The National Cancer Center (NCC) said Monday that it has discovered a new targeted treatment for stage 3 or 4 progressive Hodgkin lymphoma patients, which improves their survival rate compared to existing standard treatments.
Hodgkin's lymphoma is a rare blood cancer that occurs only in about 300 people annually in Korea. ABVD, a standard combination therapy that includes the drugs doxorubicin (adriamycin), bleomycin sulfate, vinblastine sulfate, and dacarbazine, is used to treat progressive Hodgkin lymphoma. However, they have had difficulties improving the overall survival rate.
The NCC team, led by Professor Eom Hyun-seok, who has focused on lymphoma research, compared and analyzed A+AVD, a combination therapy including ABVD, a standard therapy, and Brentuximab vedotin, an antibody complex, for adult patients with stage 3 or 4 progressive Hodgkin lymphoma.
The study showed that patients who received A+AVD therapy were more likely to survive than the standard ABVD therapy in all three categories: overall survival rate (OS), progression-free survival rate (PFS), and secondary cancer incidence.
Professor Eom’s research team placed 664 patients in the A+AVD group and 670 patients in the standard therapy ABVD group. Accordingly, the six-year OS was 93.9 percent in the A+AVD group and 89.4 percent in the ABVD group. The PFS was also longer in the A+AVD group than in the ABVD group.
Additionally, fewer patients in the A+AVD group received subsequent treatment, including transplantation, than in the ABVD group. The incidence of secondary cancer was less in the A+AVD group, with 23 in the A+AVD group and 32 in the ABVD group.
"We proved that A+AVD therapy, including Brentuximab vedotin, an antibody complex used as a targeted treatment, has improved survival rate compared to standard therapy," Professor Eom said, "This study reveals important clinical advances in Hodgkin lymphoma research in progressive stage, and will contribute to improving cancer patients' survival."
The study was published in the latest New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) issue. Professor Eom is also conducting follow-up studies to prove the clinical effects of adding Brentuximab vedotin, to existing chemotherapies in patients with recurrent Hodgkin’s disease.