Risk of infection in patients with lymphoma receiving rituximab : systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The addition of Rituximab (R) to standard chemotherapy (C) has been reported to improve the end of treatment outcome in patients affected by CD-20 positive malignant lymphomas (CD20+ ML). Nevertheless, given the profound and prolonged immunosuppression produced by R there are concerns that severe infections may arise. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to determine whether or not the addition of R to C may increase the risk of severe infections in adults undergoing induction therapy for CD20+ ML.

METHODS: Only randomised controlled trials comparing R-C to C standard alone in adult patients with CD20+ ML were included. Meta-analysis was performed on overall incidence of severe infection, risk of dying as the consequence of infection, risk of febrile neutropenia, risk of severe leucopenia, risk of severe granulocytopenia and overall response assuming a fixed effect model. Heterogeneity was investigated, if present and I2 >20%, according to several predefined baseline characteristics of the study populations.

RESULTS: Several relevant results have emerged. First, the addition of R to standard C does not increase the overall risk of severe infections (RR = 1.00; 95% CI 0.87 to 1.14) nor does it increase the risk of dying as a consequence of infection (RR = 1.60; 95% CI 0.68 to 3.75). Second, we confirmed that the addition of R to standard C increases the proportion of overall response (RR = 1.12; 95% CI 1.09 to 1.15), but it also increases the risk of severe leucopenia (RR = 1.24; 95% CI 1.12 to 1.37) and granulocytopenia (RR = 1.07; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.12).

CONCLUSIONS: R-C is superior to standard C in terms of overall response and it does not increase the overall incidence of severe infection. However, data on special groups of patients (for example, HIV positive subjects and HBV carriers) are lacking. In our opinion more studies are needed to explore the potential effect of R on silent and chronic viral infections.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2011

Erschienen:

2011

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:9

Enthalten in:

BMC medicine - 9(2011) vom: 12. Apr., Seite 36

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Lanini, Simone [VerfasserIn]
Molloy, Aoife C [VerfasserIn]
Fine, Paul E [VerfasserIn]
Prentice, Archibald G [VerfasserIn]
Ippolito, Giuseppe [VerfasserIn]
Kibbler, Christopher C [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

4F4X42SYQ6
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived
Antineoplastic Agents
Immunologic Factors
Journal Article
Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review
Rituximab
Systematic Review

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 25.07.2011

Date Revised 20.10.2021

published: Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1186/1741-7015-9-36

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM207362637