UPDATE: Bongino specified that he has been diagnosed with HODGKIN’S -type Lymphoma, a much more rare type than the non-hodgkin’s type described here. Key differences include that it moves through the body in a more ‘organized’ way, which makes it more likely to be diagnosed early (which is good), and that it has considerably better 5-year survival rate of 90%.
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is one of the most prevalent forms of cancer in the US. With an estimated 74,680 new cases and 19,910 deaths in 2018, it ranked in the top 10 for new cancer diagnosis and cancer-related deaths. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a group of tumors that form in the lymph system, transforming B and T immune cells (mostly B-type) into cancer cells.
Outcomes depend on the type, stage and treatment choice, with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 60%.
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy result in significant side effects such as painful sores in the mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea — so Rituximab, a targeted immunotherapy drug, is the current preferred treatment.
Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody (like Regeneron, it’s artificially created by designing a chemical sequence, building it into a molecule, and then mass cloning it) and it works by binding to multiple CD20 receptors on the surface of the B-cell, crosslinking them, and forming clusters to cause cellular apoptosis. (kind of like attaching chains to different corners of a house and then driving off in a Tractor attached to the other end of the chains.)
CD-20 is responsible for processes of cell cycle initiation and differentiation, and acts as a calcium channel (probably). The CD20 receptor is at the surface of the cell after being bound and it is not a free antigen in the blood — and is unique to B-cells. That’s why it makes a good target to design the drug to bind to.
But about half of the patients on Rituximab show resistance to treatment, related to cellular surface interactions that interfere with Rituximab’s mechanism of action during binding.
UPDATE: Bongino specified that he has been diagnosed with HODGKIN’S -type Lymphoma, a much more rare type than the non-hodgkin’s type described here. Key differences include that it moves through the body in a more ‘organized’ way, which makes it more likely to be diagnosed early (which is good), and that it has considerably better 5-year survival rate of 90%.
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is one of the most prevalent forms of cancer in the US. With an estimated 74,680 new cases and 19,910 deaths in 2018, it ranked in the top 10 for new cancer diagnosis and cancer-related deaths. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a group of tumors that form in the lymph system, transforming B and T immune cells (mostly B-type) into cancer cells.
Outcomes depend on the type, stage and treatment choice, with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 60%.
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy result in significant side effects such as painful sores in the mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea — so Rituximab, a targeted immunotherapy drug, is the current preferred treatment.
Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody (like Regeneron, it’s artificially created by designing a chemical sequence, building it into a molecule, and then mass cloning it) and it works by binding to multiple CD20 receptors on the surface of the B-cell, crosslinking them, and forming clusters to cause cellular apoptosis. (kind of like attaching chains to different corners of a house and then driving off in a Tractor attached to the other end of the chains.)
CD-20 is responsible for processes of cell cycle initiation and differentiation, and acts as a calcium channel (probably). The CD20 receptor is at the surface of the cell after being bound and it is not a free antigen in the blood — and is unique to B-cells. That’s why it makes a good target to design the drug to bind to.
But about half of the patients on Rituximab show resistance to treatment, related to cellular surface interactions that interfere with Rituximab’s mechanism of action during binding.