The research identified specific genetic patterns that could predict how long patients with large-B-cell lymphoma would live when treated with a standard combination-drug therapy that included Genentech Inc.’s cancer drug Rituxan, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Lymphoma is a cancer that starts in the lymph system, the disease-fighting network of the body.

The results give scientists a “new perspective” in developing genetically targeted therapies, especially for the roughly half of patients who don’t respond well to standard treatment, the study’s authors wrote.

The findings “give us some real food for thought about new therapeutic strategies” tailored to patients’ genetic profiles, said Louis Staudt, deputy chief at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, Maryland, and a study co-author. For patients with this kind of lymphoma, he said, “What we hope, and what we are working on, is that there will be a day when this information will be a part of diagnosis.”

Large-B-cell lymphoma is one of the most common types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, accounting for about one in three cases, according to the American Cancer Society Web site. The aggressive disease can be cured with combination-drug chemotherapy.

Scientists are trying to determine why only about half of patients with the disease are cured, said Staudt.

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