Sustained long-lasting responses after lenalidomide discontinuation in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe Toxicity prompting treatment discontinuation remains a major challenge in the management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), both with

chemoimmunotherapy and with novel biological agents [1,2,3]. Toxicity-related treatment discontinuation was reported in up to 60% of CLL patients treated with the combination of fludarabine,

cyclophosphamide, and rituximab [4, 5]. In patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy, treatment discontinuation can result in lower response rates and shorter time to next treatment (TTNT)

[6]. Toxicity-related treatment discontinuation has been reported in about 10 to 20% of CLL patients treated with ibrutinib [7] and up to 40% of those treated with idelalisib plus rituximab

[8]; typically, following discontinuation, the disease rapidly progresses with aggressive biological and clinical features and an overall unfavorable outcome [7, 8]. Lenalidomide is an

immunomodulatory agent with well-established clinical benefits in CLL [9]. Unfortunately, its development has been slowed by the results of a phase III front-line clinical trial comparing

single-agent lenalidomide with single-agent chlorambucil in elderly patients with CLL, which was stopped early because of higher rate of toxicity-related deaths in the lenalidomide arm [10].

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calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support REFERENCES * Strati P, Wierda W, Burger J,

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(the CONTINUUM Trial). Blood. 2016; 128. Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Stephanie P Deming, Senior Scientific Editor, for revising the grammatical and stylistic correctness of

this manuscript. This research is supported in part by the MD Anderson Cancer Center Support Grant P30 CA016672. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS Z.E. designed, performed, and analyzed the study,

provided clinical care to patients, and wrote the paper; P.S. analyzed data, performed statistical analysis, and wrote the paper; A.F., W.G.W., N.J., P.A.T., S.M.O., H.K., J.A.B., C.H., K.R.

and M.J.K. provided clinical care to patients and coauthored the paper. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer

Center, Houston, TX, USA Paolo Strati, Alessandra Ferrajoli, William G. Wierda, Nitin Jain, Philip A. Thompson, Susan M. O’Brien, Katy Rezvani, Hagop M. Kantarjian, Jan A. Burger, Christina

O. Hinojosa, Michael J. Keating & Zeev Estrov Authors * Paolo Strati View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Alessandra Ferrajoli View

author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * William G. Wierda View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Nitin Jain View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Philip A. Thompson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * Susan M. O’Brien View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Katy Rezvani View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Hagop M. Kantarjian View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jan A. Burger View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Christina O. Hinojosa View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Michael J. Keating View

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CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Zeev Estrov. ETHICS DECLARATIONS CONFLICT OF INTEREST M.J.K. was a consultant for Celgene Corporation; W.G.W. was a consultant/advisory board member

for Celgene Corporation; S.M.O. was a consultant for Celgene Corporation; and A.F. received research support from Celgene Corporation. The remaining authors declare no competing financial

interests. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Strati, P., Ferrajoli, A., Wierda, W.G. _et al._ Sustained long-lasting responses after

lenalidomide discontinuation in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. _Leukemia_ 32, 2278–2281 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0059-3 Download citation * Received: 07

November 2017 * Revised: 11 January 2018 * Accepted: 17 January 2018 * Published: 20 February 2018 * Issue Date: October 2018 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0059-3 SHARE THIS

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