Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Richter’s Transformation

  • Lymphomas (T Hilal, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Oncology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Richter’s transformation (RT) occurs when chronic (CLL) transforms into an aggressive lymphoma. Despite improvements in the treatment of CLL, prognosis for RT remains poor. Here, we review current literature of RT, with a focus on novel treatment options.

Recent Findings

Efforts are underway to improve outcomes for patients with RT. While small molecule inhibitors have limited efficacy as monotherapy, recent developments combining them with chemo-immunotherapy show promise. Studies exploring the use of cellular therapies including chimeric antigen receptor T-cells and bispecific antibodies are ongoing.

Summary

The current treatment paradigm for RT is to enroll these patients on a clinical trial when available, together with consultation for a consolidative allogeneic stem cell transplant. Trials investigating novel combinations and cellular therapy are ongoing. Determining predictive variables of transformation is imperative to design studies that allow for early identification and intervention for patients with RT.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

  1. Richter MN. Generalized reticular cell sarcoma of lymph nodes associated with lymphatic leukemia. Am J Pathol. 1928;4(4):285–92 7.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Lortholary P, Boiron M, Ripault P, Levy JP, Manus A, Bernard J. Chronic lymphoid leukemia secondarily associated with a malignant reticulopathy: Richter's syndrome. Nouv Rev Fr Hematol. 1964;4:621–44.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Rossi D, Spina V, Gaidano G. Biology and treatment of Richter syndrome. Blood. 2018;131(25):2761–72.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. • Wang Y, Tschautscher MA, Rabe KG, Call TG, Leis JF, Kenderian SS, et al. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of Richter transformation: experience of 204 patients from a single center. Haematologica. 2020;105(3):765–73. A large single institution study evaluating clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with RT.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. • Elnair R, Ellithi M, Kallam A, Shostrom V, Bociek RG. Outcomes of Richter's transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL): an analysis of the SEER database. Ann Hematol. 2021;100(10):2513–9. A recent analysis utilizing the SEER database evaluating outcomes of patients with RT.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. • Al-Sawaf O, Robrecht S, Bahlo J, Fink AM, Cramer P, V.T. J, et al. Richter transformation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)-a pooled analysis of German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) front line treatment trials. Leukemia. 2021;35(1):169–76. A large pooled analysis from the German CLL study group evaluating outcomes in patients with RT.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Parikh SA, Rabe KG, Call TG, Zent CS, Habermann TM, Ding W, et al. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (Richter syndrome) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL): a cohort study of newly diagnosed patients. Br J Haematol. 2013;162(6):774–82.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Tsimberidou AM, O'Brien S, Khouri I, Giles FJ, Kantarjian HM, Champlin R, et al. Clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with Richter's syndrome treated with chemotherapy or chemoimmunotherapy with or without stem-cell transplantation. J Clin Oncol. 2006;24(15):2343–51.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Parikh SA, Habermann TM, Chaffee KG, Call TG, Ding W, Leis JF, et al. Hodgkin transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia: incidence, outcomes, and comparison to de novo Hodgkin lymphoma. Am J Hematol. 2015;90(4):334–8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Polyatskin IL, Artemyeva AS, Krivolapov YA. Revised WHO classification of tumors of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues, 2017 (4th edition):lymphoid tumors. Arkh Patol. 2019;81(3):59–65.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Soilleux EJ, Wotherspoon A, Eyre TA, Clifford R, Cabes M, Schuh AH. Diagnostic dilemmas of high-grade transformation (Richter's syndrome) of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: results of the phase II National Cancer Research Institute CHOP-OR clinical trial specialist haemato-pathology central review. Histopathology. 2016;69(6):1066–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Mao Z, Quintanilla-Martinez L, Raffeld M, Richter M, Krugmann J, Burek C, et al. IgVH mutational status and clonality analysis of Richter's transformation: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma in association with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) represent 2 different pathways of disease evolution. Am J Surg Pathol. 2007;31(10):1605–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Barnea Slonim L, Ma S, Behdad A, Chen Q. Pseudo-Richter transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma following ibrutinib interruption: a diagnostic pitfall. Br J Haematol. 2020;191(1):e22–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Crombie J, Davids MS. IGHV mutational status testing in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Am J Hematol. 2017;92(12):1393–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. • Hess B, Kalmuk J, Znoyko I, Schandl CA, Wagner-Johnston N, Mazzoni S, et al. Clinical utility of chromosomal microarray in establishing clonality and high risk features in patients with Richter transformation. Cancer Gene Ther. 2022;(260-261):18–22. A recent analysis evaluating the utility of chromosomal microarray in the assessment of clonality in patients with RT. Has the potential to be practice changing in the way that clonality is determined.

  16. Ohno T, Smir BN, Weisenburger DD, Gascoyne RD, Hinrichs SD, Chan WC. Origin of the Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells in chronic lymphocytic leukemia with "Hodgkin's transformation". Blood. 1998;91(5):1757–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Xiao W, Chen WW, Sorbara L, Davies-Hill T, Pittaluga S, Raffeld M, et al. Hodgkin lymphoma variant of Richter transformation: morphology, Epstein-Barr virus status, clonality, and survival analysis-with comparison to Hodgkin-like lesion. Hum Pathol. 2016;55:108–16.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Robertson LE, Pugh W, O'Brien S, Kantarjian H, Hirsch-Ginsberg C, Cork A, et al. Richter's syndrome: a report on 39 patients. J Clin Oncol. 1993;11(10):1985–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Mauro FR, Chauvie S, Paoloni F, Biggi A, Cimino G, Rago A, et al. Diagnostic and prognostic role of PET/CT in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and progressive disease. Leukemia. 2015;29(6):1360–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Bruzzi JF, Macapinlac H, Tsimberidou AM, Truong MT, Keating MJ, Marom EM, et al. Detection of Richter's transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia by PET/CT. J Nucl Med. 2006;47(8):1267–73.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Falchi L, Keating MJ, Marom EM, Truong MT, Schlette EJ, Sargent RL, et al. Correlation between FDG/PET, histology, characteristics, and survival in 332 patients with chronic lymphoid leukemia. Blood. 2014;123(18):2783–90.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Mato AR, Wierda WG, Davids MS, Cheson BD, Coutre SE, Choi M, et al. Utility of positron emission tomography-computed tomography in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia following B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor therapy. Haematologica. 2019;104(11):2258–64.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Wang Y, Rabe KG, Bold MS, Shi M, Hanson CA, Schwager SM, et al. The role of 18F-FDG-PET in detecting Richter's transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in patients receiving therapy with a B-cell receptor inhibitor. Haematologica. 2020;105(11):2675–8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Dong HY, Harris NL, Preffer FI, Pitman MB. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis and classification of primary and recurrent lymphoma: a retrospective analysis of the utility of cytomorphology and flow cytometry. Mod Pathol. 2001;14(5):472–81.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Johl A, Lengfelder E, Hiddemann W, Klapper W, G. German Low-grade Lymphoma Study. Core needle biopsies and surgical excision biopsies in the diagnosis of lymphoma-experience at the Lymph Node Registry Kiel. Ann Hematol. 2016;95(8):1281–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Rossi D, Spina V, Deambrogi C, Rasi S, Laurenti L, Stamatopoulos K, et al. The genetics of Richter syndrome reveals disease heterogeneity and predicts survival after transformation. Blood. 2011;117(12):3391–401.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. • Abrisqueta P, Delgado J, Alcoceba M, Oliveira AC, Loscertales J, Hernandez-Rivas JA, et al. Clinical outcome and prognostic factors of patients with Richter syndrome: real-world study of the Spanish Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Study Group (GELLC). Br J Haematol. 2020;190(6):854–63. A large cohort analysis of the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with RT from the Spanish CLL study group (GELLC).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Rogers KA, Huang Y, Ruppert AS, Salem G, Stephens DM, Heerema NA, et al. A single-institution retrospective cohort study of first-line R-EPOCH chemoimmunotherapy for Richter syndrome demonstrating complex chronic lymphocytic leukaemia karyotype as an adverse prognostic factor. Br J Haematol. 2018;180(2):259–66.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. •• Stephens DM, Boucher K, Kander E, Parikh SA, Parry EM, Shadman M, et al. Hodgkin lymphoma arising in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: outcomes from a large multi-center collaboration. Haematologica. 2021;106(11):2845–52. A recent multi-institutional study evaluating outcomes in HL-RT patients showing that those patients who were treated with CHL regimens had similar outcomes to de novo CHL.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. King RL, Gupta A, Kurtin PJ, Ding W, Call TG, Rabe KG, et al. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with Reed-Sternberg-like cells vs Classic Hodgkin lymphoma transformation of CLL: does this distinction matter? Blood Cancer J. 2022;12(1):18.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Tsimberidou AM, Kantarjian HM, Cortes J, Thomas DA, Faderl S, Garcia-Manero G, et al. Fractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, liposomal daunorubicin, and dexamethasone plus rituximab and granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) alternating with methotrexate and cytarabine plus rituximab and GM-CSF in patients with Richter syndrome or fludarabine-refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Cancer. 2003;97(7):1711–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Langerbeins P, Busch R, Anheier N, Durig J, Bergmann M, Goebeler ME, et al. Poor efficacy and tolerability of R-CHOP in relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Richter transformation. Am J Hematol. 2014;89(12):E239–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Durot E, Michallet AS, Lepretre S, Le QH, Leblond V, Delmer A. Platinum and high-dose cytarabine-based regimens are efficient in ultra high/high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Richter's syndrome: results of a French retrospective multicenter study. Eur J Haematol. 2015;95(2):160–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Eyre TA, Clifford R, Bloor A, Boyle L, Roberts C, Cabes M, et al. NCRI phase II study of CHOP in combination with ofatumumab in induction and maintenance in newly diagnosed Richter syndrome. Br J Haematol. 2016;175(1):43–54.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Tsang M, Shanafelt TD, Call TG, Ding W, Chanan-Khan A, Leis JF, et al. The efficacy of ibrutinib in the treatment of Richter syndrome. Blood. 2015;125(10):1676–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Jaglowski SM, Jones JA, Nagar V, Flynn JM, Andritsos LA, Maddocks KJ, et al. Safety and activity of BTK inhibitor ibrutinib combined with ofatumumab in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a phase 1b/2 study. Blood. 2015;126(7):842–50.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Eyre TA, Schuh A, Wierda WG, Brown JR, Ghia P, Pagel JM, et al. Acalabrutinib monotherapy for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (ACE-CL-001): analysis of the Richter transformation cohort of an open-label, single-arm, phase 1-2 study. Lancet Haematol. 2021;8(12):e912–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Davids MS, Roberts AW, Seymour JF, Pagel JM, Kahl BS, Wierda WG, et al. Phase I first-in-human study of venetoclax in patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma. J Clin Oncol. 2017;35(8):826–33.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Bouclet F, Calleja A, Dilhuydy MS, Veronese L, Pereira B, Amorim S, et al. Real-world outcomes following venetoclax therapy in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or Richter syndrome: a FILO study of the French compassionate use cohort. Ann Hematol. 2021;100(4):987–93.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. •• Davids MS, Rogers KA, Tyekucheva S, Wang Z, Pazienza S, Renner SK, et al. Venetoclax plus dose-adjusted R-EPOCH (VR-EPOCH) for Richter's Syndrome. Blood. 2022;139(5):686–689. A recent study assessing the combination of venetoclax with R-EPOCH for management of RT, showing promising results with improvement in outcomes, but also with increased toxicity.

  41. Ding W, LaPlant BR, Call TG, Parikh SA, Leis JF, He R, et al. Pembrolizumab in patients with CLL and Richter transformation or with relapsed CLL. Blood. 2017;129(26):3419–27.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Armand P, Murawski N, Molin D, Zain J, Eichhorst B, Gulbas Z, et al. Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Richter syndrome. Br J Haematol. 2020;190(2):e117–20.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Jain N, F.A, Basu S, Thompson PA, Burger JA, Kadia TM, Estrov ZE, et al. A phase II trial of nivolumab combined with ibrutinib for patients with Richter transformation. Blood. 2018;132:296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. • Younes A, Brody J, Carpio C, Lopez-Guillermo A, Ben-Yehuda D, Ferhanoglu B, et al. Safety and activity of ibrutinib in combination with nivolumab in patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: a phase 1/2a study. Lancet Haematol. 2019;6(2):e67–78. A phase 1/2a trial assessing the safety and efficacy of nivolumab in combination with ibrutinib for treatment of R/R hematologic malignancies including RT. ORR in RT patients was 65% with median duration of response of 6.9 months.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Ortiz-Maldonado V, F.G, Español-Rego M, Balagué O, Martínez-Cibrián N, Magnano L, Giné E, Pascal M, Correa JG, Martínez-Roca A, Cid J, Lozano M, Villamor N, Benítez-Ribas D, Esteve J, López-Guillermo A, Campo E, Urbano-Ispizua Á, Juan  M, Delgado J. Results of ARI-0001 CART19 cells in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Richter’s transformation. Front Oncol. 2022;12:828471.

  46. Roberts AW, Ma S, Kipps TJ, Coutre SE, Davids MS, Eichhorst B, et al. Efficacy of venetoclax in relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia is influenced by disease and response variables. Blood. 2019;134(2):111–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Riches JC, Davies JK, McClanahan F, Fatah R, Iqbal S, Agrawal S, et al. T cells from CLL patients exhibit features of T-cell exhaustion but retain capacity for cytokine production. Blood. 2013;121(9):1612–21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  48. Behdad A, Griffin B, Chen YH, Ma S, Kelemen K, Lu X, et al. PD-1 is highly expressed by neoplastic B-cells in Richter transformation. Br J Haematol. 2019;185(2):370–3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. He R, Ding W, Viswanatha DS, Chen D, Shi M, Van Dyke D, et al. PD-1 expression in chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) and large B-cell Richter transformation (DLBCL-RT): a characteristic feature of DLBCL-RT and potential surrogate marker for clonal relatedness. Am J Surg Pathol. 2018;42(7):843–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Rogers KA, Huang Y, Dotson E, Lundberg J, Andritsos LA, Awan FT, et al. Use of PD-1 (PDCD1) inhibitors for the treatment of Richter syndrome: experience at a single academic centre. Br J Haematol. 2019;185(2):363–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Neelapu SS, Locke FL, Bartlett NL, Lekakis LJ, Miklos DB, Jacobson CA, et al. Axicabtagene ciloleucel CAR T-cell therapy in refractory large B-cell lymphoma. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(26):2531–44.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Schuster SJ, Bishop MR, Tam CS, Waller EK, Borchmann P, McGuirk JP, et al. Tisagenlecleucel in adult relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. N Engl J Med. 2019;380(1):45–56.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Abramson JS, Palomba ML, Gordon LI, Lunning MA, Wang M, Arnason J, et al. Lisocabtagene maraleucel for patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphomas (TRANSCEND NHL 001): a multicentre seamless design study. Lancet. 2020;396(10254):839–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Turtle CJ, Hay KA, Hanafi LA, Li D, Cherian S, Chen X, et al. Durable molecular remissions in chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells after failure of ibrutinib. J Clin Oncol. 2017;35(26):3010–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  55. Kittai AS, Bond DA, William B, Saad A, Penza S, Efebera Y, et al. Clinical activity of axicabtagene ciloleucel in adult patients with Richter syndrome. Blood Advances. 2020;4(19):4648–52.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  56. Benjamini O, Shimoni A, Besser M, Shem-Tov N, Danylesko I, Yerushalmi R, et al. Safety and efficacy of CD19-CAR T cells in Richter's transformation after targeted therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2020;136(Supplement 1):40–0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Einsele H, Borghaei H, Orlowski RZ, Subklewe M, Roboz GJ, Zugmaier G, et al. The BiTE (bispecific T-cell engager) platform: development and future potential of a targeted immuno-oncology therapy across tumor types. Cancer. 2020;126(14):3192–201.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Goebeler ME, Knop S, Viardot A, Kufer P, Topp MS, Einsele H, et al. Bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) antibody construct blinatumomab for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma: final results from a phase I study. J Clin Oncol. 2016;34(10):1104–11.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Alderuccio JP, Mackrides N, Chapman JR, Vega F, Lossos IS. Rapid complete response to blinatumomab as a successful bridge to allogeneic stem cell transplantation in a case of refractory Richter syndrome. Leuk Lymphoma. 2019;60(1):230–3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Cwynarski K, van Biezen A, de Wreede L, Stilgenbauer S, Bunjes D, Metzner B, et al. Autologous and allogeneic stem-cell transplantation for transformed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (Richter's syndrome): a retrospective analysis from the chronic lymphocytic leukemia subcommittee of the chronic leukemia working party and lymphoma working party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. J Clin Oncol. 2012;30(18):2211–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Kim HT, Baker PO, Parry E, Davids M, Alyea EP, Ho VT, et al. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation outcomes in patients with Richter's transformation. Haematologica. 2021;106(12):3219–22.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  62. Aulakh S, Reljic T, Yassine F, Ayala E, Chavez JC, Chanan-Khan A, et al. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation is an effective treatment for patients with Richter syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hematol Oncol Stem Cell Ther. 2021;14(1):33–40.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Kumar A, Hamadani M, Stilgenbauer S, Ghia P, Anasetti C, et al. Clinical practice recommendations for use of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia on behalf of the Guidelines Committee of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2016;22(12):2117–25.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adam S. Kittai.

Ethics declarations

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Conflict of Interest

Audrey M. Sigmund declares no conflict of interest. Adam S. Kittai has consulted for Abbvie, Beigene, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Janssen.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Lymphomas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sigmund, A.M., Kittai, A.S. Richter’s Transformation. Curr Oncol Rep 24, 1081–1090 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-022-01274-4

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-022-01274-4

Keywords

Navigation