title: [Therapy of follicular lymphoma].
abstract: The treatment options for patients with follicular lymphoma have substantially improved in the last years, in particular with the development of innovative, antibody-based therapeutic strategies. Thus, the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab is one of the cornerstones in the therapy of follicular lymphoma today. It is used in combination with chemotherapy or as a single agent therapy for remission induction and as maintenance therapy. Encouraging results were also reported from monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies, which are conjugated to radionuclides and exploit the high radiosensitivity of lymphomas. An example for this is the anti-CD20 antibody ibritumomab tiuxetan, which is coupled to 90Yttrium and shows comparable activity to rituximab. Current trials are underway testing whether, for example, the sequential application of a rituximab/chemotherapy induction, myeloablative consolidation therapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation and rituximab maintenance further improves the therapeutic outcome in follicular lymphoma, or even has curative potential in a subgroup of patients with this disease.
authors.affiliation: Med. Klinik und Poliklinik III, Klinikum der Universität München-Grosshadern, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, München, Deutschland. Christian.Buske@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buske
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Unterhalt
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hiddeman
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000628:therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends; D016499:Radioimmunotherapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents