Trial Information

Role of Rituximab Containing Salvage Chemotherapy and in Vivo Purging in Obtaining PCR Negative Leukapheresis Product in Patients With Relapsed Follicular Lymphoma or Transplant Eligible Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Following the first relapse, patients with follicular type of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma may
have an option to receive high dose chemotherapy followed by autologous (from you) blood
stem cell transplantation. One of the common causes of relapse is persistence of lymphoma
cells in the bone marrow and in the collected stem cell products.

Patients who do not have a complete response after traditional chemotherapy, have a greater
chance of the lymphoma returning even after receiving high dose chemotherapy with stem cell
transplantation. In order to improve the response and decrease the relapse rate, additional
therapy may be used to kill the lymphoma cells by using antibodies both before and after the
transplantation. Antibodies are protein made by white cells in our body to fight off
infection and sometimes tumor. Rituxan (rituximab) is an antibody that is effective against
your type of lymphoma. Researchers have reported that patients show an improved response and
a lower chance of relapse when using rituximab with high dose chemotherapy with autologous
stem cell transplantation. It is unknown how effective rituximab is in clearing persistence
of minimal remaining disease in patients with follicular lymphoma.