Peripheral T-cell lymphomas: Focusing on novel agents in relapsed and refractory disease

Patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma display a dismal prognosis and their therapy represents an unmet medical need, as the best treatment strategy is yet to be determined. Exciting data on novel targeted agents are now emerging from recently concluded and ongoing clinical trials in patients with relapsed and refractory PTCL. Four recently approved compounds are used as single agents: pralatrexate, a novel antifolate agent; romidepsin and belinostat, both histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors; brentuximab vedotin, an anti-CD30 drug-conjugated monoclonal antibody. Several other molecules have demonstrated their activity in the same context: gemcitabine, bendamustine, lenalidomide, duvelisib, copanlisib, alisertib, mogamulizumab, selinexor and ARGX-110. Robust preclinical observations strongly support chemo-free combinations, which are expected to enhance the quality and duration of responses in pretreated patients and in those who are unable to receive a stem cell transplantation.