Adding Etoposide to R-CHOP (R-CHOEP) Does Not Significantly Increase the Risk of Secondary Neoplasms in Patients with Aggressive B-Cell Lymphoma - Results from Randomized Phase 3 Trials of the German Lymphoma Alliance (GLA)
Authors: Frontzek Fabian , Ziepert Marita , Nickelsen Maike , Altmann Bettina , Glass Bertram , Haenel Mathias , Truemper Lorenz , Held Gerhard , Bentz Martin , Borchmann Peter , Dreyling Martin , Viardot Andreas , Kroschinsky Frank P. , Metzner Bernd , Staiger Annette M. , Horn Heike , Ott German , Rosenwald Andreas , Loeffler Markus , Lenz Georg , Schmitz Norbert 
Published: November 2020

Introduction:Considering the increasing numbers of lymphoma patients (pts) surviving long-term, late effects of current treatment strategies such as secondary (sec) malignancies gain increasing importance. Many treatment regimens used in pts with lymphoma (R-CHOEP, DA-EPOCH-R, BEACOPP) include etoposide, a cytotoxic agent reported to increase sec leukemias. In order to further investigate the role of etoposide in inducing sec malignancies in pts with aggressive lymphoma we analyzed the R-MegaCHOEP trial (Schmitz et al., Lancet Oncology 2012) where young, high-risk pts with aggressive B-cell lymphomas had received R-CHOEP or R-MegaCHOEP, a regimen containing very high doses of etoposide (4g/m2). We compared rates of secondary tumors to incidences found in young patients treated with R-CHOP only.
Methods:We analyzed 1536 pts aged 18-60 years with aggressive B-cell lymphoma treated in the prospective phase 3 trials FLYER (NCT00278421; n=588, median observation time (OT)=66 months), UNFOLDER (NCT00278408; n=695, median OT=72 months) and MegaCHOEP (NCT00129090; n=253, median OT=112 months) to compare the cumulative incidences of sec neoplasms. We performed a competing risk analysis for time from randomization to occurrence of sec malignancy (myelodysplastic syndrome/acute myeloid leukemia (MDS/AML) or other) according to first-line therapy with R-CHOP (n=1283) vs. R-CHOEP (n=127) vs. R-MegaCHOEP (n=126). We used a cause-specific hazard model adjusted for gender, age (&gt;50 vs. &lt;= 50 years) and radiotherapy.
Results:Adjusting for competing events, we found sec MDS/AML in 0.3% of pts treated with R-CHOP, in 1% of pts treated with R-CHOEP and in 2% of pts following treatment with R-MegaCHOEP. Cause-specific hazard ratios showed a trend for increased risk for sec AML following R-MegaCHOEP in comparison to R-CHOP (HR 5.2, 95%CI (1.0; 27.5), p=0.052) while R-CHOEP did not significantly increase the incidence of sec AML (HR 1.4, 95%CI (0.1; 14.0), p=0.777). Male gender and age &gt;50 years showed a trend for increasing sec AML. We found very similar incidences of sec solid tumors (not MDS/AML) affecting 4% of pts treated with R-CHOP or R-MegaCHOEP and 6% of pts following R-CHOEP regimen. The only factor significantly increasing the risk of sec solid tumors was age &gt;50 years (HR 2.6, 95%CI (1.5; 4.3), p&lt;0.001).
Conclusions:This analysis shows that sec malignancies represent rare events in younger patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma, even after extreme dose-escalation of etoposide. Compared to standard R-CHOP, 8 cycles of R-CHOEP were not associated with increased risk of sec AML or solid tumors thus remaining an attractive first-line treatment for young high-risk pts with DLBCL.

Disclosures
Haenel: Amgen, Novartis, Roche, Celgene, Takeda, Bayer:Honoraria.Truemper:Janssen:Consultancy;Mundipharma:Research Funding;Nordic Nanovector:Consultancy;Roche:Research Funding;Seattle Genetics:Research Funding;Takeda Europe:Consultancy, Research Funding.Held:MSD:Consultancy;Acrotech, Spectrum:Research Funding;Amgen:Research Funding;BMS:Consultancy, Other: Travel Grants, Research Funding;Roche:Consultancy, Other: travel grants, Research Funding.Borchmann:Bristol Myers Squibb:Research Funding;Takeda:Research Funding.Dreyling:Celgene:Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Roche:Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Beigene:Consultancy;Janssen:Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Novartis:Consultancy;Abbvie:Research Funding;Astra Zeneca:Consultancy;Bayer:Consultancy, Speakers Bureau;Gilead:Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.Viardot:Roche:Honoraria, Other: advisory board;Kite/Gilead:Honoraria, Other: advisory board;Novartis:Honoraria, Other: advisory board;Amgen:Honoraria, Other: advisory board.Kroschinsky:Riemsser:Research Funding;Roche:Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Support of parent study and funding of editorial support;Gilead:Consultancy;BMS/Celgene:Consultancy, Honoraria;Sandoz:Research Funding.Ott:NIH:Consultancy, Other: Co-inventor on a patent related to the MCL35 assay filed at the National Institutes of Health, United States of America..Lenz:Bayer:Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Janssen:Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Novartis:Consultancy;Gilead:Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;AQUINOX:Research Funding;AstraZeneca:Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Celgene:Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Verastem:Research Funding;Morphosys:Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Roche:Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Agios:Research Funding;BMS:Consultancy.Schmitz:Riemser:Honoraria;Takeda:Honoraria;Janssen:Research Funding;Bristol-Myers Squibb:Current equity holder in publicly-traded company.