IntroductionTreatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) is disappointing. In this regard, the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) experience on standard dose therapy in 7 consecutive, large phase 3 studies has shown median survival times of less than 3 years, irrespective of the treatment given. 1 In addition, the Programa para el Estudio de la Terapéutica en Hemopatía Maligna (PETHEMA) group found that increased doses of conventional chemotherapy did not result in significant prolongation of survival. 2 Finally, meta-analysis of 6633 patients from 27 randomized trials failed to show any superiority of combination chemotherapy over melphalan/ prednisone in terms of duration of response and survival. 3 Furthermore, the Nordic Myeloma Study Group reported no survival improvement in conventionally treated younger patients with myeloma in the past 2 decades. 4 These limitations led to the current tendency to offer high-dose therapy (HDT)/stem cell support to MM patients as part of the frontline treatment. 5 Two randomized trials conducted by the Intergroup Français du Myeloma (IFM) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) showed that HDT significantly increased complete remission (CR), event-free survival (EFS), and overall survival (OS) compared with conventional chemotherapy. 5,6 However, 2 other randomized trials, reported in abstract form, failed to show any superiority of autologous J.B. and J.S.M. created the initial concept/design of the trial, analyzed and interpreted the data, wrote the manuscript, modified subsequent drafts, and finalized the manuscript; L.R. and A. Sureda contributed to analysis and interpretation of the data and to drafting the manuscript; J.B., J.S.M., L.R., and A. Sureda brought a significant number of patients to the study; M.F. participated in the analysis of the data and in the updating process throughout the study period; and J.M.R., J.D.-M., J.G.-L., M.V.M., L.P., J.F.-C, J.M.M., P.G., F.C., M.C., J.T., S.G., M.J.M., A.B., A. Soler, and L.F. participated in the conception/design of the study, included patients, provided the PETHEMA database with the patient data and periodic updating, and actively discussed the progress of the trial at the annual PETHEMA meetings. All the authors are members of PETHEMA and reviewed and approval the final version of the manuscript.An Inside Blood analysis of this article appears in the front of this issue.Reprints: Joan Bladé , Hematology Department, Hospital Clínic, Villarroel 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain; e-mail: jblade@clinic.ub.es.The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate this fact, this article is hereby marked ''advertisement'' in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section 1734. For personal use only. on March 22, 2019. by guest www.bloodjournal.org From transplantation. 7,8 The objective of the present study was to investigate, in a prospective randomized trial, the efficacy of HDT intensification therapy compared with continuation with conventional chemotherapy in patients wit...

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has become a powerful technique for prognostic assessment in multiple myeloma (MM). However, the existence of associations between cytogenetic abnormalities compels us to re-assess the value of each abnormality. A total of 260 patients with MM at the time of diagnosis, enrolled in the GEM-2000 Spanish transplant protocol, have been analyzed by FISH in order to ascertain the independent influence on myeloma prognosis of IGH translocations, as well as RB and P53 deletions. Survival analyses showed that patients with t(4;14), RB or P53 deletions had a significantly shorter survival than patients without these abnormalities. However, patients with RB deletions without other abnormalities in FISH analysis, displayed a similar outcome to those patients without genetic changes by FISH (46 vs 54 months, P ¼ 0.3). In the multivariate analysis the presence of t(4;14), RB deletion associated with other abnormalities, age 460 years, high proportion of S-phase cells and advanced stage of the disease according to the International Staging System retained their independent prognostic influence. In summary, RB deletion as a sole abnormality does not lead to a shortening in the survival of MM patients, whereas t(4;14) confers the worst prognosis in MM patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy.

SummaryImmunochemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, prednisone and rituximab (R-CHOP) is the standard treatment in nonimmunosuppressed patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), but its adequacy has not been definitively established in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related lymphoma. This phase II trial aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of six cycles of R-CHOP in patients with HIV-related DLBCL and to determine whether response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) had prognostic impact. Patients were eligible if they had performance status <3 and absence of active opportunistic infections. Eighty-one patients were enrolled, 57 in stages III or IV, International Prognostic Index (IPI) 0 or 1 (n = 26), 2 (n = 19), 3 (n = 20) and 4 or 5 (n = 16), and median CD4 lymphocyte count of 0AE158 · 10 9 /l. The main adverse events were neutropenia (48% of cycles) and infections (10% of cycles), which were fatal in seven patients. Complete response was achieved in 55 (69%) patients, with an estimated 3-year diseasefree survival of 77% and 3-year overall survival of 56%. IPI score and virological response to HAART were the prognostic parameters for response and survival. In HIV-related DLBCL R-CHOP is feasible, safe and effective. The prognosis depends on lymphoma-related parameters and on the response to HAART.

Purpose: Fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and mitoxantrone (FCM) results in a high response rate in previously treated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The aim of this study was to investigate FCM as frontline therapy in CLL. Experimental Design: Sixty-nine patients under the age of 65 years with active CLL were treated. Patients received six cycles of fludarabine 25 mg/m 2 i.v. Â 3 days, cyclophosphamide 200 mg/m 2 i.v. Â 3 days, and mitoxantrone 6 mg/m 2 i.v. Â 1 day. Treatment outcome was correlated with clinical and biological variables. The clinical significance of eradicating minimal residual disease (MRD) was also analyzed. Results: The overall response, MRD-negative complete response (CR), MRD-positive CR, nodular partial response (PR), and PR rates were 90%, 26%, 38%, 14%, and 12%, respectively. Severe (grades 3 or 4) neutropenia developed in 10% of the patients. Major and minor infections were reported in 1% and 8% of cases, respectively. Median response duration was 37 months. Patients with del(17p) failed to attain CR. Patients achieving MRD-negative CR had a longer response duration and overall survival than patients with an inferior response. Low serum lactate dehydrogenase levels, low ZAP-70 expression, and mutated IgV H genes predicted longer response duration. Finally, both low ZAP-70 and CD38 expression in leukemic cells correlated with MRD-negativity achievement. Conclusion: FCM induces a high response rate, including MRD-negative CRs in untreated patients with active CLL. Treatment toxicity is acceptable. Both high ZAP-70 and increased CD38 expression predict failure to obtain MRD-negative response. Patients in whom MRD can be eradicated have longer response duration and overall survival than those with inferior response. These results indicate that FCM can be an ideal companion for chemoimmunotherapy of patients with CLL.