• John P Leonard, Morton Coleman, Jamie Ketas, Michelle Ashe, Jennifer M Fiore, Richard R Furman, Ruben Niesvizky, Tsiporah Shore, Amy Chadburn, Heather Horne, Jacqueline Kovacs, Cliff L Ding, William A Wegener, Ivan D Horak, and David M Goldenberg.
• Center for Lymphoma and Myeloma, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY 10021, USA. jpleonar@med.cornell.edu
• J. Clin. Oncol. 2005 Aug 1; 23 (22): 5044-51.

PurposeTo explore the safety and therapeutic activity of combination anti-B-cell monoclonal antibody therapy in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).Patients And MethodsTwenty-three patients with recurrent B-cell lymphoma received anti-CD22 epratuzumab 360 mg/m(2) and anti-CD20 rituximab 375 mg/m(2) monoclonal antibodies weekly for four doses each. Sixteen patients had indolent histologies (15 with follicular lymphoma) and seven had aggressive NHL (all diffuse large B-cell lymphoma [DLBCL]). Indolent patients had received a median of one (range, one to six) prior treatment, with 31% refractory to their last therapy and 81% with high-risk Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index scores. Patients with DLBCL had a median of three (range, one to eight) prior regimens (14% resistant to last treatment) and 71% had high intermediate-risk or high-risk International Prognostic Index scores. All patients were rituximab naïve.ResultsTreatment was well tolerated, with toxicities principally infusion-related and predominantly grade 1 or 2. Ten (67%) patients with follicular NHL achieved an objective response (OR), including nine of 15 (60%) with complete responses (CRs and unconfirmed CRs). Four of six assessable patients (67%) with DLBCL achieved an OR, including three (50%) CRs. Median time to progression for all indolent NHL patients was 17.8 months.ConclusionThe full-dose combination of epratuzumab with rituximab was well tolerated and had significant clinical activity in NHL, suggesting that this combination should be tested in comparison with single-agent treatment.

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