Mantle cell lymphoma-current literature overview

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a distinct subtype of lymphoma identified as a particular entity in the early 1990s. The prognosis of MCL is generally poor, and is considered one of the worst among all B-cell lymphomas. In general, conventional chemotherapy is only palliative and the median duration of remissions is only 1-2 years. With the exception of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT), current treatment approaches are not curative and the corresponding survival curve is characterized by a relatively steep and continuous decline, with a median survival of about 4 years and <15% long-term survivors. Only a small proportion of patients may be exempted from this disappointing picture, because they have an indolent course of the disease and could be handled with watch and wait strategy. Optimal first-line therapy in MCL is not established yet. Very intensive regimens, including autologous (auto-SCT) and allo-SCT, seem to be required to improve the outcome. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is the only therapy that can achieve a plateau in the survival curve, but, however, it is not applicable in most of the cases due to the patients' older age when the disease mostly occurs. Molecular knowledge of MCL has progressed and therefore a large number of molecular targeted therapies have been introduced in relapsed and refractory disease.