Monoclonal antibodies have made a significant impact on the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), and there has been a dramatic increase in clinical data regarding their use. The anti-CD20 antibody, rituximab, has shown substantial single-agent activity in both indolent and aggressive B-cell lymphomas. Rituximab is now standard therapy in relapsed indolent NHL, and it is the front-line treatment in combination with cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone chemotherapy for patients with large B-cell lymphoma. Combinations of rituximab with other cytotoxic agents or cytokines are currently being explored in a number of different studies, and some of these combinations show promise for the future. Other antibodies directed at different targets on lymphoma cells, such as epratuzumab, apolizumab, alemtuzumab, and galiximab, have also shown clinical activity in early trials. The radioconjugated anti-CD20 antibodies 90yttrium ibritumomab tiuxetan and 131iodine tositumomab also have significant clinical activity in low-grade B-cell NHL, and the former has demonstrated superior complete response rates when compared with rituximab. The challenge for the future will be to determine the place of each antibody in the treatment of NHL.
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Ansell et al. (2006) studied this question.