Targeted Therapy in Relapsed Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma

Although frontline treatment of advanced Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) produces high cure rates, disease either will not respond to or will relapse after initial therapy in approximately a quarter of patients. Many patients with disease relapse can be successfully salvaged with second-line chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Patients whose disease relapses after ASCT are rarely cured. A unique pathophysiologic feature of HL is that the malignant Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cell is rare and resides within a microenvironment of inflammatory and immune-related cells. The recent FDA approval of the anti CD30 antibody–drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin (BV) for patients with either primary refractory HL or those whose disease relapses after ASCT represents a major advance in therapy. This article focuses on BV and other novel agents that target the HRS cell surface, the intracellular signaling pathways, and the tumor microenvironment.

Target Audience

This activity has been designated to meet the educational needs of physicians and nurses involved in the management of patients with cancer.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the rationale for targeted therapy in patients with relapsed classical Hodgkin lymphoma
  • Discuss novel agents that target the rare malignant Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cell surface, a unique pathophysiologic feature of Hodgkin lymphoma
Additional information
Supporters: 

No commercial support was received for this article.

Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.00 Participation
  • 1.00 Nurse
  • 1.00 Physician
Course opens: 
08/22/2013
Course expires: 
08/22/2014
Cost:
$0.00

Shira Dinner, MD
Department of Medicine (Oncology)
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California


Ranjana Advani, MD
Department of Medicine (Oncology)
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California

Available Credit

  • 1.00 Participation
  • 1.00 Nurse
  • 1.00 Physician

Price

Cost:
$0.00
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