Current Research

Research for NHL is ongoing. The following advances may still be under investigation in clinical trials and may not be approved or available at this time. Always discuss all diagnostic and treatment options with your doctor.

Vaccines. Several vaccines are now being evaluated in clinical trials, mostly for low-grade lymphoma. They are not intended to prevent lymphoma but to reduce the chance that a lymphoma will recur after treatment. In this type of vaccine treatment, doctors take a sample of an affected lymph node and use it to develop a vaccine. The lymphoma is then treated with chemotherapy. After the end of treatment, a series of injections of the vaccine are given, which may boost the body’s immunity against tumor cells. Results using this approach have varied and research is still continuing to make better vaccines.

Gene profiling. As scientists learn more about the genetics and the specific role that gene mutations play in cancer formation, they are better able to classify and diagnose subtypes of NHL. These techniques can help estimate prognosis for patients with certain types of lymphoma. These techniques are used primarily in lymphoma research, but in the next few years it is likely that therapies will be designed that work against specific genetic changes and counteract their effects.

Immunotherapy. Many new antibodies are being developed that boost the body’s natural defenses against cancer. Some use antibodies that attach to the surface of tumor cells. Some have radioactive substances attached that can direct radiation treatment to the lymphoma. This form of treatment is known as radioimmunotherapy.

Targeted therapies. There are many new targeted treatments for lymphoma in early clinical trials and under evaluation in the laboratory. Targeted therapies are drugs that have been developed against specific genes or proteins within the lymphoma cells that are thought to be important in the development of cancer. It is hoped that because these drugs are directed against very specific targets that found only in lymphoma cells, they will have fewer side effects than chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Other advances. Different combinations of chemotherapy agents and different chemotherapy schedules (sometimes with antibodies or radiolabeled antibodies) are being investigated in clinical trials. Also, many new drugs that work differently from standard chemotherapy are now being evaluated in clinical trials. The use of different types of stem cell transplantation, including allogeneic or mini-allogeneic transplants, is also being tested in patients with newly diagnosed disease, and in those who have had a recurrence after the first-line treatment. For many types of lymphoma, the best way to use stem cell transplantation is still uncertain, which is why clinical trials of this approach are in progress.