Mantle cell lymphoma: An overview from diagnosis to future therapies

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) entity. The translocation between chromosomes 11 and 14 is the cytogenetics hallmark of MCL. This translocation leads to the dysregulation of the CCDN1 gene, and overexpression of cyclin D1 which promotes cell cycling. Despite a classical phenotype (CD19+, CD20+, CD5+, CCND1+, CD10-, CD23-, Bcl-2+, Ig at the membrane, mainly IgM), MCL is not a homogeneous disease and several cytological, phenotypic, cytogenetic and clinical variants have been described. MCL represents 5% of NHLs with its incidence constantly increasing over the last years. Median age at diagnosis is 68 years. Stage III-IV disease is observed in more than 80% of patients at presentation, with intestinal and bone marrow being the most frequently involved organs, while the spleen is enlarged in half of cases. Intensive strategies including high-dose chemotherapy, followed by autologous stem cell transplantation have significantly improved the outcome of MCL patients. Median overall survival rate increased from 3 to 5 years during the last decade. At present, induction chemotherapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation is the standard regimen in younger patients. However, most of MCL patients will experience relapse. Thus, close monitoring of minimal residual disease (currently under evaluation) may represent a valuable tool for assessment of disease response during follow-up. Future innovative therapies that are being presently investigated in prospective trials include transduction pathways inhibitors, proteasome inhibitors, pro-apoptotic molecules, immunotherapy and/or radiolabeled immunotherapy, and will likely open a new era for targeted therapies in MCL. (C) 2010 Societe nationale francaise de medecine interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.