[Current status of diagnosis and treatment in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma]

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of malignant lymphoma affecting about 14,000 patients per year in Japan. Recent progress in molecular genetic investigation has clarified the underlying mechanism of this heterogeneous disease applied to therapeutic developments. R-CHOP therapy was established as a standard regimen for DLBCL and provides a cure in many patients. However, about 30-40% of patients still develop relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease. The development of effective treatments for R/R DLBCL patients is thus an urgent issue. The development of immunotherapy for intractable DLBCL patients such as anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy and bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) has recently progressed. This new modality demonstrates efficacy in patients with resistance to conventional anticancer drugs. The advent of emerging immunotherapy is a paradigm shift in lymphoma treatment and is important for clinicians to catch up with these changes.