Mogamulizumab phase 2 in relapsed adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (Japan)

Adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma is usually resistant to chemotherapy, and most tumours carry the chemokine receptor CCR4. Mogamulizumab is a defucosylated anti-CCR4 antibody engineered for stronger antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. This Japanese multicentre phase 2 study gave it at 1.0 mg/kg once a week for eight weeks to patients with relapsed aggressive CCR4-positive disease; the primary endpoint was overall response.

Of 28 patients enrolled, 27 received at least one infusion. Thirteen of 26 evaluable patients responded, eight of them completely: an overall response of 50 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval 30 to 70). Median progression-free survival was 5.2 months and median overall survival 13.7 months. The commonest adverse events were infusion reactions (89 per cent) and skin rashes (63 per cent). An updated analysis of the 26 relapsed patients (Cancer Science 2017) gave a median overall survival of 14.4 months and found that patients who developed a rash of grade 2 or more did better, which the entity page describes.