Expert overview on the recent developments in mantle cell lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare malignancy sensitive to chemotherapy, and more recently sensitive to non-cytotoxic drugs - but it is ultimately fatal. ecancer's Gordon McVie (ecancer and European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy) joins Professor Simon Rule (Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK) at EHA 2015 to discuss the optimal frontline drug combinations used prior to Autologous Stem Cell Transplant (ASCT), and the best drugs for treatment of patients (the majority) who are not fit for ACST. Prof Rule highlights the use of maintenance therapy and the use of single agent lenalidomide which outperforms each of five other single agents in the SPRINT trial. He lists the new approaches which might turn MCL into a curable disease, mentioning new targeted drugs and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells as very promising. This programme has been supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Janssen Pharmaceutica (A Johnson & Johnson Company).