According to a story from curetoday.com, a recent Phase 2 trial has demonstrated that bortezomib (marketed as Velcade) has the potential to be an effective therapy for patients with mantle cell lymphoma following chemotherapy and stem cell transplant. Velcade was used in two ways: as maintenance therapy, which is aimed at preventing relapse, and as consolidation therapy, which is intended to finish off any remaining cancer cells in the patient’s body.
About Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. There are only about 15,000 patients in the US. This blood cancer affects B-cells, a type of white blood cell. The risk factors for mantle cell lymphoma are not particularly well known; however, acquired genetic mutations in the affected cells are what eventually causes them to become malignant. Most patients are diagnosed in their 60s. In many cases, the disease is not diagnosed until it has reached an advanced stage. Symptoms include fever, night sweats, enlarged spleen and lymph nodes, and weight loss. Treatment options include immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapies. Mantle cell lymphoma often relapses after treatment with chemotherapy. Prognosis is difficult to predict; the five year survival rate is 50 percent, but this figure improves to 70 percent with limited-stage disease. To learn more about mantle cell lymphoma, click here.
Study Findings
While the data does vindicate Velcade as a useful treatment for patients after stem cell transplant, this drug also carries the risk of serious side effects which may make it a less appealing option. Its use in consolidation therapy in particular saw some patients have to quit treatment because of toxicity concerns. Still, the fact remains that the drug effective in increasing progression free survival. In the consolidation therapy group, complete response rate jumped to 78 percent from 48 percent in comparison to the same regimen minus Velcade; the maintenance group saw an increase from 60 percent to 78 percent. Median progression free survival improved to 8.5 from just five years without Velcade.
The authors of the study say that the findings should encourage the testing of other targeted therapies post-transplant that have reduced toxicity, as these drugs could wind up being the sweet spot in which effectiveness is maximized while damaging side effects are reduced.
