Follicular lymphoma: today’s treatments and tomorrow’s targets

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the incidence of follicular lymphoma has increased. Contemporary treatments include combinations of chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies, radioimmunotherapy, new targeted agents and stem-cell transplantation. Prognostic tools are becoming more important in helping clinicians and patients decide on the most appropriate therapeutic regimens. Gene expression profiling and biomarkers are promising additions to this armamentarium. When patients do require therapy, the addition of rituximab to chemotherapy seems to improve remission duration and may improve overall survival. Radioimmunotherapy capitalises on the capacity to target radiation directly to malignant cells, and is currently approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. Further investigation is needed to clarify the role of stem-cell transplantation in follicular lymphoma. Only well-designed clinical trials can provide answers to the many questions that remain regarding the optimal treatment and sequence of treatments for patients with follicular lymphoma.

Keywords::

• follicular lymphoma
• Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index
• gene expression profile
• haematopoietic stem-cell transplant
• non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• radioimmunotherapy
• rituximab

Notes