Novel agents for the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is highly curable lymphoma with combined multiagent chemotherapy with or without radiation. In spite of higher cure rates, approximately 20-30% cases will be either refractory or relapse after first line therapy. For relapse/refractory HL, salvage chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplant remains the standard of care. Because of early and late toxicities of multiagent chemotherapy, there are ongoing efforts to find less toxic therapies to treat HL. Brentuximab vedotin is an antibody drug conjugate targeting CD30 with high response rates in HL. In the last decade, immune oncology has changed the treatment paradigm of cancers. Biologically, Reed-Sternberg cells evade immune system by exploiting checkpoint pathways. Inhibition of checkpoint pathway has shown promising activity in HL. Recently, phosphatidyl-inositide 3 kinase inhibitors and Janus kinase inhibitors have shown impressive responses in HL. In this article, we discuss novel agents in HL.