Paclitaxel-based treatment of lymphoma

The activity of paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) recently was evaluated in patients with relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in three phase II clinical trials using different doses and infusion schedules. The largest trial, conducted at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, used the most intensive dose (200 mg/m2 infused over 3 hours every 3 weeks) in 96 patients. As expected, the response rate was low in patients with primary refractory disease. In contrast, patients with intermediate-grade lymphoma and no primary refractory disease had a response rate of 50% and those with low-grade lymphoma had a response rate of 31%. Lower response rates were reported in clinical trials conducted by the National Cancer Institute, which used paclitaxel 140 mg/m2 infused over 96 hours, and by the Southwest Oncology Group, which used paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 infused over 24 hours. Paclitaxel-based combination programs currently are being evaluated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and other institutions in patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Early results are encouraging.