Update on follicular lymphoma

Abstract

The past two decades have seen remarkable progress in both biological understanding and optimizing treatment of follicular lymphoma. Historically considered an incurable disease, long-term follow-up of several induction approaches demonstrates that up to 40% of patients enjoy remission durations of 10 or more years, and risk of dying of lymphoma continues to fall. This update will focus on progress in follicular lymphoma over the past 3 years, which has included refinements in staging and prognosis, novel immunotherapy treatment approaches for relapsed and refractory disease, and long-term follow-up of pivotal trials. Ongoing trials will define the optimal sequence for these novel treatments, including whether earlier incorporation of these approaches may result in definitive cure of this disease. Through ongoing and planned correlative studies, we are poised to ultimately achieve the goal of a precision management approach to follicular lymphoma.

Keywords: bone marrow biopsy; follicular lymphoma; immunotherapy; long-term outcomes; prognosis.