Search

Classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is one of the common subtypes of malignant lymphoma in Western countries. Although patients with HL showed unsatisfactory results in the 1960s, the clinical development in radiotherapy and chemotherapy based on several clinical trials over the last 50 years has made cHL a curable disease with a favorable outcome. As a result, late-onset treatment-related toxicities such as second primary malignancies and cardiac events are thought to be a significant issue especially in early-stage patients. To minimize the toxic effects while maximizing the antitumor efficacy, several clinical trials to evaluate response-adapted strategies using interim PET scans and novel agents, such as brentuximab vedotin (BV) and/or immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) are currently underway. In this review, the author summarizes currently available data on PET-adapted and BV and/or ICI-containing therapies for untreated cHL, and discusses their future prospects in cHL treatment.

A 28-year-old male patient presented with multiple lymphadenopathies and extranodal masses. He was diagnosed with stage IVB ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma after the right axillary lymph node biopsy. A partial metabolic response with fluorodeoxyglucose accumulation was observed in the residual disease of the upper left hilar lymph node after eight courses of brentuximab vedotin, cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, and prednisolone. We started alectinib at 600 mg daily, which achieved a complete metabolic response (CMR) after three months. The CMR was maintained and alectinib was continuously administered without adverse events at the last follow up. Alectinib showed high efficacy and tolerability, though the optimal period and long-term adverse effects of administration remain unclear. Therefore, further studies are necessary.

Although Hodgkin lymphoma is now among the most curable of the lymphomas, the relapse rate after the first-line treatment remains at 20-30%. Brentuximab vedotin (BV) has been developed for the treatment of newly diagnosed classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), relapsed/refractory cHL, or consolidation after autologous stem cell transplantation. Notably, BV treatment combined with doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine treatment has been established as standard treatment for newly diagnosed advanced-stage cHL. Immune-checkpoint inhibitors represent another class of promising cancer immunotherapies that may be used to treat advanced cancers, including cHL. Anti-programmed death-1-blocking antibodies have been used to enhance immunity in cases of several malignancies and obtain durable responses, most notably in patients who have been administered heavy treatment for relapsed/refractory cHL. Several clinical trials, including single agents or combination therapies for cHL, have been developed or are currently under investigation. The results of the ongoing and future clinical trials may establish new paradigms for the treatment of cHL.