Clinical study of l-asparaginase in the treatment of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type.

Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type, (ENKTL) is a rare distinct entity of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It is prevalent in Asia and Latin America but rare in North America and Europe. ENKTL represents an aggressive clinical course and a poor prognosis especially for advanced disease. There is no standard chemotherapeutic regimen for ENKTL. Recently, the efficacy of l-asparaginase in ENKTL has been confirmed. A series of l-asparaginase-containing chemotherapeutic regimens have been studied in clinical trials and have significantly improved the efficacy and prognosis for patients with ENKTL. This review will focus on pharmacology of l-asparaginase, the efficacy of a series of l-asparaginase-containing regimens in the treatment of ENKTL and future clinical study directions of l-asparaginase-containing regimens in ENKTL.