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PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED UNTIL 2 pm, JUNE 21, 2004
Contact: Darren DiPatri
[email protected]
Office: 202-955-1242
Cell: 917-566-8873
Targeting Cancer: Combination Therapy Shows Promise in
Treating “Incurable” Form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
PHILADELPHIA, PA, June 21, 2004 – Follicular lymphoma, one of the more common forms of nonHodgkin's lymphoma, is a slow killer. Because it progresses slowly and with few symptoms, most
patients are not diagnosed until the disease has advanced to the point that it is considered incurable.
A new approach to treating this intractable cancer delivers a one-two punch that achieved complete
remission lasting longer than 4 years in 72% of the patients studied. The researchers from Wiell Cornell
Medical Center and the Center for Lymphoma and Myeloma, both in New York, N.Y., and Corixa Corp.,
San Francisco, California, presented their findings today at the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s 51st Annual
Meeting in Philadelphia.
Although follicular lymphoma cancer cells are very sensitive to radiation treatment, radiation therapy is
impractical because there is no clear target. The cancer sites are widespread, and some of them may be so
small that they are undetectable. The standard treatment for this type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is
chemotherapy and, recently, non-radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies; unfortunately, because the standard
therapies do not kill all cancer cells, the cancer usually recurs within a few years. Subsequent
chemotherapy sessions tend to be less and less effective.
The new approach combines radioimmunotherapy with conventional chemotherapy, which may augment
the antitumor effects of either treatment alone. First, a course of conventional chemotherapy kills many of
the cancer cells and shrinks the tumors; then, rather than wait for the almost inevitable relapse,
radioimmunotherapy is administered several weeks later to deliver the knockout punch.
Radioimmunotherapy is a new type of cancer treatment. A radioactive isotope of iodine (iodine-131) is
attached to a molecule designed to seek out proteins on the surface of the cancer cells (a monoclonal
antibody). The monoclonal antibody carries the radiation straight to the remaining cancer cells, where the
radioactive iodine delivers a lethal dose of radiation at the cellular level with minimal damage to
surrounding tissues.
The advantage of following chemotherapy closely with molecularly targeted radiation therapy may be
that, with many or most cancer cells destroyed by the chemotherapy, the full force of the radioactivity is
concentrated on the few remaining cancerous cells.
For the study, 35 patients with untreated follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were administered three
cycles of fludarabine. Six to eight weeks following the last round of chemotherapy, when the patients had
recovered from the expected side effects of chemotherapy, the researchers administered the Bexxar
2
treatment. Bexxar (from Corixa Corporation) consists of the monoclonal antibody, tositumomab, labeled
with idodine-131.
All patients completing the therapy showed at least a partial response, and 83% achieved complete
remission. With standard treatment, up to 60% of patients achieve a complete response, and most relapse
within 3 years. In this study, 72% of all patients treated are still in complete remission 4.4 years later.
While there is no “control” group in this phase II study, these findings compare favorably to standard
treatment regimens for this patient population.
According to one of the authors of the study, Lale Kostakoglu, MD, “the results are very encouraging. We
feel that the further evaluation of the addition of RIT to chemotherapeutic regimens for patients with
follicular lymphoma is warranted. This may be the future of treatment with radiolabeled antibodies.”
The Society of Nuclear Medicine is holding its 51st Annual Meeting June 19–23, 2004, at the
Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia. Hot topics for the 2004 meeting include
techniques for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease; advanced imaging for the diagnosis, staging,
and treatment of cancer; nuclear cardiology; and the collaboration between nuclear medicine and
bioengineering in the fight against cancer.