Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Asia Pacific Clinical Trial Landscape

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common and aggressive subtype of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) worldwide. Germinal centre B-cell-like (GCB) and activated B-cell-like (ABC) are the two distinct molecular subtypes of DLBCL. ABC subtype has a poor outcome with a 3-year progression-free survival rate of roughly 40% to 50% compared to 75% with GCB. About 30% of DLBCL cases are double-expressor lymphomas, which have a worse prognosis due to the overexpression of the MYC and BCL2 proteins. (1) DLBCL has an aggressive clinical course, and patients frequently exhibit B symptoms like fever, night sweats, and unintentional weight loss, as well as rapidly expanding lymphadenopathy. Although the cause of DLBCL is typically unknown, the history of immunodeficiency is a major risk factor, and people with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a 100–1,000-fold higher risk of developing DLBCL than people without the virus. (2)