Michael L. Wang, MD, Professor, Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses results of the phase 3 SHINE study which evaluated the safety and efficacy of ibrutinib in combination with bendamustine and rituximab in patients 65 years of age or older with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma. These data were recently presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2022 Annual Meeting and were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in which B-cells become cancerous and form tumors in the lymph nodes that can quickly spread to other regions. It commonly affects people over the age of 65 who typically cannot tolerate intensive chemoimmunotherapy and stem cell transplantation, resulting in poor clinical outcomes.
As Dr. Wang explains, the SHINE study enrolled 523 patients 65 years of age or older with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma. All participants were randomly assigned to receive 560 mg ibrutinib QD or placebo in combination with bendamustine and rituximab for a maximum of six 28-day cycles. Participants with a complete response or partial response continued to receive maintenance therapy with rituximab every second cycle for a maximum of 12 additional doses. Ibrutinib or placebo was administered daily until progressive disease or unacceptable toxicity.