PD-1 inhibitors in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma

Most patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are cured with chemotherapy alone or combined with radiotherapy. However, 15-20% of patients have refractory disease or relapse (RR) after the primary treatment, and the prognosis of those who do not respond to salvage therapy is poor. Several novel targeted approaches to treating relapsed/refractory HL have significantly improved survival of these patients in recent years. Nivolumab and pembrolizumab were the first-in-class inhibitors of the programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor, impairing the interaction between PD-1 and its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2. In HL, these checkpoint inhibitors (CPI) suppress the T-cell tolerance induced by the strong expression of PD1 ligands in tumour cells, which is related to PD-L1 gene alterations in 9p24.1 observed in most patients [1]. Approval of these drugs in 2016 and 2017 resulted in high overall response rates (ORRs) and a favourable safety profile among heavily pretreated benefit has therefore led to improvements in the out

Automated summary

Novel targeted approaches have significantly improved the prognosis of patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, especially with the use of inhibitors like Nivolumab and pembrolizumab.