Onkologie. 2020:14(5):221-225 | DOI: 10.36290/xon.2020.078

Immunotherapy in the treatment of classic Hodgkin lymphoma

Jozef Michalka, Andrea Janíková, Zdeněk Král

Interní hematologická a onkologická klinika Fakultní nemocnice Brno a Lékařská fakulta Masarykovy univerzity v Brně

The classic Hodgkin lymphoma is nowadays one of the most treatable tumours of all. The majority of patients reach durable remission after completion of the first-line treatment, but even subsequent therapies can be potentially curative. In case of failure of the conventional treatment based on chemotherapy and radiation therapy, innovative therapy is indicated, namely brentuximab vedotin and PD-1 inhibitors, also called immunotherapy. Similarly to solid cancer therapy, immunotherapy seems highly effective, even in cases of the classic Hodgkin lymphomas with heavily pre-treated patients, in addition with a favourable toxicity profile. This is the reason why these drugs are being tested in earlier phases of cancer treatment, or combined with other anti-cancer drugs. This review provides a brief summary of therapy outcomes and current indications of immunotherapy in the treatment of the classic Hodgkin lymphoma and discusses possibilities of future therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: Hodgkin lymphoma, brentuximab vedotin, PD-1 inhibitors, nivolumab, pembrolizumab.

Published: November 19, 2020  Show citation