What Drugs Are Used in Chemotherapy for Lymphoma?

Several different chemotherapy drugs are used in the treatment of different subtypes of lymphoma, sometimes alone and other times in combination chemotherapy regimens.

The drugs a person receives depend entirely on his or her diagnosis, age and overall health.

Combination chemotherapy regimens are referred to by acronyms, with each letter representing a chemotherapeutic drug. Here we'll look at the drugs frequently used against diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma. You can read more about each of the drugs by clicking on the name of the regimen.

Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most frequently diagnosed B-cell lymphoma. It has three separate subtypes of its own. It is generally an aggressive disease, and frontline chemotherapy generally results in a cure about 50 percent of the time. There are two chemotherapy regimens and drugs involved in frontline therapy.

The R-CHOP regimen includes:

• Cyclophosphamide
• Doxorubicin
• Oncovin (vincristine)
• Prednisone
• Rituxan

The EPOCH regimen includes:

• Etoposide
• Prednisone
• Cyclophosphamide
• Oncovin (vincristine)
• Doxorubicin

Follicular Lymphoma

Follicular lymphoma is an indolent B-cell disease. It is sometimes treated with the R-CHOP regimen mentioned above, but that is not used very often against this disease. Sometimes a patient simply receives Rituxan, other times just radiotherapy, and other times nothing at all. There is another two-drug combination being used with greater and greater frequency in indolent B-cell lymphomas: Rituxan plus Treanda (bendamustine).

Hodgkin's Lymphoma

There are three primary combination chemotherapy regimens used in the treatment of most cases of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The ABVD regimen includes:

• Adriamycin
• Bleomycin
• Vinblastine
• Dacarbazine

The Stanford V regimen includes:

• Doxorubicin
• Vinblastine
• Mechlorethamine
• Vincristine
• Bleomycin
• Etoposide
• Prednisone

The BEACOPP regimen includes:

• Bleomycin
• Etoposide
• Adriamycin
• Cyclophosphamide
• Oncovin (vincristine)
• Procarbazine
• Prednisone

Those are frontline treatments. In the event Hodgkin's recurs in a patient, he or she may receive the antibody drug conjugate Adcetris.