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December 15, 2008
Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator '06-'09) and colleagues at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, reported the success of a novel therapy regimen in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) patients. Previously untreated CLL patients were sequentially treated with the chemotherapeutic fludarabine, followed by chemotherapeutic drug cyclophosphamide, then the targeted therapy rituximab/Rituxan (a monoclonal antibody that destroys B lymphocytes). This treatment achieved an impressive positive response in 89% of patients, with a markedly improved 5-year survival rate of 71% compared with 48% survival for patients treated with chemotherapy alone. These results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.