Role of Immunochemotherapy in CLL

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Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2006 Dec;6(12):1787-1800.

Role of immunochemotherapy in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic

leukemia.

Del Poeta G, Ilaria Del Principe M, Buccisano F, Maurillo L, Niscola

P, Venditti A, Amadori S.

Cattedra di Ematologia, Universita Tor Vergata, Ospedale S.Eugenio,

Via Fiume Giallo, 430 MA, 00144 Roma, Italy. g.delpoeta@... ,

Universita Tor Vergata, Cattedra di Ematologia, P. le Umanesimo 10,

00144 Roma, Italy.

Major advances have been made in our understanding of the biology

and opportunities for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in

recent times.

Newer treatment regimens incorporating purine nucleoside analogs

have increased the rate of successful remission induction in chronic

lymphocytic leukemia patients. Moreover, recent combination

chemoimmunotherapy regimens have produced more frequent complete

molecular remissions, and early evidence seems to suggest that this

could result in prolonged duration of responses, although this

association remains to be clearly demonstrated.

This review will summarize recent advances in the biology and the

management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, including prognostic

factors, pointing mainly on combination chemotherapy based on

nucleoside analogs and monoclonal antibodies.

In our opinion, in the future a significant improvement of clinical

benefits in chronic lymphocytic leukemia will be obtained through

the administration of cocktails of monoclonal antibodies combined

with chemotherapy in different modalities.

PMID: 17181492 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]