Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: New Approved Options

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 70
• Main Authors: García-Sancho, Alejandro Martín, Cabero, Almudena, Gutiérrez, Norma C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.12.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Biopsy; Cancer; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Clinical trials; Development and progression; Diagnosis; Disease; FDA approval; Lymphocytes; Lymphoma; Lymphomas; Medical prognosis; Metabolism; Response rates; Review; Stem cell transplantation; Toxicity; Spain; polatuzumab vedotin; relapsed or refractory DLBCL; CAR-T cell therapy; diffuse large-B cell lymphoma; autologous stem cell transplantation; tafasitamab
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm13010070

Overall, around 40% of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have refractory disease or relapse after the first line of treatment. Until relatively recently, the prognosis of patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL was very poor and treatment options were very limited. In recent years, several novel therapies have been approved that provide more effective options than conventional chemotherapy and that have manageable toxicity profiles. CAR-T cell therapy has become the new standard treatment for patients with refractory or early relapsed DLBCL, based on the positive results of the phase 3 ZUMA-7 and TRANSFORM clinical trials. This review addresses the role of CAR-T therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation in the treatment of these patients and other approved options for patients who are not candidates for transplant, such as the combinations of polatuzumab vedotin with bendamustine and rituximab, and tafasitamab with lenalidomide.