Patients with CLL responding to initial chemotherapy with fludarabine alone (F) or in combination with cyclophosphamide (FC) were randomized for treatment with alemtuzumab (30 mg i.v. TIW, 12 weeks) or observation. Of 21 evaluable patients, 11 were randomized to alemtuzumab before the study was stopped due to severe infections in seven of 11 patients. These infections (one life-threatening pulmonary aspergillosis IV; four CMV reactivations III requiring i.v. ganciclovir; one pulmonary tuberculosis III; one herpes zoster III) were successfully treated and not associated with cumulative dose of alemtuzumab. In the observation arm, one herpes zoster infection II and one sinusitis I were documented. At 6 months after randomization, two patients in the alemtuzumab arm converted to CR, while three patients in the observation arm progressed. After alemtuzumab treatment, five of six patients achieved a molecular remission in peripheral blood while all patients in the observation arm remained MRD-positive (P ¼ 0.048). At 21.4 months median follow-up, patients receiving alemtuzumab showed a significant longer progression-free survival (no progression vs mean 24.7 months; P ¼ 0.036). In conclusion, a consolidation therapy with alemtuzumab is able to achieve molecular remissions and longer survival in CLL, but a safe treatment regimen needs to be determined.

Central nervous system (CNS) relapse carries a poor prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Integrating biomarkers into the CNS–International Prognostic Index (CNS-IPI) risk model may improve identification of patients at high risk for developing secondary CNS disease. CNS relapse was analyzed in 1418 DLBCL patients treated with obinutuzumab or rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone chemotherapy in the phase 3 GOYA study. Cell of origin (COO) was assessed using gene-expression profiling. BCL2 and MYC protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The impact of CNS-IPI, COO, and BCL2/MYC dual-expression status on CNS relapse was assessed using a multivariate Cox regression model (data available in n = 1418, n = 933, and n = 688, respectively). High CNS-IPI score (hazard ratio [HR], 4.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-12.3; P = .02) and activated B-cell‒like (ABC) (HR, 5.2; 95% CI, 2.1-12.9; P = .0004) or unclassified COO subtypes (HR, 4.2; 95% CI, 1.5-11.7; P = .006) were independently associated with CNS relapse. BCL2/MYC dual-expression status did not impact CNS relapse risk. Three risk subgroups were identified based on the presence of high CNS-IPI score and/or ABC/unclassified COO (CNS-IPI-C model): low risk (no risk factors, n = 450 [48.2%]), intermediate risk (1 factor, n = 408 [43.7%]), and high risk (both factors, n = 75 [8.0%]). Two-year CNS relapse rates were 0.5%, 4.4%, and 15.2% in the respective risk subgroups. Combining high CNS-IPI and ABC/unclassified COO improved CNS relapse prediction and identified a patient subgroup at high risk for developing CNS relapse. The study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01287741.

Rituximab-containing regimens are becoming a therapeutic standard in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), so that a validation of flow cytometric minimal residual disease (MRD) quantification (MRD flow) in the presence of this antibody is necessary. We therefore compared results obtained by realtime quantitative (RQ)-PCR to MRD flow in 530 samples from 69 patients randomized to receive chemotherapy or chemotherapy plus rituximab. Quantitative MRD levels assessed by both techniques were closely correlated irrespective of therapy (r ¼ 0.95). The sensitivity and specificity of MRD flow was not influenced by the presence of rituximab. With 58.9% positive and 26.4% negative samples by both techniques, 85.3% of assessments (452/530) were qualitatively concordant between MRD flow and RQ-PCR. Discordant samples were typically negative by MRD flow and simultaneously positive close to the detection limit of the PCR assays, indicating a higher sensitivity of PCR for very low MRD levels. However, 93.8% of all samples were concordantly classified by both methods using a threshold of 10 À4 to determine MRD positivity. MRD flow and PCR are equally effective for MRD quantification in rituximab-treated CLL patients within a sensitivity range of up to 10 À4 , whereas PCR is more sensitive for detecting MRD below that level.

BACKGROUND Scarce systematic trial data have prevented uniform therapeutic guidelines for T‐cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T‐PLL). A central need in this historically refractory tumor is the controlled evaluation of multiagent chemotherapy and its combination with the currently most active single agent, alemtuzumab. METHODS This prospective multicenter phase 2 trial assessed response, survival, and toxicity of a novel regimen in previously treated (n = 9) and treatment‐naive (n = 16) patients with T‐PLL. Induction by fludarabine, mitoxantrone, and cyclophosphamide (FMC), for up to 4 cycles, was followed by alemtuzumab (A) consolidation, up to 12 weeks. RESULTS Of the 25 patients treated with FMC, 21 subsequently received alemtuzumab. Overall response rate to FMC was 68%, comprising 6 complete remissions (all bone‐marrow confirmed) and 11 partial remissions. Alemtuzumab consolidation increased the intent‐to‐treat overall response rate to 92% (12 complete remissions; 11 partial remissions). Median overall survival after FMC‐A was 17.1 months and median progression‐free survival was 11.9 months. Progression‐free survival tended to be shorter for patients with high‐level T‐cell leukemia 1 oncoprotein expression. Hematologic toxicities were the most frequent grade 3/4 side effects under FMC‐A. Exclusively in the 21 alemtuzumab‐consolidated patients, 13 cytomegalovirus reactivations were observed; 9 of these 13 represented a clinically relevant infection. CONCLUSIONS FMC‐A is a safe and efficient protocol in T‐PLL, which compares favorably to published data. Cancer 2013;119:2258–2267. © 2013 American Cancer Society.

Key Points Obinutuzumab monotherapy demonstrates an increased ORR with 2000 mg over 1000 mg, but no difference in progression-free survival. No meaningful difference was observed in the overall safety profile across the 2 treatment arms.