The utility of bexarotene in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome

Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is an umbrella term that encompasses a group of neoplasms that have atypical T-lymphocytes in the skin. Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common type of CTCL and Sézary syndrome (SS) is the leukemic form. Treatment for CTCL is dependent on the stage of disease and response to previous therapy. Therapy is divided into skin-directed treatment, which tends to be first line for early-stage disease, and systemic therapy, which is reserved for refractory CTCL. Bexarotene is a rexinoid and was licensed in Europe in 2002 for use in patients with advanced disease that have been refractory to a previous systemic treatment. We review the use of bexarotene as monotherapy and in combination with other treatments.