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Adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy appeared feasible and well tolerated, producing toxicity comparable to other effective combined first-line regimens. Baseline circulating endothelial cells and AGTR1 expression are predictive of PFS and response.

Against a backdrop of global equity in cancer prevention and control, the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (INEN), a national reference center, has designed and developed innovative strategies and programs with the intent to meet institutional goals through health promotion interventions and cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatments that benefit the national population. The INEN Schools and Centers of Excellence have played an important role in the process of determining the results of these actions. The Center of Excellence in Cervical Cancer Training is an interventional pioneer that has applied a methodological design intended to improve health professional skills and has disseminated this model to other Schools of Excellence. Through this intervention, the skills of 12,194 health professionals trained by the INEN have been strengthened with respect to nationwide promotion and primary and secondary prevention during the period of 2012-2015.

PURPOSE Major progress has occurred in multiple myeloma (MM) treatment in recent years, but this is not seen in low- and middle-income countries. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively assessed the efficacy and safety of cyclophosphamide, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (cyclophosphamide 400 mg/m2 for 5 days, thalidomide 100 mg once daily, if tolerated, and dexamethasone 40 mg once weekly; in 28-day cycles) in patients with newly diagnosed MM treated at our institution between April 2008 and December 2012. Survival outcomes were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS Fifty-nine patients were found to meet the selection criteria. Median age was 56 years (27-78). Fifty-nine percent (n = 35) were male. International Staging System three was found in 24%. The median number of treatment cycles was 11 (range 4-12). After a median of 81-month follow-up (range 5-138 months), the overall response rate was 69.5%. The complete response and very good partial response were 5% and 32%, respectively. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 35 months (95% CI, 18 to 41). The 3-year PFS was 47.4% (95% CI, 34.5 to 59.6) and 5-year PFS was 24.9% (95% CI, 14.4 to 36.9). The median of overall survival (OS) was 81 months (95% CI, 33 to not reached). The 3-year OS was 63.4% (95% CI, 49.2 to 74.6), and 5-year OS was 57.5% (95% CI, 43.2 to 69.4). The most common adverse event was neutropenia (grade 3 and 4, 30.5%). Out of 23 patients eligible for stem-cell transplantation, 10 (43.5%) proceeded with autologous transplantation. Treatment-related deaths occurred in four patients (6.7%). CONCLUSION Cyclophosphamide, thalidomide, and dexamethasone achieves good response rates with tolerable toxicity, especially in patients age 65 years or younger representing a feasible approach for patients with MM in low-income health care settings.

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common variant of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) accounting for approximately 30% of the NHL cases worldwide. Previous reports have associated certain viral infections with the development of DLBCL such as HIV and EBV, both infections related with an aggressive clinical course and worse outcome. The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus regarded as the pathogenic agent for adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia. HTLV-1 is endemic in Japan, the Caribbean basin, South America, and parts of Africa. In Peru, up to 3% of the healthy adult population carries HTLV-1. As data on the impact of HTLV-1 infection in DLBCL outcomes is scarce, we aim to describe the clinical features and outcomes of HTLV-1-positive patients with a pathological diagnosis of DLBCL. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients diagnosed and managed for DLBCL at the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases in Lima-Peru between 2007 and 2019. Patients were evaluated for HTLV-1 infection at the time of diagnosis. Positive HTLV-1 cases were matched to negative HTLV-1 controls based on age, sex, and cancer staging. Treatment responses were assessed according to the Lugano criteria. Overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the Log-rank test to determine the impact of HTLV-1 infection. Multivariate Cox regression models were reported with adjusted Hazar Ratios (aHR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: A total of 192 patients with DLBCL were identified and had sufficient data for analysis. Seventy (37%) cases were positive for HTLV-1 infection and 122 (63%) were not. Table 1 summarizes the clinical features and outcomes of DLBCL patients according to HTLV-1 status. Overall, the majority of patients were ≥65 years (59%), had ECOG performance status ≤2 (95%) and were stage III-IV (51%) at diagnosis. One third (n=64) of patients had extranodal involvement with 71 affected sites of which bone marrow involvement was frequently found in HTLV-1-negative DLBCL cases (55% vs. 7%, p<0.001) and liver/gastrointestinal tract in HTLV-1-positive cases (48% vs. 9%, p<0.001). There was no difference among DLBCL groups regarding risk stratification based on NCCN-IPI score (p=0.394). With a median follow-up of 6.5 years, we found that in DLBCL patients, HTLV-1 infection had no significant impact in 5-year OS (HTLV-1-positive 40% versus HTLV-1-negative 42%, p=0.930) and EFS rates (HTLV-1-positive 33% versus HTLV-1-negative 32%; p=0.890) (Figure 1). Multivariate cox regression analysis could not identify HTLV-1 infection as a risk factor for higher mortality or disease progression (Figure 1). Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest case series describing the clinical characteristics and outcome of HTLV-1-positive DLBCL patients. A study from Japan on early stage localized (head and neck) B-cell-NHL (n=198, HTLV-1 seropositive n=21 and with DLBCL n=12) treated with radiotherapy and/or multi-agent chemotherapy found poorer prognosis on HTLV-1 carriers compared to non-carriers (5-year OS: HTLV-1-positive n=21, 49% vs. HTLV-1-negative n=177, 78%, p=0.007; Hiroaki et al BJH 2003). In this study, we included DLBCL patients with both early and advanced stage disease along with localized and extranodal involvement. We found that HTLV-1 infection had no significant impact on 5-year OS and EFS rates when using conventional therapy for DLBCL. Moreover, we did not find differences in relapsed and mortality rates. Further investigation is needed to confirm the potential impact of HTLV-1 infection in DLBCL outcome. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.