Annual International Primary CNS Lymphoma Collaborative Group Meeting

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Project Summary Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is an extranodal variant of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that is confined to the nervous system. The diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to PCNSL are different from those that are applied to other forms of NHL or to other brain cancers. The International Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma Collaborative Group (IPCG) consists of specialists from multiple countries and disciplines dedicated to the study of PCNSL. The IPCG holds an annual scientific conference at the American Society of Hematology meeting in which various research topics related to PCNSL are discussed. Experts on the topic under discussion are selected each year by an executive committee to chair the scientific conference. These meetings have led to multiple collaborative projects that have positively impacted the field and that have been published in the peer reviewed literature. The annual IPCG meeting is a critical forum for generating new ideas and approaches to this unique form of brain cancer and lymphoma. The 2018 conference topic is Immunotherapy of Primary CNS Lymphoma. Immunotherapy for lymphoid malignancies is an active area of investigation including for PCNSL, a subtype of lymphoma that harbors underlying genetic alterations that may confer higher susceptibility to immunotherapeutic strategies. Preliminary data from uncontrolled clinical trials or case reports suggest that immunomodulatory agents, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are active against PCNSL.