Cinzia Pellegrini, Beatrice Casadei, Claudia Cellini, Lisa Argnani, Michele Cavo and Pier Luigi Zinzani
Background: Nivolumab and pembrolizumab are the first two US FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies targeting PD-1 for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and provide promising results in the relapsed/refractory setting (HL patients relapsing after autologous stem cell transplantation [ASCT], or with chemorefractory disease and/ or ineligible for ASCT). An interesting area of ongoing research is the possibility of combining different immune checkpoint inhibitors given concomitantly or sequentially in the attempt to maximize the patient responsiveness. Case report: A heavily pre-treated young woman affected by HL, after several attempts, obtained a complete response after ASCT thanks to the bridge with pembrolizumab. After relapse, the patient achieved again a complete response with nivolumab, bridging her to allotransplant. The patient is still in response to a year since the transplant. Discussion and Conclusion: This is the first report which witnesses the safety and the antitumor activity of interchangeable anti-PD1 monoclonal antibodies administered as a retreatment option and as a bridge to allotransplant in a patient who previously got an objective response to another anti-PD1 which brought her to autologous transplant. Retreatment with anti-PD1 monoclonal antibodies could be considered in therapeutic algorithm of relapsed/refractory HL.
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