Chemo-Free in Follicular lymphoma

A quick post to share a quick video:

Dr. Gilles Salles, a well-known lymphoma researcher from Lyon, France, gave a summary of strategies for going "chemo-free" in Follicular Lymphoma. He gave a presentation at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the British Society of Haematology (BSH) and International Society of Hematology (ISH), held in beautiful Glasgow, Scotland recently.

In the interview, Dr. Salles mentions some of the problems with traditional chemotherapy use in FL: mostly, it doesn't cure it, and it has some terrible side effects. Newer, more targeted treatments tend to have fewer side effects, and might give us hope for a cure.

Some of the newer, non-chemo treatments include Rituxan and other monoclonal antibodies, immune modulators, and kinase inhibitors. As we understand more about Follicular Lymphoma, we see that the micro-environment is important, and while chemo attacks the cells themselves (along with other healthy cells), more targeted treatments help deal with what surrounds those cells. Mess with the micro-environment and you mess with the cells. Combinations of different treatments seem especially valuable.

You can watch the short (2.5 minute) video here. Not really anything new, but I always like hearing a Lymphoma Rock Star talk about what he sees as the future of Follicular Lymphoma treatment.