Long-term Use of Romidepsin in Patients With CTCL

Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL) are a heterogeneous group of neoplasm of skin-homing T cells that includes Mycosis Fungoid (MF), which is the most common, Sézary syndrome (SS), the leukemia variant of MF, and other variants of CTCL which are less prevalent. Clinical manifestations and prognosis are highly variable. Improving the management of this incurable disease with limited toxicity is the main point of the current research. Romidepsin is a well-tolerated histone deacetylase inhibitor which has demonstrated activity against advanced stages of CTCL. In November 2009, it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of CTCL in patients who have received at least one prior systemic therapy. FDA-dose approved is 14 mg/m2 days 1, 8, 15 of a 21 day-cycle. It is said that it should be continued as long as the patient receives benefit and tolerates the drug. We experienced in our clinic that a long-term (>6 months) use of Romidepsin, even with spared doses allows patients to maintain disease in complete remission or under control without severe side effects. We aim to demonstrate how many patients have benefited of this maintenance therapy, and detect the side effects related to the long-term use of Romidepsin, as well as characterize those patients that can get benefit of this therapy.