A summer of change in hematologic malignancies: Highlights in B-cell malignancies from the 2013 ASCO, EHA, and ICML meetings

摘要

In only 2 years, the therapeutic world in hematologic malignancies has totally spun off its axis into another galaxy, at least for lymphomas and chronic lympho-cytic leukemia (CLL). Nearly gone are strategies based on conventional, cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents; indeed, there are really none still in development. The period of ennui in which one acronym was compared with another or the same regimen was given by different schedules has gone Neolithic. What we are seeing now is a proliferation of novel agents that either target the cell surface, such as monoclonal antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates, or affect the tumor microenvironment, such as immuno-modulatory and PD-1/PD-L1 targeting agents, with most attention focused on those that interfere with intracellular signaling mechanisms. Instead of drugs that are intravenous and nonspecific, and that result in alopecia, mucositis, and other unpleasantries, many of the new drugs are oral and well tolerated.