Long-term outcome of patients with advanced-stage cutaneous T cell lymphoma treated with gemcitabine

The choice of treatment for cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) is often determined by institutional experience, particularly as there is a paucity of data from phase III trials and a lack of consensus concerning treatment of the advanced stages. Among the several second-line and experimental drugs, gemcitabine could be considered one of the most suitable options for pretreated CTCL. Since it is difficult to find in literature the long-term outcome regarding the efficacy of a single-agent drug in pretreated patients and, in particular, in rare diseases such as CTCL, a retrospective observational study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the long-term outcome of CTCL patients treated with gemcitabine. Twenty-five patients with at least one therapy (range 1-8) performed prior to gemcitabine were found. After gemcitabine treatment, the overall response was 48 % with a 20 % of complete responses. At 15 years, the estimated overall survival is 47 %, progression-free survival 8.8 %, and disease-free survival 40 % (median reached at 2.9 years). All patients received at least three cycles and no grade 3-4 hematological adverse events occurred. At the latest follow-up, two patients are still in continuous complete response. This long-term update on the role of gemcitabine as a single agent in pretreated advanced-stage CTCL confirms this monotherapy as effective and safe.