Journal
BRITISH JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY
Volume 117, Issue 4, Pages 828-834Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2141.2002.03535.x
Keywords
IL-2; Rituxan; follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; cytokines; ADCC
Categories
Funding
- NCI NIH HHS [CA 66996] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Rituximab has significant activity as a single agent in the treatment of follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Interleukin 2 (IL-2) is a lymphokine that increases effector cell number. In an effort to augment antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) associated with rituximab therapy, low-dose IL-2 was added to a standard rituximab regimen and patients were evaluated for safety and efficacy. Twenty patients with relapsed or refractory follicular NHL were treated with IL-2 (1.2 MIU/m(2) /d for 56 d subcutaneously) as outpatients. Rituximab (375 mg/m(2) ) was given on d 15, 22, 29 and 36. The regimen was well tolerated and only three patients required dose adjustments in IL-2. Infusional toxicity associated with rituximab was not exacerbated by IL-2. Peripheral blood immunophenotyping demonstrated significant increases in circulating CD8(+) and CD56(+) lymphocytes in all evaluable patients (P = 0.0002). Increases in total eosinophil number were observed in all patients. Eleven patients responded to therapy, for an overall response rate of 55%. Four additional patients had stable disease. For these 15 patients, the median time to progression exceeded 13 months. We conclude concomitant cytokine therapy to enhance ADCC with monoclonal antibody therapy was well tolerated and did not exacerbate antibody-related infusional toxicity. Further studies of this rational combination are warranted and ongoing.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available