Dr. Jennifer Brown Discusses Rituximab and Ibrutinib in CLL

Jennifer Brown, MD, PhD, Director, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the use of rituximab and ibrutinib in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Currently, there are no biomarkers of response for either drug, Brown says. The nodal response rates are between 80% and 90%, indicating a small resistant population. There is current research being done studying potential genomic markers of resistance both upfront and upon progression. Brown says that chronic lymphocytic leukemia is not subtyped to analyze how patients might respond to rituximab or ibrutinib.