Safety and efficacy analysis of ibrutinib in 32 patients with CLL and various B-cell lymphomas: real-world data from a single-center study in Turkey

BACKGROUND: Ibrutinib is an oral irreversible Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Here, we demonstrate the efficacy and safety of ibrutinib using real-life data from patients with marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM), and follicular lymphoma (FL), especially in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). METHODS: This is a retrospective, observational, non-interventional, and single-center study on 32 patients who received ibrutinib treatment between January 2017 and March 2020 regardless of their diagnosis. RESULTS: Of the 32 patients, 11 had CLL and 21 had other B-cell lymphomas. Patients with CLL were prescribed ibrutinib for a median of 4 months (range, 2‒18). In this group, diarrhea was observed in 3 (27.3%), pneumonia in 3 (27.3%), and thrombocytopenia and/or neutropenia in 2 (18.2%) patients. The overall response rate (ORR) was 85.6 % [28.5 % complete response (CR) and 57.1 % partial response (PR)] in the final response assessment during treatment with ibrutinib. Among other types of B-cell lymphoma, seven (33.4%) of the 21 patients were diagnosed with MCL, 5 (23.8%) with DLBCL, 4 (19.0%) with MZL, 3 (14.3%) with WM, and 2 (9.5%) with FL, upon follow-up. The median treatment duration was 4 months (range, 1‒28) in this group. The most common adverse event was diarrhea 8 (38.1%) patients. The ORR was 66.6% (20.0% CR and 46.6% PR) in the final response assessment during the treatment. CONCLUSION: Ibrutinib is a good treatment option for CLL and other B-cell lymphomas, with an acceptable side effect profile, and high and promising CR/PR response rates. Ibrutinib treatment at an early stage decreases the burden of cytotoxic therapy in fragile patients, thereby, increasing their quality of life.