New approaches to managing relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: the role of checkpoint inhibitors and beyond.

Introduction: While most patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are successfully cured with frontline therapy, unfortunately far too many patients have primary refractory disease or relapse after initial treatment, and outcomes for these patients remain suboptimal.Areas Covered: Treatment for relapsed/refractory (R/R) HL remains an ongoing challenge; however, the approval of brentuximab vedotin (BV) and the checkpoint inhibitors pembrolizumab and nivolumab have given us promising therapies with high response rates and improved progression free survival. We performed a literature search using PubMed on all HL studies investigating immunotherapy within the past 10 years.Expert Opinion: Both BV and checkpoint inhibitors have good single agent activity but appear more effective when given together and combine well with chemotherapy. Other novel agents under study include bispecific chimeric antibody constructs and chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T). Here we review the data supporting novel therapies and immunotherapies for R/R HL.