Bortezomib in mantle cell lymphoma: comparative therapeutic outcomes

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an incurable, typically aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for 4%–7% of newly diagnosed non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases. Chemoresistance commonly ensues in MCL, and patients with this heterogeneous disease invariably relapse, underscoring the unmet need for better therapies. Over the past few years, several novel agents with promising activity and unique mechanisms of action have been deemed effective in MCL. Bortezomib is a reversible proteasome inhibitor, approved as a single agent for patients with relapsed/refractory MCL who have received at least one prior line of therapy. Addition of bortezomib to chemoimmunotherapies has demonstrated good tolerability and superior efficacy, both in the upfront and salvage settings, and recently one such combination of bortezomib plus rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone was approved as a frontline regimen in untreated patients with MCL. This review examines the role of bortezomib in a multitude of clinical settings and ongoing clinical trials designed to optimize its integration in the current treatment paradigms of MCL.