Low absolute lymphocyte count is a poor prognostic factor for untreated advanced follicular lymphoma treated with rituximab plus bendamustine: results of the prospective phase 2 CONVERT trial

The aim of this trial is to evaluate the utility of rituximab–bendamustine (R–B) for untreated advanced follicular lymphoma (FL) showing non-optimal response (nOR) to R-CHOP, and to identify clinical prognostic factors for FL patients receiving R–B. Patients who failed to achieve complete response/complete response unconfirmed (CR/CRu) [nOR-group] after 2 cycles of R-CHOP subsequently received 6 cycles of R–B. The primary endpoint was the 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate. Secondary endpoints included determination of prognostic factors. Fifty-six patients initially received R-CHOP, 43/56 patients (76.8%) were judged as nOR, and 33/43 patients (76.7%) completed 6 cycles of R–B. At a median follow-up of 50.6 months in the nOR-group, the 3-year PFS rate was 69.0%, and the 3-year overall survival (OS) rate was 92.7%. The most common toxicities associated with R–B were grade 3–4 lymphopenia (93.0%) and neutropenia (74.4%), both of which were manageable. A multivariate analysis including dose intensity, serum soluble interleukin‐2 receptor, and FL international prognostic index-2 revealed low absolute lymphocyte count (<  869/μL) at diagnosis was an independent poor prognostic factor for both PFS and OS in the R–B-treated nOR-group. This result was further confirmed in validation cohorts including R–B-treated de novo (n = 40) and relapsed (n = 49) FL patients.