CBV (chemotherapy)

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CBV
Specialty oncology

CBV refers to Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide), BCNU (carmustine), and VP-16 (etoposide), three drugs in a chemotherapy regimen commonly given to lymphoma patients in conjunction with stem cell therapy. [1]

CBV is usually given in high doses to patients who have relapsed or who have refractory disease and cannot benefit from standard chemotherapy. Since a patient's bone marrow is virtually guaranteed not to survive a course of CBV, the receiving patient must receive a transplant (allogeneic or autologous, depending on his or her condition) of stem cells (formerly referred to as a bone marrow transplant) to replace the patient's own hemopoietic ("blood-forming") stem cells. [2]

See also

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Lymphoma Hematologic cancer that affects lymphocytes

Lymphoma is a group of blood malignancies that develop from lymphocytes. The name often refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, drenching sweats, unintended weight loss, itching, and constantly feeling tired. The enlarged lymph nodes are usually painless. The sweats are most common at night.

Myelodysplastic syndrome Diverse collection of blood-related cancers

A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, so do not become healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may include feeling tired, shortness of breath, bleeding disorders, anemia, or frequent infections. Some types may develop into acute myeloid leukemia.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Medical procedure to replace blood or immune stem cells

Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood. It may be autologous, allogeneic or syngeneic.

Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma Medical condition

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) refers to a group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas in which aberrant T cells proliferate uncontrollably. Considered as a single entity, ALCL is the most common type of peripheral lymphoma and represents ~10% of all peripheral lymphomas in children. The incidence of ALCL is estimated to be 0.25 cases per 100,000 people in the United States of America. There are four distinct types of anaplastic large cell lymphomas that on microscopic examination share certain key histopathological features and tumor marker proteins. However, the four types have very different clinical presentations, gene abnormalities, prognoses, and/or treatments.

Cyclophosphamide Medication used as chemotherapy and to suppress the immune system

Cyclophosphamide (CP), also known as cytophosphane among other names, is a medication used as chemotherapy and to suppress the immune system. As chemotherapy it is used to treat lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, neuroblastoma, and sarcoma. As an immune suppressor it is used in nephrotic syndrome, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and following organ transplant, among other conditions. It is taken by mouth or injection into a vein.

Total body irradiation (TBI) is a form of radiotherapy used primarily as part of the preparative regimen for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. As the name implies, TBI involves irradiation of the entire body, though in modern practice the lungs are often partially shielded to lower the risk of radiation-induced lung injury. Total body irradiation in the setting of bone marrow transplantation serves to destroy or suppress the recipient's immune system, preventing immunologic rejection of transplanted donor bone marrow or blood stem cells. Additionally, high doses of total body irradiation can eradicate residual cancer cells in the transplant recipient, increasing the likelihood that the transplant will be successful.

Lymphoid leukemias are a group of leukemias affecting circulating lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. The lymphocytic leukemias are closely related to lymphomas of the lymphocytes, to the point that some of them are unitary disease entities that can be called by either name. Such diseases are all lymphoproliferative disorders. Most lymphoid leukemias involve a particular subtype of lymphocytes, the B cells.

T-cell lymphoma Medical condition

T-cell lymphoma is a rare form of cancerous lymphoma affecting T-cells. Lymphoma arises mainly from the uncontrolled proliferation of T-cells and can become cancerous.

ABVD is a chemotherapy regimen used in the first-line treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, replacing the older MOPP protocol. It consists of concurrent treatment with the chemotherapy drugs:

Aggressive NK-cell leukemia Medical condition

Aggressive NK-cell leukemia is a disease with an aggressive, systemic proliferation of natural killer cells and a rapidly declining clinical course.

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a serious chronic leukemia that affects children mostly aged 4 and younger. The name JMML now encompasses all diagnoses formerly referred to as juvenile chronic myeloid leukemia (JCML), chronic myelomonocytic leukemia of infancy, and infantile monosomy 7 syndrome. The average age of patients at diagnosis is 2 years old. The World Health Organization has included JMML in the category of myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative disorders.

Mantle cell lymphoma Medical condition

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), comprising about 6% of NHL cases. There are only about 15,000 patients presently in the United States with mantle cell lymphoma. It is named for the mantle zone of the lymph nodes.

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia Medical condition

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is life-threatening leukemia in which malignant megakaryoblasts proliferate abnormally and injure various tissues. Megakaryoblasts are the most immature precursor cells in a platelet-forming lineage; they mature to promegakaryocytes and, ultimately, megakaryocytes which cells shed membrane-enclosed particles, i.e. platelets, into the circulation. Platelets are critical for the normal clotting of blood. While malignant megakaryoblasts usually are the predominant proliferating and tissue-damaging cells, their similarly malignant descendants, promegakaryocytes and megakaryocytes, are variable contributors to the malignancy.

Acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML) is a form of acute myeloid leukemia that involves a proliferation of CFU-GM myeloblasts and monoblasts. AMML occurs with a rapid increase amount in white blood cell count and is defined by more than 20% of myeloblast in the bone marrow. It is classified under "M4" in the French-American-British classification (FAB). It is classified under "AML, not otherwise classified" in the WHO classification.

Subcutaneous T-cell lymphoma is a cutaneous condition that most commonly presents in young adults, and is characterized by subcutaneous nodules. Common symptoms include fever, fatigue, and pancytopenia.

Childhood leukemia Medical condition

Childhood leukemia is leukemia that occurs in a child and is a type of childhood cancer. Childhood leukemia is the most common childhood cancer, accounting for 29% of cancers in children aged 0–14 in 2018. There are multiple forms of leukemia that occur in children, the most common being acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) followed by acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Survival rates vary depending on the type of leukemia, but may be as high as 90% in ALL.

High-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant (HDC/BMT), also high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplant, was an ineffective treatment regimen for metastatic breast cancer, and later high-risk breast cancer, that was considered promising during the 1980s and 1990s. With an overall idea that more is better, this process involved taking cells from the person's bone marrow to store in a lab, then to give such high doses of chemotherapy drugs that the remaining bone marrow was destroyed, and then to inject the cells taken earlier back into the body as replacement. It was ultimately determined to be no more effective than normal treatment, and to have significantly higher side effects, including treatment-related death.

FLAG is a chemotherapy regimen used for relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The acronym incorporates the three primary ingredients of the regimen:

  1. Fludarabine: an antimetabolite that, while not active toward AML, increases formation of an active cytarabine metabolite, ara-CTP, in AML cells;
  2. Arabinofuranosyl cytidine : an antimetabolite that has been proven to be the most active toward AML among various cytotoxic drugs in single-drug trials; and
  3. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF): a glycoprotein that shortens the duration and severity of neutropenia.

Microtransplantation(MST) is an advanced technology to treat malignant hematological diseases and tumors by infusing patients with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) mobilized human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched allogeneic peripheral blood stem cells following a reduced-intensity chemotherapy or targeted therapy. The term "microtransplantation" comes from its mechanism of reaching donor cell microchimerism. Chemotherapy is used by lower doses only to destroy cancer and partially suppress patient’s immune system, which will be reinitiated by donor’s stem cells soon after transplantation, and will play a role as recipient-versus-tumor (RVT) effect combining donor cells’ graft-versus-tumor (GVT) effect. Donor’s stem cells, which have been processed, will also accelerate functional recovery of recipient’s hematopoietic stem cells, greatly reducing infections and transplant-related mortality. Practices of microtransplantation has shown none graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) till present, thus immunosuppressive drugs for relieving GVHD wouldn't be necessary. Possible mechanisms of the successful avoidance of GVHD include donor cell microchimerism, less-toxic cells processed prior to transplantation, and the preservation of host immune system that is capable of resisting the GVH alloresponse. Moreover, as HLA-mismatched stem cells are employed, donor availability is extremely extended.

Guo Mei is a hematologist and associate director of 307th Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army and deputy director of Radiation Research Institute.

References

  1. Skeel, Roland T. Handbook of Cancer Chemotherapy, 6th Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2003. Page 172-3, Table 5.4: "Common preparative regimens for high-dose therapy without total-body irradiation."
  2. "Alternatives to Blood Transfusions for Patients." Penn Online Today. Jan./Feb. 2004. <http://www.pennhealth.com/phys_forum/pto/jan_feb04/blood.html">