KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to evaluate MRD monitoring for predicting long-term remissions in patients with FL.
- Researchers noticed that a high proportion of patients with FL in long-term remission were MRD-negative, indicating potential for durable remissions.
Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a highly treatable, indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Despite its treatment, FL is considered incurable; however, patients who remain disease-free for 24 months post-therapy are predicted to have survival rates similar to those without lymphoma.
Ayushi Chauhan and the team aimed to assess the effectiveness of MRD monitoring in predicting long-term remissions in patients with FL.
They performed an inclusive analysis of patients who were in clinical remission for at least 24 months after their last treatment. These patients were enrolled and monitored prospectively for minimal residual disease (MRD) detectability using a sensitive next-generation sequencing assay (clonoSEQ, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Seattle, WA).
About 47 consecutive patients were monitored. MRD thresholds of 10-4, 10-5, and 10-6 were evaluated for their ability to predict long-term remissions in this cohort. It was determined that undetectable disease at 10-6 was the best predictor, with a specificity and negative predictive value (NPV) of 70% and 100%, respectively. While 3 patients exhibited clinical disease progression during the study, none of the 31 patients with persistent MRD undetectability at 10-6 experienced relapse.
The study concluded that a significant proportion (31/47; 66.0%) of patients with FL in clinical remission after ≥24 months following their last therapy were undetectable at 10-6 by a sensitive MRD assay. The sensitivity of the assay was 100%, with a specificity of 70%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 19%, and a NPV of 100%. Although longer follow-up is needed for confirmation, many of these patients may continue to experience durable complete remissions.
No funding information was given.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38789312/
Chauhan A, Lai C, Kuhr F, et al. (2024). “Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients With Follicular Lymphoma Using Next Generation Sequencing to Detect Minimal Residual Disease.” Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2024;24(9):634-641. doi:10.1016/j.clml.2024.04.009
