Immunotherapy for patients with follicular lymphoma: the contribution of systematic reviews.

The course of follicular lymphoma has changed considerably with the introduction of immunotherapy. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are reliable, efficient and well-established methods to summarize the vast amount of data acquired in recent years on the role of immunotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, radio-labeled monoclonal antibodies and interferon-α in the treatment of patients with follicular lymphoma. We aimed to summarize the data from systematic reviews assessing immunotherapy for these patients. A search through Medline and the Cochrane Library for systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials of different types of immunotherapy for patients with follicular lymphoma yielded 17 reviews. Eleven of them were eligible for this review and are described herein. These systematic reviews have dramatically influenced the approach to patients with follicular lymphoma.