N Engl J Med 2022 Jun 3. Epub 2022 Jun 3.
From the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (M.L.W.); Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Kraków (W.J.), and Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw (J.W.) - both in Poland; Skane University Hospital and Lund University, Lund, Sweden (M.J.); Concord Repatriation General Hospital, University of Sydney, Sydney (J.T.), and Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA (P.G.) - both in Australia; IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Istituto di Ematologia "Seràgnoli," Dipartimento di Medicina Specialistica, Diagnostica e Sperimentale, Università di Bologna, Bologna (P.L.Z.), and SC Ematologia, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Turin (C.B.) - both in Italy; the Fourth Department of Internal Medicine-Hematology, Charles University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic (D.B.); Sarah Cannon Research Institute and Tennessee Oncology, Nashville (I.W.F.); John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack (A.G.), and Janssen Research and Development, Raritan (R.Q., T.H., S.D., A.H.) - both in New Jersey; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York (P.A.H.); the Department of Hematology, Hôpital Necker, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris and Institut Imagine, Université de Paris, INSERM Unité Mixte de Recherche 1183 (O.H.), and Institut Curie Comprehensive Cancer Center (S.L.G.), Paris, and Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie et Immunologie Nantes Angers, INSERM, Université de Nantes, Nantes (S.L.G.) - all in France; the Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor, Universidad Complutense, Madrid (J.-Á.H.-R.); Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai (X.H.), and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research, Department of Lymphoma, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing (Y.S., J.Z.) - both in China; the Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea (S.J.K.); University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Plymouth (D.L.), and Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury (C.P.) - both in the United Kingdom; the Department of Hematology-Oncology, Cancer Institute Hospital of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo (Y.M.); Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey (M.Ö.); Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo (G.F.P.); the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland (S.E.S.); the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, McGill University, Montreal (J.M.S.); and Klinikum der Universität München, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany (M.D.).
Background: Ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, may have clinical benefit when administered in combination with bendamustine and rituximab and followed by rituximab maintenance therapy in older patients with untreated mantle-cell lymphoma.
Methods: We randomly assigned patients 65 years of age or older to receive ibrutinib (560 mg, administered orally once daily until disease progression or unacceptable toxic effects) or placebo, plus six cycles of bendamustine (90 mg per square meter of body-surface area) and rituximab (375 mg per square meter). Patients with an objective response (complete or partial response) received rituximab maintenance therapy, administered every 8 weeks for up to 12 additional doses. Read More