Future therapeutic options for patients with Waldenstr öm Macroglobulinemia

Publication date: Available online 14 September 2016 Source:Best Practice & Research Clinical Haematology Author(s): Jorge J. Castillo, Zachary R. Hunter, Guang Yang, Kimon Argyropoulos, M. Lia Palomba, Steven P. Treon Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare lymphoma characterized by the accumulation of IgM-producing lymphoplasmacytic cells. Although WM patients can experience prolonged remissions, the disease invariably recurs. Therefore, novel treatments associated with higher success rates and lower toxicity profiles are needed. The discovery of recurrent mutations in the MYD88 and CXCR4 genes has unraveled potential therapeutic targets in WM patients. As a result of these findings and based on the design and execution of a prospective clinical trial, the FDA granted approval to ibrutinib, an oral Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, to treat patients with symptomatic WM. The present review focuses on potential therapies that could change the landscape of treatment of patients with WM, specifically focusing on inhibitors or antagonists or the proteasome, BTK, CD38, BCL2 and the CXCR4 and MYD88 genes themselves. Novel agents with novel mechanisms of action should be evaluated in the context of carefully designed clinical trials.
Source: Best Practice and Research Clinical Haematology - Category: Hematology Source Type: research