Rituximab treatment strategy for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after first-line therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Rituximab in combination with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) significantly prolonged event-free survival in first-line chemotherapy for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). But relapse and refractory DLBCL occur frequently. Although rituximab is effective, its role in salvage therapy after autologous transplant remains unclear. Maintenance therapy with rituximab in responding patients after first line chemotherapy may be a useful novel approach capable of eradicating minimal residual disease and to bring survival benefit. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effects of rituximab maintenance treatment and salvage therapy of patients with DLBCL.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and compared rituximab maintenance or salvage therapy at relapse with observation. We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, conference proceedings, databases of ongoing trials, and references of published trials. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of the trials and extracted data. Hazard ratios for time-to-event data were estimated and pooled.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Seven trials including 1470 DLBCL patients were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Patients treated with maintenance rituximab have better overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) than patients in the observation arm, but there was no statistical significance. Patients who received rituximab salvage therapy for relapse or refractory DLBCL have statistically significantly better OS [HR of death = 0.72, 95% CI (0.55-0.94), P = 0.02], progression-free survival (PFS) [HR = 0.61, 95% CI (0.52-0.72), P < 0.05], odds ratio (OR) [RR = 1.26, 95% CI (1.07-1.47), P = 0.004] than patients in the observation arm. The rate of infection-related adverse events was higher with rituximab treatment [RR = 1.37, 95% CI = (1.14 - 1.65) P =0.001].</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>After first-line chemotherapy, the two rituximab-combined treatment strategies, including maintenance and salvage therapies can bring survival benefit. But due to the few studies, the low methodological quality assessment and the low outcome evidence quality, it's not confirmed that the two strategies are better than normal chemotherapy regimens. More high-quality randomized controlled trials are still needed to provide reliable evidence. The higher rate of infections after rituximab therapy should be taken into consideration when making treatment decisions.</p>

Evaluation of the prognostic significance of refinement and stratification of distant metastasis status in 1016 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the prognostic factors for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with different metastatic status, and to improve the NPC management by multi-level refinement and stratification of M1 stage distant metastases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinicopathological data of 1016 NPC patients with distant metastases were retrospectively reviewed. The M1 stage distant metastases were subdivided into synchronous or metachronous metastases, metastatic sites (lung, bone, liver), number of metastatic organs (solitary, multiple) and number of metastases (solitary, multiple) subgroups to analyze the prognosis and survival of the patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The most frequently involved metastatic sites were bone (542, 53.3%), lung (420, 41.3%) and liver (302, 29.7%). There were solitary metastatic lesions in 164 patients (16.2%), synchronous metastases in 376 cases and metachronous metastases in 640 cases. The median overall survival of the whole group of 1016 NPC patients was 30.8 months since the time of diagnosis of metastasis. For the 376 patients in the synchronous metastasis group, the median survival was 23.3 months and the 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 74.2%, 27.6% and 18.5%, respectively. For the 640 patients in the metachronous metastases group, the median survival was 36.7 months, and the 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 88.1%, 49.6% and 28.6%, respectively, with a significant difference between the two groups (all P < 0.001). Cox multivariate analysis indicated that the number of metastatic lesions, different metastatic sites and N stage at initial diagnosis were independent prognostic factors for patients with metachronous metastases (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>A theory of detailed multi-level metastasis (M1) stratification aiming at different distant metastasis status for nasopharyngeal carcinoma is proposed. To take appropriate individualized treatment scheme according to the prognosis and expected survival should be helpful to improving the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer.</p>