Background: mTOR inhibition has produced responses in mantle cell lymphoma as well as other non-Hodgkin lymphomas. This phase II study tested the oral mTOR inhibitor everolimus (RAD001, Novartis Pharmaceuticals) in simultaneous two-stage phase II lymphoma studies, including one arm involving Hodgkin lymphoma. The goals were to learn the toxicity profile and to assess the anti-tumor response. A total of 17 patients with Hodgkin lymphoma were enrolled in the uncommon arm at completion of enrollment.

Methods: Patients (pts) received 10 mg PO daily for each 28 day cycle (up to 12, with a possible extension in responders) and restaged after 2, 6, and 12 cycles. The primary endpoint is the confirmed response rate, including CR, CRu or PR.

Results: The median age of the 17 pts with Hodgkin lymphoma was 37 yrs (range: 27–68), with a median of 6 (range, 4–14) prior therapies. Fourteen pts (82.4%) had a prior stem cell transplant (SCT). Pts completed a median of 6 (range, 1–13) cycles of therapy. Fifteen of 17 patients were evaluable for response as of this analysis. The overall response rate was 47% (7/15), all partial responses. Ten patients are continuing on study while 6 have gone off due to disease progression and 1 due to other reasons. Common grade 3 adverse events (AEs) include thrombocytopenia (5 pts), anemia (5 pts) and alkaline phosphatase elevation (1 pts). 1 patient was reported to have grade 4 neutropenia.

Conclusions: Oral everolimus has promising activity with acceptable toxicity in Hodgkin lymphoma. These results provide the rationale for additional studies with this novel class of agents and to integrate mTOR inhibitors into salvage treatment regimens for Hodgkin lymphoma.

Author notes

Disclosure:Consultancy: Consultant 2007.

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