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To evaluate the feasibility and clinical efficacy of the combination of alemtuzumab with dose-adjusted etoposide/cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone (DA-EPOCH) as upfront therapy for untreated aggressive T and NK cell lymphomas, a phase 1/2 trial was conducted. Thirty patients were treated with the study regimen, consisting of alemtuzumab on day 1 of a 21 day cycle with standard dosing of DA-EPOCH for 6-8 cycles. Alemtuzumab 30 mg IV was used for the phase 2 component. Of 30 treated patients, 17 had a complete response (CR) and eight had a partial response (83.3% overall response rate). The median overall survival and progression-free survival were 20.2 and 6.6 months, respectively. There were five treatment-related deaths on study mainly due to infectious complications, including one case each of disseminated toxoplasmosis and pneumonia and two cases of sepsis. Alemtuzumab with DA-EPOCH is of limited clinical utility due to unacceptable toxicity, despite the high rate of CR.

Clinical trials in T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) are scarce. Based on a precursor study testing fludarabine, mitoxantrone, and cyclophosphamide followed by alemtuzumab (FMC-A), we aimed to improve this regimen by upfront combining subcutaneous (s.c.) alemtuzumab with FMC for four cycles followed by an alemtuzumab-maintenance (FMCA + A). This prospective multicenter phase-II trial assessed response, survival, and toxicity of that regimen administered to pretreated (n = 4) and treatment-naïve (n = 12) T-PLL patients. The best overall response rate after FMCA was 68.8% (n = 11) including five CRs (31.3%) and six PRs (37.5%). Six patients entered the alemtuzumab-maintenance. Median overall and progression-free survival was 16.7 and 11.2 months, respectively. Hematologic toxicities were the most frequent grade 3/4 side effects. A reduced incidence of CMV-reactivations was attributed to the prophylactic administration of valganciclovir. Overall, FMCA + A did not improve the efficacy of the FMC-A-regimen or of single i.v. alemtuzumab. It suggests that a chemotherapy backbone prevents efficient alemtuzumab dosing and confirms that intravenous alemtuzumab is to be preferred over its s.c. route in T-PLL. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01186640.

Patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL), and especially those with purine analogue refractory disease or TP53 deletion/mutation, had a poor prognosis prior to the introduction of therapy targeting B cell receptor signaling. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor everolimus has biological activity in CLL and can mobilize CLL cells from the lymphoid tissues into the circulation. In this clinical trial we determined the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of everolimus together with eight weeks of standard dose subcutaneous alemtuzumab (Phase I) and then evaluated the tolerability and efficacy of therapy of relapsed/refractory CLL with the combination of everolimus and alemtuzumab (Phase II). The maximum tolerated dose of oral everolimus was 2.5 mg three times/week. Therapy with everolimus and alemtuzumab was tolerable, but not sufficiently efficacious (33% partial responses, no complete responses) to recommend further development of the regimen.