Findings of a phase II study in patients with relapsed or refractory extranodal marginal zone lymphoma (rrEMZL) reveal that treatment with high doses of the macrolide antibiotic clarithromycin is safe and effective. In a study cohort of 23 patients with rrEMZL and at least one detectable lesion, six had a complete remission and a further six had a partial response following four 2-week courses (given every 21 days) of oral clarithromycin treatment. At a median follow-up of 2 years, only two patients who were responsive to clarithromycin treatment relapsed, and all patients were alive. Nausea, reported by two patients, was the only major adverse event associated with this treatment; these data support further testing of this agent in phase III clinical trials.
References
Ferreri, A. J. et al. High-dose clarithromycin is an active monotherapy for patients with relapsed/refractory extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT): the HD-K phase II trial. Ann. Oncol. 10.1093/annonc/mdv214
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Clarithromycin salvages relapsed or refractory lymphoma. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 12, 438 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2015.96
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2015.96