title: Is it really possible to cure hairy cell leukemia patients only with frontline therapy?
abstract: Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) patients could have an excellent prognosis with adequate treatment. Treatments are not generally curative but are extremely effective in inducing long-lasting clinical remissions. An observational retrospective study was conducted on a single-center registry of 144 patients with a median follow-up of 11.5 years, focusing on long-lasting continuous first complete remissions (CR) wondering if patients can be cured only with front-line approach. CR for more than 5 years after first-line therapy were found in 22.2 % cases. The median duration of response was 9.8 years, while for relapsed patients, the first response had a median duration of 2.4 years. Three different subsets of long-lasting first CR were identified: 15 patients are between 5 and 10 years with a median duration of CR of 6.5 years; 7 patients are between 10 and 15 years with a median duration of CR of 12.3 years; and 10 patients present a follow-up superior to 15 years with a median duration of CR of 20.0 years. There is a need for continuous study in this field to better define the optimal therapeutic regimen and, in particular, the biological issues since at least 20-25 % of HCL patients can be cured with only one treatment.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hematology "L. and A. Seràgnoli", S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Via Massarenti 9, 40138, Bologna, Italy, pierluigi.zinzani@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Pier Luigi
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Zinzani
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stefoni
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Broccoli
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gandolfi
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Casadei
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maglie
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pileri
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Argnani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017338:Cladribine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007943:Leukemia, Hairy Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D015649:Pentostatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013156:Splenectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha; D015649:Pentostatin; D017338:Cladribine