Outcomes of GDPT (gemcitabine, cisplatin, prednisone, thalidomide) versus CHOP in newly diagnosed peripheral T-cell lymphoma patients

Aim: To compare the outcomes of GDPT [gemcitabine (G), cisplatin (D), prednisone (P), thalidomide (T)] versus CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) in treating newly diagnosed PTCL (peripheral T-cell lymphoma). Methods: An open-label prospective clinical trial with 153 newly diagnosed PTCL patients conducted between January 2010 and December 2018 was designed. Patients were randomly assigned to the GDPT (77 cases) and CHOP (76 cases) groups. Patients in each group were further divided into four subgroups: PTCL, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS); anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma (AITL), and other types subgroup, in accordance with pathological patterns. Based on expression of RRM1, TOP2A, TUBB3, and ERCC1, patients were divided into groups with high and low gene expression levels. Clinical characteristics, side effects, efficacy, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were compared. Results: There were no significant differences in the basic clinical features or side effects between the GDPT and CHOP groups. The overall response rate (ORR) of the GDPT group was better than that of the CHOP group (66.3% versus 50.0%, p = 0.042), as was the complete remission (CR) rate (42.9% versus 27.6%, p = 0.049). Patients in the GDPT group had a longer PFS and OS than the CHOP group. The 4-year PFS and OS rates in the GDPT group were both superior to those in the CHOP group (63.6% versus 53.0% for PFS, p = 0.035; 66.8% versus 53.6% for OS, p = 0.039). In the GDPT group, the difference in CR between the four subgroups was statistically significant (p = 0.046). In the CHOP group, differences in both CR and ORR among the four subgroups were statistically significant (p