XVII. Radiotherapy in early stage Hodgkin lymphoma

Checkpoint inhibitors in Hodgkin's lymphoma

Hodgkin's lymphoma is unusual among cancers in that it consists of a small number of malignant Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells in a sea of immune system cells, including T cells. Most of these T cells are reversibly inactivated in different ways and their reactivation may induce a very strong immune response to cancer cells. One way of reactivation of T cells is with antibodies blocking the CTLA-4 and especially with antibodies directed against PD-1 or the PD-L1 ligand thereby reversing the tumor-induced downregulation of T-cell function and augmenting antitumor immune activity at the priming (CTLA-4) or tissue effector (PD-1) phase. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have been evidenced as an additional treatment option with substantial effectiveness and acceptable toxicity in heavily pretreated patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Particularly, PD-1 blockade with nivolumab and pembrolizumab has demonstrated significant single-agent activity in this select population.

Chemotherapy only in early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma: more relapses but "same" (or possibly worse) survival--reconsidering the misguided trend to omit radiotherapy

The standard treatment of early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma (ESHL) as recommended by most national guidelines is combined modality treatment (CMT) that includes a short course ABVD followed by a small field of low dose radiotherapy (RT). Recently a trend to treat patients with more chemotherapy alone has been promoted by some claiming that chemotherapy alone is good enough, and the overall survival is similar. These arguments need to be carefully examined, and the risk of more chemotherapy upfront and salvage considered. The suggestion that interim PET will identify patients that can have similar results with chemotherapy alone has recently been questioned by the results of both European and UK studies. It is the subject of this critical review.