Cancer Researchers Show Proof of Rituximab’s ‘Vaccine’ Effect

Researchers at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center recently provided a strong example of the primary mission of the Medical Center Strategic Plan: uniting excellent patient care with meaningful research. The lymphoma biology program showed the first-ever proof of principle that the drug rituximab may have an effect against follicular lymphoma (FL) similar to that of a vaccine against the flu.

Although Rituximab, a monoclonal antibody, has been prescribed for years and improved overall survival in FL, its mechanism of action had not been completely defined. The latest findings, published in the Blood journal by lead author Steven H. Bernstein, M.D. (pictured), suggests the vaccine effect is the result of many complex and interacting cellular mechanisms, ultimately resulting in the inflammatory death of lymphoma cells.

The laboratory study, led by immunologist Shannon Hilchey, Ph.D., looked at five patients and analyzed the immune response against the immunoglobin expressed by the follicular lymphoma before and after rituximab therapy. After treatment, four of the five patients showed an increase in cancer-fighting FL-specific T cells.

Additional studies with more patients are needed to show the correlation of immune responses to clinical responses. But if doctors can boost the immunological memory of the T cell response, patients might live longer.

The challenge, Bernstein said, will be to overcome the way FL tumors fight back by suppressing the immune system.

The Lymphoma Research Foundation Follicular Lymphoma Research Grant, and a SPORE in Lymphoma Grant, funded the research. Rituximab, which is known by the brand name Rituxan, is made by Genentech; Bernstein is a member of the Genentech Speakers Bureau.