Lenalidomide alone or in combination with chemotherapy treatment for subtypes of diffuse large B cell lymphoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Lenalidomide has been shown to produce durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In order to gain better understanding of the efficacy of lenalidomide and compared the difference in clinical outcome between two subtypes of DLBCL. Seven eligible trials involving 375 adult patients were included in this meta-analysis. The patients in non-germinal center B-cell (non-GCB) subtype had higher overall response (OR) rate compared with GCB patients (P=0.21). In subgroup analysis, as first-line and second-line treatment for DLBCL patient, GCB DLBCL did not show significantly better outcome compared with non-GCB subtype patients (P=0.96; P=0.27). More importantly, after lenalidomide treatment, the patients with non-GCB DLBCL did not show significantly worse progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with GCB subtype. Lenalidomide as treatments for DLBCL patients, non-GCB DLBCL patients did not show significantly worse prognosis compared with GCB DLBCL.