Canadian cancer trials group LY.17: A randomized phase II study evaluating novel salvage therapy pre-autologous stem cell transplant in relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—outcome of rituximab-dose-intensive cyclophosphamide, etoposide, cisplatin (R-DICEP) versus R-GDP

According to second interim results from the ongoing phase 2 Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG) LY.17 trial, transplant-eligible patients with relapsed/refractory DLBCL who received 1 cycle of R-DICEP (rituximab, dose-intensive cyclophosphamide, etoposide, cisplatin) experienced a 65.6% overall response rate, compared with 48.6% of patients who received 3 cycles of R-GDP (rituximab, gemcitabine, dexamethasone, cisplatin). However, this arm of the study was stopped due to higher rates of grade 3-5 toxicities and hospitalization among patients receiving R-DICEP.