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Antibiotic maybe be effective treatment for ocular lymphoma
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The antibiotic doxycycline may be an effective treatment for lymphoma of the conjunctiva, lachrymal glands and soft tissue of the eye, a study found.
Andrés J. M. Ferreri, MD, of the San Raffaele H Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, and colleagues conducted the prospective, non-randomized study to evaluate a proposed link between ocular mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas and Chlamydia psittaci.
The researchers gave a 3-week course of 100 mg of doxycycline twice daily to 27 patients with either newly diagnosed or regressive ocular lymphoma. Prior to treatment, 11 patients tested positive for C. psittaci DNA and 16 tested negative.
At 2 years' follow-up, researchers observed complete lymphoma regression in six patients and partial regression in seven patients, for a total response rate of 48%. Of all patients, 20 showed no lymphoma progression, according to the study.
The authors said that doxycycline appeared to work in patients both with and without evidence of C. psittaci. Tumor regression was seen in seven of 11 patients carrying the bacteria and six of 16 patients without evidence of the bacteria. This suggests that current detection methods for C. psittaci are not sensitive enough or that other bacterial causes of ocular mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma can be interrupted by doxycycline, the study authors said.
The study is published in the October 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.