POST-PRESS: New Gold Standard in Leukemia Therapy

Daniel J. DeNoon of WebMD Health News reported on 30 September 2010 that a new gold standard in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) chemotherapy has been established. The new standard added Rituxan to the old standard chemotherapy, and so far raises three-year survival to 65 percent. "Nobody expected Rituxan to have such a dramatic effect in CLL," De Noon wrote.

CLL is the most common form of leukemia afflicting adults. Five out of 100,000 people get hit with it each year, mostly the middle-agers and elderly. About 8 percent of those with CLL, the high-risk group, lost the p53 marker in their cancer cells. This marker fortunately becomes CLL's Achilles heel that standard chemotherapy exploits.

Rituxan however does not work through p53, and cannot be used when p53 exists.

Rituxan is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that attacks protein CD20, which is primarily found on the surface of B cells. It can destroy B cells in the process. Chemically, it contains 6416 Carbon molecules, 9874 Hydrogens, 1688 Nitrogens, 1987 Oxygens, and 44 Sulfurs.

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