patients received autologous stem cell transplantation consolidation and L-aspraginase maintenance, respectively. The median progression-free survival of the 20 patients was 2.3 months; however, it was 7.3 months for eight responders (CR and PR). The median overall survival of the eight responders had not been reached at the time of analysis. Gemcitabine was effective in a subset of pretreated ENKL patients and can be considered as a salvage option.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Seok Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Deok Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Young Hyeh
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Soon Thye
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Won Seog
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D054391:Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D015996:Survival Rate; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000093542:Gemcitabine