title: Prolonging remission with rituximab maintenance therapy.
abstract: Maintenance therapy using rituximab is currently under consideration as a means of prolonging remission in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A phase II trial using rituximab as first-line therapy followed by maintenance treatment was carried out in patients with previously untreated indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The overall response rate improved from 47% (7% complete response) after initial treatment to 73% (37% complete response) after maintenance treatment; median progression-free survival was 37 months. A similar study in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) also showed some improvement in response rates after maintenance therapy and a median progression-free survival of 19 months. The improved remission duration suggested in these phase II trials has been confirmed in a randomized, phase III trial performed by the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research. Patients with follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who had objective response or stable disease after a standard 4-week course of rituximab were randomized to either observation or further maintenance rituximab treatment. Median event-free survival was longer in patients who received maintenance therapy (23 v 12 months; P =.02). The toxicity of maintenance rituximab has been minimal in all trials to date. Although prolongation of progression-free survival has been shown in all completed trials, multiple other questions regarding maintenance rituximab are being addressed in ongoing trials. These include optimum schedule/duration, use after initial chemotherapy/rituximab combinations, efficacy versus retreatment at progression, and efficacy in other B-cell neoplasms.
authors.affiliation: Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, 250 25th Avenue North, Suite 110, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Hainsworth
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D000069283:Rituximab
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000069283:Rituximab