Mature nodal T-cell lymphoma is a rare and aggressive blood cancer that presents challenges in identifying high-risk patients and tailoring treatment. Most individuals with this disease receive similar care, despite differences in their disease characteristics and outcomes.
A new study led by the PETAL Consortium at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute has found that among patients who achieved complete remission after initial chemotherapy, those whose cancer returned within 12 months had poorer survival rates. The findings were published in Blood.
"The study suggests that patients whose cancer returns within 12 months could benefit from starting non-chemotherapy treatments earlier in their care," said Salvia Jain, MD, founder and principal investigator of PETAL Consortium and a hematologist and medical oncologist at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute. "Understanding what's happening at the molecular level in this high-risk group of patients is key to improving their outcomes and moving T-cell lymphoma treatment toward more personalized care."
Researchers analyzed data from sites worldwide to investigate outcomes for patients with mature nodal T-cell lymphoma. They determined that relapse within 12 months was a consistent predictor of worse survival, regardless of initial treatment type or individual risk assessment. For those who relapsed early, survival improved when targeted therapies were used instead of further chemotherapy.
"This was a global effort involving more than 100 investigators and data from patients with nodal T-cell lymphoma across three major research groups–PETAL Consortium (global with U.S. predominance), GELL (Latin America), and LYSARC (Europe)," said Mark Sorial, PharmD, BCOP, researcher at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "This collaborative approach allowed us to gather a wealth of data to better understand the complexities of nodal T-cell lymphoma. Our findings shed light on the differences we see in patient outcomes and pave the way for more personalized treatment strategies."
