Efficacy of Rituximab for Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of rituximab in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Methods The clinical data of CLL patients receiving fludarabine,cyclophosphamide±rituximab (with or without rituximab) regimen or cyclophosphamide,vincristine,and prednisone±doxorubicin±rituximab regimen in our hospital from March 2000 to February 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. Therapeutic efficacies and survivals of patients treated with different regimens were evaluated and compared. Results The complete response (CR) rate and the overall response rate (ORR) in 72 patients (43.6%) treated with rituximab were significantly higher than those treated without rituximab (38.9% vs. 21.5%,P=0.015;83.3% vs. 60.2%,P=0.001). The median PFS and OS for patients treated with rituximab were 53.0 (27.0-79.0) months and 112.0 (81.1-142.9) months,and the median PFS and OS for patients treated without rituximab were 28.0 (18.3-37.7) months and 89.0(72.0-106.0),but the results were not statistically significant (P=0.094,P=0.109). According to the cytogenetic features,patients were further divided into high-risk subgroup (with chromosome 17p deletion or 11q deletion) and non-high-risk subgroup. And in the high-risk subgroup,the ORR of patients treated with rituximab was 86.4%,which was significantly higher than that in patients treated without rituximab (53.3%)(P=0.012);in the non-high-risk subgroup,the PFS was marginally prolonged in patients treated with rituximab,but the difference was not statistically significant(P=0.050). Conclusions Compared with traditional chemotherapy,the chemoimmunotherapies with rituximab result in higher CR rate and ORR in CLL patients. In patients without 17p deletion or 11q deletion,the use of rituximab can marginally prolong PFS.