memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0238-0

Hopfinger, Georg

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0221-9

Steurer, Michael

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0223-7

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology 2014 in San Francisco, a variety of important clinical trials covering topics like first-line immunochemotherapy, maintenance therapy with monoclonal antibodies as well as confirmatory data of novel therapies such as B-cell receptor or BCL2 inhibitors were presented. In view of these data new clinical standards have been set up and validated, respectively. Taken together, the data presented underscores the importance of immunochemotherapy despite the upcoming era of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) as a standard for (ultra-) high-risk patients. Moreover, the concept of response consolidation/maintenance with the use of monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies as applied for indolent lymphoma may also be clinically relevant for CLL.

Pfeilstöcker, Michael

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0219-3

Treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), especially in older patients with comorbidities, is still a challenge and awaits further improvement regarding outcomes. Therefore data presented on this topic at the 2014 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting are of importance and need to be discussed in the context of current and future clinical practice. This review covers studies for AML and MDS (excluding transplantation) reported at the last ASH meeting that demonstrate progress in this field and suggest a way forward from chemotherapy to biological treatment approaches.

Nösslinger, Thomas

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0211-y

Recent clinical data presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology support the potential use of chemotherapy-free combinations in first-line treatment of follicular lymphoma. Rituximab maintenance seems to be very useful after autologous stem cell transplantation in younger patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In elderly MCL patients the integration of bortezomib in frontline treatment strategies is very promising. Moreover, new therapeutic agents such as ibrutinib and idelalisib are tested successfully in clinical trials in relapsed indolent lymphoma.

Fridrik, Michael A.

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0220-x

This article reviews the most important news at American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2014 for the clinician. A validated risk model for central nervous system (CNS) relapse after rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) defined a low, intermediate, and a high risk group. The latter with a CNS-relapse risk of 12 %. Interim positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and different treatment strategies for positive disease were highly prognostic for an unfavorable prognosis. However, the salvage strategies for these patients were not successful. The role of radiotherapy was clarified in a randomized trial of non-bulky stage I or II disease. It was not possible to demonstrate an event-free (EFS) and overall (OS) survival benefit for radiation after 4–6 R-CHOP cycles. Unfortunately ofatumomab was not superior to rituximab in combination with DHAP in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

Heintel, Daniel

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0230-8

This review discusses promising new approaches in the management of classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma that have been recently presented at the annual ASH meeting. Novel insights regarding risk-adapted, tailored therapy as well as improved treatment strategies in relapsed/refractory disease have been presented.

Staber, Philipp

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0226-4

The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2014 has highlighted a number of spectacular advances of the past couple of years for T cell lymphomas. These lymphomas are probably the most challenging of all types of hematologic malignancies: First, patients usually present in a very ill condition and in a very advanced stage of disease; second, they do not respond well to chemotherapy; and third, T cell lymphomas are rare diseases. They account for only 15 % of all cases of non-Hodgkin lymphomas and with more than 15 subtypes any subtype is very rare [1]. Therefore, it requires joint forces of an international community to make advances in the understanding of the disease and to identify new treatment approaches. Another reason why the prognosis of T cell lymphomas has been dismal compared with its counterparts in B cell lymphomas is that historically we have applied the therapies from B cell lymphomas to T cell lymphomas. With the advances of large international preclinical studies, we now recognize that the paradigms we learned for B cell lymphomas are inappropriate for T cell lymphomas. An evolving basic science literature suggests that T cell lymphomas are highly enriched for various mutations involving epigenetic operations [2-5]. This might explain why T cell lymphomas are so uniquely poised to be sensitive to the class of epigenetic drugs such as histone deacetylase inhibitors.

Feistritzer, Clemens; Mosheimer, Birgit

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0228-2

In patients suffering from venous thromboembolism, the subsequent anticoagulation treatment significantly reduces the risk of recurrence of further thromboembolic events. However, all available treatment options put the patients at risk of potential life-threatening bleeding complications. Consequently, during the 56th Annual Meeting 2014 of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco researchers focused on optimizing the use of the current available anticoagulants. Therefore, in the Choosing Wisely® campaign the expert committee recommended to treat patients suffering from their first venous thromboembolism in the setting of major transient risk factors for (not longer than) 3 months. In addition, a French national multicenter trial showed that—if indefinite anticoagulation is not indicated—extended treatment after spontaneous thromboembolism does not reduce the risk of recurrence after stopping the anticoagulation therapy. In patients with cancer-associated thromboembolism, a multicenter study demonstrated the superiority of low molecular heparins over vitamin K antagonist. Finally, a novel, promising target for dissecting hemostasis and antithrombotic effects might be the plasma contact system. Downregulation of factor XI levels in patients undergoing elective knee arthroplasty was an effective method for prevention of postoperative venous thrombosis without increasing the risk of bleeding.

Mian, Michael; Chiappella, Annalisa

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0229-1

The knowledge about biological mechanisms contributing to lymphomagenesis represents the basis for targeted therapies in lymphoproliferative disorders. Herein, we provide a short overview about the novel drugs targeting B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, with a focus on diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Due to the plethora of new drugs, we present some of the most important new drug developments in lymphoma treatment, namely humanized monoclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibody conjugates, immunomodulatory agents, and tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The use of these agents alone or in combination with chemotherapy showed promising results with a good safety profile in a setting of relapsed/refractory lymphomas. Since many of them demonstrated to be highly active, several clinical trials evaluating their efficacy in first-line treatment are ongoing.

Sood, Tanvi; Yadav, Nirmal; Gupta, Smita

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0225-5

Juarso, Andreas Edwin; Kiehl, Malte; Pfennig, Olaf; Wittenberg, Günther; Weissinger, Florian

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0222-8

A 59-year-old patient presented in the outpatient clinic because of an increasing mass in his right buttock. He has a history of a testicular tumor 28 years ago, with increased tumor markers (Human Choriongonadotropin (β-HCG) value 4.9 and Alpha-1 Fetoprotein (AFP) 218 ng/ml).

Köst, Hans-Peter

2015 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-015-0218-4