Dr. Goy the Evolution of Treatment in Relapsed/Refractory MCL

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chief, Division of Lymphoma, chairman and director, John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses the evolution of treatment in relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Historically, patients with relapsed/refractory MCL were treated with chemotherapy. Then, chemoimmunotherapy was utilized; however, it was not effective alone. High-dose therapy and transplant in addition to chemoimmunotherapy became the standard of care. Additionally, cytarabine became part of induction therapy, says Goy.

Patients with MCL tend to relapse often over the course of their disease, explains Goy. Additionally, these patients are often resistant to chemotherapy. As such, single-agent therapies have emerged demonstrating unprecedented response rates, as well as complete response rates, in the relapsed/refractory setting.

These novel agents include BTK inhibitors, lenalidomide (Revlimid), bortezomib (Velcade), and while not FDA approved, venetoclax (Venclexta), says Goy. Additionally, the mTOR inhibitor temsirolimus (Torisel) is approved in Europe for this patient population.