Biological Therapy: Monoclonal Antibodies

Biological therapy, also know as immunotherapy, bolsters your immune system to help your body kill leukemia cells or slow their growth. Biological therapy can be used to treat patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Patients with leukemia are treated with monoclonal antibodies, special proteins that are developed in a laboratory. They are similar to the antibodies that are produced by the immune system but are created to specifically react with certain types of cancer cells.

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Rituximab (Rituxan) is the monoclonal antibody used in treating patients with ALL. Other than the chance of developing fever, this drug has few side effects. Occasionally, patients with very high white blood cell counts can develop kidney problems because rituximab kills the cells so quickly that the body sometimes has trouble metabolizing all the breakdown products of the dead cells. This can overtax the kidneys.