EPOCH and Rituximab to Treat Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Patients With HIV Infection

Summary

Background: * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients have a weakened immune system, and chemotherapy, which is used to treat lymphoma, probably causes further damage to the immune system. * Limiting the amount of immune damage due to chemotherapy might decrease the number of infections and the risk of developing cancer in the future in HIV-infected patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Objectives: * To determine whether reducing the total amount of chemotherapy using a specific combination of drugs called EPOCH-R (etoposide, doxorubicin, vincristine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab) will rid the body of lymphoma quickly while decreasing the risk of infections and future cancers. * To determine whether the lymphoma will remain undetectable for at least one year if treatment is stopped one cycle after the patient enters remission. Eligibility: -Patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and HIV infection 4 years of age and older who have not been treated previously with rituximab or cytotoxic chemotherapy. Design: * Patients receive EPOCH-R in 3-week treatment cycles for at least three and no more than six cycles. * The lymphoma is evaluated using computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) scans at the end of treatment cycles 2 and 3. A bone marrow biopsy is repeated after cycle 2 if a biopsy was initially positive on screening for participation in the study. * Anti-HIV therapy is stopped before chemotherapy begins and is restarted when EPOCH-R treatment ends. * Patients are monitored for treatment response with blood tests and imaging scans at baseline, when treatment ends, 2 months after treatment ends and then every 3 to 6 months for a total of 24 months following chemotherapy.

Timeline

Start

2001-01-29

Primary completion

2020-11-30

Completion

2024-01-18

Publications

• Kurtz DM, Scherer F, Jin MC, Soo J, Craig AFM, Esfahani MS, Chabon JJ, Stehr H, Liu CL, Tibshirani R, Maeda LS, Gupta NK, Khodadoust MS, Advani RH, Levy R, Newman AM, Duhrsen U, Huttmann A, Meignan M, Casasnovas RO, Westin JR, Roschewski M, Wilson WH, Gaidano G, Rossi D, Diehn M, Alizadeh AA. Circulating Tumor DNA Measurements As Early Outcome Predictors in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. J Clin Oncol. 2018 Oct 1;36(28):2845-2853. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2018.78.5246. Epub 2018 Aug 20.
• Dunleavy K, Pittaluga S, Shovlin M, Steinberg SM, Cole D, Grant C, Widemann B, Staudt LM, Jaffe ES, Little RF, Wilson WH. Low-intensity therapy in adults with Burkitt's lymphoma. N Engl J Med. 2013 Nov 14;369(20):1915-25. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1308392.

Drugs

Indications