Publications by authors named "Torka P"

Purpose: We conducted a phase I/II study evaluating nivolumab plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (N-AVD) as frontline therapy for treatment-naïve older adults (OA) with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03033914).

Methods: Patients age ≥60 years with newly diagnosed, any stage, cHL were treated with six cycles of AVD at standard doses plus nivolumab 240 mg intravenously once every 2 weeks (on days 1 and 15) of each cycle.

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  • Older adults with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) face unique challenges and poorer outcomes, highlighting the need for tailored care strategies.
  • Geriatric assessment (GA) tools, like simplified GA (sGA), help categorize patients into fit, unfit, and frail groups to guide treatment decisions, including dose adjustments for chemotherapy.
  • New treatment options, including CAR-T cell therapy and bispecific antibodies, are evolving to better serve older adults, particularly those who are unable to tolerate traditional therapies or who experience relapse after initial treatment.
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Data regarding racial disparities in the incidence, treatment, and outcomes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is limited in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) population. We utilized the surveillance, epidemiology, and end-result (SEER) registry research plus database to evaluate racial/ethnic disparities in 8605 AYA patients with DLBCL. Race/ethnicity was categorized into three main subsets: non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), non-Hispanic Blacks (NHB), and 'other races' that included Hispanics (H), American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN), Asian or Pacific Islander (A/PI).

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Marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) can have varied presentations and pathologic features, including high Ki-67 expression ( > 20%) as well as increased numbers of large B cells (LC). However, there are limited data available demonstrating the prognostic significance of these variables in patients with MZL. In this multi-institutional retrospective cohort study of patients with MZL treated at 10 centers, we evaluated the association between the presence of Ki-67 expression and increased LCs on survival and risk of histologic transformation (HT).

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  • Brentuximab vedotin has been shown to improve outcomes in treating advanced classic Hodgkin's lymphoma, but it also causes more toxic side effects in adults, while many pediatric patients still need radiation therapy and face challenges with relapse.
  • A phase 3 trial involving patients aged 12 and older tested two treatment combinations: brentuximab vedotin with standard chemotherapy (BV+AVD) versus nivolumab with standard chemotherapy (N+AVD), aiming to assess progression-free survival.
  • Results indicated that N+AVD significantly enhances progression-free survival compared to BV+AVD, with a 2-year survival rate of 92% for N+AVD versus 83% for BV
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Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) remains incurable and its ability to acquire resistance to front-line therapeutics has proved challenging. Bromodomain and extra-terminal proteins, particularly bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), are integral to gene expression in CLL and offer a promising therapeutic target. In this study, we examined the activity of the BRD4 inhibitor OPN-51107 alone and in combination with the BCL-2 inhibitor, venetoclax, in CLL cell lines and patient-derived CLL samples.

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  • The combination of rituximab and lenalidomide (R-len) is an effective treatment for relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL), specifically for follicular lymphoma (FL) and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), with a significant overall response rate of 82%.
  • In a study involving 84 patients, the median age at treatment initiation was 65, with a median progression-free survival of 22 months and a 2-year overall survival rate of 83%.
  • Common adverse effects included hematologic toxicity, fatigue, and gastrointestinal issues, but overall safety aligned with previous clinical trials, suggesting R-len’s use in real-life settings is consistent with
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  • There is limited knowledge about the risk of central nervous system (CNS) involvement in high-grade B-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (HGBL NOS), prompting a study that assessed baseline CNS involvement, recurrence rates, and management strategies in patients treated from 2016 to 2021.
  • In the study of 160 adults, 7% exhibited baseline CNS involvement, which was linked to MYC rearrangement and certain sites of involvement, but did not significantly impact overall survival outcomes compared to those without CNS involvement.
  • The risk of CNS recurrence within three years was found to be 11%, with patients showing initial CNS involvement facing a much higher risk (48.5%), while various other factors such as blood involvement and
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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy is an effective therapy for relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (r/r B-NHL). However, data are limited on the impact of the convergence of race and social determinants of health on outcomes for patients treated with CAR-T therapy. We examined the impact of interactions between race and insurance type on health care use and outcomes in patients treated with CAR-T therapy for aggressive B-NHL.

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Purpose: Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) is a rare cancer, and large international cooperative efforts are needed to evaluate the significance of clinical risk factors and immunoarchitectural patterns (IAPs) for all stages of pediatric and adult patients with NLPHL.

Methods: Thirty-eight institutions participated in the Global nLPHL One Working Group retrospective study of NLPHL cases from 1992 to 2021. We measured progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), transformation rate, and lymphoma-specific death rate.

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  • This study looks at patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) to understand their different experiences and predict their outcomes better.
  • It involves a big group of hospitals in North America and looks at 586 MCL cases from 2000 to 2012 to find important patterns in treatment and results.
  • The researchers discovered that certain treatments and factors, like using stem cell transplants and checking for specific proteins, are really important to know how well patients will do over time.
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Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) has been successful in treating relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphomas. However, its role in the treatment of diseases involving the central nervous system (CNS) is not well studied. We performed a multicenter retrospective cohort study to evaluate the outcomes of patients with secondary CNS lymphoma (SCNSL) who received CAR-T.

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Background: In patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), salvage chemotherapy regimens (e.g., rituximab, ifosfamide, carboplatin, and etoposide, R-ICE) yield poor outcomes.

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In the pivotal study ECHELON-1, brentuximab vedotin (BV), doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (A + AVD) demonstrated superior efficacy compared with bleomycin + AVD for the treatment of advanced-stage classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). However, there are minimal available data regarding the frequency of dose reductions or omission of BV during curative therapy and the potential impact on patient outcomes. In a real-world analysis, we retrospectively reviewed the characteristics and outcomes of 179 patients with stage III or IV cHL treated with frontline A + AVD from January 2010 to April 2022.

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Given the paucity of data surrounding the prognostic relevance of monoclonal paraprotein (M-protein) in marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), we sought to evaluate the impact of detecting M-protein at diagnosis on outcomes in patients with MZL in a large retrospective cohort. The study included 547 patients receiving first-line therapy for MZL. M-protein was detectable at diagnosis in 173 (32%) patients.

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  • A study analyzed 160 patients with high-grade B-cell lymphoma (HGBL-NOS), a rare type of lymphoma, showing that it has diverse characteristics with varying gene rearrangements and immunophenotypes among patients.
  • Most patients presented with advanced disease and were treated with several chemotherapy regimens, including DA-EPOCH-R and R-CHOP, but there was no significant difference in treatment effectiveness regarding complete response or survival rates.
  • Key factors predicting poorer outcomes included poor performance status and high lactate dehydrogenase levels, while improvements in diagnostic and treatment methods are needed to enhance prognosis for HGBL-NOS patients.
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Progression of disease within 24 months (POD24) from diagnosis in marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) was shown to portend poor outcomes in prior studies. However, many patients with MZL do not require immediate therapy, and the time from diagnosis-to-treatment interval can be highly variable with no universal criteria to initiate systemic therapy. Hence, we sought to evaluate the prognostic relevance of early relapse or progression within 24 months from systemic therapy initiation in a large US cohort.

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Sixteen cycles of Brentuximab vedotin (BV) after autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) in high-risk relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma demonstrated an improved 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) over placebo. However, most patients are unable to complete all 16 cycles at full dose due to toxicity. This retrospective, multicenter study investigated the effect of cumulative maintenance BV dose on 2-year PFS.

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Upregulation of the anti-apoptotic protein MCL-1 has been implicated in chemotherapy resistance and poor clinical outcomes in B-cell lymphoma (BCL). We report the activity of AMG176, a direct, selective MCL-1 inhibitor, in preclinical models of BCL. A panel of cell lines representing diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), double-hit lymphoma (DHL) and Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) was selected.

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Neddylation is a sequential enzyme-based process which regulates the function of E3 Cullin-RING ligase (CRL) and thus degradation of substrate proteins. Here we show that CD8 T cells are a direct target for therapeutically relevant anti-lymphoma activity of pevonedistat, a Nedd8-activating enzyme (NAE) inhibitor. Pevonedistat-treated patient-derived CD8 T cells upregulated TNFα and IFNγ and exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity.

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