Background: Thalidomide has significant clinical activity in patients with multiple myeloma. However, its activity against other lymphoid tumors is unknown. The authors reported their experience with thalidomide in patients with recurrent/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma and in patients with Hodgkin disease.
Methods: Nineteen patients (median age, 62 years) who had undergone a median of 5 previous treatment regimens were treated with escalating doses of thalidomide (200-800 mg per day) until disease progression or prohibitive toxicity was observed. The authors measured serum levels of angiogenesis factors before and after treatment.
Results: One patient (5%) with evidence of recurrent gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma achieved a complete response, and 3 patients (16%) achieved stable disease.
Conclusions: The current study suggests that thalidomide has limited single-agent activity in heavily pretreated patients with recurrent or refractory lymphoma.
Copyright 2004 American Cancer Society.