Bendamustine in combination with gemcitabine and vinorelbine as salvage regimen for relapsed or refractory peripheral...

The prognosis of peripheral T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (PTCL) is dismal, particularly in the relapsed/refractory (r/r) setting, where 3-year overall survival (OS) is 20%-30%. No superior second-line therapy for PTCL has been universally established, and durable remissions rely on consolidation with allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT). Enhancing response rates to salvage therapy is, therefore, crucial to increase transplant eligibility. We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of bendamustine, gemcitabine and vinorelbine combination (BeGeV) in 24 consecutive patients with r/r PTCL treated at our centre since 2017. BeGeV achieved an overall response rate (ORR) of 66% and a complete remission rate (CRR) of 41%. After a median follow-up of 41.8 months, 1-year progression-free survival (PFS) and OS were 37.5% and 58.3% respectively. Outcomes differed by histology: PTCL not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) showed inferior responses (ORR 41%, CRR 16%) compared with T-follicular helper lymphomas (PTCL-TFH; ORR 100%, CRR 75%) and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL; ORR 75%, CRR 50%). Survival analyses confirmed substantial differences across subtypes, with 12-month PFS and OS rates of 8.3% and 41.7% for PTCL-NOS, 50% and 75% for sALCL and 75% and 75% for PTCL-TFH respectively. Despite the limitations of small sample size and retrospective design, this study provides preliminary evidence supporting BeGeV as a potential bridge to alloHSCT in r/r PTCL-TFH and sALCL.