Hematologic Malignancies

Timothy S. Pardee, MD, discusses comorbidities, age, and outcomes among intensively treated patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

In the spring of 2014, a search of the clinicaltrials.gov web site with the key words acute myeloid leukemia and phase II, III returned a list of just over 340 open studies. Most of those trials involving novel agents can be grouped into 1 of 2 general categories: immunomodulators or kinase inhibitors.

B-cell malignancies include non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). NHLs are a heterogeneous group of more than 30 cancers of B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes.

Follicular lymphoma is the malignancy of germinal center B cells in the lymph nodes. It is the second most commonly diagnosed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, accounting for approximately 35% of all such cases.

John C. Byrd, MD, a professor of Medicine at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses resistance to ibrutinib.

Anas Younes, MD, chief, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses IPI-145 and ABT-199 for the treatment of lymphoid malignancies.

Creating new treatment options for CLL, particularly for high-risk patient populations such as those with fludarabine-refractory disease or with 17p deletions, is the goal of an intense effort by clinical researchers and pharmaceutical companies.

A Q&A with Jacqueline Claudia Barrientos, MD, assistant professor at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, New York.