Modified DEP regimen as induction therapy for lymphoma-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: a prospective, multicenter study

Purpose: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), especially lymphoma-associated HLH (LA-HLH), is a refractory immune disorder with high mortality. There is still no consensus regarding the ideal treatment for LA-HLH.

Methods: We performed a prospective multicenter study (NCT04077905) to explore the efficacy of a modified DEP regimen as induction therapy for LA-HLH. Twenty-eight patients from 6 clinical centers in China were enrolled between September 2019 and July 2021. We evaluated the efficacy of the modified DEP induction therapy 4 weeks after the initiation of treatment.

Results: The results showed that the overall response rate was 89.3% (25/28 patients), whereby 28.6% (8/28 patients) achieved a complete response and 60.7% (17/28 patients) were in partial response. Ferritin and soluble CD25 levels were decreased significantly 4 weeks after the modified DEP induction therapy (P = 0.001 and P = 0.00016, respectively), while platelet count and total bilirubin improved significantly (P = 0.004 and P = 0.001, respectively). The 1-year overall survival rate of all patients was 34.5%, with a median survival of 6.5 months (range 0.5-19 months). Patients with LA-HLH who underwent a stem cell transplantation had a significantly better prognosis than those not achieving complete response 4 weeks after modified DEP induction therapy (P = 0.034).

Conclusion: Our study suggests that the modified DEP regimen is a safe and effective induction therapy for LA-HLH. Timely stem cell transplantation can improve the prognosis of patients with LA-HLH.

Trail registry number: NCT04077905. URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04077905?id=NCT04077905&draw=2&rank=1 .