Clinical activity of a new regimen combining gemcitabine and alemtuzumab in high‐risk relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients |
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| Authors: | Lucie Oberic Willy Vaillant Benjamin Hebraud Christian Recher Etienne Suc Philippe Houyau Guy Laurent Loic Ysebaert |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Hematology, Purpan University Hospital, Toulouse cedex, France;2. Centre Hospitalier, Auch, France;3. Inserm UMR1037 – ERL 5294, CRCT, Toulouse, France;4. Clinique Saint‐Jean Languedoc, Toulouse cedex, France;5. Clinique Claude Bernard, 1 rue du père Colombier, Albi, France |
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| Abstract: | Optimal treatment strategies are lacking in relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Gemcitabine has shown activity and acceptable safety profile in B‐cell lymphomas. We present a retrospective case review of gemcitabine and alemtuzumab, every 21 d (for up to six courses) in 27 community‐based patients with high‐risk R/R CLL. Median age was 70 yr (44–83 yr), 55% patients had Binet stage C, deletion 17p (del(17p)) and/or deletion 11q (del(11q)) were found in 65% and 27%, bulky disease in 55.5%, and fludarabine‐refractoriness in 48% of cases, respectively. Overall response rate was 63% (29.6% clinical CR and 33.4% PR). At a median follow‐up of 31 months, median PFS and OS were 15.4 and 24 months. In multivariate analysis, median OS is influenced by prior lines of treatment = 3 and bulky disease. Combination of alemtuzumab and gemcitabine appears to be an active, easy to administrate treatment in routine practice, high‐risk R/R CLL patients. |
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| Keywords: | chronic lymphocytic leukemia alemtuzumab gemcitabine fludarabine‐refractory |
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