Immunotherapy for lymphomas

Abstract

A growing list of immunotherapeutic strategies is now being employed to combat lymphoid malignancies. These efforts are warranted given that B-cell lymphomas, particularly those of the common follicular subtype, are among the most "immune-responsive" of all human cancers. Although systemic cytokine therapies for B-cell malignancies have been largely disappointing to date, monoclonal antibody therapies, principally the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab, have already made enormous impact on the treatment algorithm for many B-cell lymphomas. Therapeutic vaccines targeting the tumor-specific immunoglobulin idiotype have demonstrated promising results against lymphomas in phase I/II studies and are currently being evaluated in phase III randomized trials. Additional vaccine therapies being developed include those based on dendritic cells, recombinant idiotype proteins, DNA, heat shock proteins, and gene-modified tumor cells. It is hoped that immunotherapeutic agents, used in tandem or in combination, may someday allow effective treatment of lymphoid malignancies and delay or even replace the need for conventional cytotoxic therapies.