Successful treatment of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma with clarithromycin

TO THE EDITOR: Macrolide antibiotics (Macs) have been proposed as potential antineoplastic and immunomodulatory agents in addition to their primary role as antibacterial agents. They have anti-lymphoproliferative effects and are clinically applicable for treating lymphoid malignancies. Several previous reports have indicated that B-cell malignancies can be treated successfully with Macs [1,2,3]. With regard to T-cell lineage malignancies, we have reported previously a case of mixed phenotype acute leukemia, T/myeloid, not otherwise specified, treated successfully using clarithromycin (CAM), a Mac, in combination with prednisolone (PSL) [4]. Here, we report the first case of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) treated successfully with CAM in combination with PSL.