Chemotherapy Before Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation +/- Rituximab in Relapsed or Refractory Aggressive Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00078949 |
Recruitment Status :
Completed
First Posted : March 9, 2004
Results First Posted : October 21, 2014
Last Update Posted : April 7, 2020
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RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as dexamethasone, cisplatin, gemcitabine, and cytarabine, work in different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more cancer cells. Monoclonal antibodies, such as rituximab, can locate cancer cells and either kill them or deliver cancer-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Giving rituximab as maintenance therapy after stem cell transplantation may kill any remaining cancer cells. It is not yet known which salvage chemotherapy regimen is more effective before autologous stem cell transplantation in treating relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying salvage chemotherapy using dexamethasone, cisplatin, and gemcitabine to see how well it works compared to dexamethasone, cisplatin, and cytarabine given before autologous stem cell transplantation in treating patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This trial also is studying giving rituximab as maintenance therapy to see how well it works compared to no further therapy after stem cell transplantation. Rituximab was added to both salvage treatment arms for CD20+ patients in a protocol amendment in 2005.
Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
Lymphoma | Biological: rituximab Drug: cisplatin Drug: cytarabine Drug: dexamethasone Drug: gemcitabine hydrochloride | Phase 3 |

Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Actual Enrollment : | 849 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Parallel Assignment |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Phase III Study Of Gemcitabine, Dexamethasone, And Cisplatin Compared To Dexamethasone, Cytarabine, And Cisplatin Plus/Minus Rituximab [(R)-GDP vs (R)-DHAP] As Salvage Chemotherapy For Patients With Relapsed Or Refractory Aggressive Histology Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Prior To Autologous Stem Cell Transplant And Followed By Maintenance Rituximab vs Observation |
Actual Study Start Date : | August 7, 2003 |
Actual Primary Completion Date : | July 29, 2013 |
Actual Study Completion Date : | December 2018 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
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Experimental: Salvage arm I
Patients receive cisplatin IV over 60 minutes on day 1, dexamethasone IV or orally on days 1-4, and gemcitabine IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 8.
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Drug: cisplatin
Given IV Drug: dexamethasone Given IV Drug: gemcitabine hydrochloride Given IV |
Experimental: Salvage arm II
Patients receive cisplatin IV over 24 hours on day 1, dexamethasone as in arm I, and cytarabine IV over 3 hours every 12 hours for a total of 2 doses on day 2.
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Drug: cisplatin
Given IV Drug: cytarabine Given IV Drug: dexamethasone Given IV |
Experimental: Maintenance arm I
Beginning on day 28 posttransplantation, patients receive rituximab IV once every 2 months for 6 doses (a total of 12 months) in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
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Biological: rituximab
Given IV |
No Intervention: Maintenance arm II
Patients undergo observation only.
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- Response Rate of Patients After 2 Courses of Chemotherapy [ Time Frame: After 2 cycle of treatment ]The overall response rate by arm is calculated as total number of responders (CR + CRu + PR) / (all patients in the ITT analysis population).
- Transplantation Rate of Patients After 2 Courses of Chemotherapy [ Time Frame: During period 1 (salvage chemotherapy) ]Transplantation rate is defined as the number of patients who respond sufficiently to protocol salvage chemotherapy to be planned for transplantation minus those who do not meet the endpoint of successful transplantation, divided by the number of all randomized patients
- Event-free Survival of Patients on Maintenance Randomization (Period 2) [ Time Frame: during the period 2 (up to10 years) ]Number of patients who develop EFS event during maintenance randomization (period 2)
- Toxic Effect [ Time Frame: 48 months ]Number of patients affected by adverse events graded according to CTC Version 2.0. See adverse event (others) for details.

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 16 Years to 65 Years (Child, Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
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Histologically confirmed aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of 1 of the following subtypes:
- Diffuse large cell lymphoma (includes primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and T-cell-rich B-cell lymphoma)
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Prior indolent lymphoma (e.g., follicular center cell lymphoma; marginal zone lymphoma, including extranodal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue [MALT] lymphoma; and lymphoplasmacytoid lymphoma) with transformation to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma at relapse
- Must be histologically confirmed
- No transformed lymphoma at diagnosis with subsequent indolent histology without transformation at relapse
- Peripheral T-cell lymphoma
- Anaplastic large cell lymphoma
- Small noncleaved Burkitt-like lymphoma
- T-cell or B-cell lineage confirmed by immunohistochemistry
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Clinically or radiologically documented disease meeting either of the following criteria:
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Measurable disease, defined as at least 1 bidimensionally measurable site of disease using clinical exam, CT scan, or MRI
- Lymph nodes must be > 1.5 cm by physical exam or CT scan
- Other non-nodal lesions must be ≥ 1.0 cm by physical exam, CT scan, or MRI
- Bone lesions are not considered measurable
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Evaluable disease, defined as only nonmeasurable disease, including any of the following:
- Marrow infiltration
- Cytology-confirmed ascites or effusions
- Bony involvement
- Enlarged liver or spleen
- Unidimensionally measurable intrathoracic or abdominal masses
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- Previously treated with 1, and only 1, chemotherapy regimen including an anthracycline and excluding cisplatin, cytarabine, and gemcitabine
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No uncontrolled CNS involvement by lymphoma
- No CNS disease at time of relapse
- CNS disease diagnosed at initial presentation allowed provided a complete response for CNS disease was achieved and maintained
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
Age
- 16 to 65
Performance status
- ECOG 0-3
Life expectancy
- At least 12 weeks
Hematopoietic
- Absolute granulocyte count ≥ 1,000/mm^3
- Platelet count ≥ 75,000/mm^3
Hepatic
- Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
- AST or ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN (5 times ULN if liver involvement with lymphoma)
- Hepatitis B status known (for patients with a history of hepatitis B or who are at high risk of hepatitis B infection)
Renal
- Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN
Cardiovascular
- No significant cardiac dysfunction or cardiovascular disease
Other
- Not pregnant or nursing
- Negative pregnancy test
- Fertile patients must use effective contraception
- Willing to complete quality of life questionnaires
- HIV negative
- No active, uncontrolled bacterial, fungal, or viral infection
- No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
- No other concurrent serious illness or medical condition that would preclude study participation
PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
Biologic therapy
- See Chemotherapy
- Prior rituximab allowed
Chemotherapy
- See Disease Characteristics
- At least 4 weeks since prior IV chemotherapy
- No prior high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplantation
Endocrine therapy
- No concurrent corticosteroids except for physiologic replacement
Radiotherapy
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At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered
- Exceptions may be made for low-dose, non-myelosuppressive radiotherapy
- No prior radiotherapy to more than 25% of functioning bone marrow
- Involved-field radiotherapy may be given to areas of bulky disease at relapse (≥ 5 cm) after stem cell transplantation, according to the center's policy
Surgery
- At least 2 weeks since prior major surgery
Other
- No other concurrent anticancer therapy
- No other concurrent experimental agents

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00078949

Study Chair: | Michael R. Crump, MD, FRCPC | Princess Margaret Hospital, Canada | |
Study Chair: | Massimo Federico, MD | Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Modena |
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
Responsible Party: | NCIC Clinical Trials Group |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00078949 |
Obsolete Identifiers: | NCT00089817 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
LY12 CAN-NCIC-LY12 CDR0000353203 ( Other Identifier: PDQ ) |
First Posted: | March 9, 2004 Key Record Dates |
Results First Posted: | October 21, 2014 |
Last Update Posted: | April 7, 2020 |
Last Verified: | March 2020 |
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement: | |
Plan to Share IPD: | No |
anaplastic large cell lymphoma recurrent adult Burkitt lymphoma recurrent adult diffuse large cell lymphoma angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma |
Lymphoma Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin Neoplasms by Histologic Type Neoplasms Lymphoproliferative Disorders Lymphatic Diseases Immunoproliferative Disorders Immune System Diseases Cytarabine Dexamethasone Rituximab Gemcitabine Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological Antineoplastic Agents Immunologic Factors |
Physiological Effects of Drugs Antirheumatic Agents Anti-Inflammatory Agents Antiemetics Autonomic Agents Peripheral Nervous System Agents Gastrointestinal Agents Glucocorticoids Hormones Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic Antimetabolites Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action Antiviral Agents |