Is bendamustine an ideal partner for rituximab in the management of relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia? Results of a multicenter Phase II trial.

First-line chemoimmunotherapy approaches offer prolonged disease-free survival in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Despite the improved results with purine analogs ± cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) the disease remains incurable, and patients with CLL are destined to relapse after primary treatment. The prior therapy administered and the response, and duration of response to that therapy, are among the most important factors in determining the next therapy. Bendamustine, a bifunctional alkylating agent, combined with rituximab (BR) has been tested in patients with relapsed and/or refractory CLL in order to investigate the safety and efficacy of this combination. In conclusion, chemoimmunotherapy with BR showed interesting results, with the exception of patients carrying del(17p). Bendamustine appears to be a good choice for second-line therapy owing to its lack of significant cross-resistance with other alkylating agents or fludarabine.