Comparison of CHOP with THP-COP for peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma: a retrospective analysis using data from the population-based Osaka Cancer Registry

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) are common subtypes of T-cell lymphoma. Although CHOP is a standard regimen for T-cell lymphoma, it has unsatisfactory outcomes. Pirarubicin is an anthracycline antibiotic with lower cardiotoxicity than doxorubicin. THP-COP (pirarubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone) is sometimes used for elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Japan. We performed a retrospective analysis using data from the population-based Osaka Cancer Registry as well as administrative data from 2010 to 2015. Of 82 enrolled patients, 51 received CHOP and 31 received THP-COP. The median age was 65 years in the CHOP group and 75 years in the THP-COP group. The probability of 3-year overall survival (OS) was 49.0% in the CHOP group and 44.9% in the THP-COP group. In the propensity score-adjusted analysis, there was no significant difference between the THP-COP and CHOP groups in the OS of the total sample [hazard ratio (HR) 0.46, 95% CI 0.14-1.55, P = 0.2]. Although our study was limited by its retrospective nature, it showed that clinical outcomes with the THP-COP regimen were comparable to those with the CHOP regimen in PTCL-NOS and AITL. Our findings should be re-assessed in larger studies in the future.