Non-Hodgkins in the News

A hopeful story in the news Monday about Non-Hodgkins.



Survival rates for NHL patients have increased fairly dramatically over the last ten years, with 5- and 10-year survival rates on the rise. The numbers are especially good for patients under 45 years old.



The rise is being credited mainly to a drug called Rituxin, which was the first one developed that uses antibodies to attack tumors directly. It is sometimes used by itself as an early treatment, though most often used with chemotherapy (for fNHL, the standard chemo mix is called CHOP-R, each letter representing a different chemo drug; the "R" is "Rituxin), often with "R-Main," Rituxin Maintenance -- infusions every four to six months after chemo is finished.

Rituxin works because it finds and attaches itself to specfic "markers" on the surface of cells. The marker os called CD20. Rituxin knows to target only "B cells," the types that gets infected in certain NHLs, including mine. It won't attack plasma cells or stem cells. Once it attaches, it triggers mechanisms that target this same B cell in other places.

Rituxin hasn't been around long enough to say it's the absolute cure for fNHL, but it's showing some great results. The news story has an image of Rituxin attacking a B cell:

Beautiful, isn't it?

Of course, I have to give the usual "Don't get too excited" warnings: first, the study looks at all NHLs, not just Follicular; and second, if it was an absolute miracle cure, we'd all have been given it by now.

Still, to end on a happy note: Follicular survival numbers are even better than the averages numbers presented in the article, which include more aggressive NHLs, in part due to its receptivity to Rituxin.

Rituxin is likely to be a part of my future.