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Treatment of advanced extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, nasal-type and aggressive NK-cell leukemia

  • Progress in Hematology
  • New insights in NK-cell malignancies
  • Published:
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Abstract

Extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKL) with advanced stage and aggressive NK-cell leukemia (ANKL) are highly aggressive neoplasms with a dismal clinical outcome. It is well known that P-glycoprotein, which is a product of MDR1 gene and related to multi-drug resistance, is expressed on tumor cells of ENKL or ANKL. This is a major reason for the refractoriness to conventional chemotherapeutic regimens for malignant lymphoma containing anthracycline. However, recent studies have identified that several drugs including l-asparaginase, methotrexate and alkylators show excellent effect for these tumors. The SMILE (steroid, methotrexate, ifosfamide, l-asparaginase and etoposide) regimen is one of the promising regimens for advanced or relapsed/refractory ENKL, but its myelotoxicity is strong. ANKL needs another treatment strategy because of a systemic disease progression and extensive organ insufficiency. Optimal treatment scheme using such effective agents for these unfavorable NK-cell tumors should further be explored.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of HSCT Data Management and Biostatistics, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, 1-1-20 Daiko-Minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, 461-0047, Japan

    Ritsuro Suzuki

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  1. Ritsuro Suzuki
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Correspondence to Ritsuro Suzuki.

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Suzuki, R. Treatment of advanced extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, nasal-type and aggressive NK-cell leukemia. Int J Hematol 92, 697–701 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-010-0726-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-010-0726-2

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