[Current treatment for malignant lymphomas]

Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL), follicular lymphoma (FL), and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are three of the commonest subtypes of malignant lymphomas. Optimal treatments for these lymphomas should be chosen based upon prognostic indexes defined internationally and current available best therapeutic strategies. For patients with newly diagnosed HL, ABVD as standard chemotherapy is chosen in order to cure the disease and to reduce late toxicities such as cardiomyopathy and second cancers. Chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy is unlikely to cure patients with FL except early or limited disease, although their clinical courses are indolent. However, rituximab (RIT), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, will improve the outcome of FL since the results of several phase II and III trials of RIT alone and in combination with chemotherapy are promising. In treatment for newly diagnosed DLBCL, RIT combined with CHOP (R-CHOP) has become a current standard initial therapy based upon the superior results of R-CHOP from phase III studies comparing CHOP to R-CHOP. RCHOP has overcome several poor prognostic biomarkers such as BCL-2 and BCL-6 in DLBCL. In addition, novel treatment strategies combining RIT and intensive chemotherapy such as EPOCH for patients younger than 60 years of age will improve the outcome of these patients with poor prognosis of international prognostic index (IPI).