Outcome of relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients treated with polatuzumab vedotin-based therapy: real-life experience

Abstract

The efficacy of polatuzumab vedotin in relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma outside clinical study are undetermined. This retrospective study examined the efficacy and safety of polatuzumab vedotin administered in real life settings. Forty-seven patients, 31 with <i>de-novo</i> DLBCL and 16 with transformed lymphoma, treated with polatuzumab-based regimen in 14 Israeli centers between June 2018 and November 2019, were included. Median age was 66.1 years (60.4-78.8) and median number of prior lines was 3 (2-7). The overall response rate was 61% (<i>n</i> = 29), including 40% complete responses (<i>n</i> = 19) and 21% (<i>n</i> = 10) partial responses. The median overall survival and progression-free survival were 8.3 months and 5.6 months, respectively. An ECOG PS ≥2 predicted a decreased overall survival (<i>p</i> = 0.045). Primary refractory vs relapsed disease (<i>p</i> = 0.005) and transformed vs <i>de-novo</i> DLBCL (<i>p</i> = 0.039) were associated with shorter PFS (<i>p</i> = 0.027). Our data show that polatuzumab-based regimen is an effective and tolerable treatment in relapsed/refractory DLBCL.