[The Reduction of CD4+ T Lymphocytes after the Treatment of Follicular Lymphoma with the Bendamustine Containing Regimen May Predict the Occurrence of Infection and Efficacy].

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness, safety, and related prognostic factors of the treatment of follicular lymphoma (FL) with a regimen containing Bendamustine.

Methods: The clinical data of 129 FL patients who were treated with Bendamustine containing regimen were collected from January 1,2020 to October 30,2022 in the Hematology Department of Lianyungang Second People's Hospital and Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital. The patients were divided into three groups: Bendamustine plus Rituximab (BR), Bendamustine plus Obinutuzumab (GB), Rituximab + Cyclophosphamide + Epirubicin / Doxorubicin + Vindesine + Prednisone (R-CHOP). The efficacy, safety and related prognostic factors of the treatment of FL with a regimen based on Bendamustine were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: The ORR was 98% for the BR group, 94% for the GB group, and 72.3% for the R-CHOP group, while the CR rate was 61.2%,70% and 40.4%, respectively. The ORR and CR rates of the R-CHOP group were statistically different from those of the BR group and GB group (P < 0.05). The 3-year PFS rate of the BR group, GB group, and R-CHOP group was 89.6%, 90.9%, 48.9%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in 3-year PFS between the R-CHOP group, BR group, and GB group (P < 0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference in 3-year OS（P ＞0.05）. Hematological adverse reactions were mainly bone marrow suppression. Lymphocytes and CD4⁺T lymphocytes decreased to the lowest level about 6 months after treatment, and the incidence of lymphopenia in BR group and GB group was higher than that in R-CHOP group, with a statistical difference (P < 0.05). The higher incidence of non-Hematological adverse reactions were pulmonary infection, EB virus infection, hepatitis B virus reactivation, and gastrointestinal reactions without statistical difference in 3 groups (P >0.05), and were all controllable. The Receiver operating characteristic of CD4⁺T lymphocyte count showed that AUC of BR group was 0.802, and the critical value was 258/uL; AUC of GB group was 0.754 with a critical value of 322/uL.

Conclusion: The treatment of FL with the Bendamustine containing regimen has good efficacy and controllable adverse reactions, but lymphocytopenia was significant after treatment, and the curative efficacy in combination with various CD20 monoclonal antibodies was different. The lowest CD4⁺T lymphocyte count can be used as a predictive factor for the occurrence of infection and efficacy of the Bendamustine containing regimen for FL.