Rituximab: expanding role in therapy for lymphomas and autoimmune diseases

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Annu Rev Med. 2004;55:477-503.

Rituximab: expanding role in therapy for lymphomas and autoimmune

diseases.

Rastetter W, Molina A, White CA.

IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation, 3030 Callan Road, San Diego,

California 92121, USA.

Rituximab (Rituxan) is a human-mouse chimeric monoclonal antibody that

targets the B-cell CD20 antigen and causes rapid and specific B-cell

depletion. Rituximab was approved in the United States in 1997 to treat

low-grade or follicular, relapsed or refractory, CD20-positive B-cell

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Since then, further clinical experience

with rituximab has been incorporated into the prescribing information,

which now stipulates an extended eight-week schedule, treatment of

patients with refractory or relapsed bulky disease measuring >10 cm, and

retreatment of patients who responded to rituximab previously. In 1998,

the European Union approved rituximab (MabThera) to treat stage III/IV,

follicular, chemotherapy-resistant, or relapsed NHL. Recently, the

European Union also approved the use of rituximab in combination with

standard chemotherapy for aggressive NHL. Many clinical trials have

evaluated rituximab, alone or with other therapies, in indolent and

aggressive NHL as well as other B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders.

New studies are evaluating rituximab's role in first-line therapy,

maintenance therapy, and stem-cell transplantation procedures. The use

of rituximab against autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis,

immune thrombocytopenic purpura, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, systemic

lupus erythematosus, and multiple sclerosis, is also under

investigation.

PMID: 14746532

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