Rituximab in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Rituximab is a class I chimeric anti-CD20 antibody that has shown efficacy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), both as a single agent and in combination with traditional chemotherapies. The modest activity demonstrated in early studies evaluating rituximab in relapsed CLL was improved with higher doses or more dose-intensive regimens that overcame the unfavorable pharmacokinetic features commonly found in CLL. These studies led to a variety of combination trials of rituximab with chemotherapy, where both phase II and later phase III studies have shown great promise for the advancement of CLL therapy. Despite the therapeutic success of rituximab in CLL, studies demonstrating the definitive relative mechanism of tumor clearance are still lacking and this requires further investigation. In addition to being used as a therapy for CLL, rituximab is an effective treatment for autoimmune CLL complications such as hemolytic anemia and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Patients with CLL may experience early infusion-related side effects that can be diminished with corticosteroid pretreatment and stepped-up dosing. Risk factors for infusion-related toxicity may relate to atypical CLL expressing bright CD20 antigen expression, although several different studies have not clearly implicated elevated white blood cell count as a risk factor. Other adverse events, including delayed cytopenias, reactivation of hepatitis B, and development of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, are rare. Future efforts focusing on novel combination-based strategies will be required to fully appreciate the benefit of this therapy in CLL.