Prospects for immunotoxin therapy of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The use of unconjugated monoclonal antibodies to treat patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by targeting specific antigenic determinants on malignant cells has been an area of intense laboratory and clinical research. Although occasional clinical successes have been seen, many limitations of such therapy have been identified, including the low endogenous cytotoxicity of most of the antibodies. More recently, investigators have attempted to employ monoclonal antibody-toxin conjugates (immunotoxins) to deliver specific cytotoxins to the lymphoma cell surface. This article describes the preclinical development of immunotoxin therapy as well as the initial results from selected Phase I and II clinical trials in patients with NHL. In addition, future directions are suggested for the use of these agents as adjuvant therapy and as treatment for patients with human immunodeficiency virus-related NHL.