Rituximab effective for some types of relapsed Hodgkin's lymphoma

February 13, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's lymphoma (NLPHL), which expresses CD20, appears to be highly responsive treatment with rituximab, an approach that helps avoid late toxicities, according to German researchers.

"Our study shows that rituximab is effective in non-classical CD20+ Hodgkin's lymphoma, such as NLPHL, and therefore should be considered as a therapeutic alternative to aggressive salvage regimens," principal investigator Dr. Marcel Reiser told Reuters Health.

In a phase II trial, Dr. Reiser of the University of Cologne and colleagues studied 15 patients with relapsed or refractory NLPHL. Nine had stage I/II disease and 6 had advanced stage III/IV disease. They were treated with rituximab 375 mg per square meter in four doses, they report in the January 1st issue of Blood.

All but one patient responded; there were eight complete remissions and six partial remissions. The median time to remission was 33 months, and with a median follow-up of 63 months, the median overall survival point has not been reached, although one of the NLPHL patients has died.

"Based on our results," continued Dr. Reiser, "the German Hodgkin's Lymphoma Study Group has recently performed a phase II trial with rituximab monotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with localized stage IA NLPHL."