Novel therapeutic agents for relapsed classical Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

Summary Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) is a B‐cell lymphoproliferative disorder with an excellent prognosis for the majority of patients who are treated with multi‐agent chemotherapy, with or without radiation. A subset of patient, however, does not respond to therapy or relapses after accomplishing an initial response. Their outcome is poor and new treatment strategies are urgently needed for this patient population. Recent advances in the understanding of the tumour biology of HL and its microenvironment have ushered a new era of targeted‐ and immuno‐therapies with remarkable activity. Most notably, the antibody‐drug conjugate brentuximab‐vedotin, and the immune checkpoint blockers pembrolizumab and nivolumab have recently been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and have transformed the therapeutic landscape of this disease. Other novel drug compounds are being investigated either as single agents or in combination and hold promise to further the field.

Brentuximab vedotin in association with bendamustine in refractory or multiple relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma. A retrospective real‐world study

“…13,14 Recently, a better understanding of the complex and unique cHL biology 15 paved the way for the development of biology-driven therapies and a few new drugs with remarkable efficacy and acting by diverse and novel mechanisms of action have become available in clinical practice. 16 This scenario has ushered in a new treatment era and has opened new perspectives for improving the outcome of RR-cHL patients. 13,17,18 Among new drugs, bendamustine (b) (Moskowitz et al 19 ; El Cheikh et al 20 Corazzelli et al 23 ) and brentuximab vedotin (Bv) [24][25][26][27][28] showed high efficacy and manageable toxic effects in heavily pretreated patients.…”

“…In such patients, conventional chemotherapy results in very poor outcomes, allowing a median OS of around 25 months . Recently, a better understanding of the complex and unique cHL biology paved the way for the development of biology‐driven therapies and a few new drugs with remarkable efficacy and acting by diverse and novel mechanisms of action have become available in clinical practice . This scenario has ushered in a new treatment era and has opened new perspectives for improving the outcome of RR‐cHL patients .…”

Outcomes of Refractory and Relapsed Hodgkin Lymphoma With Autologous Stem-Cell Transplantation: A Single Institution Experience

“…Most notably, the antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin and the immune checkpoint blockers pembrolizumab and nivolumab have been approved recently by the US Food and Drug Administration. 24 For developing countries, however, the use of novel therapies is limited because of cost issues.…”

CD19 and CD30 CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy for High-Risk Classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

“…The prognosis for patients with cHL that are relapsing/refractory (r/r) after first-line treatment or autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is very poor ( 3 ). About 10–40% of patients do not achieve a response to salvage chemotherapy and no randomized clinical trial data support ASCT in non-responders ( 4 ). Therefore, it is imperative to develop novel approaches to improve the prognosis for patients with r/r cHL.…”