Efficacy and Toxicity of Rituximab and Brief Duration, High Intensity Chemotherapy with Filgrastim Support for Burkitt or Burkitt – Like Leukemia/Lymphoma: Cancer and Leukemia Group B (Calgb) Study 10002

Treatment began with cyclophosphamide (CY) 200 mg/m2 × 5 days and prednisone 60 mg/m2 × 7 days. Cycle 2 was started on Day 8 after entry. Cycles 2, 4, and 6 consisted of ifosfamide 800 mg/m2 on days 1–5, methotrexate (MTX) 1.5 g/m2 infused over day 1 with leucovorin rescue, vincristine (VCR) 2 mg day 1, Ara-C 1 gm/m2 days 4 and 5, VP-16 80 mg/m2 days 4 and 5, and dexamethasone 10 mg/m2 on days 1–5. Cycles 3, 5, and 7 included the same doses of MTX, VCR, and dexamethasone, with CY 200 mg/m2 IV on days 1–5 and doxorubicin 25 mg/m2 days 4 and 5. Cycles were delivered every 21 days if blood counts had recovered. Filgrastim was given at 5μg/kg/day SC beginning day 7 of each cycle and continuing until the absolute neutrophil count recovered to > 5000/μL. Rituximab was initiated during cycle 2 on day 8 at 50 mg/m² and on days 10 and 12 at 375 mg/m². During cycles 3 through 7, rituximab was infused only on day 8 of each course at 375 mg/m². Central nervous system (CNS) prophylaxis consisted of triple intrathecal therapy on day 1 of cycles 2–7 (6 total doses).

27% of patients were ≥60 years old; 70% were male; 46% had intermediate or high risk disease by the IPI (Table). Overall, 75 of 105 subjects completed all 7 planned courses of therapy. 82% attained a complete response (CR), and 87% of these remain in CR at last follow up. 7% had a partial response. With median follow up of survivors of 3.2 years, 2 year event free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were 77% and 79%, respectively, with a trend favoring those <60 years old (87% and 87%, respectively). There were clear differences in outcome based on IPI score with 2 year EFS and OS for low risk patients of 90% and 92% versus 55% and 55% for high risk patients, respectively (Figure). This protocol did not use prophylactic CNS radiation, and 4 pts had documented CNS relapses; 2 had intermediate and 1 high IPI disease; the 4^th was unknown. Relapse after 2 years was rare.

7 subjects (6.8%) died from treatment related causes (1 CNS bleed, 4 infections, 2 respiratory failure). Nearly all subjects experienced the anticipated severe hematologic toxicities. The most common grade 3 and 4 non-hematologic toxicities included stomatitis/upper GI toxicity (∼ 66%), nausea/vomiting (20%), fatigue (26%), rash or erythema multiforme (10%), diarrhea (10%), pulmonary or CNS bleeding (11%), clinically documented infections (72%), neurologic disturbances (8%), and dyspnea (10%). 8 pts (8%) had tumor lysis syndrome (all grade 3).

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This regimen provides a high rate of durable remissions in adult patients with a manageable side effect profile. Chemoimmunotherapy should be the standard for adult patients with Burkitt leukemia/lymphoma.

Off Label Use: Rituximab for use in Burkitt's. Cheson:Genentech: Consultancy.