Inclusion Criteria:

- study 1 (young patients): being less than 61 years old with a follicular lymphoma and
needing to be treated because of high LDH level, high beta-2 microglobulin level,
poor performance status, or large tumoral mass (lymph node >7 cm, symptomatic
splenomegaly, pleura effusion, or sign of compression by the tumor mass)

- study 2 (elderly patients): being older than 60 years with a follicular lymphoma and
needing to be treated because of high LDH level, high beta-2 microglobulin level,
poor performance status, or large tumoral mass (lymph node >7 cm, symptomatic
splenomegaly, pleura effusion, or sign of compression by the tumor mass)

Exclusion Criteria:

- contra-indication to anthracycline or interferon

- transformation into large cell lymphoma

- previous treatment

- localized stage without criteria of large tumor mass

- patients HIV+