New agents and therapeutic options for T-cell lymphoma

Jia Ruan, MD, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, discusses the new agents in active development for highly heterogeneous peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). The addition of the anti-CD30 target agent brentuximab vedotin to CHOP chemotherapy has improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the frontline setting in CD30 positive patients. Epigenetic targeting is gaining interest in clinical use with agents like romidepsin and belinostat and others like oral histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor chidamide, approved in China. Combinations of these and other agents could be tried in frontline settings to perhaps induce sensitivity. PI3 kinase inhibitors such as duvelisib and JAK inhibitors, in combination with chemotherapy or with epigenetic-targeting agents, might have a synergistic effect on the response rate. Also, immunomodulatory agents and checkpoint inhibitors have shown high susceptibility in some T-cell lymphoma subtypes. This interview took place at the Lymphoma, Leukemia & Myeloma Congress 2021.