title: New chemotherapeutic agents for non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.
abstract: Combination chemotherapy regimens achieve complete remissions in 60% to 80% of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas; however, the majority of patients will relapse, and resistant disease remains a problem. Attempts to identify new, effective chemotherapy agents have primarily focused on the development of analogues that, unfortunately, have uniformly failed to provide a substantial therapeutic advantage. Drugs with a unique mechanism of action are more likely to be successful; among these are the purine analogues (e.g., fludarabine, 2'-deoxycoformycin, 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine) and agents that can reverse clinical drug resistance. The number of patients who can be cured can be increased only by incorporating new agents into front-line regimens through carefully designed clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Investigations Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Cheson
mesh_terms: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015649:Pentostatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001084:Vidarabine Phosphate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001084:Vidarabine Phosphate; C042382:fludarabine phosphate; D015649:Pentostatin; D002945:Cisplatin