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For early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), optimal chemotherapy regimen and the number of cycles to be delivered remain to settle down. The H9-U trial compared three modalities of chemotherapy followed by involved-field radiotherapy (IFRT) in patients with stage I-II HL and risk factors (NCT00005584).Patients aged 15-70 years with untreated supradiaphragmatic HL with at least one risk factor (age ≥ 50, involvement of 4-5 nodal areas, mediastinum/thoracic ratio ≥ 0.35, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) ≥ 50 without B-symptoms or ESR ≥ 30 and B-symptoms) were eligible for the randomised, open label, multicentre, non-inferiority H9-U trial. The limit of non-inferiority was set at 10% for the difference between 5-year event-free survival (EFS) estimates. From October 1998 to September 2002, 808 patients were randomised to receive either the control arm 6-ABVD-IFRT (n = 276), or one of the two experimental arms: 4-ABVD-IFRT (n = 277) or 4-BEACOPPResults in the 4-ABVD-IFRT (5-year EFS, 85.9%) and the 4-BEACOPPThe trial demonstrates that 4-ABVD followed by IFRT yields high disease control in patients with early-stage HL and risk factors responding to chemotherapy. Although non-inferior in terms of efficacy, four cycles of BEACOPP

This study investigated a possible link between the occupational or domestic exposure to animals and a histological subgroup of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (LNH) (diffuse large B-cell lymphomas [LDGCB], follicular lymphomas [LF], indolent non-follicular LNH [LNHINF] and T-cell LNH). This retrospective, descriptive study was carried out over one year in a regional cancer research center. Data on occupational and domestic exposures to animals, from patients treated for a LNH, was collected via a questionnaire. Among the 261 participants, 73.9% reported they had been exposed to animals, 5% were exposed at work, whereas 72.4% were exposed in a domestic setting. The occupational exposure tended to be more frequent in the subgroup of patients with a LF (P = 0.06). The domestic exposure was less frequent (P = 0.04) in patients with LDGCB (63.0%) than in patients with a small cell LNH B (LF and LNHINF) (76.0%). Although there was no obvious link between occupational or domestic exposure to animals and one of the four histological subgroups of LNH, domestic exposure seemed less common among LDGCB patients. These results need to be confirmed by further studies.

Patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (RR-HL) have poor outcomes. Brentuximab vedotin (BV), an antibody-drug conjugate comprising an anti-CD30 antibody conjugated to the potent anti-microtubule agent, monomethyl auristatin E, induces high tumour responses with moderate adverse effects. In a retrospective study, we describe objective response rates and subsequent allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) in patients with RR-HL treated by BV in a named patient program in two French institutions. Twenty-four adult patients with histologically proven CD30(+) RR-HL treated with BV were included from July 2009 to November 2012. Response to BV treatment was evaluated after four cycles. Eleven patients were in complete response (45.8%), while five patients were in partial response (20.8%), with an overall response rate of 66.6%. Eight patients failed to respond to BV (33.3%). All of the responding patients could receive consolidation treatment after BV: three patients underwent autologous stem cell transplantation (auto-SCT), three patients received a tandem auto-SCT/allo-SCT, nine patients received allo-SCT and one patient was treated with donor lymphocyte infusion. We found no treatment-related mortality at day 100 among the 12 patients who underwent BV following by allogeneic transplantation. With a median follow-up of 20 months (range 10.5-43.2), none of them relapsed or died. BV followed by allo-SCT represents an effective salvage regimen in patients with RR-HL.