Combination Chemotherapy and Pralatrexate as First-Line Therapy in Treating Patients With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To evaluate in a Phase II study a preliminary estimate of the complete response (CR) rate of a new chemotherapy regimen involving Cyclophosphamide, Etoposide, Vincristine and Prednisone (CEOP) alternating with Pralatrexate (P) as front line therapy for patients with Stage II, III and IV Peripheral T-Cell NHL not otherwise specified (NOS), Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALK negative), Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, Enteropathy associated T-cell lymphoma, Hepatosplenic gamma delta T-cell lymphoma followed by an optional stem cell transplant with high dose chemotherapy and Autologous stem cell transplant. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To evaluate partial response (PR). II. To evaluate overall response (CR+PR). III. To evaluate the safety and tolerability of the regimen IV. To assess the 2 year event free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) using this regimen. V. To assess the percentage of patients who proceeded with transplant. VI. To evaluate the ability to collect peripheral blood stem cells after this regimen. OUTLINE: Patients receive cyclophosphamide intravenously (IV) and vincristine IV on day 1, etoposide IV on days 1-3 or orally (PO) once daily (QD) on days 2-3, and prednisone PO QD on days 1-5 (CEOP administration). Patients also receive pralatrexate IV over 3-5 minutes on days 15, 22, and 29 (P administration). Treatment repeats every 42 days for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients with Complete Response (CR) or Partial Response (PR), per investigators discretion, may then undergo hematopoietic stem cell collection and administration of standard preparative regimen followed by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up for 2 years (transplant patients) or periodically.