In Vivo Purging and Adjuvant Immunotherapy With Rituximab During PBSC Transplant For NHL
March 1st 1999Contamination of the peripheral blood stem-cell (PBSC) graft with lymphoma and residual disease remaining in the patient after high-dose therapy are two potential causes of relapse after autologous transplantation. Using a tumor-specific monoclonal antibody may be one way to purge the stem-cell graft in vivo and increase the efficacy of the preparative regimen. Rituximab (Rituxan) is an IgG1 kappa chimeric mouse/human antibody containing murine light- and heavy-chain variable regions and human gamma 1 heavy-chain and light-chain constant regions. The antibody reacts specifically with the CD20 antigen found on the surface of malignant and normal B-cells.