Treatment of Mature T-Cell Lymphomas

This content has been reviewed and approved by

James O. Armitage, MD
The Joe Shapiro Professor of Internal Medicine
Section of Oncology/Hematology
University of Nebraska Medical Center

For most T-cell lymphomas, the treatments are suboptimal. Only anaplastic large T-cell lymphoma that overexpresses the ALK protein has a very high complete remission and survival rate. In this disease the use of a regimen, such as CHOP, will cure most patients.

Unfortunately, treatments for most of the other T-cell lymphomas are currently not as effective as for B-cell lymphomas. Patients usually receive CHOP, but the chances for a good outcome are much less.

Research currently ongoing is likely to dramatically improve our ability to treat patients with these unusual disorders. A number of drugs, including gemcitabine, denileukin diftitox, cyclosporine, interferon, pralatrexate and others, have shown favorable effects, and allogeneic bone marrow transplants can be effective. The next several years will almost certainly see an improvement in our ability to help patients with these diseases.