Purpose: Patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) have poor prognoses with current conventional chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of high-dose therapy (HDT) followed by autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) on patients with AITL.
Patients and methods: We report a retrospective, multicenter study of 146 patients with AITL who received ASCT. The source of the stem cells was peripheral blood in 143 patients. The conditioning regimen varied, and 74% of the patients received carmustine and 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea; etoposide; ara-C; and melphalan chemotherapy.
Results: After a median follow-up of 31 months (range, 3 to 174 months), 95 patients (65%) remained alive, and 51 patients (35%) died. Forty-two patients died as a result of disease progression, and nine died as a result of regimen-related toxicity. The cumulative incidence of nonrelapse mortality was 5% and 7% at 12 and 24 months, respectively. The actuarial overall survival (OS) was 67% at 24 months and 59% at 48 months. The cumulative incidence of relapse was estimated at 40% and 51% at 24 and 48 months, respectively. Disease status at transplantation was the major factor that impacted outcome. Patients who received a transplant during first complete remission (CR) had significantly superior progression-free survival and OS. The estimated PFS rates for patients who received their transplants in CR were 70% and 56% at 24 and 48 months, respectively; 42% and 30% for patients with chemotherapy-sensitive disease at those time points, respectively; and 23% at both time points for patients with chemotherapy-refractory disease.
Conclusion: This study shows that HDT and ASCT offers the possibility of long-term disease-free survival to patients with AITL. Early transplantation is necessary to achieve optimal results.