This is shocking! They may be hurting me more than helping me.

There are two kinds of weggies in this world. Weggies that have infusion reactions to RTX and those who don't. Likewise, these same weggies might respond well to RTX and those that don't. It all may depend on a polymorphism in your FCGR2A gene. 32% of people have a great response to RTX, while the rest may build a resistance to RTX or have little response at all. RTX does its job through Antibody Dependent Cellular Toxicity, aka ADCC. So, in the whole scheme of things, we want a strong ADCC response.


I don't have infusion reactions, just as I've never had a cytokine storm. Likewise, I have a weak ADCC response. The benadryl and glucocorticoids they give me at my infusion may be working against me, further weakening my already deficient ADCC response. If I want RTX to be more effective, I might be thinking of cheeking my pre-meds. They put everybody into the same bucket, regardless of our genetic predispositions.

Of course this is all theory. I don't plan to do anything, without talking to a professional. But, as the following quote infers, even mild infusion reactions make RTX work better. I want a piece of that action.

"Previous studies have suggested associations between IRR and rituximab treatment efficacy [5]. However, these reports were based only on a few cases, and the conclusion was unclear. On the other hand, a recent study demonstrated that various targeted therapies that act through the same mechanisms of action, i.e., cetuximab for colorectal cancer, elicit greater side effects, but also have higher treatment efficacy."

Is there a relationship between the infusion-related reaction and effect of rituximab in the treatment of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6610198/