Randomized Phase III Study Comparison Between Conventional Chemotherapy and High-Dose Therapy Followed by Autologous Purged Stem-Cell Transplantation in Patients With Follicular Lymphoma Stage III,IV First-Line Treatment for Patients Younger Than 60 Years Old With a High Tumor Burden

Follicular lymphomas are a subgroup of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, accounting for 15% to 30% of newly diagnosed lymphomas.1-3 Median survival varies from 5 to 10 years depending on the prognostic factors at diagnosis and response to first-line therapy.4-6 Whatever the treatment, no plateau appears on survival curves, and virtually all patients relapse; follicular lymphomas are ultimately progressive, and fatal.2,3,5 No reference first-line treatment is clearly defined. One of the most active therapies is still doxorubicin-based chemotherapy with or without interferon.7-9 New therapeutic approaches including purine analogs and anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody are promising and are progressively included in the management of these lymphomas.2,3,10-13 The role of high-dose therapy (HDT) as a salvage treatment for patients with relapsing follicular lymphoma is demonstrated by some authors; several reports have shown the superiority of HDT followed by autologous stem-cell transplantation, purged or unpurged, compared with conventional chemotherapy in terms of no relapse and overall survival.14-18 Only a few reports have been published showing HDT results as a first-line treatment for poor-risk patients with follicular lymphoma, and the results remain controversial.19-26 These data prompted the French Groupe Ouest-Est des Leucémies et Autres Maladies du Sang (GOELAMS) to conduct a prospective randomized trial using patients with newly diagnosed follicular lymphoma with a high tumor burden. A combined doxorubicin-based chemotherapy associated with interferon was compared to front-line HDT followed by purged autologous stem-cell transplantation.