The role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma

Anti-programmed cell death-1 monoclonal antibody therapy before or after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for classic Hodgkin lymphoma: a literature review

Approximately 10-30% of patients with classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) have relapsed or refractory (r/r) disease after standard first-line therapy. Clinical trials have shown an acceptable safety profile and high response rate for anti-programmed cell death-1 monoclonal antibodies (anti-PD-1 mAbs) in patients with r/r cHL. Although anti-PD-1 mAbs have significantly increased treatment options for r/r cHL, most patients eventually relapse. In the current era, allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) is still a clinical option for r/r cHL. Anti-PD-1 mAbs have been explored as bridging therapy to allo-HCT and salvage therapy for relapse after allo-HCT. Although early reports showed increased risks of severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in patients who received anti-PD-1 mAb before or allo-HCT, survival outcomes were favorable, suggesting the feasibility of PD-1 blockade around the time of allo-HCT. Based on clinical and biological data, posttransplant cyclophosphamide-based GVHD prophylaxis is a promising strategy to reduce GVHD and improve survival after allo-HCT following PD-1 blockade. Close monitoring and early intervention are needed for treatment-emergent GVHD following PD-1 blockade after allo-HCT. Further studies with a larger cohort and extended follow-up will provide insights into better patient selection, optimal dosing, and strategies to manage complications of PD-1 blockade in the context of allo-HCT.

Reappraising the Role of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Relapsed and Refractory Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Recent Advances and Outcomes

Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a rare yet highly curable disease in the majority of patients treated with modern chemotherapy regimens. For patients who fail to respond to or relapse after initial systemic therapies, treatment with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can provide a cure for many with chemotherapy-responsive lymphoma. Patients who relapse after autologous transplant or those with chemorefractory disease have poor prognosis and represent a high unmet need. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation provides a proven curative therapy for these patients and should be considered, especially in young and medically fit patients. The use of newer agents in this disease such as brentuximab vedotin and immune checkpoint inhibitors can help bring more patients to transplantation and should be considered as well.

Safety and efficacy of anti-programmed cell death-1 monoclonal antibodies before and after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a multicenter retrospective study

We conducted a multicenter study on anti-programmed cell death-1 monoclonal antibodies (anti-PD-1 mAbs) before/after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) for Hodgkin lymphoma. Anti-PD-1 mAbs were administered to 25 patients before allo-HCT and to 20 after allo-HCT. In pre-allo-HCT setting, the median interval from the last administration to allo-HCT was 59 days. After allo-HCT, 12 patients developed non-infectious febrile syndrome requiring high-dose corticosteroid. The cumulative incidences of grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) were 47.1%. Eight patients who had GvHD prophylaxis with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) had less frequent aGvHD (grade II-IV, 14.6% versus 58.8%; P = 0.086). The 1 year overall survival (OS), relapse/progression, and non-relapse mortality rates were 81.3%, 27.9%, and 8.4%. In post-allo-HCT setting, the median interval from allo-HCT to the first administration was 589 days. The overall and complete response rates were 75% and 40%. At 100 days after anti-PD-1 therapy, the cumulative incidences of grade II-IV aGvHD, moderate-to-severe chronic GvHD, and grade 3-4 immune-related toxicity were 15.0%, 30.0%, and 30.0%. While the 1 year relapse/progression rate was 47.4%, the 1 year OS probability was 89.7%. In conclusion, immune-related complications were frequent despite modifications of GvHD prophylaxis or anti-PD-1 mAb dosing. In anti-PD-1-mAb-pretreated patients, PTCy-based GvHD prophylaxis may be effective.

Predicting Mortality after Autologous Transplant: Development of a Novel Risk Score

There have been several efforts to predict mortality after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), such as the hematopoietic cell transplant-comorbidity index (HCT-CI), described for allogeneic stem cell transplantation and validated for ASCT, but there is no composite score in the setting of ASCT combining comorbidities with other clinical characteristics. Our aim is to describe a comprehensive score combining comorbidities with other clinical factors and to analyze the impact of this score on nonrelapse mortality (NRM), overall survival (OS), and early morbidity endpoints (mechanical ventilation, shock or dialysis) after ASCT. For the training cohort, we retrospectively reviewed data of 2068 adult patients who received an ASCT in Argentina (October 2002 to June 2017) for multiple myeloma or lymphoma. For the validation cohort, we analyzed 2168 ASCTs performed in the Medical College of Wisconsin and Spanish stem cell transplant group (Grupo Español de Trasplante Hematopoyético (GETH)) (January 2012 to December 2018). We first performed a multivariate analysis for NRM in order to select and assign weight to the risk factors included in the score (male patients, aged 55 to 64 and ≥65 years, HCT-CI ≥3, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma). The hazard ratio for NRM increased proportionally with the score. Patients were grouped as low risk (LR) with a score of 0 to 1 (686, 33%), intermediate risk (IR) with a score of 2 to 3 (1109, 53%), high risk (HR) with a score of 4 (198, 10%), and very high risk (VHR) with a score of ≥5 (75, 4%). The score was associated with a progressive increase in all the early morbidity endpoints. Moreover, the score was significantly associated with early NRM (day 100: 1.5% versus 2.4% versus 7.6% versus 17.6%) as well as long term (1 to 3 years; 1.8% to 2.3% versus 3.8% to 4.9% versus 11.7% to 14.5% versus 25.0% to 27.4%, respectively; P< .0001) and OS (1 to 5 years; 94% to 73% versus 89% to 75% versus 76% to 47% versus 65% to 52% respectively; P < .0001). The score was validated in an independent cohort (N = 2168) and was significantly associated with early and late events. In conclusion, we developed and validated a novel score predicting NRM and OS in 2 large cohorts of more than 2000 autologous transplant patients. This tool can be useful for tailoring conditioning regimens or defining risk for transplant program decision making.

How to Approach a Hodgkin Lymphoma Patient With Relapse After Autologous SCT: Allogeneic SCT

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a highly curable B-cell lymphoma, and ∼90% of patients who present with early-stage (stage I-II) disease and 70% of patients who present with late-stage disease will be cured with standard frontline treatment. For patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) disease after initial therapy, the standard of care is salvage chemotherapy, followed by autologous transplantation (autoSCT). Although this approach will cure a significant proportion of patients, upto 50% of patients will experience disease progression after autoSCT, and this population has historically had a very poor prognosis. In the past, further salvage chemotherapy, followed by allogeneic transplantation (alloSCT), has been the only option associated with a significant probability of long-term survival, owing to a graft-versus-lymphoma effect. However, this approach has been complicated by high rates of treatment-related morbidity and mortality and a high risk of disease relapse. Furthermore, many patients have been unable to proceed to alloSCT because of disease refractoriness, poor performance status, or the lack of a donor. However, significant therapeutic advances in recent years have greatly expanded the options for patients with post-autoSCT r/r HL. These include the anti-CD30 antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin and the checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab and pembrolizumab, as well as increasing experience with alternative donor alloSCT, especially from haploidentical donors. In the present review, we discuss the current role of alloSCT in the treatment of HL after autoSCT relapse.

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma - evaluation of patients submitted to Autologous transplantation of hematopoietic cells in the Hematology Service of the Hospital Walter Cantídio – Fortaleza, Brazil

SUMMARY The Autologous HSCT is an important alternative for refractory or recurrent HL patients in terms of survival and improved quality of life. This study analyzes the results of autologous BMT performed in HL patients in the Transplant Unit of the HUWC/ HEMOCE (Fortaleza - CE, Brazil). Fifty-two transplanted patients were studied from January 2009 to October 2015, among them, 30 men and 22 women, mean age of 28.2 years. All of them received GCS-F during the mobilization, in some cases associated with Vinorelbine or Plerixafor, with CD34 collection averaging 4.8 CD34/kg. The conditioning was performed with BEAC, NEAM or BEAM and the grafting with an average of 10 days. The evaluation on D + 100 showed: CR - 42 (82.7%), PR - 08 (13.5%) and 02 (3.8%) deaths, three and six days after cell infusion. After the D+100, 08 patients in CR showed HL recurrence from 06 to 36 months; 03 died and 05 are being treated with brentuximab; among the 08 patients in PR, 01 died due to HL activity, 04 months after BMT and 07 patients are undergoing treatment. The final evaluation of HL transplant patients showed an OS of 88.5% and a DFS of 61.5% in 6 years, with OS of the chemosensitive patients of 81% and of the chemoresistant ones, of 72.6%. It is possible to conclude that the Autologous HSCT has shown to be an excellent rescue therapy regarding tolerance, as well as the overall survival.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Hodgkin lymphoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) outcomes in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) remain poorly defined. We performed a meta-analysis of allo-SCT studies in HL patients. The primary endpoints were 6-month, 1-year, 2-year and 3-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). A total of 42 reports (1850 patients) was included. The pooled estimates (95% confidence interval) for 6-month, 1-year, 2-year and 3-year RFS were 77 (59-91)%, 50 (42-57)%, 37 (31-43)% and 31 (25-37)%, respectively. The corresponding numbers for OS were 83 (75-91)%, 68 (62-74)%, 58 (52-64)% and 50 (41-58)%, respectively. There was statistical heterogeneity among studies in all outcomes. In meta-regression, accrual initiation year in 2000 or later was associated with higher 6-month (P=0.012) and 1-year OS (P=0.046), and pre-SCT remission with higher 2-year OS (P=0.047) and 1-year RFS (P=0.016). In conclusion, outcomes of allo-SCT in HL have improved over time, with 5-10% lower non-relapse mortality and relapse rates, and 15-20% higher RFS and OS in studies that initiated accrual in 2000 or later compared with earlier studies. However, there is no apparent survival plateau, demonstrating the need to improve on current allo-SCT strategies in relapsed/refractory HL.