Creating a Collaborative Edge Through the MZL Workshop

Marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) is a rare type of lymphoma that presents unique challenges for researchers and clinicians.

Marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) is a rare type of lymphoma that presents unique challenges for researchers and clinicians.

CancerNetwork spoke with Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, and discussed the significance of the MZL Workshop and its role in improving patient outcomes. The MZL Workshop, hosted by the Lymphoma Research Foundation, provides a crucial platform for experts to collaborate, share data, and advance research in this area.

Vose, division chief, George and Peggy Payne Distinguished Chair of Oncology, Division of Hematology & Oncology, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, emphasized the difficulty of conducting clinical trials for MZL due to its rarity. These patients are often included in trials for other indolent lymphomas, limiting the ability to gather specific data and develop targeted therapies for MZL. The MZL Workshop is vital for bringing together experts from various institutions to pool their knowledge, analyze data, and design new clinical trials specifically for MZL.

The advancements in MZL research have been significant, with a focus on understanding the genomics and biology of the disease. Vose highlights the need for continued collaboration and data sharing to further improve patient outcomes. The MZL Workshop plays a crucial role in facilitating these efforts by providing a platform for researchers and clinicians to connect, exchange ideas, and work together to advance the field of MZL lymphoma research.

What is the significance of the MZL Workshop hosted by the Lymphoma Research Foundation?

Vose: MZL is a fairly rare type of lymphoma. It’s always good to get experts together to talk about new research, treatments, and discoveries. This is an opportunity to do that, which is difficult with such a rare lymphoma. The Lymphoma Research Foundation is great to be able to get experts together and talk about some advancements in this area, so we appreciate that opportunity.

How does the MZL Workshop contribute to advancing research and improving outcomes for patients with MZL?

Vose: Since it is such a rare lymphoma, it’s difficult to do clinical trials for MZL, and [patients] often are included with other types of indolent cell-growing lymphomas. It’s important to get different experts together to be able to collaborate, put their data together, and analyze some of these clinical trials through new research and treatments for MZL, and just try to put all of our heads together and make sure that we can understand the data and to formulate new clinical trials. With such rare types of diseases, this type of workshop is important for advancing the treatments and research into MZL.

Looking at the updates and advancements made in MZL over the years, what is something you think has impacted the field?

Vose: We’ve had the opportunity to use monoclonal antibodies and chemotherapy in MZL for a number of years, but the biggest area of research is understanding the genomics and the biology of MZL. Also, using some of our newer therapies, such as Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors, either alone or in combination, for MZL, has been one of the biggest opportunities that we’ve had, and that’s all through research that’s been done to understand the biology of the lymphoma. There are great opportunities to use our science to help patients.

Where do you hope to see the field advance in the future?

Vose: The biggest advancements have been in understanding biology and using some of these newer treatments to try to see if we can improve the outcome for patients with MZL. Since it is such a rare disease, we do need to work collaboratively and work on clinical trials together with a lot of different centers to try to pool our data. That’s important, and that’s how meetings like this bring us together to formulate new ideas and to put groups together to do clinical trials.

Is there anything else you’d like to add today?

Vose: This is just a good example of how the Lymphoma Research Foundation helps scientists and clinicians get together and formulate ideas [and] work together in clinical trials and research, and is an important body for helping us take the next step to cure our patients with lymphoma.