Naquotinib exerts antitumor activity in activated B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

•Naquotinib is an irreversible BTK inhibitor, originally designed for targeting EGFR.•Naquotinib showed faster onset and continuous inhibition of BTK phosphorylation.•Naquotinib showed higher concentration and slower elimination in tumor than in plasma.•Naquotinib induced tumor regression in ABC-DLBCL xenograft models without recurrence.•These suggest that naquotinib has therapeutic potential in the treatment of ABC-DLBCL.