Rituximab and Galiximab in Treating Patients With Stage II, Stage III, or Stage IV Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Determine the overall and complete response rate in patients with previously untreated CD20-positive bulky stage II or stage III or IV follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treated with rituximab and galiximab. * Determine the time to disease progression in patients treated with this regimen. Secondary * Determine the toxicity profile of this regimen in these patients. * Correlate Fc receptor polymorphism profiling with response in patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. * Induction therapy (month 1): Patients receive rituximab IV on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 and galiximab IV over 1 hour on day 3, 8, 15, and 22. * Extended induction therapy (months 3, 5, 7, and 9): Beginning in month 3, patients receive rituximab and galiximab as above on day 1. Treatment repeats every 56 days for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 4 months for up to 10 years. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 51 patients will be accrued for this study within 18 months.