Ahmed M. Kabel^{1, 2,}, Ashwaq M. Al-Asmari³, Maha J. Al-Gamdi³, Rahaf S. Al-Qurashi³, Abeer A. Al-Shehri³, Arwa M. Al-Sudani³

Rituximab is an antibody targeting the CD20 receptor protein of B-cells, the immune cell responsible for specific adaptive immune system properties. In B-cell lymphomas, where the B-cell lymphatic cells underlie the lymphoma phenotype, the use of rituximab to specifically target and destroy B-cells is a relatively recent strategy for treating lymphomas. Indeed, even recently it has been determined that classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma can be treated by a special regimen of rituximab. Rituximab had such a pronounced effect on the survival rates of certain lymphomas that the survival outcomes have fundamentally changed. These outcomes have changed to the degree that prognostic tools used to infer survival rates have had to be overhauled. The exact molecular mechanisms of rituximab activity had recently been elucidated, and although heterogeneity in lymphoma response to rituximab exists, detailed molecular studies investigating this have as a result uncovered new molecular targets, such as CD55 and CD59. The above mentioned topics, as well as the toxicity of rituximab, the use of rituximab with supplemental treatments in parallel such as histone deacetylase inhibitors, radiation therapy, and the effects of rituximab on different types of lymphomas, are all reviewed here.

rituximab, lymphoma, patients