Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies as novel treatments for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) offer new options for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, needed because existing therapies have many limitations. The unconjugated, chimeric anti-CD20 antibody, Rituximab (MabThera(R), Rituxan(R)), has recently been approved in the USA for patients with relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular, B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and in Europe for therapy of relapsed stage III/IV follicular lymphoma. In the pivotal study of Rituximab, an overall response rate of 50% was achieved with median time to progression in responders of 13.2 months. Studies are ongoing with the 90Y-labelled murine anti-CD20 antibody, IDEC-Y2B8. The response rate in a Phase I/II study in low-grade and intermediate-grade patients was 67%.