Pembrolizumab for Relapsed or Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma

Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) frequently overexpresses the programmed death-ligands 1 and 2 (PD-L1 and PD-L2), usually by gene amplification or other alterations at the chromosome 9p24.1 locus or via Epstein-Barr virus infection. As a result, high response rates have been observed with immune checkpoint inhibitors that target the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway in relapsed or refractory patients.

To evaluate the clinical activity of the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in this setting, investigators conducted an industry-sponsored, single-arm, phase II study (KEYNOTE-087) in which heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory cHL received 200 mg of pembrolizumab once every 3 weeks for a maximum of 24 months or until disease progress…