Durable Responses With Maintenance Dose-Sparing Regimens of Romidepsin in Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma

Romidepsin is a histone deacetylase inhibitor approved for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Durable responses have been published without establishing a standard recommendation about duration of treatment.

To review the long-term use of romidepsin in responders who received a dose-sparing regimen.

Retrospective review of medical records of patients with a diagnosis of CTCL, including mycosis fungoides (MF), Sézary syndrome (SS), or CTCL not otherwise specified seen at a multidisciplinary clinic at Northwestern University from 2009 until December 2014.

Doses administered and different regimens of romidepsin were reviewed.

Duration of treatment, participants receiving dose-sparing regimen.

Of 47 patients identified, 23 had MF, 15 had SS, and 9 had other types of CTCL. None of these 9 (mostly cytotoxic lymphomas) achieved a durable response. Of the remaining 38 patients, 17 were considered long-term responders (>6 months of treatment). Nine of these patients received a dose-sparing regimen. The median (range) duration of treatment was 15 (7-34) months; the frequency of patients with SS (10 of 15) in the long-term group was significantly higher than that of patients with MF (7 of 23; P = .046). Adverse events were reported in 29 (69%) of 42 patients for whom data were available. There was no significant difference in the incidence of AEs between the short-term and long-term groups (12 of 21 vs 12 of 17; P = .50).

Decreasing the frequency of infusions in patients with MF or SS who achieve a response with romidepsin therapy may provide a practical strategy to prolong response.