Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment Shows Promise in Small Trial
Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment Shows Promise in Small Trial
Nivolumab harnesses power of immune system to attack cancer in patients who've failed other therapy
About 20 percent of the patients had serious treatment-related side effects, but none of them were life-threatening, the study's authors said.
"What makes these results especially encouraging is that they were achieved in patients who had exhausted other treatment options," study co-senior author Dr. Margaret Shipp, chief of the division of hematologic neoplasia at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said in an institute news release.
"We're also excited by the duration of responses to the drug: the majority of patients who had a response are still doing well more than a year after their treatment," she added.
The study was published Dec. 6 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with its expected presentation on Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, in San Francisco.
The study received funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, which markets nivolumab, as well as funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
According to the researchers, the new findings have led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to designate nivolumab as a "breakthrough therapy" for patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma, and a large phase 2 trial is currently under way.
That's encouraging news, Brody said, because the patient pool in the current study is small. "Moving forwards, ongoing studies will assess the true efficacy and safety of this approach in larger studies," he said.
Side effects could be a stumbling block, as well. "As the therapy can increase anti-tumor immune responses it may also cause potentially dangerous anti-self-immune responses," Brody said. "Examples of this -- such as inflammation of the pancreas -- did occur, though only two patients had to discontinue therapy due to side effects."
Nevertheless, these early results are promising, he said.
"Even this early hint of remarkable results suggests that patients' immune systems will be the next powerful tool in fighting this type of cancer," Brody said.
Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment Shows Promise
Nivolumab harnesses power of immune system to attack cancer in patients who've failed other therapy
About 20 percent of the patients had serious treatment-related side effects, but none of them were life-threatening, the study's authors said.
"What makes these results especially encouraging is that they were achieved in patients who had exhausted other treatment options," study co-senior author Dr. Margaret Shipp, chief of the division of hematologic neoplasia at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said in an institute news release.
"We're also excited by the duration of responses to the drug: the majority of patients who had a response are still doing well more than a year after their treatment," she added.
The study was published Dec. 6 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with its expected presentation on Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, in San Francisco.
The study received funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, which markets nivolumab, as well as funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
According to the researchers, the new findings have led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to designate nivolumab as a "breakthrough therapy" for patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma, and a large phase 2 trial is currently under way.
That's encouraging news, Brody said, because the patient pool in the current study is small. "Moving forwards, ongoing studies will assess the true efficacy and safety of this approach in larger studies," he said.
Side effects could be a stumbling block, as well. "As the therapy can increase anti-tumor immune responses it may also cause potentially dangerous anti-self-immune responses," Brody said. "Examples of this -- such as inflammation of the pancreas -- did occur, though only two patients had to discontinue therapy due to side effects."
Nevertheless, these early results are promising, he said.
"Even this early hint of remarkable results suggests that patients' immune systems will be the next powerful tool in fighting this type of cancer," Brody said.
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