Leukine boosts rituximab effectiveness against non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

The revelation from the highly respected cancer investigation body has been made at the 9th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma and comes in the wake of a study of 39 patients with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), who were treated with a combination of rituximab and Leukine (sargramostim).

Fourteen of the 39 patients were treatment naive, while 25 patients had previous treatment for relapsed disease. Of the 39 evaluable patients, 36% experienced a complete response (CR), and the overall response (OR) rate was 79%.

Antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), an immune response that makes cancer cells vulnerable to attack by immune cells, and one of the mechanisms by which rituximab destroys cancer cells, was measured in 14 patients. Median incremental ADCC activity post-therapy was greater among CR patients (16%) compared with those who had a partial or neutral response (6%).

“It appears that sargramostim may enhance ADCC activity and thereby enhance the efficacy of rituximab, contributing to robust response rates including high complete response rates,” said Dr Peter McLaughlin, lead investigator and professor, at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

“The oncology community is constantly looking for new strategies to improve therapeutic outcomes in NHL, and the possibility of achieving this by combining two commercially available agents is exciting and warrants further study.”

Leukine is made by German pharmaceutical company Berlex, which is in the process of building a $60 million facility in Lynnwood in anticipation of manufacturing the anti-cancer treatment by 2008.