Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) constitutes 6% of malignant primary central nervous system tumors[19]. PCNSL has a favorable response to treatment compare to other primary malignant CNS tumors. However, the prognosis is inferior to that of other subtypes of NHL, the median survival time for PCNSL is 26 months, with a 5-year OS rate of 35.2%[20]. High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) forms the cornerstone of current chemotherapy protocols for PCNSL patients[2]. Despite evolving treatment options, a standardized consensus on optimal therapy is yet to be established. Polychemotherapy regimens including rituximab demonstrated an ORR of 35–74%[5], but nearly half of patients experience relapse shortly thereafter[7].
A retrospective study conducted at our cancer center evaluated the effectiveness and safety of methotrexate (MT) regimens compared to rituximab in combination with MT (RMT) in newly diagnosed PCNSL patients[21]. The ORR of the RMT group was 93.7%, significantly higher than the 69.0% observed in the MT group. The 2-year and 5-year OS were 82.3% and 82.3% in the RMT group and 65.7% and 50.0% in the MT group, respectively. However, the CRR for the RMT regimen was only 53.2%, suggesting that the treatment regimens need further optimization.
BTK is a crucial component in the B-cell antigen receptor (BCR), Toll-like receptor (TLR), and chemokine receptor signaling pathways[9–10]. Activated BTK influences the downstream NF-κB signaling pathway, which plays a key role in the progression of B cell disease. In PCNSL, alterations in B cell receptor signaling pathway-related genes, represented by MYD88 and CD79B, mediate responses to BTK inhibition (BTKi)[22]. Ibrutinib, a first-generation selective BTK inhibitor, has demonstrated significant efficacy in relapsed/refractory PCNSL, though its sustained response rate remains low. Meanwhile, although a phase Ib clinical study of ibrutinib in combination with DA-TEDDi-R (etoposide, cytarabine, and liposomal doxorubicin) reported a high ORR of 86% (12/14), its toxicity was relatively high, and 5 patients died during treatment[10]. Therefore, the high-efficient and low-toxicity regimens need further exploration.
Orelabrutinib is a newly developed BTK inhibitor with high selectivity and a high concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid, a phase 2 clinical study of orelabrutinib in combination with a PD-1 inhibitor in relapsed and refractory PCNSL showed an ORR of 61.5% (8/13) after a median follow-up of 7 months with an estimated one-year PFS rate of 67.7%. Except for one case of interstitial pneumonia, no other grade 3–4 hematologic or non-hematologic AEs were reported, and the toxicity was mild. In addition, multiple clinical trials have reported the efficacy and safety of orelabrutinib in the treatment of PCNSL[16]. Based on the above results, we use a combination regimen of orelabrutinib, rituximab, temozolomide, and HD-MTX (RMOT) in our daily practice in treatment newly diagnosed PCNSL patients for better effectiveness and lower toxicity.
In our study, we found that the sequential use of orelabrutinib with RMT was well tolerated as first-line therapy in PCNSL. All patients were included for the evaluation of effectiveness. The CRR was 87.5% after the post-treatment evaluation, significantly higher than the 53.2% CRR observed with the RMT regimen[21] (P = 0.026) above. At the end of the follow-up time, 13 of the CR patients (13/14, 92.9%) maintained complete remission, with a median PFS and OS not yet reached and a 1-year PFS rate and OS rate of 90%. All reported adverse reactions were generally manageable and resolved with supportive treatment, and no treatment-related deaths occurred. These findings suggest that RMOT regimen offers superior effectiveness and lower toxicity campared to previous research and has the potential to become the standard of care for newly diagnosed PCNSL patients.
Furthermore, the current treatment guidelines for PCNSL recommend WBRT or ASCT as the consolidation therapy after chemotherapy[23–25]. Previous studies have demonstrated superior OS and ORR with consolidation[26]. In our study, 8 patients received consolidation therapy, unlike other stydies, 15 patients received orelabrutinib monotherapy as maintenance after RMOT therapy. Subsequent statistical analysis revealed no statistically significant difference in the effect of consolidation therapy on OS (P = 0.27) and PFS (P = 0.23), suggesting that maintenance therapy with orelabrutinib may provide a viable option for patients intolerant to consolidation.
Interestingly, in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), tumors belonging to the ABC but not GCB gene expression subgroup rely upon chronic active B cell receptor signaling for viability, a dependency that is targetable by BTKi[27–31]. A phase II study of ibrutinib in relapsed/refractory DLBCL showed a 37% response rate in ABC cases compared to 5% in GCB cases[30]. However, in our study, 5 patients of GCB type (n = 5, 31.25%), there was no statistically significant difference in the effect of COO type on CRR (P = 0.308), OS (P = 0.513) and PFS (P = 0.414). This result is inconsistent with the data of previous BTK inhibitors used in DLBCL, and we speculate that in addition to the anti-tumor effect of immunochemotherapy with RMT in these patients, PCNSL may have a unique mutation profile compared with systemic DLBCL, such as higher CD79B and MYD88 mutations, and the specific mechanism needs to be further explored and discussed.
Because our study is a single-center and retrospective study, it has the following limitations. First, the number of sample size is small. Second, the follow-up time is relatively insufficient. Therefore, more prospective studies with larger sample size and longer follow-up time are needed to verify the effectiveness and safety of RMOT regimen.