The introduction of targeted
therapy in combination with
chemotherapy has greatly advanced the treatment of patients with indolent
lymphomas in recent years. Most commonly studied in patients with
follicular lymphoma, the
monoclonal antibody rituximab has not only improved the response rate and progression-free survival for both treatment-naive and relapsed/refractory patients, it is also beginning to demonstrate an improvement in overall survival. These benefits are challenging many of the standard treatment approaches in
follicular lymphoma and offer hope that treatment of the disease may soon advance from being palliative to curative. Ongoing research seeks to determine how best to use targeted agents in the setting of indolent
lymphoma, either concurrently with
chemotherapy or sequentially following the administration of
chemotherapy. Various studies aim to define the utility of
rituximab as a long-term maintenance treatment in several
follicular lymphoma settings, as well as its benefit in autologous
stem cell transplantation. In addition to these
immunotherapy studies, the use of
radioimmunotherapy is also being explored for its efficacy as a frontline and consolidation treatment approach. As additional molecular and targeted
therapeutics advance through clinical trials, future treatment strategies for indolent
lymphomas will likely involve the addition of these newer
therapeutics to immunochemotherapy based on the individual risk profile of a patient.