The BCR/ABL tyrosine kinase has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph ؉ ) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). STI571 is a novel anticancer agent that selectively inhibits the BCR/ABL tyrosine kinase. The cytotoxic effects of STI571 were studied in combination with antileukemic agents against Ph ؉ leukemia cell lines, KU812, K-562, TCC-S, and TCC-Y. The cells were exposed to STI571 and to other agents simultaneously for 5 or 7 days. Cell growth inhibition was determined by MTT assay.

BACKGROUND:Extranodal involvement is considered a poor prognostic factor for patients with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL); however, the prognostic impact of specific sites of involvement has not been fully elucidated.METHODS:The authors retrospectively analyzed 1221 patients treated uniformly with standard R‐CHOP therapy between 2003 and 2006. Patients with distinct forms of DLBCL such as intravascular lymphoma, primary effusion lymphoma, pyothorax‐associated lymphoma, primary central nervous system lymphoma, and intraocular lymphoma were also excluded. The authors evaluated 26 extranodal sites of involvement with respect to prognostic impact. The median age was 64 years (range, 15‐91 years).RESULTS:Univariate analysis revealed that patients with involvement of specific extranodal sites had significantly worse overall survival (OS) than did patients without such involvement; these sites included nasal cavity, paranasal sinus, lung, pleura, small intestine, peritoneum, liver, pancreas, stomach, spleen, adrenal gland, testis, bone, bone marrow, peripheral blood, skin, and subcutaneous tissue. Patients with Waldeyer ring involvement had significantly better OS. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with the involvement of the pleura (P < .001), small intestine (P = .015), peritoneum (P = .002), adrenal gland (P < .001), testis (P = .005), bone marrow (P < .001), and peripheral blood (P = .002) had significantly worse OS, whereas those with Waldeyer ring involvement had significantly better OS (P = .038). Subgroup analysis with the nodal and/or Waldeyer patient group also showed prognostic impact of Waldeyer ring by multivariate analysis (relative risk, 0.3; P = .04).CONCLUSIONS:Extranodal involvement affects the prognosis of patients undergoing R‐CHOP therapy for DLBCL. Cancer 2012. © 2011 American Cancer Society.

Central nervous system (CNS) events, including CNS relapse and progression to CNS, are known to be serious complications in the clinical course of patients with lymphoma. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of CNS events in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the rituximab era. We performed a retrospective survey of Japanese patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who underwent primary therapy with R-CHOP chemoimmunotherapy between September 2003 and December 2006. Patients who had received any prophylactic CNS treatment were excluded. Clinical data from 1221 patients were collected from 47 institutions. The median age of patients was 64 years (range, 15-91 years). We noted 82 CNS events (6.7%) and the cumulative 5-year probability of CNS events was 8.4%. Patients with a CNS event demonstrated significantly worse overall survival (P < 0.001). The 2-year overall survival rate after a CNS event was 27.1%. In a multivariate analysis, involvement of breast (relative risk [RR] 10.5), adrenal gland (RR 4.6) and bone (RR 2.0) were identified as independent risk factors for CNS events. We conclude that patients with these risk factors, in addition to patients with testicular involvement in whom CNS prophylaxis has been already justified, are at high risk for CNS events in the rituximab era. The efficacy and manner of CNS prophylaxis in patients for each involvement site should be evaluated further. (Cancer Sci 2012; 103: 245-251) T he central nervous system (CNS) is thought to be a sanctuary for lymphoma cells from systemic chemoimmunotherapy, such as rituximab (R) plus CHOP (cyclophosphamide [CPA], doxorubicin [adriamycin, ADR], vincristine [VCR] and prednisolone [PSL]), because standard doses of these drugs do not adequately penetrate the CNS. Occurrence of a CNS event, defined as CNS relapse during systemic complete remission or CNS progression during concurrent systemic active lymphoma, is associated with extremely poor prognosis, with median survival of <6 months.(1-6) Many studies concerning CNS prophylaxis have been conducted; however, the efficacy of such prophylaxis in preventing CNS events is controversial. (5,(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) The discrepancies between reports might be due to the differences in the various subtypes of lymphoma histology and the variability of treatment of CNS prophylaxis. (13)(14)(15)(16) In addition, R has had a substantial impact on outcomes in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).(17) It is thus necessary to re-evaluate the risk of CNS events in the R era.The present study comprises a multicenter retrospective analysis of patients with uniform DLBCL histology who have undergone uniform treatment with R-CHOP, widely accepted as the standard therapy in the R era. Patients who received any CNS prophylactic treatment, such as intrathecal chemotherapy, intraveneous high-dose methotrexate or whole brain irradiation, were excluded to evaluate the natural risk of CNS events in R-CHOP therapy. This study also took particular note of the evaluation ...