Lymphoma Treatments in the News

I like to stay up on new cancer treatments, especially those related to lymphoma. And I like all of you to be just as informed. So, a couple of positive items for you.

*************************


First, a press release from Cell Therapeutics, Inc., announcing their quarterly earnings. Not to go all Wall Street Journal on you, but it's important that their revenues for the second quarter of 2008 were $2.9 million, compared to $20,000 from the previous year's 2Q. Why? Because they make a radioimmunotherapy called Zevalin. I've mentioned this therapy before: it takes a Rituxin-like antibody that can recognize the CD20 protein that is unique to a malignant lymphoma cell (and isn't present on healthy cells), and adds a tiny dose of radiation to it, zapping the malignant cells. Most lymphoma treatments become less and less effective each time they are used, so they're only used once. But there is evidence that treatments like Zevalin (and a similar drug called Bexxar) actually work better with each application. (Though that needs wider testing.)


Zevalin is the treatment most often given to people who have had a failed stem cell/bone marrow transplant. It's a very important treatment for people who seem to be running out of hope. It's come very close to being pulled from the market -- not because it doesn't work, but because it's a pain in the butt to administer (it requires a large team of specialists -- oncologists, radiologists, nuclear med specialists), and insurance companies have been reluctant to pay for it. The Medicare bill that was recently passed by Congress includes payments for treatments like Zevalin; had it failed, this treatment would have probably been pulled from the market.


But Cell Therapeutics made some money in the spring, so it looks like Zevalin will be here to stay. Which is a very good thing.


****************************


The second bit of treatment news has to do with something called a BiTE therapy. Here's a nice link to explain how BiTE therapies work. Some background: The body fights off viruses, bacterial infections, and any other foreign invaders through two types of white blood cells: T cells and B cells. When they stop working normally (by, say, not turning themselves off after they've done their job, you get Lymphoma. There are T cell lymphomas (which is what Mr. T had), and B cell lymphomas, like follicular NHL.

BiTE therapies basically involve T cells. In general, cancer happens when T cells don't work as they should, and the malignancy grows without interference. BiTE therapies redirect the T cells to attack the malignancies that might otherwise escape their grasp. They work kind of like Rituxin, in that they target specific B cell proteins. The particular drug that has been in the news recently is called Blinatumomab. ) It binds a B cell to one side of itself and a T cell to the other side, ensuring that the T cell will do its job. The downside, as they are learning as they test the therapy, is that healthy B cells are also targeted. Since healthy B cells fight off infection, the patient's immune system is lowered. (This is common to many lymphoma therapies.)

For now, the Blinatumomab is still in clinical trials, but it does look very promising, doing an excellent job on 38 NHL patients who had already had several treatments that failed.

Confusing? Basically, it all means that a therapy is being developed that will allow the body's own defenses to work better in fighting off lymphoma. (I'd give you the link to the article in the August 15 issue of Science, but I can't get it to work.)

*******************************

So now you're up to speed.