ICML 2021 | The current Hodgkin lymphoma immunotherapy landscape
Stephen Ansell, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MI, provides an overview of current and future Hodgkin lymphoma immunotherapies. PD-1 inhibitors have been effective in treating Hodgkin lymphoma and additional approaches have been developed. Camidanlumab tesirine is a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) in development that targets regulatory T cells as well as Reed–Sternberg cells and consists of an anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody and a cytotoxin. The novel ADC has been effective in patients who are refractory to chemotherapy and PD-1 inhibitors and is a promising Hodgkin lymphoma drug despite initial toxicities reported. This interview took place during the 2021 International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (16-ICML).
Transcript (edited for clarity)
So I think in immuno-oncology therapies for Hodgkin lymphoma, the story has really remained over the last five years that PD-1 blockade is highly effective. And I think we have long-term data on some of the PD-1 blocking antibodies, which confirm their efficacy and the durability of their efficacy. But we have a number of new PD-1 antibodies, which are proving equally effective, and I think that area of treatment is really exciting...
So I think in immuno-oncology therapies for Hodgkin lymphoma, the story has really remained over the last five years that PD-1 blockade is highly effective. And I think we have long-term data on some of the PD-1 blocking antibodies, which confirm their efficacy and the durability of their efficacy. But we have a number of new PD-1 antibodies, which are proving equally effective, and I think that area of treatment is really exciting.
Obviously, the next question is what else might be very effective and useful in treating patients with Hodgkin lymphoma with an immunological kind of approach? A different agent and antibody drug conjugate update was presented at the ICML meeting. This is Cami-T. It’s a CD25-directed antibody with chemo-toxin on the back, and the efficacy of this agent in people that have failed all of the traditional chemotherapy and PD-1 blockade has proven to be quite effective. There are some toxicities that are being worked out with optimizing the schedule, but I think the response rates have been very high. This particularly targets T regulatory cells within the environment and directly may target the Reed-Sternberg cell.
So I think what we’re learning is you can work on the effector cells by blocking PD-1 but working on regulatory cells by using Cami-T may also be very effective and clearly additional agents that target the Reed-Sternberg cell could obviously break up this whole immunologically complex disease and result in better responses, but I think the field of immuno-oncology in Hodgkin lymphoma remains very active.
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