Radioimmunotherapy: mechanisms and clinical applications

¶ … radioimmunotherapy for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas. Section 1 - deals with the definition and the explanation of cancer, and how it affects the human body. Cancer is the way in which the cells that are always dividing and reproducing within the body, when there is a change in the orderly and organized method in which this takes place, react to the change by multiplying constantly and unabatedly, due to which there would be a lump formed in the region where the cells are deposited. This results in the formation of a so-called 'tumor'. This tumor can either be benign, meaning that it is non-cancerous, and malignant, meaning that it is in fact cancerous. Since it is a well-documented fact that cancer is not a disease with one single symptom and mode of treatment, this inevitably means that it can affect any part of the body, and the treatment for this disease would have to be based on the part of the body that has been afflicted with the cancer.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system that comprises the immune system of the human body. When this type of cancer is to be treated with any results, a combination therapy is what works best. The traditional CHOPS, that is, a treatment that is a chemotherapy combination comprising of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, Oncovin®, and prednisone, was the method of treatment that had been used until recently. It was after intensive research began to be conducted into more effective and better treatment methods that the treatment regimens of Zevalin and Bexxar were evolved. Zevalin combines cell targeting and cell killing in one package, and this is achieved through a combination of a monoclonal antibody that targets a cell, and a radioactive particle or in other words, a 'radioisotope', called 'yttrium-90' that kills a cell. This mode of treatment is a part of the radioimmunotherapy methods that are being researched today, when the practitioners of Nuclear Medicine use radioisotopes as part of the treatment regimens followed for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treatment.