A retrospective study evaluating the efficacy and safety of bendamustine in the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma

Bendamustine is approved in the United States for relapsed indolent lymphoma. However, it has not been widely studied in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients with MCL who were treated with bendamustine at three centers. The primary endpoint was overall response rate (ORR). Thirty patients with MCL received bendamustine, 25 for relapsed disease. After a median follow-up of 12 months, there were 15 complete responses (CRs) with an ORR of 83% (95% confidence interval [CI] 70-97%). Factors significantly associated with longer survival were achieving a CR and classical (versus blastic) variant of MCL. Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia occurred in 23%, 3% and 20%, respectively. There was one case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy 10 months after therapy completion. Bendamustine in combination with rituximab demonstrated a high response rate in this study of patients with predominantly relapsed MCL.